Public Management Literature Research Articles

Administrative Reforms and Global Managerialism: A Critical Analysis of Three Brazilian State Reforms

AbstractAdministrative reforms implemented in the last two decades in Brazil have been influenced by the New Public Management (NPM) literature. This manuscript compares and critically analyzes the administrative, social, and political implications of reforms in the executive branch of three Brazilian states. Based on the concept of global managerialism, we consider the impact of NPM‐based reforms and the corresponding dissemination of managerialism within governments and public organizations. We conclude by highlighting the threat of global managerialism to democratic institutions in an era of globalization. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Comparing Public and Private Managers' Leadership Styles: Understanding the Role of Job Context

ABSTRACT Comparing public and private managers is a major subject in the public management literature, but there have been only a few empirical studies of the differences in their respective leadership styles. Traditionally, leadership style is explained by the characteristics of the manager, the employees, and their job. This study explains leadership by the manager's job context: the degree of job complexity, role clarity, and job autonomy. We argue that differences in job context explain the use of different leadership styles in the public and private sector. To clearly specify the importance of sector, the study investigates direct, mediating, and moderating effects. Based on a survey of Danish public and private managers with 949 respondents, this article shows that job context variables vary significantly between public and private sector managers. The article provides some explanations for why public managers use more participative leadership, while private ones use more directive leadership.

Stakeholder salience and accounting practices in Tanzanian NGOs

PurposeThis paper seeks to investigate the influence of stakeholders on accountability relationships and the development of accounting practices and processes within two Tanzanian non‐governmental organisations (NGOs).Design/methodology/approachStakeholder analysis is employed to evaluate the positions of stakeholder groups in terms of Mitchell et al.'s attributes of power, legitimacy and urgency. Data analysis was undertaken using a grounded theory approach.FindingsThe research found that overseas donors were the stakeholders with the highest salience as a result of which they significantly influenced accountability relationships and accounting processes and practices within NGOs. Despite the often proclaimed NGOs' objective of improving welfare of beneficiary groups there appeared to be little accountability by NGOs to beneficiaries. Differences in the accounting functions in the NGOs were explained by the influence of dominant stakeholders, the credibility of the organisation and its managers and the varied ways through which the organisations negotiated and accounted for funding. Moreover, accounting was virtually unemployed in internal decision‐making processes indicating that it was largely a tool for satisfying claims of the highly salient stakeholders.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper makes a contribution to the literatures of both stakeholder theory and NGO accounting. From the grounded theory analysis it is suggested that the stakeholder framework of Mitchell et al. could be usefully extended in the three areas of power asymmetries of definitive stakeholders, stakeholder salience asymmetries across organisational phenomena and asymmetries across time.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the empirical accounting literature by seeking a deeper understanding of how and why accounting and accountability relationships develop within NGOs. It sheds light on a type of organisation that has not been extensively studied in the public sector management literature.

The new public management of security: the contracting and managerial state and the private military industry

Private military companies (PMCs) do not often figure as a case study alongside topics such as health and local government in the public management literature. However, this article shows that public management offers critical insights into the reasons why governments contract services to the private military industry. In particular, the article analyses the deep inroads that reforms inspired by new public management have made into the management of defence and security functions since the 1990s, as well as the partnerships established between authorities and PMCs. A key motivation behind such policies has been to raise the efficiency and effectiveness of security provision. However, there have also been some unexpected problems, which are addressed in the article. The conclusions highlight that, despite many imperfections, states will increasingly provide security with the assistance of PMCs.

Information and Knowledge Management in Public Sector Networks: The Case of the US Intelligence Community

This article contributes to the public management literature by exploring the critical challenges that underpin the construction of robust information and knowledge management strategies in networked settings. The ability of the network to sustain itself, thrive, and achieve its objectives depends on the success that the network has in organizing and coordinating its constituent organizations. The network's collaborative information and knowledge management strategy is critical to the functioning of the network and the achievement of objectives. A robust information and knowledge management strategy will bring organizations in the network together, help them share resources, collaborate on efforts, and further their objectives in a holistic manner. An inadequate information and knowledge management strategy might lead to disconnects in organizations due to lack of information sharing, poor collaborative knowledge generation, lack of coordination, leading to a fragmented network. Drawing on a multi-year, multi-method, and multi-organization study of the United States Intelligence Community (USIC), the article puts forth a comprehensive framework to examine information and knowledge management challenges within the USIC, as well as other public sector organizations.

