Having It Both Ways? Balancing Knights and Knaves When Motivating European Commission Officials

In: Review of public personnel administration, Band 31, Heft 4, S. 369-385

Abstract

Is New Public Management (NPM) a threat to motivation in public organizations? Large parts of the public administration literature seem concerned that it might be the case. Through an in-depth case study of the implementation of a NPM-inspired appraisal system in the European Commission, an organization which has traditionally branded itself on strong intrinsic and altruistic motivation among employees, this claim is investigated. The case study concludes that, while the organization formally balances the two different approaches to motivation of employees, implementing performance management while underlining the importance the European project as well, in practice it is not possible to have it both ways. The performance appraisal system is undermined from below and transformed by employees and middle management into a system that is similar to the system in place before it was introduced.