SOCS3100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Sales Presentation, Demographic Profile
25 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
SOCS3100
Policy Development, Program Management, and Evaluation
May 9, 2018
WEEK 9
Program Management, Performance Indicators, and Effectiveness Based
Program Design:
Political Necessity? Technical Possibility? Policy Desirability?
Program-Based Organization
• Government activity increasingly being packaged or structured around programs
• Past practice – different sections within a government agency reported their
budgets in terms of their own operational expenses
o Maintenance Division
▪ Staffing
▪ Accommodation
▪ Equipment
▪ Consumables
▪ Administration
• Performance would be sub-unit specific
o Maintenance enquiry line waiting time reduced by 7%
o 14% increase in number of maintenance requests actioned
Terms
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• Public Policy – purposive course of action followed by government in dealing with
some problem or matter of concern
• Program – set of rules, routines, and resources (including personnel) in an
agency designed to carry out a policy or portion thereof
• Project – usually means a program of defined duration (start and finished times)
Policies → Programs
• Foreign policy of Aus is to become an independent middle level power
o Increase in defense programs
o Increase in economic integration in Asia programs
• Social policy of a Labor government is to remove poverty
o Income support programs
o Labor market programs
o Medicare programs
Relation of policies to programs is sometimes slippery.
• Policies may be re-labelled for PR purposes . . .But programs remain the same
o Whats going on in the ground is no different
• Policy direction may change . . .And the programs delivering it altered
accordingly
o Change policy and program
• Stated policies may be continued . . .But programs changed in accordance with
new unstated goals
o Saying same policy but program changes, possibly subtle
Performance Management
• Want good measures of evaluation built from the beginning
• About performance measurement and using it to inform what youre doing
• Clear in setting objectives, developing measurable indicators about progress
towards objectives, mechanism for gathering data
Greener
1. Planning the Program
a. Complications . . . Who does the planning?
i. The political objective?
1. Often only a name, budget, vague concept/guidelines
a. Doesnt describe all operational procedures,
performance indicators, etc.
ii. The public service managers?
1. Develop the politicians announcements further
a. Performance indicators
b. Which parts of the department?
iii. NGOs who receive contracts?
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1. Ex. USA model – NGO designs program, applies for funding
2. Ex. Australia – NGOs usually tender for programs already
designed by political executive/public service managers
a. All objectives and methods are set already
3. Need level of detail
b. Setting objectives
i. EXAMPLE: Traffic department planning
1. Traders want more people brought to the commercial center
a. They can sell more stuff
2. Residents want less traffic congestion
a. Live there, want to get around more easily
3. Planners stuck with previous planning decisions
a. Towns been there for 200 years, roads and housing
built around old road structure
4. Restricted by heritage listing of buildings and spaces
c. Developing measurable indicators of these goals
i. Hard to get data
ii. People sometimes just adopt indicators they can get data from
1. Sometimes useful, sometimes not
d. Developing measures of activities
2. Implementation
a. Resistance from professionals / implementers
i. Need mechanisms to manage resistance, dealing with those not
doing things correctly
ii. Applies to workers on the ground
b. Selling (persuading / convincing) and telling (coercion)
i. Marketing of rationale
ii. Sales pitch that sells it to the implementers
iii. Capacity to coerce them to do it (ex. sanction, penalty)
iv. Doesnt feature if the implementers are correct
3. Evaluation / Performance Management
a. Are you learning anything that will actually make it a better program?
4. Corrective Action / New Cycle
a. Management ethos needed
Performance Measurement can have perverse effects
1. Provide incentive for gaming
a. Just doing stuff to rate highly on indicators
b. Neglecting real work to be done
2. Block innovation – reject activities that cannot be measured, sticking to cash
cows
a. Wont direct resources away from things generating performance
indicators
3. Block ambition – achieve output with lowest possible investment
a. Creaming – avoiding the difficult cases
b. Not a good idea to vastly exceed targets, makes higher targets for you
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Policies programs: foreign policy of aus is to become an independent middle level power. Increase in economic integration in asia programs: social policy of a labor government is to remove poverty. Income support programs: labor market programs, medicare programs. Relation of policies to programs is sometimes slippery: policies may be re-labelled for pr purposes . but programs remain the same: what(cid:1685)s going on in the ground is no different, policy direction may change . and the programs delivering it altered accordingly: change policy and program, stated policies may be continued . but programs changed in accordance with new unstated goals: saying same policy but program changes, possibly subtle. Performance management: want good measures of evaluation built from the beginning, about performance measurement and using it to inform what you(cid:1685)re doing, clear in setting objectives, developing measurable indicators about progress towards objectives, mechanism for gathering data. Usa model ngo designs program, applies for funding: ex.
