Content and drivers of performance management in agency-type organizations of the hungarian public administration

The improving performance of public administration and the reform of public financing system have been on agenda in Hungary for many years, in accordance with the international trends. However, governments have not expected and supported creating of a performance-oriented public administration in a comprehensive and explicit way. Nevertheless, there are bottom-up initiatives at organizational level, which target performance-oriented organizational function. The research focuses on organizations of central public administration where the successful application of performance management methods is most likely based on the international literature. These are the so called agency-type organizations, which are in Hungary called autonomous state-administration organizations independent of the Government (e.g. Hungarian Competition Authority), government bureaus (e.g. Hungarian Central Statistical Office), and central offices subordinated to the government (either the cabinet or a ministry) (e.g. Hungarian Meteorological Service). The studied agencies are legally independent organizations with managerial autonomy based on public law. The purpose of this study is to get an overview on organizational level performance management tools applied by Hungarian agencies, and to reveal the reasons and drivers of the application of these tools. The empirical research is based on a mixed methods approach which combines both quantitative methods and qualitative procedures. The first – quantitative – phase of the author’s research was content analysis of homepages of the studied organizations. As a results she got information about all agencies and their practice related to some performance management tools. The second – qualitative – phase was based on semi-structured face-to-face interviews with some senior managers of agencies. The author selected the interviewees based on the results of the first phase, the relatively strong performance orientation was an important selection criteria.

Gazdasági kórkép alulnézetből 2. rész (Syndrome of Hungarian Economy from Bottom-view - part 2.)

A magyar gazdaság új növekedési pályára állása a kilencvenes évek végére tehető, s ebben meghatározó szerepe volt a pótlólagos erőforrásként szolgáló külföldi működőtőke-befektetéseknek. A nemzetközi tőkeáramlás ezredfordulót követő módosulása (csökkenő volumen, változó irányultság) kedvezőtlenül érintette a hazai gazdaságot, aminek egyik következménye a beruházások csökkenése és a növekedési ütem lassulása, másik következménye viszont – a jövedelemkiáramlást semlegesítő hatás elmaradása miatt – a fizetési mérleg romlása. Ebben a helyzetben halaszthatatlanná vált az államháztartási egyensúlyromlás megállítása, illetve a gazdasági fejlődés új alapokra helyezése. A szerző elemzésében – a hazai versenyszektor eredményességi és vagyoni jellemzőinek értékelésével – azt szeretné jelezni, hogy az egyensúlytalansági állapot megszüntetése nem szorítkozhat az államháztartási rendszerre, vagyis az ország helyzetének stabilizálása, majd új növekedési pályára állás nem képzelhető el a gazdaság átfogó modernizációja nélkül. Vizsgálata a ténylegesen működő (343 ezer) hazai társas vállalkozás 2000–2008. évi pénzügyi beszámolóinak adataira épül. Álláspontja szerint a mintavétel nagysága ellensúlyozza az esetleges torzító hatásokat (lásd: helyenként előforduló kreatív beszámolók), így a vállalkozások mennyiségi gyarapodása, méret szerinti megoszlása, a gazdasági tevékenység jellege, a teljesítmények és eredmények alakulása, a vállalkozói vagyon módosulása megbízhatóan értékelhető, illetve a tapasztalatok alapján a korrekciós intézkedések igénye és azok tartalma is jól körvonalazható. Tanulmányát így ajánljuk a téma iránt érdeklődőknek, a versenyszektor szereplőinek, de leginkább a gazdaságpolitika formálóinak. _________ The economic performance during the transition period was characterized by the alternations of fulfilled hopes and unrealized expectations. The economic restructuring and changes in market relations took place during the first decade, while new – mostly foreign – investment groups entered on the new market. As a result the economy was stabilized and was put to a new growth path. But after the millennium the foreign investment based economy development strategy was no more adequate. The new engine for the growth should have been the domestic small and medium enterprise sector (SsME), but despite the subsidies this sector was not strengthened to take this role. The author – the researcher of BCE, and the ex-president of APpEH – analyses the characteristics of the domestic business demography, performance and effectiveness, based on the 2000–2008 annual financial statements of the business sector. In the author’s analysis – with assessment of the domestic business sector and financial performance characteristicst - he would like to point out that the imbalance can not be confined to the elimination of state government system, that is, the country’s situation to stabilize, and then post a new growth path is not conceivable without the modernization of the economy overall. In his view, the sample size outweighed the possible distortionary effects (see occurring in places of creative accounts), so the growth of business volume, size distribution, the nature of economic activity, the evolution of performance and results, a reliable assessment of changes in the business of property and the experience on the basis of the need for corrective action, and its contents are also well delineated. Sstudy it is recommended for those interested in the topic, the business sector actors, but most of the economic policy makers.

