European Public Sector Research Articles

Scales of Place and Networks

Much has been made of the spacetransforming and spacedefying characteristics of information and communications technologies. This focus tends to separate the spatial characteristics of these technologies from those of the Euclidean world; it also takes the spatial characteristics of the Euclidean world for granted. Yet anthropologists have shown that place making in any spatial context is a complicated process, always involving an entanglement of imagination, politics, and social relations. This paper, by focusing on the promotion of the development of information and communications technologies through the public sector in Europe, shows that these technologies have become as much a part of political place making as other transportation and communication technologies in the past. Using our ethnographic research on several European Unionfunded projects based in Manchester, we argue that many of the perceived difficulties experienced in projects which envision these technologies as holding the potential for social change derive from a tension between imagined communities and imagined networks as two different forms of place making. The paper illustrates this tension by tracing the political, institutional, and social development of what we term an imperative to connect, which constitutes a moral and social imperative as much as an economic one.

Modèles de gestion des compétences en Europe

In the Human Resources Management (HRM) literature, competency management ideas are very widespread. In the last decade this new approach to personnel management has been introduced into the public sector in Europe, although at a different pace in each country. Competency management is leading to new ways of looking at careers in the public sector. Traditionally careers have been based on qualifications, examinations and seniority. In a competency-based system careers are linked to personal skills, attitudes and behaviours, which are required in the job and people are seen as ‘assets’to be developed, motivated and used. In this article we first describe the origins of the competency movement and clarify some conceptual issues. Second, we examine two examples of different systems of competency-based management : the British senior civil service and the Belgian federal civil service. Third, we discuss the added value of competency management (for the public sector) and deal with some problems, which have been encountered in practice.

Release the power of the public purse

This article presents the findings of a European study on energy efficiency in the public sector, entitled “Public procurement of Energy Saving Technologies in Europe” (PROST), completed in 2003. Energy efficiency in the public sector goes far beyond energy savings and climate protection. Energy efficiency must be seen as a strategy, which deals both with scarce public funds and with profound energy and climate challenges. The gains to be made are substantial. The study assessed the potential for energy and cost savings and the greenhouse gas reductions that are linked to energy efficiency in the European public sector. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first time such an analysis has been carried out. The study concluded that there are no fundamental legal obstacles that would a priori disable the public sector from procuring energy efficient technologies or applying energy efficiency considerations in its daily building management routines. However, at the level of implementation obstacles can occur. It is therefore of paramount importance that there is sufficient political will and adequate incentive systems at all relevant levels. It appeared to be particularly effective when public procurement is energy-efficiency minded in all its operations and life cycle costing is applied for investments instead of conventional public budgeting procedures. The study demonstrates that consistent and EU-wide application of these principles and instruments can result in rather substantial savings both in terms of energy and in terms of money. With additional annual investments in energy efficiency of 80 million Euro, energy savings in the (EU15) Member States’ public sector worth up to 12 billion Euro per year can be achieved. A supplementary analysis was performed for a selection of the new Member States, which indicated that the potential for energy and fiscal savings is substantial in those countries as well.

Supply and demand of policy indicators

The amount of measurement in the public sector in Europe is increasing. The United Kingdom in particular may be proclaimed the most measured public sector in Europe, if not the world. Continental public administrations with a more Latin administrative culture do measure performance as well. Although performance measurement is paramount, many complaints are heard. Civil servants criticize that politicians are not using the performance information. Politicians complain that reliable performance information is not available. Politicians and civil servants complain that their own policy sector is hard to measure, if not immeasurable, when you compare it to other sectors. This article seeks an empirical insight in the administrative supply and political demand of performance information. To what extent do supply and demand meet? What is the quality of the supply and which policy sectors measure more? The methodology is a documentary analysis of parliamentary proceedings, i.e. the Members of Parliament's (MP) questions to the executive in the region of Flanders, Belgium.

