PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN THE SOVIET UNION : A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK by Anastasia Mironova and Tony Bovaird

This paper derives from a wider research programme on comparative performance management techniques in a range of open economic systems, which explores new and unconventional approaches to understanding complexity in modern public service organisations. The paper focuses upon performance management within the Soviet Union in its final years, a period during which the long-established command-and-control routines of central planning were becoming moderated by a wave of economic reforms. The paper develops a conceptual framework within which the performance management rituals of the Soviet system are viewed as a complex and interactive set of negotiating activities between different levels of organisation and different levels of management, rather than as a top-down “systemic control” activity. The paper explores the limitations and contradictions of previous research, which has often tended to dismiss the Soviet Union’s industrial performance record without regard to its context. It argues that Soviet management was not as inefficient as it has often been portrayed, given the context within which it had to operate. It suggests that some of the reasons for excellent performance in certain sectors can be attributed to their performance management systems, as well as to the ingenuity of Soviet managers and their ability to learn A set of hypotheses are developed to guide future exploration of these themes, in order that some of the lessons of the Aston Business School Research Institute is the administrative centre for all research activities at Aston Business School. The School comprises more than 70 academic staff organised into thematic research groups along with a Doctoral Programme of more than 50 research students. Research is carried out in all of the major areas of business studies and a number of specialist fields. For further information contact: The Director, Aston Business School Research Institute, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET Telephone No: (0121) 359 3611 Fax No: (0121) 333 5620 http://www.abs.aston.ac.uk/ Aston Business School Research Papers are published by the Institute to bring the results of research in progress to a wider audience and to facilitate discussion. They will normally be published in a revised form subsequently and the agreement of the authors should be obtained before referring to its contents in other published works. Performance Management in the Soviet Union: A Conceptual Framework 2 decades of performance management in the Soviet Union may be made available to Western organisations, particularly in the public sector, which have been pushed down this route in recent years.