Performance Management and Performance Appraisal: Czech Self-Governments

Managing and measuring performance became an important part of administrative reforms motivated by the New Public Management ideology. However, a badly implemented system designed for measuring and managing performance may distort the behaviours of actors. The goal of this paper is to outline the preliminary picture of the current situation of performance management generally and particularly of performance appraisal at the level of the Czech local and regional self-governments. The presented data, despite the fact that our field research covers only a non-representative samples of the “best” self-government bodies, show first that performance and quality management is not a neglected area in the Czech Republic. Its practice is rather decentralized, and the central government focuses on methodical support and coordination rather than on being strict and requiring certain tools to be implemented. The core problems revealed by the interviews are that the implementation of new instruments is usually based on a trial-and-error approach in its beginnings and that the implementation is award- and project-driven. Our preliminary data clearly indicate that the performance-appraisal situation is even more problematic - they indicate that performance-appraisal systems are introduced in only a limited number of self-government authorities. The set of criteria used in the evaluation is problematic, and the objectives of the performance appraisal are unclear for managers. As a general rule, a performance-appraisal system is not directly linked with implemented performance management and especially not with a payment system.