Reassessing Outsourcing in Ict-Enabled Public Management

Using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in public administration goes beyond online services, as it also enables new kinds of work sharing and information exchange between different agencies. These can be used to establish new forms of public service delivery, such as the separation of service delivery between front and back offices, which enable better access for citizens. This new kind of ICT enabled work sharing will be used as a basis to analyse whether outsourcing can be reassessed. First, existing approaches to such decisions will be explored against the backdrop of public service delivery processes which have been penetrated by ICT. Next, a framework will be derived which will be used to understand better the potential of different ICT functions to affect outsourcing decisions. Finally, ICT's effect upon outsourcing will be illustrated using examples from the United Kingdom. The UK findings demonstrate that new strategic issues are emerging which are not addressed in existing public management literature about outsourcing and which therefore require further exploration and examination.

Linking Management Reform with Employee Job Satisfaction: Evidence from Federal Agencies

Recent public management literature has emphasized the influence of public sector characteristics on employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance. This article assesses how recent management reforms, such as contracting out, civil service overhaul (also known as Title 5 exemptions or removal of civil service protections), and managing for results are associated with employee job satisfaction in the federal government. Using the Federal Human Capital Survey 2006 dataset, this article finds that contracting out and Title 5 exemption are negatively related to job satisfaction. Managing for results, operationalized as perceived performance orientation and innovative culture, is positively related to job satisfaction, but the relationship is moderated by employees’ trust in leadership and their perceptions of the effectiveness and fairness of performance appraisal.

Politicians versus managers: roles and interactions in accounting cycles

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the new public management (NPM) literature by investigating how politicians and managers perceive their relationships and respective roles during the accounting cycle and using multiple cases of Italian local government (LGs).Design/methodology/approachDrawing on public administration and public management literature, the paper depicts models of interaction between managers and politicians through the analysis of the cases of five Departments in three Italian LGs.FindingsResults show that, in contrast with NPM claims, no model of neat separation between politicians and managers can be depicted in the analyzed cases. Rather, alternatively patterns of sequential or reciprocal integration emerge, together with some cases of “confusion”.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed in order to investigate the factors that can explain the types of interactions and roles.Originality/valueThe paper fills the gap in NPM literature that gives scant importance to the political dimension and its relationship with management in public organizations. It addresses the diversity in the perceptions of politicians and managers as to their roles and relationships.

Gender and Organizational Rule Abidance

A long‐standing contention in the public and private management literatures is that women use rule abidance as a way to compensate for their relative lack of organizational power. Many of the studies making this assertion rely on anecdotal evidence rather than theory‐guided empirical studies. In this paper, the authors use survey data collected from four cities in a midwestern state to empirically test gender dimensions of rule abidance. The findings support long‐asserted gender differences in rule abidance. Contrary to recent scholarship, however, the findings suggest that rule abidance among women is inversely related to organizational status, with higher‐level women abiding by rules more so than women lower in the hierarchy.

Capacity for public administration: analysis of meaning and measurement

AbstractPublic administration researchers and practitioners have placed a heavy emphasis on the theme of programme performance. More recently, there has been a growing sentiment in the literature about the integral role of organisational capacity in achieving performance. While this is often expressed in the (re)iteration of a ‘management matters’ mantra, we see some disarray in the broader capacity literature both in definition and application. As scholars call for more integrated models of governance that link, for example, capacity and performance, we see a growing need for an analysis of the concept of capacity. Using bibliometric and content analyses to explore scholarly treatment of capacity constructs, this article assesses whether the perceived disarray is real, and if so what consequences it might have. We do so by reporting on capacity's meaning and measurement through an analysis of four decades of the private, public and nonprofit management literatures. While specific definitions of capacity are, by nature, context dependent, we conclude by distilling a general, conceptual framework of capacity for public management researchers and practitioners. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Measuring and reporting public sector outputs/outcomes

