TY - JOUR
T1 - Public Managers Amidst Ambiguity
T2 - Towards a Typology of Evaluative Practices in Public Management
AU - Abma, Tineke A.
AU - Noordegraaf, Mirko
PY - 2003/7/1
Y1 - 2003/7/1
N2 - Contemporary public management is characterized by a strong tendency to introduce performance measurement in order to reduce complexity. Public managers face two challenges when performing their work: uncertainty and ambiguity. Ambiguity is understood as the absence of or contradictory interpretations about what needs to, can and should be done, when and where. In this article we argue that the intensity and nature of ambiguity vary, depending on the public management setting. This has serious implications for the type of evaluation chosen. Performance measurement may be appropriate when ambiguity is relatively low, but it is difficult and potentially damaging in settings marked by a high degree of ambiguity. In these latter cases, evaluation approaches that acknowledge ambiguity through dialogue are more suitable. To structure this line of reasoning, we distinguish four public management settings (industrial, enforcing, professional and strategic) and relate this to different evaluation approaches.
AB - Contemporary public management is characterized by a strong tendency to introduce performance measurement in order to reduce complexity. Public managers face two challenges when performing their work: uncertainty and ambiguity. Ambiguity is understood as the absence of or contradictory interpretations about what needs to, can and should be done, when and where. In this article we argue that the intensity and nature of ambiguity vary, depending on the public management setting. This has serious implications for the type of evaluation chosen. Performance measurement may be appropriate when ambiguity is relatively low, but it is difficult and potentially damaging in settings marked by a high degree of ambiguity. In these latter cases, evaluation approaches that acknowledge ambiguity through dialogue are more suitable. To structure this line of reasoning, we distinguish four public management settings (industrial, enforcing, professional and strategic) and relate this to different evaluation approaches.
KW - ambiguity
KW - new public management
KW - performance measurement
KW - public management settings
KW - typology of evaluation practices
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=27944443987&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/13563890030093004
DO - 10.1177/13563890030093004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:27944443987
VL - 9
SP - 285
EP - 306
JO - Evaluation
JF - Evaluation
SN - 1356-3890
IS - 3
ER -