Public Sector Applications Research Articles

The continuous and discrete path‐variance problems on trees

AbstractIn this article we consider the problem of locating path‐shaped facilities on a tree network, minimizing the variance objective function. This type of objective is generally adopted in location problems arising in public sector applications, such as the location of evacuation or mass transit routes. We consider a weighted tree, in which a positive weight is assigned to each vertex of the tree, and positive real lengths are associated with its edges. We study the general case in which the path is continuous, that is, the end points of the optimal path can be either vertices, or points along an edge, and there is an upper bound on the length of the path. Given a tree with n vertices, for this problem we provide an O(n2) algorithm, and we show how it can be applied, with the same complexity, to the discrete case, that is, when the end points of the optimal path are vertices of the tree. We improve the previous best complexity bound in (Cáceres et al., Discr Appl Math 145 (2004), 72–79), for the unrestricted length continuous path‐variance problem, by a factor of log n. We also show that the optimal point for the variance objective function does not satisfy any nestedness property with respect to the optimal path in the unconstrained (discrete or continuous) version of the problem. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, 2009

Public Management Mentoring

Despite the abundance of literature discussing the individual and organizational outcomes of mentoring, this general literature remains virtually silent on the role of mentoring in the public sector. The authors review and critique the mentoring literature, indicating its limitations for understanding mentoring in a public management context. In particular, the authors highlight the interdependence of organizations, the opportunity structures of the public sector, and public service motivation that mediate the outcomes of mentoring in the public sector. The authors then present a three-tier model that focuses on public management mentoring outcomes. The three-tier model marries the unique context of public sector work to the extensive mentoring literature and lays the groundwork for a theory of public management mentoring. The authors employ the model to generate propositions about public management mentoring outcomes. These propositions should prove useful for theory development but also for application in public sector mentoring relationships and programs.

Benchmarking applications in public sector principal‐agent relationships

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the range of benchmarking applications that can be used in a principal‐agent relationship setting often found in the public sector.Design/methodology/approachCollection and critical analysis of secondary data from relevant publications addressing applications of benchmarking in the public sector. Extraction of knowledge from several research projects where the authors have been involved in studying and developing benchmarking approaches for different public sector organizations. Induction of new theory about the use of benchmarking in principal‐agent relationships in the public sector, grounded through empirical evidence from case studies.FindingsA number of new approaches to benchmarking in the public sector have been identified and described, some of which are already used in real life cases, others which need further development before being implemented. All of these can introduce benefits to both principals and agents involved in such benchmarking efforts.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper explores benchmarking applications that are almost exclusively relevant in a public sector setting, although some of them might be adapted to certain private sector conditions.Originality/valueWhereas most work on benchmarking in the public sector tend to view only improvement‐oriented, voluntary benchmarking as relevant and useful, this paper demonstrates how many different imposed benchmarking schemes with other purposes can be useful.

A LONGITUDINAL LOOK AT E-GOVERNMENT IN PRACTICE

As e-Government continues to grow with ever increasing applications and capabilities, local government entities are finding themselves faced with unexpected and unique challenges. Given the anticipated challenges of security and risk in public sector applications, there remain Information Technology (IT) specific concerns that surface as domains continue to emerge. This paper looks specifically at the state of seven larger e-government IT shops and their experiences for the five years from 2000 through 2005.

New Urbanism's Role in Inner-city Neighborhood Revitalization

The new urbanism has become an increasingly popular development strategy for outlying greenfield sites. Recently, the Congress for the New Urbanism, the formal arm of the movement, began emphasizing urban infill and revitalization. This paper explores the public sector's application of the new urbanism through planning and regulatory tools intended to foster inner-city revitalization. Specifically, it examines a local variation of the new urbanism and its implementation within a broader framework of neighborhood revitalization that seeks to balance economic development, smart growth and equity goals to realize the ideal of the just city. Assessing over 12 years of experience in Orlando, Florida, this study demonstrates the difficulty of fully implementing the new urbanism in such projects, particularly in lower-income neighborhoods, and inherent conflicts when design solutions, economic development and housing goals are not mutually supportive.

