Quality Of Government Services Research Articles

Limits of Competition: Accountability in Government Contracting

Government contracts with private providers for the supply of goods and services have grown in number and magnitude over the last several decades. Elected officials and other policymakers choose to privatize government functions for a variety of reasons. Politicians may want to appear to decrease the size of government by reducing the number of directly employed workers. Lawsuits challenging the quality of government services can motivate quick change, or private firms might lobby for government business. Some elected officials believe that privatesector provision of services always results in financial savings and better quality of service over public provision. Although in some instances the government unit involved conducts a serious study of the costs and benefits

Competition, fee-for-service requirements, and government performance: evidence on the Federal Reserve

This paper examines the impact of competition and fee-for-service requirements on the efficiency and quality of government services. Using internal cost and quality data on the United States Federal Reserve, I find that fee-for-service requirements alone were not enough to motivate performance improvements. Costs went down only in the single Fed service (forward check-clearing) that also faced vigorous product-market competition, and the extent of the cost reductions was greater in more competitive markets. Importantly, the cost reductions in check-clearing were accompanied by quality improvements, with service quality positively associated with contemporaneous and subsequent costs. These results are consistent with studies on the private sector that indicate that quality improvements can increase productivity and reduce costs. Taken together, the evidence points to competition as a potential tool in the nation’s efforts to improve the performance of government services.

Revisiting public information management for effective e‐government services

Governments are employing modern information and communication technologies to serve society better. Raising the effectiveness and quality of government services is not only a matter of new technologies; it also involves clear vision and objectives as well as a sound business strategy. Information systems need to support internal work within a government’s boundaries, serve customers through digital interfaces and leverage digital relationships among social partners. To implement such systems, preparatory work is required in both organization and technology. A new public information management philosophy underlies this significant revamping of the value propositions made to customers. The ongoing enrichment of the Greek Ministry’s of Finance e‐services follows an ICDT‐like business logic. A key factor of all these advances is the re‐orientation of information systems for customer‐centric service.

Evolving forms of quality management in local government: lessons from the Best Value pilot programme

English This article explores the relationship between Quality Management (QM) and Best Value. It investigates how well Best Value incorporates established QM practice and moreover whether the framework has also encouraged any innovative QM developments. Conceptual and practice-centred models of local government service quality provide the structure to explore empirical evidence gathered from the Best Value pilot programme, with more specific reference to the Cumbria County Council case and a number of other shorter exemplars. The article concludes with reflection on the limitations of the study and a discussion of its managerial, governance and future research implications.

Quality Management in Local Government - Issues and Experience

The aim of the article is to examine key dimensions of service quality and to consider the situation within British local government. A model of public service quality is introduced. From this starting point, it is argued that local government service quality must consider the 'citizen question'. Values, objectives, definitions of quality and of standards, systems for implementation and a constructive approach to monitoring and evaluation need to be brought together in an integrated approach. Front-line staff, elected councillors and trades unions have an important part to play and all their voices also need to be heard. Local government as a whole has not yet taken on board this comprehensive approach. However, over ten years or so it has adapted to the new policy environment through a wide range of strategies. These include organisational development and quality initiatives, decentralisation, public participation and community empowerment. All help to build an environment where quality can flourish. A 'tight-loose' organisational culture is essential for success. Some tools from the private sector can be used eclectically, but the article warns against wholesale transfer, since the needs and purposes of local government are generally very different. Public service quality is not only about improving citizens' quality of life. It is also potentially a route to greater sense of citizenship, participation and democracy.

Assuring the quality of UK Local Government services: a case study of school meals catering

This article analyses the changing nature of quality assurance issues for the UK school meals service and presents the results of research into the impact on this service of the compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) regime. It considers the institutional and policy context within which the school meals service operates and shows how that context has qualified the maxim that the consumer knows best. Schools and their pupils have had little input into contract specifications for the school meals service. However, increased local discretion regarding the nutritional standards of school meals, the decentralisation to schools of responsibility for managing their own budgets and the growth of fast food’ catering outlets outwith school premises are, in combination, increasing the power of school managers and of pupils themselves relative to that of the central offices and committees of local education authorities. Hence, the balance of power between different stakeholder groups is changing, so modifying perceptions of what constitutes quality of service.

Strategic Information Management: Conceptual Frameworks for the Public Sector

These are not easy times for government. The federal budget deficit has been a serious economic problem and political fact of life for many years. Until recently, however, states and localities have escaped chronic deficits. Most state resulted from one-time shifts in spending or revenue that could be addressed within the confines of a single budget year. By the early 1990s, however, it had become clear that something else was happening. In 1991, New York posted the nation's largest-ever state budget deficit, $6 billion-its fourth consecutive multibillion-dollar shortfall. By 1992 California set a new record for state budget deficits-$ 11 billion. According to the Center for the Study of the States, most states now have structural deficits (Gold, 1991). They are not facing occasional mismatches between spending and revenue. Instead, their tax systems now persistently fail to produce enough revenue to maintain current services. To complicate matters, public expectations for the level and quality of government services were formed in better economic times. Those expectations have grown while satisfaction with their fulfillment has steadily declined. In the past few years, it has become evident that cutting fat, eliminating waste, and preventing abuse-the management watchwords of the 1980s-are not nearly enough. Government needs to rethink its methods and restructure its approach to public services (Osborne and Gaebler, 1992). In the past, major operational reforms have rested on the infusion of new dollars and new people. Today, these solutions are no longer available. States need to learn to make more effective use of a fixed or shrinking pool of public dollars. Improvements in operations and services must occur within these resource constraints. To meet the rising tide of dissatisfaction and ever-increasing costs, government managers of the 1990s need more than admonishment to change

