Roundtable

Abstract

This paper introduces a selection of papers on contemporary developments in public sector management which come from a research conference held in 2004. This paper starts by introducing the New Public Management (NPM) and governance paradigms as alternative high level approaches. Such approaches are well known in the UK and are also of international interest. It then considers whether there are further possible reform paradigms not captured by these rather State centric models. The paper then briefly introduces each of the papers selected from the Conference proceedings. These papers contribute to the literature on the NPM, on the NPM versus governance debate and also generate and apply novel theoretical perspectives.     

Public management reform in Denmark

Abstract

This article discusses public management reform in Denmark. First, the institutional features of the Danish public sector are introduced. Danish ministries enjoy a considerable amount of autonomy that makes central co-ordinated public management reform challenging. The second part of the article outlines the contents of public management reform and provides an overview of the major reform initiatives of the last three governments. Denmark's reforms are characterized as a mixture of strategies for modernization and marketization, but with most emphasis on the former rather than the latter. Together with successive governments, the Danish Ministry of Finance has argued strongly for efficiency, economy and effectiveness as key values and they have been institutionalized in modernization efforts. Denmark should now be considered a country where NPM reforms have taken a firm hold.     

Public Management in Developing Countries

Abstract

Ten years ago public management in developing countries was reaching the end of a period in which the ‘Washington consensus’ model of a small state was dominant, with downsizing and privatization as its key mechanisms. With reform programmes in disarray and NPM an inadequate replacement, the subsequent decade has been one of ‘reculer pour mieux sauter’, with management dislodged from centre stage by a concern with the domestic and political determinants of reform. We have also seen the return of a poverty agenda, featuring education and health in central roles, to which management specialists have yet to respond fully. This review suggests the need for public management specialists to absorb a political analysis before returning to perennial management concerns.     

Wage Spillovers,Inter-regional Effects and the Impact of Inward Investment

Abstract

This paper evaluates the extent of inter-industry and inter-regional wage spillovers across the UK. An extensive body of literature exists suggesting that wages elsewhere affect wage determination and levels of satisfaction, but this paper extends the analysis of wage determination to examine the effects of inward investment in the process. Thus far the specific effect of foreign wages on domestic wage determination has not been evaluated. We employ industry- and regional-level panel data for the UK, and contrast results from alternative approaches to space-time modelling. Each supports the notion that such wage spillovers do occur, though assumptions made concerning the modelling of spatial interaction are important. Further, such wage spillovers are more widespread for skilled than for unskilled workers and also lower in areas of high unemployment.     

Team Work or Territorial War?

Abstract

This article studies the extent to which the newly created figure of the management team in local government in Flanders might lead to changes in administrative conduct. It uses a new institutionalism perspective in three worlds of action to study the mediating effect of meso-organizational and micro-individual factors on macro-constitutional reform. The empirical analysis (based on an assessment of the reform by the key acting municipal secretaries) highlights the importance of meso-factors for change. Especially the extent to which integrative thinking and independence from politics are present in the administrative logic of appropriateness seems to matter. This is complemented by micro-individual assumptions on the overall improvement of the macro-constitutive framework of reform.     

Green supply chain management – food for thought?

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the impact of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices on the performance of UK food retail small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A quantitative approach using a non-probability sampling of 84 participants was employed. Based on the literature review, five hypotheses were developed and tested using the partial least square-structural equation modeling (SEM-Smart PLS 2.03) approach. The reviewed literature revealed that key internal drivers (ID) and external pressures (EP) stimulate organizations to initiate GSCM practices in UK food retail SMEs. Though empirical findings strongly supported the statement that ID influence GSCM practices, they did not show a significant relationship between EP and GSCM practices. Literature also suggests that practicing GSCM can help improve the efficiency, brand image (BI) and profitability, and thus improve the overall firm performance which is also empirically proved. This study helps enrich existing theories on SCM and organizational performance. As to practical impact, this study should facilitate SMEs in GSCM practices and thus help green the economy. While the findings of this study have limited generalisability as the data were collected from UK SMEs only and the sample size was comparatively small, this research establishes a foundation for further study in this domain.     