An examination of the relationship of governance structure and performance: Evidence from banking companies in Bangladesh

Corporate governance has become increasingly important in developed and developing countries just after a series of corporate scandals and failures in a number of countries. Corporate governance structure is often viewed as a means of corporate success despite prior studies reveal mixed, somewhere conflicting and ambiguous, and somewhere no relationship between governance structure and performance. This study empirically investigates the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and financial performance of listed banking companies in Bangladesh by using two multiple regression models. The study reveals that a good number of companies do not comply with the regulatory requirements indicating remarkable shortfall in corporate governance practice. The companies are run by the professional managers having no duality and no ownership interest for which they are compensated by high remuneration to curb agency conflict. Apart from some inconsistent relationship between some corporate variables, the corporate governance mechanisms do not appear to have significant relationship with financial performances. The findings reveal an insignificant negative impact or somewhere no impact of independent directors and non-independent non-executive directors on the level of performance that strongly support the concept that the managers are essentially worthy of trust and earn returns for the owners as claimed by stewardship theory. The study provides support for the view that while much emphasis on corporate governance mechanisms is necessary to safeguard the interest of stakeholders; corporate governance on its own, as a set of codes or standards for corporate conformance, cannot make a company successful. Companies need to balance corporate governance mechanisms with performance by adopting strategic decision and risk management with the efficient utilization of the organization’s resources.

Az egyéni teljesítményértékelési rendszer működésének tapasztalatai a magyar közigazgatásban (Operating experiences of the individual performance appraisal system in the Hungarian public sector)

A tanulmány – egy 2005 végén lefolytatott, országosan reprezentatív kérdőíves felmérés empirikus bázisán – a magyar közigazgatási dolgozók körében 2002-től bevezetett egyéni teljesítményértékelési rendszert vizsgálja. A rendszer egészét tekintve a vizsgálat végkövetkeztetései nem túl rózsásak: az eredmények arra utalnak, hogy a rendszer mint egész nem képes kitűzött fő célját, a munkateljesítmények javítását elérni. Az egyes részrendszerek, szervezettípusok szintjén differenciáltabb eredményeket kapunk, míg a minisztériumokban a rendszer egésze a szándékolttól alapvetően különböző célokat látszik szolgálni, addig a többi szervezettípusnál inkább „csak” a rendszer tökéletlen működéséről beszélhetünk. ____ On the basis of a questionnaire survey of a nationally representative sample of Hungarian civil servants, the study attempts to give a preliminary evaluation of the individual performance assessment system introduced in 2002 throughout the Hungarian civil service. The general conclusion of the analysis is that the performance assessment system is unlikely to reach its goals: its central element, the performance related pay incentives are overly dispersed and, on the average, insignificant in size, meanwhile the objectivity of performance assessments is also questionable. Moreover, comparative analysis of responses from different administrative branches reveals an interesting idiosyncrasy characteristic for central government ministries. Here, the main function of the incentive system seems to be ensuring the labor market competitiveness of the ministries as employers by enabling them to pay higher-than-usual salaries for employees having certain types of expertise.