Citizens’ Safety, Business Trust and Greek Police

This article examines the possibilities for the Greek police to use performance measurement. The article first presents the context from which the monopoly of the state police began to be questioned. It briefly describes the development and essential trends in this type of evaluation for police forces in Great Britain, the initiator of quality reforms in the public sector in Europe and where considerable experience has been accrued. In the second part, the concepts of security and trust are explored and used as the theoretical background for a small-scale empirical study. It examines whether testing the effectiveness of policing can help in developing the necessary sense of security and trust required by small businesses to expand their enterprises. Furthermore, it examines whether such knowledge could motivate security companies to offer a more economic service to a larger number of households and private enterprises by cooperating with the state police and if such measurement would prove useful for them and their customers. Finally, some conclusions are formulated in reference to safety, police culture and organization, as well as to the quality of reform in Greece.

Strengthening banks' market discipline and leveling the playing field: Are the two compatible?

This paper examines whether the supervisory objective of strengthening market discipline is compatible with the one of enhancing competitive equality for internationally active banks. This issue is empirically investigated by comparing the determinants of major US and European banks' subordinated notes and debentures (SND) spreads. Three main results emerge. First, the spread/rating relationship is both statistically significant and very similar for US and European banks' bonds. Second, US banks tend to pay a higher average spread on their SND issues because of a poorer average rating. This is due to the presence of European public sector banks, i.e. banks which are either government owned or benefit from explicit government guarantees. In fact, US banks have slightly better Moody's bank financial strength and FitchIBCA individual average ratings, which omit the influence of government and other external support on risk borne by investors. Finally, controlling for the issuing banks' default risk, US banks pay a statistically significant lower average spread on their SND issues. This result is attributed to the higher liquidity of the US market for banks' bonds.

Decentralized Public Sector Wage Determination: Wage Curve and Wage Comparison for Norwegian Teachers in the Pre‐WW2 Period

The recent trend towards decentralization of European public sector wage determination relaxes some of the central administered wage setting mechanisms developed in the post‐WW2 period. This paper discusses teacher wage determination in Norway in 1905–39, a period with a highly decentralized public sector wage formation. Separate wage equations for urban and rural areas are estimated. I find that the responsiveness to unemployment of the urban wage was of the same magnitude as in the post‐WW2 period private sector wage formation. In addition, the internal teacher labour market and local economic conditions influence the wage level. The rural wage mainly followed the urban wage.

Stakeholders, Bargaining and Strikes

We study bilateral bargaining problems with interested third parties, the stakeholders that enjoy benefits upon a bilateral agreement. We explore the strategic implications of this third party involvement. Our main finding is that the potential willingness of the stakeholder to make contributions to promote agreement may be the source of severe inefficiency. However, and more surprisingly, for a wide range of parameter values this outcome is better for the stakeholder than if he enters bargaining directly. Our results lend support to the tendency towards decentralization of pay bargaining in the public sector in Europe.

The future of public sector management

If we try to look at the future of public sector management in the UK, it might be more useful to think about what is happening in the rest of Europe, rather than looking at the USA (“reinventing government”, etc.) and especially New Zealand. There are some common pressures on the public sector in Europe, but not a unified or convergent approach to management. In the areas of structural arrangements about policy making and service delivery, relationships between tiers of government, goal setting, planning, budgeting, evaluation, “user” orientation and personnel management, there are choices to be made.

Chemical toxicology searching: a collaborative evaluation, comparing information resources and searching techniques

A collaborative evaluation project has been carried out by fourteen UK and European organisations, both industrial and public sector, to compare information resources and searching techniques for chemical toxrcology information. The project had two objectives: to improve the participants' own expertise in this area, and to allow an objective evaluation of searching methods. Eight test queries were designed and searched by the participants, and the results evaluated semi-qualitatively, with an extensive failure analysis. Printed sources, online data-bases, data-banks, and in-house files were included in the evaluation. The results are presented and discussed, including both comments on strengths and weaknesses of sources and search techniques, and recommenda tions for future improvements to facilitate access to chemical toxicology information.