Efficiency. Innovation. Results. Accountability. These, advocates claim, are the fruits of performance management. In recent decades government organizations have eagerly embraced the performance model--but the rush to reform has not delivered as promised.

Drawing on research from state and federal levels, Moynihan illustrates how governments have emphasized some aspects of performance management--such as building measurement systems to acquire more performance data--but have neglected wider organizational change that would facilitate the use of such information. In his analysis of...