Decentralization by default: Local governance and the view from the village in The Gambia

AbstractPolicies to decentralize government activities in The Gambia have been on the agenda for more than a decade but no decisions have been taken. During this period the quality of government services to rural areas has declined dramatically. The linchpin of provincial administration, the divisional commissioner, has become redundant as far as development is concerned. The activities of line ministries have deteriorated as their expenditures have been reduced and they lack the funds to permit staff to operate at village level. Area councils that were previously regarded as wasteful are now totally discredited. Village development committees (VDCs) have been formed, but the results are mixed and often they are ineffective. By default, decentralization in the 1980s and early 1990s in The Gambia has been achieved by non‐governmental organizations (NGOs), which have rapidly grown in number and significance. This article explores the perceptions of villagers in The Gambia about the various organizations that are meant to serve their needs. Its conclusion speculates on proposals to implement a new decentralization policy in the country and points to the need for aid agencies to adopt a less simplistic approach to the issue of local governance.

Postwar Uganda: A review of health services in Kabarole District

This article summarizes the results of a comprehensive baseline survey of health services, conducted in Kabarole District, Western Uganda, in March 1989. The purpose of this survey was to obtain baseline data in order to facilitate planning, monitoring and evaluation of the Basic Health Services Programme, sponsored by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation, which started in October 1988. The survey was carried out in 12 randomly selected health facilities and in 43 adjacent households, where 435 persons were interviewed. The health service delivery system was characterized by the following score (maximum possible score 100): staff positions filled, 63; presence of staff in health facilities, 59; supervision, 39; management, 17; medical knowledge, 62; skills, 53; drug supply, 80; community participation, 8. The average attendance rate at the health facilities was calculated as 0.8 visits per head per year. The low utilization of health facilities in Kabarole District reflects the quality of government services after a civil war of 15 years, which ended in 1986. The importance of data collection is stressed, as is the methodology employed.

Public policy and quality of community life in american cities: a search for linkage

The purpose of this research is to identify and examine linkages that exist between public policy and quality of life in American cities. A review and analysis of public policy research and social indicators research over the past twenty years is included. Social indicators are further defined into both objective and subjective indicators. The developing confluence of the two areas of research constitutes the basis for the remainder of the paper. The data for this study are derived from a nationwide survey conducted by Louis Harris and Associates, Inc., in late December, 1977 and early January, 1978, for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Interviews were conducted for a sample of 7,074 adults, asking them about their perceptions on the quality of community life, government services, social problems, and future possibilities. The findings are analyzed through use of a frequency distribution of the quality of life measures and the quality of public service variables. The pattern of ...

Revenue sharing and monopoly government: A reply

The purpose of our article on the economic consequences of revenue sharing was relatively straightforward: It was to refute, with a particular view of government, the commonly stated proposition that revenue sharing (as well as many other forms of inter-government grants) is intended to decentralize governmental powers by distributing federal government revenues to state and local governments. Further, our purpose was to argue that state and local governments saw in revenue sharing a means of cartelizing tax collections, of charging monopoly tax-prices. In this regard, our analysis extended the economic theory of regulation, developed by George Stigler and refined by others, to the state and local government 'market.' The line of analysis is fully compatible with explanations for the rate and regulations instituted by, for example, the CAB. We fully expected many of the same consequences experienced from, say, the regulation of the airline industry to appear in the government market. The main conclusions of the paper were (1) revenue sharing would move stat~ and local governments away from their competitive tax-price equilibrium (which was used in our article more as a conceptual reference point than as a description of the actual state of affairs in the real world) and would lead to greater tax collections by all levels of government and (2) would give rise to inefficiency in the allocation of resources. The comments of Professors Friedman and Kurth on our article are useful because they make quite explicit a point that was subsumed in our analysis, mainly that regulation and control of competition in the price dimension will lead to competitive pressures in areas not controlled. As in the case of regulation of the airline industry, suppressed price competition can be, eventually, expected to be reflected in non-price dimensions, like the quality and quantity of government services. These points do not disturb us for two reasons. First, again, our purpose was to argue that revenue sharing leads to inefficiency, and inefficiency that goes by the name of'under' or 'over' production is still inefficiency. Second, the Friedman-Kurth argument reinforces our position which is that state and local government officials had a private interest in the creation and extension

The Effects of Property Taxes and Local Public Spending on Property Values: A Comment and Further Results

In a recent issue of the Journal of Political Economy, Wallace E. Oates (1969) presented an empirical study of the effects of local public budgets on residential property values. He found a significant negative relationship between effective property tax rates and property values and a significant positive relationship between public school expenditure per pupil (his proxy for output of local government services) and property values. He concluded that for a group of New Jersey residential communities (1) a significant portion of a change in the local property tax rate will be capitalized, and (2) his results were consistent with Tiebout's (1956) model of choice of residential location in that, other things held equal (including tax rates), property values (and thus net rentals) varied positively with the quality of local public services. Oates's method of simultaneously measuring the extent of tax capitalization and the effects of variations in the quality of local government services upon property values is as follows: he selects median dwelling value as his left-hand variable, regressing it on the property tax rate, per pupil educational expenditure, and a number of other variables which are intended to serve the purpose of accounting for the other influences upon property values. Recognizing that the tax and government expenditure variables may be correlated with the error term, he then employs two-stage least squares, obtaining similar results. Oates concludes by suggesting that "some caution is in order concerning the degree of reliability that we can attribute to the results" (p. 968). But he does feel, at least roughly speaking, that the results "have . .. some interesting implications for local-government finance" (p. 958). In what follows, attention is called to a number of problems which leave one with rather more serious misgivings about Oates's results than implied by these statements. In particular, we see that difficulties exist with respect to the choice of local-government variables and the interrelationships among