Public Sector Reform in Germany: Views and Experiences from Senior Executives : Country Report as part of the COCOPS Research Project

This country report summarizes the findings from the COCOPS survey in Germany and aims to systematically map German experiences with administrative reform and performance management from a top executive perspective. It is based on answers from 566 public sector executives and separately describes the results for central government (both federal and Länder) as well as for the employment and health sector and also includes comparisons with the overall COCPS survey with 4814 answers from 10 European countries. The results of this executive survey confirm both an ongoing relevance of the legalistic Weberian tradition and a more incrementalist approach to public administration in Germany , but also bring a more nuanced image of the administrative reform introduced and implemented in Germany. The results show interesting differences at policy sector level and in particular a significantly higher adoption and institutionalization of performance management as well as a stronger reform intensity in the employment sector along with a significantly more positive assessment of these reforms. The data also indicate that a higher adoption of management instruments goes a long with a more positive assessment of administrative performance and – contrary to the common assumption – does not have a negative impact on factors such as work satisfaction, social capital and organizational commitment. From an international comparative perspective administrative we find evidence for a rather similar reform agenda with most other European countries but also a more hesitant adoption – especially of performance management – in Germany