School of Public Administrationand Policy, Renmin University of China

On September 25, 2018, the academic seminar "Government Performance Management in the New Era: Opportunities and Challenges" organized by School of Public Administration, Research Center for Evidence-based Governance of Renmin University of China, and Public Administration and Policy Review magazine was successfully held in Room 601 of the Hospital of Renmin University of China.

The seminar was composed of the stages of Chinese government innovation, international experience sharing, domestic innovation research and discussion summary. 17 experts and scholars from home and abroad and managers of practice departments delivered speeches and participated in the discussion. The seminar attracted about 90 participants from academia and management practical fields.

Prof. Yang Kaifeng, Dean of our College, gave a welcome speech at the seminar. President Yang Kaifeng introduced the scientific research and work of the participants, and explained the background and significance of the seminar.             

The first stage of the seminar was chaired by Professor Liu Peng, Professor and Director of the Qingdao Branch of the National Institute for Strategic Development. On the topic of "Innovation in Chinese Government", the participants, including Sun Junfeng, Deputy Director of the Human Resources Centre of the Ministry of Land and Resources, Zhong Yuan, Director of the Performance Management Research Office of the Human Resources Centre of the Ministry of Land and Resources, Fu Shulin, Deputy Director of the General Office of the State Administration of Taxation, Liu Shuichang, Director of the Inspection and Performance Management Division of the General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and other managers from practice departments, made presentations and discussed issues of interest. spoke respectively with their practical experiences and discussed issues of interest.

Among them, Deputy Director Sun Junfeng and Director Zhong Yuan introduced the work history of the performance management of the Ministry of Land and Resources from the establishment of rules and regulations, adjustment and improvement to optimization and enhancement, the main practices and characteristics of the leadership mechanism, institutional framework, assessment content, assessment process, assessment methods and application of results, summarized the main results and put forward thoughts on further promoting government performance management.

Director Liu Shuichang introduced the performance management practice of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, which combines inspection and assessment, and introduced the performance management system formed after more than eight years of practice. On the basis of summarising the effectiveness of the work, Director Liu looked forward to the main directions of the next work from four aspects: system, multiple evaluation, foundation and system.

The second stage of the seminar was chaired by Associate Professor Ma Liang. On the topic of "Sharing International Experiences", Mr. John M. Kamensky, Senior Fellow of IBM Center for Government Operations and Convener of the US Federal Government Reform Group, Mr. Gary R. VanLandingham, Professor of School of Public Administration and Policy and Director of MPA Program of Florida State University, and Mr. John M. Kamensky, Director of MPA Program of Florida State University. Professor VanLandingham, Professor Andrew Podger, Professor Emeritus of the Australian National University and former President of the Australian Public Management Association, Professor Evan Berman, Professor of the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and Visiting Professor of the School of Public Administration, Renmin University of China, and other foreign experts and scholars, combined their practical experience and academic views. They gave speeches and answered questions from the floor.

Mr John M. Kamensky summarised the evolution of the US federal performance management framework over the past 25 years, from why performance assessment and management is so difficult, the background of the US federal government, initial steps by the US federal government, efforts to expand the performance of the US federal government, institutionalising the use of performance information in the federal government, lessons learned and future steps.

Professor Gary R. VanLandingham presented and looked at the present and future of evidence-based policymaking in the US government. He introduced the topic "Why is US government performance still problematic?" He introduced the topic by briefly reviewing the history of government performance reform in the US, summarising its limitations and the steps to achieve the desired outcomes.

Professor Andrew Podger reviewed the history of performance management in Australia, the US and the Netherlands, and gave his insights and thoughts on the development of performance management in China in terms of the systematic use of experimentation and decentralisation to explore new policies and policy implementation, the extensive use of performance management techniques and the promotion of broader social and environmental improvement policies.

Professor Evan Berman opens by illustrating the diversity of performance management in terms of both process and objectives, and goes on to present new developments in performance management in the Asia-Pacific region in areas such as building local capacity, increasing collaboration, strategic leadership, creativity and innovation.

The third session of the workshop was chaired by Professor Li Wenzhao. The speakers included Professor Liu Xutao from the Department of Public Administration of the National School of Administration, Professor Shang Hu Ping from the Department of Administrative Management of the Zhou Enlai School of Government of Nankai University, Associate Professor Zhang Zhang from the Department of Administrative Management of the School of Public Administration of Renmin University of China, and Associate Professor Wang Xuejun from the School of Management of Lanzhou University, who spoke on the topic of "Innovation Research in China".

Professor Liu Xutao, with the help of the analytical framework of the "three circles" theory of "value-support-capacity", launched the research and discussion on the demands for government performance management, the constraints for promoting government performance management, and understanding the attitudes and opinions of stakeholders.

Through an empirical analysis of 172 cases of policy interventions in China between 2007 and 2017, Professor Shang Hu Ping found that it was the demands of the public rather than the government's self-interest that pushed the government's "visible hand", emphasising the need to improve the national governance system and modernise the country's governance capacity in the context of strengthening and innovating social governance, maintaining social harmony and stability, and ensuring the country's long-term peace and security and people's well-being.

By comparing the previous government performance management and the post-reform and opening-up government performance management, Associate Professor Zhang Zhang discusses the development of the government performance management system and the internal and external needs, information and response issues, as well as the improvement of the short-term government performance management system, and makes suggestions on the direction of the future government performance management system.

By measuring public value identity, Associate Professor Wang Xuejun studied the mechanism of public value identity on organisational performance, introduced the concept of public value to the study of value commitment and value identity in the public sector, deconstructed public value identity from three levels: "individual value preference - collective value preference - organisational constructed value", and further clarified the mechanism structure of public value identity.

The seminar concluded with an extensive and lively discussion on the theme of "The Future of Chinese Government Performance Management", moderated by Professor Liu Xutao. The seminar concluded with concluding remarks by Ding Ning, Executive Vice President of the China Association for Institutional Management and Research and Research Institute of the Centre for Performance Evaluation at Peking University, and Professor Yang Kaifeng, Dean of the School of Public AdministrationandPolicy at Renmin University of China.