Performance indicators and social constructivism: conflict and control in housing management

As practitioners prepare to implement ‘best value’ models in housing management, it is clear that the measurement and evaluation of all aspects of service provision will have significant organizational consequences. This article argues that the use of performance indicators (PIs) reconfigures traditional power structures and mechanisms of control within organizations. Thus although PIs are generally perceived as valuable management instruments, we suggest that their privileged status in practice results in an oppositional culture whereby staff adopt strategies of resistance. The article is divided into four parts. The first part outlines our methodological approach. Here we set out the merits of a constructivist framework for a critique of recent developments in housing practice. The second part considers the background to the emergence of a performance culture in the public sector. By focusing on issues of power and conflict, the third part makes use of empirical research to highlight how the discourse of ‘performance management’ permeates housing practice. Finally, we provide some examples of other areas of housing practice, which can usefully be explored from a social constructivist perspective.