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report on a study of performance measurement and reporting practices of four government departments in Australia.Design/methodology/approachRelying on the “context” and “content” aspects of the institutional and strategic choice literatures, the paper suggests how external institutions such as government regulatory frameworks and internal organizational contexts such as strategic plans may shape the design of performance measurement and reporting of government departments. Texts and contents from archival sources such as published annual reports and department web sites provided insightful and interesting findings.FindingsThe paper reveals that performance measurement systems design as a central thrust to the subject government departments' strategic planning and management framework. Furthermore, content analyses of the data indicate a clear linkage between the recently introduced “managing for outcomes” framework and performance measurement practices of government departments.Research limitations/implicationsThis is an exploratory study based on archival documents only, thereby provides limited insights into how organizational managers perceived the relevance and usefulness of performance measurement data. However, textual analysis from archival documents provides a rich description of how measuring and reporting of the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of today's government organizations could be the interaction of both internal and external contexts within which they operate.Practical implicationsThe paper adds to the existing public sector management and accounting literatures by suggesting that the construction and reporting process of performance measurement are crucial and relevant in today's government organizations facing a significant reduction in government funding with increased community demand for quality services.Originality/valueExperiences in subject government entities will provide a platform for academic researchers and/or practitioners from multiple disciplines to disseminate information on accounting and performance management in the changing public sector worldwide.

The Managing of the Presidency

We argue that scholars of the presidency should begin to apply their rich descriptive understanding of White House organization and personnel to questions of causality. To help guide this effort, we offer a theory-driven empirical model that explains organizational performance. Importing theory from the public management literature, we show how scholars can use the Meier-O'Toole (MO) model to explain performance outcomes and dynamics for key political and policy functions within the institutional presidency. We introduce the MO model and discuss its potential impact on the field of presidency studies.

Conditions of emergence and their (bio)political effects: political rationalities, governmental programmes and technologies of power in the landmine case

The landmine case has usually been understood as an issue in which domestic politics did not play an important role. Known for unprecedented worldwide involvement of NGOs, the story, with a complete ban of antipersonnel landmines in the end, was traditionally thought to be the result of successful mobilization of global civil society. While not denying the input of global civil society, I suggest that a crucial moment enabling it to emerge and gain momentum was brought about by domestic transformations in Canada. While dealing with the question of what political rationality lies behind the emergence of international norms, I use concepts from critically oriented new public management literature and Foucauldean analytics of government. Also, two methodological moves are advanced. First, the need to refocus from macro-juridical diagnosis to micro-level analysis of government in Canada. Second, I argue that one cannot fully understand these micro-level practices and discourses without the examination of two crucial domestic structural conditions and their synergetic effect allowing the landmine case to emerge: (i) transformations of Canada's non-profit and voluntary sector and (ii) procedural and substantive changes in Canadian foreign and security policy. What follows is a Foucauldean theorization of the landmine case. The transformations of Canada's non-profit and voluntary sector will be examined through the notion of political rationalities. The theorization of procedural and substantive changes in Canadian foreign and security policy will be understood as a specific governmental programme carried out against the background of a changing security dispositif. Finally, the actual dynamics of the landmine case will be interpreted through the concept of governmental technologies. The conclusion addresses the findings of this article and sums up some lessons of the landmine case.

Stress, Minister: government policy advisors and work stress

PurposeThe public management and the occupational stress literatures are both silent on stressors associated with the work of government policy advisors. This paper aims to fill that gap with an exploratory study to identify the potential work stressors for this occupation.Design/methodology/approachIn‐depth interviews with 13 policy advisors/managers in a single government department and a focus group with 11 policy managers from 11 government departments are reported.FindingsThe stressors experienced can be clustered under the well accepted labels of role overload, control, culture, and interpersonal relationships. However, results indicate that the practical reality of these stressors in public sector policy advice environments is different from the generic concepts associated with the labels.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper underlines the importance of occupation‐specific understanding of stressors, and has implications at a workplace level for human resource management, and at an analytical level for the public management, policy and occupational stress literatures. Fruitful areas for future study include deeper exploration of qualitative role overload, examining how and why advisory roles proliferate, and how resulting stress levels affect performance.Practical implicationsThe paper highlights tensions for public sector managers in meeting obligations to protect the health and safety of their employees, while also placing top priority on serving the minister and government of the day.Originality/valueThe paper provides new insight to the stressors in public sector policy environments, and alerts public sector managers to key factors in managing policy unit performance and well‐being.