The Role of Work Context in Work Motivation: A Public Sector Application of Goal and Social Cognitive Theories

The present study represents a test of a conceptual model predicting how the organization’s work context might influence work motivation. Using the framework provided by goal and social cognitive theories, this model of work motivation assesses whether aspects of the organizational work context, such as greater goal conflict, procedural constraints, and goal ambiguity, may have a detrimental effect on work motivation through their influence on three important antecedents of work motivation: job goal specificity, job difficulty, and self-efficacy. Although the findings of a covariance (LISREL) analysis of state government employee survey data suggested a few minor modifications to this model, the results indicated that the theoretical framework can identify specific leverage points that can increase work motivation and, therefore, productivity in the public sector.

BPR: alive and well in the public sector

This paper examines three business process re‐engineering (BPR) projects, one conducted in the private sector and two conducted in the UK's higher education sector. The broad aim of the paper is to compare public and private sector applications of BPR. The paper begins with a brief overview of BPR and identifies three unresolved issues from the literature (the choice of modelling techniques used to describe business processes, whether to use generic or context specific process maps and whether to aim for radical or incremental change). An overview of each project is given and the paper considers how each of the unresolved theoretical issues was addressed in the cases before making a public vs private sector comparison. The paper illustrates differences and similarities between private sector usage of BPR and the two public sector examples given here and concludes that the techniques of BPR are highly applicable in the public sector.

Editorial Objectives Public Sector Applications

The Public Sector Applications Department seeks high-quality, well-written papers that apply innovative and state-of-the-art uses of management science models and methods to important problems and issues encountered in the public sector. Of particular interest are papers that provide new insights on the implications of current or potential policy decisions on societal outcomes, as well as those that present new models and methods for more efficiently and effectively managing public sector systems. The major criteria that will be used to judge the attractiveness of a submission will be issue importance, model validity and pertinence, and potential or actual widespread impact, all with respect to the public sector context. Applications to health care, the environment, the criminal justice system, energy, education, public safety and security, natural resource management, and electoral reform are particularly encouraged. Papers whose contributions are primarily methodological and have application to a significantly broad range of problems beyond the public sector, are probably better suited to another department or another journal.

Bidding to host a major sports event

Major sports events have the potential to offer significant benefits to any city, but at the same time are likely to entail immense resource utilisation and enormous risk. Focussed at the organising committee level, and drawing upon general management and project management literature, aims to collect empirical data to identify current management practice used in the bidding process, and determine key factors in successful bidding. A self‐administered postal questionnaire was sent to 220 randomly selected major sports event organisers from ten different countries. Targeted at the chief executive officer level or equivalent, the questionnaire provided general contextual detail and focussed on present sports event management practices and processes. To gain more in‐depth understanding of successful applications, three semi‐structured interviews were administered in England. The findings reveal that the primary motivations behind local authority involvement are heightening area profile and sport promotion. Successful public sector applications were found to use bounded rational decision‐making, driven largely by political reasoning rather than detailed objective analysis. Specifically identifies and discusses five key factors behind successful national and international governing body approval.

Districting for salt spreading operations

The districting problem presented in this paper involves the partitioning of the road network in a region into sub-networks (or districts), to facilitate the organization of the operations to be performed within the region. Typically, each district contains one local center (depot) whose location is given, while the operations involve different types of routing, with routes starting and ending at the depot. For public sector applications like salt spreading and road maintenance, this partitioning is a real distinct stage in the organization and planning of services, and as is the case with location, districting is of a non-operational nature. Relevant characteristics of well-designed districts are: ability to support good routing, balance in workload, compactness of the sub-areas, centrality of the depot, etc. We present a heuristic procedure for our districting problem. First we partition the road network into small cycles, then we aggregate them into districts in two phases. Phase 1 uses an approach based on bin packing principles, while in Phase 2 a multi criteria approach is used. We illustrate the procedure and discuss its merits for the salt spreading operations in the province of Antwerp.

