Is bureaucracy ironclad after all? Prevalence and variances of performance- and strategy-oriented management in German local governments

Abstract

This study analyzes practices of performance management (PM) and strategic management (SM) and their prevalence in Neo-Weberian rule-of-law administrations. Based on data from Germany's local government sector, it is shown that after 30 years of New Public Management (NPM) reforms, no more than 20% of German municipalities have implemented the basic aspects of PM or SM. Actual practices combine ideas of PM and SM in quite different ways and can best be understood as variances of a performance- and strategy-oriented management. It is argued that even though patterns of normative as well as coercive isomorphism have existed in the organizational field, the influence of NPM ideas has led to a diversification of management practices within Germany's local government sector. But results also show that there is no tendency toward a broadly NPM-oriented administration and that typical models of Neo-Weberian administration do not truly align with actual practices. Points for practitioners The use of performance information and strategic goals are important management instruments for public organizations. This study shows that in public administrations adhering to more bureaucratic rule-of-law traditions, actual management practices combine aspects of PM and SM in various ways, often not aligning with the recommendations from the advisory literature. The presented insights may help practitioners to better understand the efforts and benefits of these management practices, as well as the trade-offs between them.