Topical and taking a bold stance in the contentious debate surrounding performance in the public sector, this new edition shows readers how performance thinking has a substantial impact on the management of public organizations. Thoroughly revised and updated, this highly successful text, written by an experienced academic and practitioner is packed full with a wealth of new features. These include: more examples and cases, from a variety of different sectors, including, hospitals, courts, school and universities a whole new chapter on the dynamics of performance management; answering the questions – how do PM systems evolve? Which effects will dominate in the long run? many extra recommendations for making PM attractive for managers. An informed and up-to-date analysis of this subject, this is an essential text for all those studying, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level, performance management in the public sector.