Suchergebnisse

Performance appraisal is a particularly controversial management practice. In spite of the controversy, however, appraisal has been embraced by civil services around the world as a means of monitoring the performance of government employees. This paper looks at the experiences of the Singaporean, Thai and Filipino civil services in appraising the performance of senior government employees. It provides some description of the broader context in which appraisal operates, and a sketch of employment arrangements in the three administrations, before describing the methods by which senior government employees are appraised. The paper attempts to draw attention to the concept of 'culture' and its effects upon administrative practice, and argues that performance appraisal provides an excellent example of a practice which bears culture's influence.

Abstract:Private prison management has been examined as a policy initiative by at least two state governments in Australia. Queensland boasts the only privately managed gaol in the country, and New South Wales has expressed interest in the possibility of contracting out the management of one of its new gaols. In the United States where it had its genesis, private management of adult correctional facilities has existed since the mid‐1980s. Governments in America at federal, state and local levels have turned to private prison management because of budgetary constraints and chronic levels of overcrowding in their prisons and gaols due to an escalating rate of crime and incarceration. Private prison management in the United States has provided a last resort to a crisis situation. Among policy‐makers in Australia there seems little appreciation of the factors which have motivated private prison management in the United States. In Queensland and New South Wales there is a view at government level that the private sector may well be a better manager of gaols than government, and that private management will achieve cost savings for government. Even in the United States, however, private prison management is still at an experimental stage and there is no evidence as yet to support assumptions about superior management and cost effectiveness. Governments in Australia are not experiencing the same crises which have prompted certain governments in America to adopt private prison management. Instead of introducing private corporations into the field of corrections in Australia, governments should be attempting to improve the performance of their own gaols and to make greater use of the private sector in those areas where its contribution can be of most significance — in the design and construction of prison facilities.