Administrative performance measurement and public sector reform
7. Concluding remarks
Even though almost all government offices in Japan have introduced the APM system and evaluated their services to a greater or lesser degree, the
results have not been utilized practically thus far. One of the reasons for not utilizing the results of the evaluation is considered to stem from the style of the evaluation report, not quantitative. As a result, such an evaluation is often criticized as “subjective.” Even worse, evaluations are often carried out as self-appraisals, resulting in further criticism about their leniency to themselves. Therefore, the employment of objective criteria and the introduction of external evaluations are necessary steps for enhancing the reliability of evaluation systems (Mori, 2003).
In addition, taking both the tight fiscal conditions of local governments and citizens’ claims for clarifying administrative responsibility into account, public sector reform has been one of the most pressing issues for administrative organizations. Most services, however, have not yet been reformed, which is criticized as “turning an evaluation itself into an end.” The gap between introducing APM and the deadlock in reform is considered to arise from the difficulty in obtaining consensus for transferring authority. Authoritarianism or political shackles may be behind the difficulties.
This chapter proposes a rational approach to the APM by applying the AHP and considers a possible scheme of public sector reform based on the evaluation results. The application of the AHP quantifies not only the subjective judgment of evaluators in appraisals but also the achievement of public services based on outcome indices. This quantification enables an administrative organization to utilize the results of the evaluation in a practical way: such as the reflection of the results to budgeting, as shown in Figure 5.2, and the fulfillment of administrative management accountability referred to in a survey on public opinion as illustrated in Figure 5.3. In addition, the proposed scheme of public sector reform clarifies the transparent matching process of public services of a local government with substitutable sectors. This process gives rationale to transferring authority from the public sector to other substitutable sectors, the results of which suggest sustainable public management.
On the other hand, this chapter has some limitations. First, the proposed APM system might not function well in some cases. If members of an organization share values and have a common objective, the system will work because it promotes understanding of issues and derives convincing results for every member. However, in case they have diverse backgrounds or there exist political shackles in the organization, the system might not function because the solid framework of the system may not fit every member. If an administrative organization corresponds to the latter type, the proposed APM system will not work well. In such a case, further modification of the framework of the system needs to be explored.
Second, the proposed APM system might not be successively operated without legal support. Public administration is led by the head of local
government, such as a mayor or a governor, elected through an election. The operation of the APM system and the treatment of its results are, therefore, sometimes affected by their campaign promises. In order to continuously carry out APM and utilize its results, establishing a bylaw is necessary. Although the legal support for the APM is not in the scope of this chapter, we need to consider this issue in the future.
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Biographical note
Yuji SATO received a Ph.D. degree in Engineering from the Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan, in 1999. He works in the Graduate School of Management, Chukyo University as a full professor.
He was the dean of the school from 2017 to 2019. He published chapters from prestigious journals such as the International Journal of Production Economics, Annals of Operations Research, and Industrial Management
& Data Systems. He is also the editorial board member of the International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process. In addition to the efforts of his academic pursuit, he is eager to train young researchers and establish their academic research environment.
Suggested citation (APA Style 6th ed.)
Sato, Y. (2023). A challenge for sustainable public management:
Administrative performance measurement and public sector reform. In A.
Ujwary-Gil, A. Florek-Paszkowska, & A. Kozioł (Eds.), Economic Policy, Business, and Management in the Post-Pandemic Perspective (pp. 115-130).
Warsaw: Institute of Economics, Polish Academy of Sciences.