ABSTRACT
To increase the competence, management capacity, and productivity of public employees, various competing models are used to improve the performance and responsiveness of government agencies. Since the early 1990s, many federal, state, and local agencies have applied performance management strategies based on variations of previously discussed marketdriven concepts such as business process reengineering (BPR), customer relationship management (CRM), continuous quality improvement (CQI), and Total Quality Management (TQM). Reinvention, responsiveness, and restoring faith and trust in government also appeared prominently in highlevel reform proposals in the United States, England, and in Europe (Gore, 1993; Hodge, 2000; Winter, 1993). Public managers now expend considerable time, effort, and resources exchanging best practices, finding best value, and rethinking government. Moreover, citizens expect public services that are as good as or better than those provided by the private sector. Whether governments can meet these expectations in today’s cost conscious, results-driven, and ideologically charged political environment is often the subject of political debate.
