Performance Measurement Redux

Abstract

Recent developments in the United States in the use of performance measurement in science policy and higher education are used to comment further on the Perrin-Bernstein-Winstondebate about the effective use and misuse of performance measurement. Particular attention is given to the influence of political/organizational factors and the production processes of agencies on how performance measures are constructed and used. The analysis points to further limitations in the use of performance measurement. In both cases, long-gestating, probabilistic linkages between outputs and outcomes limit the usefulness of mainstream indicators as a measure of current agency performance and as a guide to major, discontinuous resource allocation decisions. Conspicuously absent from many performance measurement undertakings are provisions for evaluating the impact of the undertakings themselves. An updated account of the status of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) indicates that the Act has not had the impacts predicted for it.