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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/14777270010734073. When citing the article, please cite: R. Cullen, S. Nicholls, A. Halligan, (2000), “Reviewing a service – discovering the unwritten rules”, British Journal of Clinical Governance, Vol. 5 Iss: 4, pp. 233 - 239.

Clinical governance has become internationally recognised as a whole‐system framework for the continuous improvement of quality in health service delivery. This study aims to explore the issues in implementing a comprehensive clinical governance framework in an organisation that provides services to children and adults with intellectual disabilities supported by a wide range of clinical interventions and therapies.

This was an action research study that utilised a co‐operative inquiry approach because of its capacity to facilitate engagement in a collaborative “bottom‐up” meets “top‐down” process amalgamating theory with organisational priorities to achieve practical and planned change. Action research methodologies use a problem solving approach, focus on real‐life issues, and are open and inclusive. The study aimed to identify current practices in inter‐disciplinary team working including the measurement and monitoring of quality, and to design collaboratively an integrated team‐based service delivery model that focuses on continuous improvement in the quality of clinical services.

The study highlights the benefit of adopting a co‐operative inquiry approach to the development of a clinical governance framework. Staff at all levels began to take ownership of the clinical governance agenda. The systemic perspective promoted collaboration across clinical and non‐clinical disciplines and it is anticipated that it will result in new approaches to service quality in the organisation in the future.

This case study demonstrates how the practical and participatory approach of the action research and co‐operative inquiry methodologies can contribute to the resolution of a real organisational issue and enable transformational change in the infrastructure of clinical services.

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to provide strategies on how to embed physician leadership development efforts within health organizations.

Findings from our previous research, which include an extensive literature review and analysis of 53 interviews with representatives from healthcare organizations across the globe, are integrated within the context of the Influencer© framework to provide a useful and grounded tool for physician leadership development strategies.

Physician leadership development strategies are identified for each of the six domains within the Influencer© framework.

A number of physician leadership development strategies are provided. They can be used in combination or used independently.

Integrating the knowledge gained from practices in health organizations and from the literature within the Influencer© framework is a unique approach and strengthens the usefulness of the identified physician leadership development strategies.

Australia is one of the Anglophone countries that readily adapted to a public management approach. Reforms since the 1980s have shown remarkable breadth, longevity and significance. The reforms acknowledge failure of existing approaches and the need to address management deficiencies, fiscal stress and increased complexity. This chapter discusses four cases, reflecting leadership from core agencies as well as executives. Financial management reform was initially led by Finance, and then a broader agenda was pursued through a senior management committee under the Department of the Prime. However, devolution of responsibilities from central agencies did not appear to make managers more accountable. Finance was weakened by devolution and unable to exercise appropriate leadership, and agencies did not integrate performance management reform with internal planning processes. By contrast, a one-stop shopping service for welfare was successful, although later folded in the Department of Human Services. DPMC also launched reform process in the 2010s, although not a priority of the prime minister, some recommendations, such as leadership development and talent management, were implemented that increased public service capacity. The case of Australia shows that in spite of variable political support and leadership by central agencies, a relatively stable environment (governments serving multiple terms) allowed implementation to proceed in the mid-term, including incentives to ensure responsiveness at department levels.

This paper seeks to extend the analysis of performance management regimes by Bouckaert and Halligan to other countries in order to contribute to the developing theory of forms and challenges in public sector performance management.

The state of performance management and the context in which it has evolved is assessed in seven different countries using dimensions drawn from Bouckaert and Halligan's work along with elements from earlier work by Pollitt and Bouckaert. These are summarized in a table and comparisons made to generate additional insights into the factors that influence the shape and speed of public management evolution.

The paper finds that the Bouckaert and Halligan framework for analyzing public sector performance management is useful, albeit with some modifications. Specifically, it finds that administrative culture is a key factor influencing the speed of reform and that the attitude of elites (politicians and civil servants, in most cases) is also a vital piece of the puzzle that was not included in Bouckaert and Halligan, but did appear in the earlier framework of Pollitt and Bouckaert. It also finds evidence that economic and political crises occurring together accelerate the introduction of integrated performance management systems, but that trust in government does not appear to be a significant factor. Finally, the paper observes that, absent political crisis/commitment, governments will prioritise “external” performance measures such as customer service, participation and transparency objectives over “internal” performance measures such as financial, staff management and whole of government reporting.

