Reforming Mandaue City: The Struggle to Implement a Performance Governance System

The new mayor of Mandaue, the Philippines, Jonas Cortes presided over a local government that was struggling with its own culture, and had recently underwent a public corruption scandal. Faced with a lack of confidence in the office of the mayor by both city employees and the public, Cortes sought reform. He believes the path to this goal is implementing a performance governance system (PGS) to increase private-public partnership and civic commitment by government workers. Students are asked to put themselves in Cortes’ shoes and to provide recommendations on what the goals of the PGS should be, and how they can be achieved.

• Understand techniques for strategic reform (exemplified here by a version of the Balanced Scorecard) that are based on redefining vision, goals, strategic maps, key performance indicators, and associated organizational reforms.
• Analyze the promise and obstacles of cross-function collaboration—and display some practical ways to make it work.
• Show why public-private-nonprofit collaboration is crucial yet difficult—and suggest how to foster it institutionally and individually.
• Illustrate how leadership and management matter in implementing even a well-known strategic tool such as the Balanced Scorecard.
• Anticipate the many challenges of securing buy-in from employees and citizens alike—and demonstrate how new lines and “languages” of communication can overcome those obstacles.