ABSTRACT
In recent years, management techniques from industry have penetrated deep into public organizations. It is felt that, like companies, authorities provide products and services and that their performance can be appraised. A court can be appraised by standards such as the number of judgments it passes, a police force by the number of fixed penalty notices it issues and scientists by the number of their publications in scientific journals. A government organization that manages to define its products can show its performance, which may improve the effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy of government action.1
