SANDERSON, Ian <br/><br/>
Performance management, evaluation annd learning in `modern`local government 

 -  2001 
<br/><br/> Public sector reforms throughout OECD member states are producing a new model of `public governance`embodyng a more modest role for the state and a strong emphasis on performance management. In the UK the development of performance management in the context of the `new public management` has been primarily `top-down` with a dominant concern for enhancing control and `upwards accountablity`rather than promoting learning and improvment. The development of performance  management and evaluation in local government in the UK has been conditioned by external pressures, especially reforms imposed  by central government,  which have  encouraged an `instrumental-managerial`focus on performance measurement. The new Labour government`s programme of `modernizing local government`laces considerable emphasis on performance review and evaluation as a driver of continuous  improvement inpromotng Best Value. Howeer, recent reserach has indicated that the capacity for evaluation in localgovernment is uneven and many obstacles to evaluation exist in organizational cultures. Local authorities need to go beyond the development  of review systms and processes to ensure that the capacity for evaluation and learning is embeded as an attribute of `culture` in order to achieve the purpose of Best Value