Public Bureaucracy Research Articles

Legitimizing Organizations via Research: Facilitating Possibilities through the Study of Relational, Emergent, Transformative, and Change-Oriented Organizations (RETCOs)

Under multiple public administration reforms since the 1980s, public bureaucracies’ activities range from connecting with markets to inviting the participation of service users, citizens, and networks of organizations in policy development, decision-making, and implementation. Despite this broadening of stakeholder participation, certain organizations are at risk of being overlooked, despite their direct involvement in efforts to engage communities and address persistent social problems. We contend that one reason for this exclusion is that these organizations are not recognized as their own organizational type. This paper identifies Relational, Emergent, Transformative, and Change-Oriented Organizations (RETCOs) as a discrete organizational type, and argues that they should be represented in the model cases that are used to educate public administrators, recognized as worthy of public funding and support, and included in public administration research. Recognizing RETCOs as legitimate stakeholders can correct some of the ethical problems of under-representation of important voices and perspectives in government-citizen interfaces. RETCOs are most appropriately studied through qualitative research methods that are sensitive to what make RETCOs a uniquely responsive organizational type, including their prioritizing of relationships within organizations, emergent rather than fixed organizational forms, goals of transformation, and commitments to liberatory social and economic change.

Bureaucrats, interest groups and policymaking: a comprehensive overview from the turn of the century

Government officers are key players in designing and implementing public policies. Not surprisingly, a growing body of research approaches their connections with other stakeholders, such as ministers, elected officials, and political parties. Fewer studies, however, address the relationship between bureaucrats and interest organisations. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of recent publications regarding interest groups and the public bureaucracy. The paper introduces the findings of an extensive literature review with bibliometric techniques and qualitative content analysis. To map previous studies, I analysed 1978 abstracts with VOSviewer and R. The final collection included 415 papers which were read and coded through NVivo. Based on this review, this paper exposes data on authors, countries, and research methods related to texts published between 2000 and 2022. In addition, it critically examines concepts and empirical evidence regarding the interactions between interest groups and government officers. This study advances the research agenda on interest groups by identifying gaps in previous studies and proposing new perspectives to analyse the political connections of the public bureaucracy. The findings indicate that most publications focus on interest group strategies, revolving doors, and venue choice. Fewer texts assess influence over political appointments and personal networks. Therefore, further research is required to address the causal mechanisms between access to the bureaucracy and interest group influence over public policies. Moreover, the bibliometric analysis revealed that research networks have been located in the United States and Europe and publications tend to focus on the ‘global North’. In this sense, more regional diversity might be beneficial for the development of theoretical and methodological structures able to ‘travel’ to other cases.

Unlocking Government Effectiveness: The Interplay of Bureaucratic Quality, Information Technology, Voice and Accountability

A high unemployment rate, poor quality service, rampant corruption cases and low economic growth characterise an ineffective government. In contrast, an effective government is a fundamental element of global economic development. The role of bureaucratic quality towards government effectiveness has generated a growing interest in the modern world. Bureaucratic quality evaluates public bureaucracy on transparency of political leaders and the letter of law to strictly agree with the rules. This study examined the role of bureaucratic quality on government effectiveness by examining the intervening effects of information technology and voice and accountability. We collected 25 years of data (1996 -2021) from eight ASEAN countries. Using the Generalised Method of Moments estimator, we estimated a panel data dependence model to overcome heterogeneity and endogeneity issues. The results showed that bureaucratic quality explained government effectiveness through the intervention of information technology and voice and accountability. This study contributes to how bureaucratic quality and the use of information technology can make government work better, but this can only be done fully if there are also ways for people to get involved and be held accountable. Keywords: bureaucratic quality, government effectiveness, information technology, voice and accountability

The success of e‐participation. Learning lessons from Decide Madrid and We asked, You said, We did in Scotland

AbstractElectronic participation (e‐participation) has grown across the world in recent decades and many governments offer a range of opportunities for e‐participation. However, there is a lack of comparative analyses of successful initiatives, which can be useful in supporting subsequent adopters. This study identifies the best practices and areas for improvement of Decide Madrid and We asked, You said, We did in Scotland, whose software has been widely adopted by hundreds of institutions worldwide. Key common enablers include political leadership and senior management support, top‐down approach, high levels of internal and external collaboration, embeddedness in the formal policy‐making processes, and careful consideration of design features. Most of these factors are related to processes, organizational, or managerial dimensions, rather than being linked to the institutional context or information and communication technologies. Areas for improvement relate to the way the initiatives provide feedback, allow discussion and flexibility on policy options, incorporate possibilities for offline participation, and involve a wider range of stakeholders. An important contribution is the identification of factors contributing to the robustness and continuity of e‐participation initiatives, combining the flexibility of collaborative network governance and the stability of public bureaucracy.

