Targets and Terror – England’s Public Services Management Revolution

Are targets an effective means of boosting operational efficiency and motivating staff? The book Targets and Terror – England’s Public Services Management Revolution by William Barclay recognises some possible positives but more significantly a range of serious negatives.  Targets have given rise to dysfunctional unintended consequences, gaming and seriously damaging effects on staff. The consequences for service users have been standards of delivery that have fallen well below the levels required, the favouring of some client groups and the disadvantaging of others, and the lessening of the availability of some previously existing provision. Alleged gaming approaches have included Accident and Emergency hospital patients kept in ambulances to stop waiting times commencing, schools not admitting students thought likely to restrict attainment outcomes and police forces diverting resources to ‘low-level’ crime in order to meet clear-up rate targets. The impacts of targets are amplified when they are used in conjunction with league tables of the performance of different work groups. Stress levels have been substantially increased as a result of imposed targets requiring ever more demanding levels of performance, public embarrassment through naming and shaming, and the likelihood of career sanctions for perceived underperformance including demotion or even dismissal.

The book shows how targets impact negatively on a range of management responsibilities including working relationships, team work, performance management and strategy development. It considers also why the use of targets and league tables finds little support in the writings of the most highly regarded management theorists. Some wider aspects of the work of UK public service managers are described that illustrate how management theories do not always align with reality. Experiential guidance is provided on managing people, developing effective teams, performance management, and setting strategy in dynamic environments. The 120-page Octavo-size book can be purchased from Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Targets-Terror-Englands-Management-Revolution/dp/1916035388