How effective has management by objectives (MBO) been in the public sector, and why? Robert Rodgers and John Hunter offer the results of a meta-analysis of 70 studies of MBO adoptions in both the public and private sectors, and theirfindings indicate that MBO has had a positive impact on productivity in all the public sector agencies studied. These studies indicate that the greatest gains were generated in agencies where top management was highly committed to the approach. Their analysis also shows that MBO has been as effective in the public sector and it has been in the private sector. Management by objectives (MBO) is a management system that incorporates the features of three processes that are known to constitute good management practice in government: participation in decision making, goal setting, and objective feedback. A compelling base of theory underpins each process (Drucker, 1954).
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Rodgers et al. (1992) studied this question.