ANALISIS KINERJA BIROKRASI PEMERINTAHAN DESA PADA PERANGKAT DESA PAREREJO KECAMATAN PURWODADI KABUPATEN PASURUAN JAWA TIMUR

The purpose of this study was to determine the Performance Analysis Of Village Government Bureaucracies In The Development Of Parerejo Village, Purwodadi District, Pasuruan District, East Java. This study uses a descriptive qualitative research method. The results of this study are based on indicators in Agus Dwiyanto's theory (2006: 50) regarding the measurement of the performance of the public bureaucracy as follows: (1) the performance of the Parerejo Village Government Bureaucracy has fulfilled the Productivity aspect due to work achievements by maximizing massive organizational evaluation. (2) The performance of the Parerejo Village Bureaucracy has fulfilled the Service Quality aspect because it has SOP as a public service mechanism. (3) The performance of the Parerejo Village Bureaucracy has fulfilled the Responsiveness aspect because it makes community complaints material for organizational evaluation in improving the quality of performance. (4) The Bureaucratic Performance of Parerejo Village has fulfilled the Responsibility aspect because it opens the widest possible forum for public participation. (5) The performance of the Parerejo Village Bureaucracy has met the Accountability aspect because it opens a public participation forum through a Joint forum or media portal as a form of Village Government accountability to the Community.

New Practices in Professional Public Bureaucracies through the Discourses of Management Consultants

New Practices in Professional Public Bureaucracies through the Discourses of Management Consultants

Ethnographic interventions and thought paradigms at a governmental revenue service

ABSTRACT What role can ethnography play in assessing risks with tax collection? When many tax administrations aim to understand people and be seen as legitimate in society, one would think it is an important role. Yet ethnography can also reveal insights from risk assessments that do not play out well with existing legitimacy strategies. This article addresses the rise and fall of ethnography as a methodology at the Swedish Tax Agency based on following a risk assessment project for three years. The Agency is an interesting institution to study as it is one of the most revered public bureaucracies in the country, despite having to collect one of the highest amounts of income taxes in the world. Strategies to increase taxpayer compliance and tax collector legitimacy follow theories and methods applied in research but are also limited to budgets and organizational structures. This article suggests that three sets of ‘thought paradigms’ existed at the Agency: legality, quantification and para-ethnography. When insights from these clashed, the Agency’s strategies for legitimacy were challenged and even threatened. To the ethnographer’s chagrin, the Agency’s initial interest in ethnographic methods was instead quelled when the result of this risk assessment project was presented.

Changing role of public bureaucracy in India: A federal polity perspective

In a federal polity, the role of bureaucracy is ineluctable to cement the centre-state relations. Being the primary catalyst for social change and nation building, Indian bureaucracy is stitched into the federal fabric. The bureaucratic system as well as its potential for public welfare is greatly influenced by the power dynamics in the centre-state relations. Therefore, the paper examines the role of public bureaucracy from the vantage point of centre-state relations. The study synthesizes the literature on the subject to explore the role of bureaucracy in the various phases of centre-state relations in India. The historical analysis is used to reveal the reasons for political control over bureaucracy in India. The main finding of the study reveals that a change in the power constellations of political authorities at the central and state levels of government also induces a change in the influence or capacity of the bureaucracy to work independently and impartially, thereby weakening the neutrality of bureaucracy. The study can be highly useful for policy analysts in understanding the federal democracy and adds to the canon of academic literature on politico-administrative relations in India.

