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.     

Exploring the structure and meaning of public service motivation in the Turkish public sector: a test of the mediating effects of job characteristics

Using a data set consisting of 315 middle-managers at the district level in the Turkish public sector, we develop a structural equation model (SEM) for assessing the impact of empowerment and stewardship on public service motivation (PSM) through job characteristics. The results demonstrate that stewardship and empowerment are distinct ‘levers’ that managers can use in novel ways to influence PSM; and cultural context may factor into the manipulation of these levers. We find that job-based mediators may not compliment leadership styles and self-generating rewards, but, rather work separately in their appeal to PSM.     

New Public Management

The paper presents an assessment and evaluation of what is termed ‘new public management’ at the end of the 1990s. In order to provide this assessment, new public management is defined in several ways: as a movement, as an academic commentary, and as reformed organizational practice in the public sector. The paper uses the UK health sector to examine some of the assumed relationships between ideology, actions and consequences implied within a broad understanding of new public management. Developments in the UK health sector are used to address assumptions focusing on different aspects of the ideology (private sector practices and markets can increase efficiency in the public sector), actions (introduction of market mechanisms and business-like, practices) and consequences (operational performance, strategic direction, governance and values). Drawing on developments in the UK health sector, an assessment of new public management at the end of the 1990s sees it much diversified and expanded from original conceptions, which are ensuring its contested survival as a movement, as an academic commentary, and as reformed organizational practice in the UK despite a change of government in 1997.     

公共政策运行中的信息不对称及其治理

我国城市公共政策在运行过程中,普遍存在着信息不对称的问题,其形成原因主要包括政府自利性、科层制的局限性、信息传递通道不畅以及信息成本高。信息不对称对城市公共政策的制定、执行、评估、监控和终结等有着重要的消极影响,可能导致政策失效,应通过不同方式加以治理。     

Is best practice in development still viable? The case of financial management in fragile Afghanistan

The concept of best practice has few friends in international development; however, the wholesale rejection of best practice is incorrect. The article first reviews the critique of best practice by describing its four main features and analyses it through a case study of public financial management (PFM) in Afghanistan country using three donor-funded projects that employ a best practice approach. The PFM projects are evaluated based on the four components of the critique. The article concludes with a modest reassessment of the continued salience of best practice in international development.     

Institutional analysis for new public governance scholars

ABSTRACT

Over the past several decades, prominent public management and policy scholars have repeatedly identified institutional analysis as a promising tool for empirical research, particularly for the study of ‘new governance’ phenomena where policy is enacted and implemented by actors that span organizations, sectors, jurisdictions, and governance levels. Yet, relatively few empirical studies directly measure and model institutions in management and policy settings. In a systematic review of the literature, we identify challenges and barriers that may prevent management and policy scholars from engaging with institutional analysis, along with examples of studies that illustrate how to overcome these challenges in practice.     

Applying Strategic Management Theories in Public Sector Organizations: Developing a typology

This article discusses the utility of two different strategic management theories in different types of public organizations including contemporary New Public Management-based public organizations, namely Porter’s strategic positioning model and the resource-based view of strategy. We argue that possibilities for applying these theories vary depending on the type of public organizations involved, and are less appropriate in traditional settings but more relevant in autonomized and market-like service-delivery organizations. We further propose that their increased applicability depends on three specific conditions: the degree of administrative autonomy, performance-based budgeting and market-like competition. We give empirical examples drawn from public services in the UK and Denmark. We call for more exploration of these (and other) strategic management approaches within contemporary public services organisations but also more exploration of the limitations of these frameworks.     

基于多中心治理的公共政策产出机制研究

公共政策产出存在多种机制：政府主导的“内生型”、公众有限参与的政府“回应型”、多中心治理下的“网络型”等。多种政策产出机制在各民主制国家都是并存的,只是由于民主政治发展程度不同,三者所占比重不等而已。在治理理论成为一种政治思潮的今天,多中心的“网络型”政策产出机制受到更多欢迎和关注。这既给传统的政策产出机制带来了一系列影响,也使得该机制的不足得以暴露,如何进一步优化这一政策产出机制成为亟待解决的问题。     

Explicit reforms,implicit theories and public service improvement

A framework for the explication of the theoretical basis of public management reforms is developed. The framework is applied to the Best Value regime in UK local government. The implicit assumptions of policy makers are that the Best Value regime will generate service improvements through changes in organizational structures, processes, culture and strategy content. Empirical evidence on the relationship between these variables and organizational performance is critically reviewed, and policy makers' implicit ‘theories in use’ are made explicit in the form of a simple additive model of public service improvement. In practice the actual pattern of change is likely to be mediative, reciprocal and contingent on local organizational circumstances. However, theorizing public management reforms in this way is valuable because it provides a basis for evaluating the logic of programme design, predicting effectiveness and generating testable models of the relationship between public policies, organizational changes and public service improvement.     