Book Reviews

Abstract

The system for monitoring, regulating and reporting on the way in which UK government ministers make appointments to the boards of public bodies is a relatively neglected area of public management. A decade after the establishment of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA), little attention has been paid by academics to the functioning of this agent of accountability (a particularly British device), despite the importance of transparency and accountability for the new public management and modernization. This article seeks to examine the key issues surrounding the Commissioners for Public Appointments as agents of accountability, by examining the tensions in the relationship between OCPA and the executive, variations in the governance arrangements for the Commissioners across the devolved polity and the key findings and recommendations of a number of official reports, while locating these issues in the context of current debates about modernization and ‘representativeness’ in public bodies.     

Watching the Detectives 1

Abstract

This paper examines the role of regulators in the UK in integrating sustainable development into public services. In particular, how can we explain the different ways in which different regulators engage with sustainable development? Drawing on insights from rational choice and sociological institutionalism, this paper explains the responses of the three regulators operating in local government, schools and healthcare. It finds that, central government's failure both to send out clear signals about how to promote sustainable development and to create incentives to ensure it happens has left the integration of sustainable development mediated by regulators' organizational norms and professional identities.     

Towards Better Regulatory Governance?

Abstract

This article looks at regulatory reform in selected developing countries in Asia and Africa, by making use of the data collected through two existing questionnaire surveys conducted in 2003 and 2007 respectively. It is found that regulatory reform in these countries has not shifted from making ad hoc improvements to regulatory structures to taking a systematic view of regulatory governance and the means of promoting and enhancing it. For regulatory reform to improve regulatory governance, changes should be brought to both formal and informal institutions. Regulatory reform should also be integrated into the general reform of the public administration.     

Limits to the Implementation of Benchmarking Through KPIs in UK Construction Policy: Insights from game theory

Abstract

Benchmarking through the use of key performance indicators (KPIs) has been an important part of the UK government's market-oriented reforms to improve efficiency across the public sector and in other areas such as construction where government is a major client. However, government attempts to implement construction KPIs have not followed the expected course. We argue that insights from game theory show that the initial plan for construction benchmarking failed to take account of the strategic value of the information collected and was not implementable because the sharing of information by construction suppliers with their clients was a dominated strategy.     

City–Charity Partnerships and the Financial Crisis: Case study evidence

Abstract

This paper examines the experience of UK charities in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. The focus of this paper is on charities in the specific study setting of the city. The city is an important location in contemporary society. Resource dependency theory is used to analyse the attenuated position of charities in one city. This study reveals the fragility of city–charity partnerships because of the impact of the global financial crisis on public finances.     

Coping with functional collective action dilemma: functional fragmentation and administrative integration

ABSTRACT

Functional fragmentation among city departments has been a critical public administration problem in practice and theory. This paper investigates the political and administrative motivations for the reform from functionally fragmented water governance model towards an integrative agency design. Drawing on the Institutional Collective Action (ICA) framework and the literature on bureaucratic structures, we hypothesize that cities’ decisions for administrative reform are influenced by different types of transactions costs incurred in the negotiation process among local agencies. Empirical results of this study provide strong support for the transaction cost hypotheses on the roles of bargaining cost, enforcement cost, and information cost.     

De-Amalgamation in Action: The Queensland experience

Abstract

While a substantial theoretical and empirical literature has examined compulsory local government consolidation, little is known about de-amalgamation after forced mergers. Following the controversial 2008 Queensland local government amalgamation programme, which saw a radical reduction in the number of local councils, four forcibly merged councils have finally begun to de-amalgamate following successful plebiscites. This paper traces the extraordinary Queensland de-amalgamation process from its inception and attempts to place it in a broader conceptual framework. The paper provides a critical assessment of Queensland de-amalgamation policy development and implementation and seeks to draw broader public policy lessons for structural reform in local government.     

Managing Change,or Changing Managers? The role of middle managers in UK public service reform

Abstract

Drawing upon interview data from three case study organizations, we examine the role of middle managers in UK public service reform. Using theory fragments from organizational ecology and role theory, we develop three role archetypes that middle managers might be enacting. We find that rather than wholesale enactment of a ‘change agent’ role, middle managers are balancing three predominant, but often conflicting, change-related roles: as ‘government agent’, ‘diplomat administrator’ and, less convincingly, ‘entrepreneurial leader’. Central government targets are becoming the main preoccupation for middle managers across many public services and they represent a dominant constraint on allowing ‘managers to manage’.     