Etika Birokrasi Dalam Meberikan Pelayanan Publik

Governance is aimed at creating quality public service functions. Quality public services are services that can provide satisfaction to the public. This can be seen from the 5 dimensions of public service quality which are the benchmarks in providing satisfaction to the community, namely, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. The ethical standards of public service required here are the fulfillment or embodiment of the values or norms of attitude and behavior of the public bureaucracy in every service and action, which can be accepted by the wider community. This does not mean that the public service bureaucracy does not have service ethical standards at all, but it is the application of these ethics that may need to be improved. The method used in this research is qualitative with a literature study. The result of this study is that the existence of a code of ethics does not guarantee that the public service bureaucracy in Indonesia becomes an efficient, clean, and accountable bureaucracy. What is important is not just the existence of rules that are formulated in detail what are the ethical values of administrators but how these values are implemented. Two very important things in implementing ethics are the existence of standards (rules or norms) that must be obeyed and a strong will to carry them out.

Building Organizational Governance and Service Culture Based on Digital Platforms

Digital society is a reality of life in the 21st century where humans in various sectors of their lives are linked to digital technology. The era of digitalization refers to a description of the situation of changes in the lifestyle and behavior of individuals and organizations today. This is evidenced by the increase in internet users in Indonesia. During the Covid 19 pandemic, the use of the internet was used for online learning systems in elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and universities. Internet users are increasing rapidly. 2017 has reached 143.26 million people or equivalent to 54.68 percent of the total population of Indonesia. This number shows an increase of 10.56 million people from the survey results in 2016. 143.7 million people today and 202.6 million in 2021. The digital transaction value of IDR 203 t in 2019 Rp256t, 2020. IDR 403t in 2021 and IDR 530 t in 2022 (projection). The implications of using the internet and other social media in the learning process, shopping, and so on require rearrangement of the business service system; public services are increasingly facilitated on the one hand, and on the other hand, institutional arrangements and a new work culture need to be refined so that positive excesses can be increased and negative excesses can be reduced. The negative excesses of the transformation process resulted in cyberporn and cybercrime. The transformation process toward digital requires structuring talent and culture. The changes in the mindset and culture of the bureaucracy provide evidence of the increasing need for an agile paradigm in reforming the bureaucracy. However, it is realized that the challenges of implementing an agile paradigm are not easy. The bureaucracy is required to be able to create public services that are not one-size-fits-all but rather personalized. The way the public bureaucracy has been working has proven to be unable to produce innovative policies.

Implementation of Business Trade Licensing Service (Study on Investment Agency and One-Door Integrated Service of Tulungagung Regency)

Public service is a public bureaucracy product accepted by society widely. One kind of public bureaucracy product is the Business Trade License, which has a certain quality as one of the supporting factors that motivates the creation of economic growth through better trade and service business. This study aims to find out and describe the implementation of a door-integrated service in Tulungagung. The Investment Agency and One-Door Integrated Service (DPM and PTSP) of Tulungagung Regency are necessary to improve business trade licensing services. The research method used in this research was qualitative. Based on the Regulation of Tulungagung Regency, the Regent carried out the principles: Coordination meant coordination among the organization members so that cooperation was created in giving business trade licensing service to the society. Synchronization in the implementation of business trade licensing service at DPM and PTSP of Tulungagung Regency was realized through the clear task division in the organization based on each field. Good integration among the organization's members would achieve the purpose of the organization. Security and Certainty meant that implementing business trade licensing service had to be based on the rule of law that, was the Regulation of Tulungagung Regency Regent No 76/2014. On the other hand, Certainty meant Certainty related to the procedure and the implementation of business trade licensing service.

Frontline Bureaucratic Attitude toward Administrative Integration: Does Organizational Configuration Matter?

The attitudes of frontline bureaucrats play a crucial role in the implementation of administrative restructuring. Administrative integration is a type of administrative reform that can fundamentally change the structure of a local administrative system and may face opposition from local public bureaucracies. Successful administrative integration requires reformers to comprehensively grasp the factors that influence frontline bureaucrats’ attitudes toward this distinctive form of administrative restructuring. This study empirically examines how organizational configurations shape bureaucratic attitudes toward administrative integration. The findings have both theoretical and practical implications for research on bureaucratic attitudes, organizational configurations, and administrative integration.

