Performance management in Dutch central government

This article investigates how and to what extent performance indicators in Dutch central government are actually embedded in performance management. In a case study encompassing 12 government organizations, the relevance of the indicators presented is analysed in three stages: (1) with respect to the responsibilities for results intended in performance measurement, (2) with respect to responsibilities actually implied in resource allocation and (3) with respect to responsibilities ultimately to be inferred from governance – planning and control – systems applied. In our research, management control systems appear to be only partially tuned to the performance indicators specified in advance. The familiar expression ‘What you measure is what you get’ is thereby invalidated by all kinds of restrictions imposed on a manager’s actual responsibility for measurement outcomes.