Institutional Determinants of Collaboration: An Empirical Study of County Open-Space Protection

Collaboration is an increasingly important topic in the public administration and management literatures. A preponderance of studies focuses on how managers can build trust between the government and collaborative partners by means of behavioral attributes and managerial skill. In this article, the author suggests that stable institutions and local government structure facilitate collaboration by allowing public managers to more credibly commit in a policy arena. Using county data on open-space policy, the author finds empirical support for the proposition that county form of government, along with rules governing debt accumulation and administrative commitment, increases the breadth of county collaboration in open-space protection.

Managing contracts under the UK's Private Finance Initiative: evidence from the National Health Service

English Over recent years, a number of contributors to the public management literature have argued that the buyer–supplier relationships generated by the UK Private Finance Initiative (PFI) are qualitatively different from those generated by traditional contracting out. References have been made to equality, transparency, risk-sharing and trust. In this article, the authors test a contrary argument: that UK public managers negotiate and implement PFI contracts within an environment which is, to a significant extent, characterised by supplier opportunism, something that requires them to employ an extremely assiduous, if not necessarily distant, approach to contract and relationship management. The testing of this argument is undertaken with evidence from PFI construction contracts operated within the National Health Service.

Content Domain, Measurement, and Validity of the Red Tape Concept

Red tape, generally defined as burdensome rules and procedures, is a relatively new construct unique to the public management literature. Like many public management constructs, red tape has received scant measurement attention. This study uses second-order confirmatory factor analysis to test two varying theoretical perspectives, one that treats red tape as a formative index, derived from inflexibility in various management subsystems (e.g., budgeting, personnel), and the other as a reflective scale where political accountability and other external influences drive red tape. Results for 16 items designated across five subdimensions suggest better support for the reflective scale perspective. Implications for red tape research are discussed.

Is there now a new ‘New Zealand model’?

New Zealand is frequently cited as a country that has applied the New Public Management (NPM) model in a relatively rigorous and consistent manner. But this kind of assessment of New Zealand normally relies on commentaries covering the period 1984 – 1996. The present article examines further refinements of public management that have occurred in New Zealand more recently, especially since the change to a Labour-led coalition government in late 1999. To what extent have these changes revised ‘the New Zealand model’ of public management? While many achievements of the NPM have been preserved, there are instances where NPM reforms and public-choice principles have been reversed, and there is now an effort to re-instil an ethic of ‘public service’. Significant, though not radical, changes now mean that references to ‘the New Zealand model’ in the comparative public management literature need to take account of ‘the revised version’.

Street-Level Bureaucracy Revisited: Frontline District Central-Office Administrators as Boundary Spanners in Education Policy Implementation

The designation of district central-office administrators to operate as boundary spanners among the central office, schools, and community agencies can help with the implementation of challenging policy demands. However, educational research teaches little about central-office boundary spanners in practice. This article addresses that gap with findings from an embedded, comparative case study of boundary spanners in the implementation of collaborative education policy. The study’s conceptual framework draws on public management and sociological literature on boundary spanning and neo-institutional theories of decision making. Findings reveal that the boundary spanners in this case initially were particularly well suited to help with implementation in part because they brought non-traditional experiences to the central office. However, over time, many of the resources that aided them initially became liabilities that frustrated their work. This article documents the importance of examining boundary-spanning roles in implementation and suggests how central offices might provide supports to boundary spanners to increase their potential as levers of bureaucratic change.

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Public management literature, using network theories, is basically directed at examining and explaining how policy networks work. Much less attention is paid to analyze local service provision networks. In our paper we explore how a network management model can be used to describe local health provision networks, how the performance of local networks is influenced by network characteristics, and how these local networks can be connected to policy networks. We use the framework created by Benson (1975; 1982) and “rediscovered” by Hudson (2004) to examine the case of Hungarian managed care organizations. We find that this model can be applied to examine the perform­ance of local service provision networks as well as the policy level factors behind them.