Claude Ake On Depsychologising Socio-Economic Problems of Africa And Its Public Services

Modern public services in Africa were the creation of European colonialism. They were established at first to assist in the exploitation of the continent’s resources. From this small beginning they later expanded to cover many services catering for the lives of African colonial people. When African nationalists took over governance and the public services, they decided to use them to engineer great political, economic, and social development. At first, the public services recorded some amazing successes, but as a result of many factors, not least poor leadership Africa’s public services since the 1960s have been bedeviled by many problems, including inability to lift many Africans from abject poverty. These problems have led some scholars, commentators and outsiders to hastily conclude that these are indeed congenital and inherent failures of Africans. This is “psychologising” the problems of Africa in its people. Relying on Claude Ake’s theoretical formulation on the state in Africa, this essay debunks this redundant thinking of uninformed analysts by locating the real socio-economic problems of Africa and its public services in the inherited colonial state, which lacks autonomy and is thus the booty of dominant political faction in power at a given time. The resultant battle by other factions with the dominant class in what is truly an intra class conflict leads to over-politicization of the public services. This latter process according to Ake is indeed the de-psychologising of Africa’s problem. Ake does not provide any direct and specific solution to the problems identified; one of the key omissions made by Ake, especially with regards to Africa’s public bureaucracies. As a solution to the conundrum, the state in Africa and its public services have found themselves the essay concludes that the mixed economy system as in the Scandinavian countries should serve as a model for Africa. This will help to reduce if not eradicate poverty and assist in the rebuild of Africa’s public services. Key words: Ake, state, psychologising, depsychologising, public service. DOI: 10.7176/JAAS/81-06 Publication date: April 30 th 2023

Surveiller sans punir : la place du droit dans la prévention des risques professionnels

AbstractThis article analyzes the role of law in the surveillance and prevention of occupational risks within a large public bureaucracy in France, based on a comparison of three services: a listening unit, an occupational health service, and an inspection mission. Each of these services offers legal intermediation activities that frame forms of legality, ranging from the most spontaneous to the most formal normative references. These references to the law make it possible to differentiate situations in order to create an occupational risk prevention policy that favors actions within the organization rather than external recourse. Deprived of any judicial horizon to use effectively to transform working conditions, the legal intermediaries in charge of occupational health and safety are nevertheless relying, even if in a differentiated way, on the law to work towards better risk prevention.

Women as leaders: the glass ceiling effect on women’s leadership success in public bureaucracies

Purpose Much research has been conducted regarding leadership success challenges. However, few are practically oriented on whether the success of women's leadership aligns to organisational, personal and societal contexts as glass cliffs. Thus, this study aims to examine these factors and introduce how they inhibit women from leadership success. Design/methodology/approach This research examined the glass ceiling effects Ethiopian women leaders face. This research focused on adjusted clusters and a survey of 446 female employees from zones, woreda and kebeles. The data was processed through SPSS 25.0 to regress the values. Findings Breaking the glass ceiling, the glass cliffs effects on women’s income levels, the lack of an arena for self-improvement, the nature of organisation policies and challenges in teamwork were found to contribute to women’s under-representation in top leadership positions. Research limitations/implications The results focused only on the 94 public organisations in Ethiopia that were selected by adjusted cluster sampling. Practical implications Realizations of substantial change and refocusing on bringing a significant number of women to the boardrooms in the public bureaucracy, besides glass cliffs. Social implications Enhancing the importance of accepting women leaders. Originality/value To add value to the stock of literature in gender equality, this research brings a strategic focus on factors that inhibit women from top leadership positions.

Interview with Barbara Geddes

Professor Barbara Geddes is one of the most-cited authors of works on bureaucracy and comparative studies. She is professor emerita at the Department of Political Science of the University of California (Los Angeles) and has a large experience in investigating Latin-American countries. Throughout her career, she explored a varied range of themes, such as democratization, regime transition, and bureaucratic reform. This interview sought to discuss several topics related to the politicization of bureaucracy and its relationship with democratic regimes. We asked Barbara for her views on the relationship between public bureaucracy and the functioning of democratic institutions with a focus on contemporary regimes.