Government and governance: The value of project management in the public sector

Governance is an emerging theme that has been associated in the public sector with a real political need to satisfy stakeholders by demonstrating accountability and transparency while effectively implementing policy. Many initiatives relating to governance are generated by a need for improvement of organizational performance and ability to implement and adapt to change. These generally take the form of projects and programs encouraging a variety of project management implementations in the public sector. This article reports on examination of the expectations and realization of value from investment in project management in four Australian public‐sector organizations with particular reference to the government context, the perspective of public value management (PVM), and the support that project management provides in meeting the demands of public‐sector governance.     

关于构建基层社会治理新格局的几点思考

党的十九届四中全会提出了构建基层社会治理新格局的重大部署。构建基层社会治理新格局必须充分发挥党委核心和政府负责双管齐下的作用,充分带动社会团体与人民群众的参与,在科技引领和法治保障下,不断加强和创新社会的基层治理。十九届四中全会已经为新时代社会治理新格局指明了前进方向,各基层组织一定要着眼于现在、立足未来,为基层社会治理贡献应有的力量。     

事业单位分类改革背景下财务管理体系框架研究

随着事业单位分类改革的推进,社会公益类事业单位的财务管理也成为改革的重中之重。本文深入分析了公益类事业单位的改革趋势及事业单位改革给财务管理工作带来的新挑战,在其基础上提出了建立公益类事业单位财务管理体系的框架。     

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.     

Does Super-Department Reform Improve Public Service Performance in China?

Echoing the global public management reform movement, China’s authorities advocated ‘super-department’ reform (SDR) to curb interdepartmental conflict and administrative inefficiency. However, the related performance consequences have not been empirically investigated. We test the reform’s effects on citizen satisfaction with public services through a natural experiment involving twenty-five counties in Guangdong province (2009–2012) and the difference-in-differences method. The results show that the reform has improved public service performance, but its effects are marginal and unsustainable. We discuss the theoretical contributions and policy implications of the findings and identify future research avenues.     

Accounting for Administrative Change in Three Asia-Pacific States

The New Public Management (NPM) appears to be of universal applicability. However, if examined on a country-by-country basis we can observe considerable variations. This article surveys public management change in three Asia-Pacific countries and contends that even in countries that share similar characteristics, in this case, British post-colonial bureaucracies, there is little uniformity. We might assume that administrative change is the result of the attraction of NPM to élites who shop around the international market for ideas, but this is a gross oversimplification. However, the apparent internation alization of NPM appears to be driven by policy transfer activity. The survey of public management in these countries reveals that although the policy transfer approach is difficult to apply empirically, it is worth pursuing as it strips away the appeal of NPM. Although in each of these countries, it is difficult to argue with any conviction that policy has been transferred from another country, a number of adaptations and ideas have been utilized by bureaucratic élites. Policy transfer is a more subtle process, and more ‘context sensitive’ than we might first assume. Even where a policy developed elsewhere can be demonstrated to be successful, its transfer to another country is less than, straightforward and often it is the rhetoric, rather than the substance, that is adopted.     

State–third Sector Partnerships: A short overview of key issues in the debate

Abstract

The theme of partnership with the third sector has been on the agenda of public management research for a long time now, not least in this journal. As an introduction to a special issue on this topic, the article discusses two issues crucial to further study of this phenomenon. The first on the types or categories that can be distinguished when comparing these partnerships between countries or policy fields; the second how recent public management reforms (especially of the New Public Management variety) have affected the nature of third sector organizations and their role in relation to the state.     

Is the Emperor In His Underwear?

This paper assesses our state of knowledge concerning the ‘New Public Management’ (NPM) reforms which seem to have been launched in so many countries. In the first section it appraises the types of materials available as a basis for such an assessment. It then considers, and rejects, the thesis that, because of the improved performance they bring, these reforms are global in reach and inevitable in nature. Subsequently, the main part of the paper assesses the available evidence with respect to a number of key dimensions of reform impacts. It concludes that, while there is evidence of specific improvements in particular instances, the general case for NPM as a solution to diverse problems of governance in many different countries is far less firmly established than is commonly supposed.     

政策营销研究综述

文章结合国内外对政策营销的研究,主要从政策、政策营销概念及其策略模式等方面进行了介绍。首先,介绍了政策概念的综述;其次,对政策营销的发展进行了总结,并且综述了政策营销的概念定义;最后,对政策营销的模式以及营销策略,进行了综合总结。     

谈新公共管理的服务理念在高校中的应用

新公共管理理论体现了以顾客需求为导向、尊崇顾客主权、坚持服务取向、注重提高顾客满意度的发展趋势。新时期下高校学生工作应借鉴新公共管理理论的核心理念,崇尚以人为本的服务理念,树立全人教育的工作理念和法治化的学生管理理念,走职业化和专业化的发展道路,不断推动学生工作的创新。