Results Management: Can Results Evidence Gain a Foothold in the Public Sector?

Introduction Results management has become common in the public and not-for-

profi t sectors (Mayne and Zapico, 1997; Moynihan, 2006; Norman, 2002; OECD, 2005; Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2000). I will be using the term results management to cover a variety of terms used in the literature, such as result-based management, managing for results, managing for outcomes, outcome-focused management, performance-based management and performance management. Refl ect ing on several decades of public sector reform in member countries, the OECD (2005: 56) concludes: “The performance orientation in public management is here to stay. The benefi ts of being clearer inside and outside government about purposes and results are un deniable.”