The countries studied provide a rare insight into lesser‐known performance management regimes and the use of the Bouckaert and Halligan framework allows for comparisons to earlier (and future) research. The findings will be of interest to scholars in public administration reform and performance management.

This article seeks to assess how performance management in the public domain has evolved over the last several years both in terms of theory and practice in selected countries. The paper also aims to act as the editorial for the special issue of the journal.

Drawing on Bouckaert and Halligan as a framework for analysing performance management in the public sector, this paper reviews findings from their work (on the evolution of cases from six countries), a recent survey of seven countries from four continents, and three additional case studies at the micro, meso and macro levels of analysis.

The article finds that the evidence for progress towards a “performance governance” regime in the public domain is mixed, with little progress in countries outside the Anglo‐American or Nordic examples studied by Bouckaert and Halligan. Several reasons for this are suggested from the recent survey (in this issue), including the impact of public sector values and the role of elites. However, case studies of particular sectors in countries with limited progress on performance management in general (Portugal and Ireland) suggest that significant inroads can nevertheless be made along the trajectory proposed by Bouckaert and Halligan at micro and meso levels.

The paper draws together evidence from various examples of performance management in the public domain to critically assess and extend existing theory and to suggest alternative trajectories on the road to performance governance.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the scholarship on public management models and to advance the theoretical conceptualization of the complexity of performance management systems (PMSs). The paper explores how the characteristics of PMSs vary within and across different organizational units in common institutional context, based on the case of a regional authority in Italy.

A framework of analysis considering both objective and subjective factors was derived from a combination of performance typologies in the public sector, namely ideal types of managing performance (Bouckaert and Halligan, 2007) and performance regimes (Jakobsen et al., 2017). The combination of the characteristics of these two models across different Directorates General (DGs) has also been explored through a nested case study (Starman, 2013). Data were gathered via a desk analysis of official documents regarding the planning and programming of a regional authority along with in-depth interviews with top-level managers.

The results highlighted a clear differentiation of PMSs, both within and across DGs. The findings of the study reveal the hybrid nature of PMSs within a common institutional context.

Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Bouckaert and Halligan (2007) and Jakobsen et al. (2017), the paper provides an integrated approach for analysing PMSs, considering both objective and subjective dimensions. Insights and indications for future research on hybridity at a meso level of public organizations are highlighted.

Australia has been a leader in public sector performance management for around three decades yet there have been persistent weaknesses in the quality and use of performance information since the system was established. This paper seeks to identify and explain the key factors affecting the success of Australia's public sector performance management system.

The study distils six key influences on public sector performance management from academic and practitioner literature. It examines the data available from official documents, reviews and performance audits to identify and analyse the factors that have shaped the Australian system.

Australia's public sector performance management arrangements have been defined by strong external (political), structural and technical factors. These have been a very positive feature in achieving a stable and sophisticated system. This paper suggests that more emphasis on management, behavioural and cultural factors could be more beneficial than continuing to focus on purely technical refinements for further reform.

The results can contribute to refinement of policy and implementation in Australia. The diagnostic framework can be used for further analysis of public sector performance management in Australia or other countries.

The study draws on existing literature and information on the quality and impact of public sector performance management to develop a diagnostic framework and analyse Australia's experience. It identifies key attributes of Australia's success and factors that may be limiting further improvements.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/14777270010734055. When citing the article, please cite: S. Nicholls, R. Cullen, S. OʼNeill, A. Halligan, (2000), “Clinical governance: its origins and its foundations”, British Journal of Clinical Governance, Vol. 5 Iss: 3, pp. 172 - 178.

One of the insights gained from studying reforms in public organisations is that the political-administrative system is in a state of flux. Views of how to tackle problems and what the goals, solutions and consequences should be are changing when preconditions and constraints are changing. One important observation is that there is a mismatch between the way the public administration is organised in contemporary democracies and the wicked issues that the public sector organisations are set to handle. Big problems and tasks are seldom following organisational borders but are cutting across administrative levels, sectors and units, creating a lot of challenges for political and administrative leaders. Thus, there is a need for new steering mechanisms focusing on broad social outcomes to handle this challenge.