Presentation : 10th anniversary special issue

This edition of the Bulletin of Political-Institutional Analysis (Boletim de Análise Político-Institucional – Bapi) celebrates its tenth anniversary as one of the major avenues for publishing the research results from the Department of Studies and Policies of the State, Institutions and Democracy (Diest). In an attempt to regularly publish the results of Diest’s multi-thematic research, the journal’s articles have transitioned through various topics that foster conversation on the structures and institutions of the Brazilian State’s performance under democratic rule. Bapi was originally intended to bring together, in each issue, some of the key results of the multi-thematic research conducted within Diest, but it has gradually evolved into a dossier type publication. Its regular publications began organizing around a central theme, all relevant to the country’s political-institutional agenda. Its issues have covered a range of topics, from public governance to class inequality, from changes in the structure of the state to representation through digital means, from the use of scientific evidence in the public policy cycle to obstacles for increasing racial diversity within public bureaucracy. Since its inception in 2011, Bapi has released 32 editions (21 thematic editions), providing 295 articles to the public debate (boxes 1-32). In celebration of its first decade, this edition contains the 10 most searched for publications according to the Bapi articles repository at Ipea.5 The articles are published in English to attract a broader audience and let them access the relevance of the bulletin’s publications. A few of the articles contain addendums to the original versions, when the authors deemed it relevant.

Efektivitas Kinerja Pegawai Aparatur Sipil Negara di Sekretariat Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah Kabupaten Mojokerto

The effectiveness of the performance of bureaucratic employees has a function as an illustration and track record of performance achievements over a certain period. The performance of the public bureaucracy is based on five main indicators, including productivity, service quality, responsiveness, responsibility and accountability. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of the performance of the employees of the Secretariat of the DPRD Mojokerto Regency. The research method used is qualitative-exploratory research. The results showed that the Secretariat of the DPRD Mojokerto Regency has had a good performance even though operationally there are still employees who tend to delay their duties and work. Factors supporting the effectiveness of performance are indicated by the existence of motivation through rewards for outstanding employees, punishment as an act of employee discipline, and the delegation of training and training to improve employee competence. The inhibiting factor is indicated by the low competence of employees, with an indication of the low demand for employees to increase their capacity through training and training both inside and outside the Secretariat of the DPRD Mojokerto Regency.

Trust, power, and organizational routines: Exploring government's intentional tactics to renew relationships with nonprofits serving historically marginalized communities

AbstractExisting public management practices and organizational routines in the contracting regime have systematically created power asymmetry and distrust between government agencies and nonprofits serving historically marginalized communities. However, little is known about how the government could reform public bureaucracies to renew relationships with these important organizations and build trust. Through a process‐oriented inductive study of Minnesota's 2‐Generation Policy Network, we find that government's cascading trust‐building tactics both inside the bureaucracy and with nonprofits serving Black, Latino, Indigenous, and Immigrant/Refugee communities allowed them to create a new collaborative infrastructure that both changed organizational routines and built power to address racial inequities in the existing human service system. Power is not a zero‐sum game. By sharing resources and building trust with their nonprofit partners, government agencies and nonprofits collectively access more power for genuine public management reform to address systematic inequities.

Identify Components of Bureauphobia Attitude in Qom Hospitals (With Qualitative Research Approach)

Background and Objectives: Studies in various fields of healthcare seeks to gain the trust of citizens by providing more favorable services. Despite the generality of this view, Bureauphobia as a new attitude in the field of behavior, questioned these studies. The current study aims to identify the components of bureauphobia in in people referred to public hospitals in Qom, Iran. Methods: This is a qualitative study using thematic analysis. The study population consists of all people referred to public Hospitals in Qom province. Of these, 190 were selected and interviewed. The interview transcribes were analyzed in three stages: descriptive coding, interpretive coding, and identifying main themes. Results: The analysis led to the formation of 131 descriptive codes, 50 interpretive codes and 10 main themes. The results showed that direct experiences, personality, role/ example, the political system governing public bureaucracy, social capital, malfunction of the bureaucracy, intrinsic features of the public sector, moneyism, moral values, and social justice were the components of bureauphobia. Conclusion: People with bureauphobia have a pessimistic view. Satisfaction with the services provided by public hospitals does not necessarily lead to trust in these centers. Some people are constantly exposed to negative opinions about public hospitals; hence, their attitudes towards public hospitals are negative and biased.