Public Service Ethos Research Articles

PETTY BUREAUCRACY AND WOOLLYMINDED LIBERALISM? THE CHANGING ETHOS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICERS

Most discussions of the public service ethos (pse) have offered polemical accounts of how recent reforms have eroded the distinguishing values of public servants without ever defining this ethos or considering its relationship to other aspects of the public sector. This article considers the deeper and more structural implications of the pse by characterizing it as a political institution that shares the features of‘new institutionalism’. It concentrates upon the pse as it manifests itself in local government and uses case studies of four authorities to analyse the extent to which external changes are altering the fundamental values of the ethos. In using the‘new institutionalist’perspective it argues that the pse, a vital institution of the UK polity, has been resistant to external pressures for change. Hence, to be successful, public sector reform must take into account the interdependent relationship between the pse and other political institutions.

FLATTER STRUCTURES NEED SHARPER MANAGERS.

This paper examines the qualities required by managers to succeed within the flatter management structures resulting from the merger of Local Authority technical departments. It notes that the pressure of compulsory competitive tendering turns service deliverers into small business units and that the purchaser side of the organization also comes under commercial pressures by way of the introduction of performance indicators. Such business units should seek to learn from existing small businesses. The challenge is to marry the old public service ethos to a new commercial pragmatism. In this environment the added value of good management and strategic thinking is crucial. Municipal engineers must embrace these changes or see their influence reduced.

Workplace violence in libraries

Libraries are usually thought of as havens of quiet. In fact, however, they have a long history of encounters with disturbed and potentially violent patrons. Surveys the history and incidence of workplace violence generally and then focuses on violence and inappropriate behaviour in libraries in particular. Demonstrates that virtually all instances came from users rather than from staff. Provides an analysis of different types of public and publicly‐owned buildings and highlights the specific features of public access that render staff more vulnerable. Also highlights the dilemma between the ethos of public service, on the one hand, and the need for both security and discipline, on the other. Provides suggestions as to how this balance can be achieved.

The Davies Report: The "Great Battle" in Swansea

Michael Davies Thoemmes, pounds sterling3.99, pp 139 ISBN 1 85506 366 2 Over the past few years, a number of stories have given rise to concerns about declining standards of propriety and accountability in public life. People working in what remains of the public sector have not been immune from criticism. The “new” NHS has been a source of scandal. There is a widespread belief that the internal market introduced values which undermine the public service ethos of those working within it. Paradoxically, although similar values have been introduced into universities, there have been relatively few allegations of …

HAVING THE BUN AND THE HALFPENNY: CAN OLD PUBLIC SERVICE ETHICS SURVIVE IN THE NEW WHITEHALL?

The past few years have seen major changes in Whitehall. These include: the encouragement of business values; the erosion of the idea of a career civil service; the Citizen's Charter; the growth of Next Steps agencies; market testing; the rise of political patronage and tensions in ministerial/official relationships. The official view is that this is an evolution of a former tradition and that the old public service ethos can continue. This seems doubtful. At all events there are widely differing normative, evaluations of the recent developments. The article concludes by offering some more historical reflections about the significance of the developments in the context of British public administration.

Privatization and competition versus public service

This article explores how to find an equilibrium between privatization and the public service ethos in telecommunications in the face of increasing internationalization. There is a danger of being blinded by a dogmatic belief in the efficacy of competition and privatization. The right solution may lie in a mix of monopoly in basic service provision and liberalization of other services. The rule of thumb must be to ‘put the customer first’.

Local Government Lawyers: The 1980s and beyond

As the climate of local government service provision has changed radically in the 1980s, so has the role and function of local government lawyers. They are increasingly required to be more than service providers within a public service ethos. Other roles have burgeoned, particularly those relating to corporate advice, at a time of significant corporate change. I argue that competing policy pressures have placed local government lawyers in the invidious position of holding the middle ground, with a view to what local government members and officers would like to achieve and to what can be achieved within the often shifting parameters of the law.

The polish parliamentary elections of October 1991

THE ORGANISATION OF free, competitive elections in Eastern Europe has generally proved relatively easy. Their contribution to the development of parliamentary democracy has been rather more problematic in the absence of a coherent sociopolitical infrastructure: notable for their absence are strong, well organised political parties, firm cultural norms of political participation and tolerance, and experienced alternative elites embracing a public service ethos and subordination to the rule of law. Recent Polish experience illustrates the extent to which free and fair elections are a necessary but insufficient condition of parliamentary demo-