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There has been a great deal of work undertaken on employee performance management with the Australian Public Service (APS) over the last 4 years. The objective has been to focus upon achieving high performance rather than merely preventing poor performance. This refocus was adopted to reflect the increasing complexity of the work, a rise in the need for knowledge work, and escalations in the speed and frequency of change; all this within a context requiring a reduction in costs while still meeting the growing expectations of the public and government.This pair of papers reflects on where employee performance management has got to as a result of the work. Dr. Damian West from the Australian Public Service Commission identifies the continuing importance of effective employee performance management to the APS and public sectors more widely. He highlights the progress that has been made so far, demonstrating the importance of implementation of the process. He suggests that, now that a framework for assessing the potential for employee performance management processes has been established, accountability of the system implementation and adoption will become paramount. Professor Deborah Blackman, whilst echoing the real progress that has been made, suggests that for real improvement in performance management outcomes there needs to be a fundamental shift in thinking; not in terms of the processes or of ensuring compliance, but rather that organizations undertaking performance management need to be much clear as to the strategic direction such a process is going to support. She suggests that there has been too much emphasis on having a system and not enough on determining what such a system is for. When the papers are combined, it can be seen that much progress has been made in terms of the reorientation towards high performance and how to support organizations to work towards this. The next step, for there to be real outcome improvements, is for organizations to be more overt in determining what high performance will look like in their context, then clarifying that to all those involved in developing performance management so that accountabilities at all levels can be agreed, supported, and effective.

Enhanced performance has been the focus of public administration and management research for years. High performance organizations have characteristics that differentiate them from others; they also utilize high performance work practices (HPWPs). A core HPWP is performance management, which seeks to align individual performance with organizational outcomes. We posit that performance management can enable high performance through managing employee expectations. Drawing on a study undertaken in the Australian Public Service, we demonstrate how using an expectancy theory lens helps explain how performance management can support high performance. We suggest that all three elements of expectancy theory—valance, expectancy, and instrumentality—need to be in place to support the creation of goal and role clarity, critical components of high performance. This offers practitioners a way of structuring effective conversations and scholars the opportunity to consider the theoretical implications of linking expectancy theories, performance management, and high performance.

AbstractThis article presents a continuum of possible coproduction arrangements between scholars and practitioners and suggests that greater engagement is necessary to bridge the commonly cited problems that create the gap between research and practice. Reflections on an Australian case of a major public sector coproduction partnership, the highest degree of interaction on the continuum, are used to argue that successful engagement between practitioners and scholars is possible, while also recognizing the difficulties inherent in this process. The benefits and challenges of this partnership are presented, as well as critical factors that drive effective relationships. Lessons are drawn for the development of future coproduction partnerships, including the importance of recognizing that both scholars and practitioners are, in fact, researchers.

AbstractThis Practice and Policy paper presents reflections on the opportunities and challenges of using a novel big data set, Microsoft 365 digital activity records, in a mixed method study of flexible working. Our experience identified methodological and ethical considerations for practitioners and researchers in public sector workforce analytics. The benefits include data captured in situ and over time for all employees. The limitations reflect the inadequacy of big data for representing the complexity of organisational behaviour and the need to accompany data collection with systems ensuring employee privacy and consent for the use of data not originally recorded for research or evaluation purposes. It contributes to knowledge through providing insights into what public sector big data sets contain and how such data can be accessed, interpreted, and used in workforce decision‐making.Points for practitioners
Digital activity records are a useful form of big data for public sector workforce analytics.
Digital activity records can support the identification of potential risks within the workforce such as social isolation and excessive work hours.
Big data must be contextualised with qualitative or other additional data to interpret data patterns and generate meaningful implementation insights.
Privacy and consent processes may require revision to fully utilise workforce big data.