Can Private Sector Strategic Information Systems Planning Techniques Work for the Public Sector?

This study investigated strategic information technology planning (SISP) at the statewide level. Even though thirty-eight states reported having a strategic information technology plan in place and ten reported having a plan in progress; analysis of the data shows that the executive and legislative or highest levels of state government are “not involved” in SISP. A lack of integrated statewide governmental strategic information systems planning (SISP) suggests that SISP as defined by private sector models may not be accomplished easily in the public sector. Significant differences in the process of setting organizational objectives, planning horizons, and stakeholder involvement are barriers to public sector application of private sector SISP models which few states seem to have overcome.

Nonparametric estimation of returns to scale in the public sector with an application to the provision of educational services

Nonparametric programming models have been developed to measure technical efficiency and scale economies. The programming models used for public sector applications, however, are based on standard private sector production theory. In the public sector environmental variables have a significant impact on the provision of public services. Without controlling for these environmental factors point estimates of efficiency and returns to scale will be biased. This paper extends nonparametric methods to allow measurement of returns to scale in the provision of public services. The method is applied to the provision of educational services in New York State school districts for illustrative purposes.

GIS Uses and Constraints on Diffusion in Eastern Europe and the Former USSR

The authors examine the emerging uses of geographic information systems (GIS) in Eastern Europe and the countries that formerly were part of the USSR. "The paper, based on a communications survey, conference participation, and local sources, devotes particular attention to GIS applications in planning and services delivery and to variable rates of adoption of GIS technology in the region, as documented in a table of public-sector applications compiled by the authors. Factors limiting the utility of traditional innovation-diffusion models in understanding current patterns are identified."

Public sector applications of LCA

Public sector applications of LCA

Qwl applications in public agencies:do success rates reflect a positive-findings bias?*

This article builds on reports of substantial success rates in Quality of Working Life (QWL) applications, and tests the criticism that these attractive outcomes merely reflect wimpish methodology. As the rigor of research designs increases, critical observers predict, so also will outcomes deteriorate. This panel of QWL applications, N = 44, does not support a positive-findings bias in public-sector applications, where QWL success rates approximate those in business applications.

The failure of an internal market: The universities funding council bid system

In 1990 the Universities Funding Council attempted to create an internal market for universities funding, by creating a competitive bid system and expecting universities to compete for scarce resources. In the event the universities failed to compete and the UFC abandoned the bid system and withdrew to consider further internal market options. The reasons for this failure have been debated, and generally tend to focus on specific actions by parties in the market. However, it seems much more likely that the market failure was provoked by structural flaws in the market itself. Examination of these leads to the conclusion that internal markets are much more complex than has often been assumed, and their appropriateness for some public sector applications must be questioned.

Introduction: Public-sector applications of the analytic hierarchy process

Introduction: Public-sector applications of the analytic hierarchy process

The variance equity measure in locational decision theory

Classical location theories and models were initially developed for the private sector, so that the related operational research literature has emphasized performance measures of efficiency and effectiveness. For public sector applications, measures of equity become important, yet such measures have received little formal treatment. This paper suggests a locational equity measure, the variance measure, and investigates its properties for tree networks. A fast algorithm (O(M)) to locate the minimum variance point on a tree network is developed, and some numerical results illustrate the variance optimal location.

Strategic Planning in the Public Sector

This note reviews some recent literature on the public sector application of strategic planning. The historical development of strategic planning in the private and public sectors is briefly reviewed, and the major concepts and attributes of the strategic planning process are described. Two major issues are discussed. One is the question of whether strategic planning is actually a new technique in terms of public sector application, or simply a restatement of older processes. The other is the question of the applicability of strategic planning to the public sector, which entails a debate about the fundamental similarities and differences between the public and private sectors.

Public Sector Applications of Organizational Climate Analysis: Research Note On Newman's Perceived Work Environment

Public Sector Applications of Organizational Climate Analysis: Research Note On Newman's Perceived Work Environment