Commentary: Navigating the Conceptual Space of Performance

• Author: Jeppe Bøgh Andersen
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12672
• Published date: 01 November 2016
• Date: 01 November 2016

862 Public Administration Review • November | December 2016

Jeppe Bøgh Andersen is chief

financial officer for the Danish municipality

of Gentofte. He has worked in and with

local government as a manager and

consultant for 16 years.

E-mail: jba@gentofte.dk

Commentary

R eaders looking for useful guidance to improve

performance in public administration

should not make the error of bypassing the

article by Lotte Bøgh Andersen, Andreas Boesen,

and Lene Holm Pedersen, “Performance in Public

Organizations: Clarifying the Conceptual Space,”

in a search for articles that seem to have more direct

applicability.

Performance, how to change it, and in which

direction: these are central questions for politicians

and administrators alike. Performance makes or

breaks careers—and how performance is defined

is no trivial matter: it affects all public employees

and their workday. Defining performance as

compliance with standards (process) or as outcomes

(e.g., achieving permanence of employment for the

formerly jobless) may also affect the level of service

that citizens experience. Likewise, the choice of

performance criteria affects resource consumption;

cost containment as the main performance criterion

typically means lower resource consumption at the

expense of professional quality.

“The results were bad, but the process was good,”

a statement we have heard too many times,

demonstrates the importance of performance criteria

and shows that some managers actively redefine

performance as process to make it appear meaningful.

The aim of the article, to “help researchers select what

to study and what to leave out,” is relevant and needed,

Jeppe Bøgh Andersen

Gentofte Kommune , Denmark

Navigating the Conceptual Space of Performance

Mr. Jeppe Andersen is the brother of one of

the authors, Dr. Lotte Bøgh Andersen.

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 76, Iss. 6, pp. 862–863. © 2016 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12672.