Суррогация в муниципальном управлении (по материалам зарубежных исследований)

Abstract

Introduction. In this article the author tries to conduct a critical analysis of the scientific literature devoted to the problem of surrogation in municipal administration. The relevance of this topic is justified by the need to scientifically comprehend the results of implementation of assessment of managerial labor in state and municipal administration by quantitative indicators, also known as KPIs. It is assumed that the implementation of corporate management tools, borrowed from the U.S., may lead to non-acceptance by the subjects of management of the new principles of assessment of their work. This article provides a retrospective of scientific and specialized publications devoted to the problem of surrogacy in management. Methods. The main methods of this study are comparative analysis, analysis of documents, critical analysis of scientific literature. The aim of the study is to analyze the outstanding works of foreign and domestic authors devoted to the problem of using quantitative indicators to assess the effectiveness of managerial work in state and municipal administration bodies of the Russian Federation. This article is of reviewing nature and is aimed at generating the interest of the scientific community in the issue of considering the impact of the introduction of corporate management tools on the patterns of behavior of managers in state and municipal administration. Results. Surrogation is a psychological phenomenon that affects the managerial behavior of managers, associated with the substitution of real performance by quantitative indicators (surrogates). This term, in fact, combines the results of the work of many researchers who have devoted their work to the study of the metrics of managerial effectiveness. Among the important theoretical constructs related to the surrogation process we include Goodhardt's law, Campbell's law, the "cobra effect" and Lucas' critique. Foreign publications also have a peculiar, though not so polar, division, where specialists, practitioners and management theorists from the USA, Great Britain and other developed countries pay attention to the fact that quantitative indicators simultaneously with advantages have a significant number of drawbacks, and researchers from developing countries (mainly Asia) seek to use them to fight corruption, non-transparency and incompetence of managers. Russian management culture combines both progressive and result-oriented neoliberal tendencies and collectivism characteristic of Asian cultures and a inclinations of  authoritarian management. Thus, sociological research enriched with empirically recorded facts showing the acceptance or rejection of the concept of evaluating the managerial effectiveness by quantitative indices becomes especially urgent and necessary. Conclusion. According to the results of the study, the conclusion is that sociological research, enriched with empirically fixable facts, demonstrating the acceptance or rejection of the concept of assessing managerial effectiveness by quantitative indicators, becomes relevant and necessary. This requires moving from theorizing to empiricism and attempting to reach out to managers and ordinary employees in the public sector who have been challenged to work with a focus on achieving some kind of quantitative performance. We see further prospects for the study in conducting expert surveys, in-depth interviews and focus groups with representatives of Russian municipal administration and formalizing their subjective assessments of the effectiveness of this managerial approach.