While the Department of Health and Human Services, the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the
Department of Education have begun to link executive
performance management systems to organizational success,
the SES has opportunities to make their agency cultures
more results-oriented, customer focused and collaborative
in nature, the General Accounting Office has said.
Valid, reliable and transparent performance management
systems with reasonable safeguards are critical in this
process, as are the sharing of experiences and knowledge
between agencies, said GAO, which previously reported on
opportunities for agencies to hold SES accountable for
improving organizational results.
Senior executive performance ratings remain consistently
high and less meaningful as a result. About 86 percent of
HHS senior executives received the highest rating in
fiscal 2003, though the agency only gives bonuses to one
third of executives in each operating division, said GAO.
It said three-fourths of NASA senior executives got the
highest rating with 52 percent receiving bonuses in 2003,
and that nearly all of Education’s senior executives got
the highest ratings with 63 percent of receiving bonuses.
GAO said data for executive branch agencies for fiscal
2002 shows about 75 percent of senior executives rated at
the highest levels with about 49 percent receiving bonuses
— and that less than half of those executives feel
performance management is used to the fullest extent
possible. sparklist.com.
