Targeting Commitment

Interagency Performance in New Zealand

Rodney Scott author Ross Boyd author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:8th Mar '22

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Targeting Commitment cover

This book explores how and why the New Zealand government made progress and how the program was able to create and sustain the commitment of public servants and unleash the creativity of public entrepreneurs.

The authors combine case studies based on the experience of people involved in the change, together with public management research. They explain how ambitious targets and public accountability were used as levers to overcome the bureaucratic barriers that impeded public service delivery, and how data, evidence, and innovation were used to change practice. New Zealand experimented, failed, succeeded, and learned from the experience over five years. This New Zealand experience demonstrates that interagency performance targets are a potentially powerful tool for fostering better public services and thus improving social outcomes.

In 2012, the New Zealand government attempted to solve its interagency coordination problem with a new approach. Specifically, it set strict interagency targets, focusing on outcomes instead of process or intermediary goals, to resolve ten difficult social and governmental problems. This book is a deep dive into how these performance targets aided interagency cooperation and led to positive, though not perfect, outcomes. The book begins with background on the government of New Zealand and a review of interagency coordination in the field of public administration before moving to a description of the program itself, from initial development through implementation and its current state…. This book is recommended to any student of public administration looking for a case study of the relationship between setting performance targets and reaching actual governmental outcomes. Recommended. Undergraduate and graduate students. * Choice Reviews *

ISBN: 9780815739180

Dimensions: 222mm x 153mm x 19mm

Weight: 445g

310 pages