ABSTRACT
It is hard to find any aspect of U.S. society today that does not focus on issues related to performance. Pick up any daily newspaper and one is likely to find some discussion and consideration about the way that institutions of our society are able to perform according to expectations. The daily press is especially concerned about performance in the public sector. This concern focuses on all levels of government (federal, state, and local) and cuts across many policy sectors. Perhaps the most frequent treatment of performance in the press highlights education and public expectations that children in public schools will perform more effectively than they had in the past. But this anxiety moves beyond education; it includes health, environment, welfare, foreign policy, national security, and a range of other public sector areas. It also is found in the for-profit private sector as well as the nonprofit sector. It is not an exaggeration to characterize concern about performance as ubiquitous.
