Policy Work: Street-Level Organizations Under New Managerialism

Street-level organizations are pivotal players in the making of public policy. The importance of these organizations is reflected in new public management strategies that aim to influence how street-level organizations work, in part, by ''steering'' discretionary practices through performance-based incentives. The underlying assumptions are that if performance indicators provide the equivalent of a bottom line and incentives (or penalties) are attached to them, one can leave it to street-level organizations to determine how best to do policy work.