J. D. Sauerländer's Verlag, Bad Orb

Performance Measurement Systems gained importance during the last two decades. Beginning from the mid 90’s there is a notable increase of administrations using such kind of management tools. The benefits of the PMS are widely accepted in the industrial sector, but there are ambiguous experiences in the public sector. First implementations in the European forest sector took place since 2000. The Forest Administration of Baden-Württemberg (Germany) is used as a case study for the European forest sector. The study uses the results of an extensive survey amongst US-American administrations as a standard of comparison. Evaluation theory is used as methodological framework, PMS theory provides relevant criteria for the appraisal of the success of these methods. The paper presents the key-results of the survey related to nine criteria. After four years it can be shown that PMS are a feasible approach for forest enterprises and administrations. The level of acceptance and use of the systems meets international standards. There is a relevant capability to increase the commitment to the strategy and to improve the performance of the whole organization. Especially the operationalisation is one key success factor. On the other hand it becomes obvious that the implementation of PMS requires a tremendous input of financial and staff resources. There is a significant risk to fail with the multidimensional use. In addition the derivation of relevant valid indicators for “soft factors” outside the financial and physical sphere of a forest organization is crucial. A conclusion is that PMS are basically a feasible approach for forest enterprises and administrations. But the implementation needs a detailed analysis of the organizational and administrational framework. Most important are factors such as the ability to develop a mid-term strategy, the resources in terms of time and money and the question, whether it is possible to guarantee a sufficient participation of the members of staff and the managers.

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