Municipal corporatization in Germany and Italy

Abstract

During the last few years, the local government sector in European countries has undergone a number of important changes. Among the various reform initiatives has been the externalization of public services, such as corporatization, contracting-out, public–private partnerships and privatization. The key goal of this article is to describe and explain the evolution of local public services provision in the two selected countries, with a particular focus on ‘corporatization’. The article seeks to draw a picture of the actual municipal landscape with the administrative core and its various corporations. Furthermore, it will discuss the reasons for corporatization trends and their impact on the corporate governance structures of municipalities in Germany and Italy.     

Strategic Positioning And Organizational Adaptation In Social Enterprise Subsidiaries Of Voluntary Organizations

Abstract

This article examines a new organizational form, the community interest company (CIC), as a means for voluntary and charitable organizations to embark on formalized social enterprise activities in the UK. A combination of social, economic, legal and strategic positioning factors has influenced charities to set up CICs as social enterprise subsidiaries to complement their public service work. CICs with charitable origins have relatively weak strategic positions, which are distinct from those of their parent charities. This difference creates tensions in the relationship between the CICs and their parent charities, which have implications for the management of third sector social enterprises.     

Placing entrepreneurship and firming small town economies: manufacturing firms,adaptive embeddedness,survival and linked enterprise structures

ABSTRACT

SMEs make a major contribution to the economy of cities and places. The relationship between firms and place is increasingly explained through the application of city-based externality models. Such explanations have limited validity in a number of contexts. One of these is in the economies of small- and medium-sized towns and communities (SMST). Whilst convention has sought to apply core-periphery explanations to the functioning of firms within SMSTs, the economies of SMSTs and entrepreneurial processes of SME embedding, adaptation and survival in such places are more complex. This paper explores these entrepreneurial processes in the context of manufacturing firms in five SMSTs in the West Midlands, UK. The paper uses interview data to understand the relationships between SMEs and place through the development of successive and evolving linked enterprise structures. Through these linked enterprise structures, SMEs engage in a process of adaptive embeddedness, resulting in new resource configurations through fluid iterations of structural, emotional, and circumstantial embeddedness. This paper is the first to identify and explore these different forms of embeddedness.     

The shifting boundaries of global staffing: integrating global talent management,alternative forms of international assignments and non-employees into the discussion

Abstract

Global staffing has been a key theme in research in IHRM for a number of decades. Our review confirms that it continues to be an important contemporary area of research in IHRM. In the current paper, we review three key contemporary issues in global staffing research, namely, the emergence of global talent management and potentially a more strategic approach to global mobility, specifically changing patterns of global mobility, and the emergence of the non-employees as key alternatives in the global staffing literature. The paper also charts a future research agenda in each of these areas.     

Resource Allocation in Higher Education in The Context of New Public Management

Abstract

The public administration framework New Public Management (NPM) has been applied to higher education systems in many western countries. The literature on these reforms reports on some positive effects but many critical voices can also be found. Even though NPM as a narrative unifies principles and measures under one roof, a detailed analysis shows that NPM principles fit differently for different tasks. Using a contingency approach, we show that, within the NPM narrative, two different higher education funding approaches exist, namely high-tech versus high-touch. Our study confirms the theoretical proposition that high-touch approaches match better with higher education domains. The use of contingency theory to classify NPM measures thus might be a promising way to further advance NPM theory and its practical application to topics as controversial as academic funding.     

Exploring the effectiveness of cigarette warning labels: findings from the United States and United Kingdom arms of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey

• This paper explores the effectiveness of cigarette warning labels across two countries, one (the UK) with new and stricter legislation where text based labels have been made more prominent and one (the USA) with less stringent regulation, where labels are less visible. Using longitudinal data from the two countries, the research seeks to investigate the impact of the different types of warning labels on the information processing by consumers. This paper assesses the effectiveness of warning labels in terms of: consumer attention, elaboration, contemplation on quitting and behavioural compliance. This study provides a comprehensive examination of these key factors in a fixed causal sequence. Structural equation modelling was used to test this model based on longitudinal panel survey data from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey. Analysis of a sample of 901 US smokers and 1459 UK smokers yielded results in full support of all hypothesised relationships in the model proposed for both countries. Findings suggest that the new European Union policy of more prominent warning labels has a direct effect on influencing behavioural compliance by smokers.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.