Internal performance management with UK higher education: an amorphous system?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the internal performance management of UK universities. Design/methodology/approach – Semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with numerous staff within each university, attendance at key meetings and reviews of documentation. Grounded Theory was adopted to analyse the information obtained to understand how the strategy and accounting interacted with performance systems in the universities studied. Findings – An amorphous, decoupled system was identified with poor feedback loops resulting in a lack of accountability and ownership of the system. Research limitations/implications – The research reported on the experiences of two universities through case study analysis. Further research is required to understand the extent to which the issues reported here are more widespread and the implications of such. Practical implications – The paper suggests that the challenge for policy makers/university management is to facilitate a change in the managerial weltanshauung to one where the environment is more conducive to performance management in a constructive manner Originality/value – The notion of managerial weltanshauung in universities is developed and discussed in relation to nurturing performance management. The paper will be of interest to university managers and policy makers.