Co-design and action learning in local public services

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilpo Laitinen ◽  
Tony Kinder ◽  
Jari Stenvall
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
Service Management ◽  
Public Services ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Action Learning ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
Local Public Services ◽  
New Public

The paper argues that from a new public governance and service management perspective, local public services are best conceptualised as service systems in which users co-produce and co-design; this differentiates public from private services, which have lower of trust and shared values resulting in a goods-dominant logic and are an alternative to the new public management viewpoint. Referencing new case studies from Finland and Scotland, we further argue that for local public servicesʼn co-production as an action- learning environment supports and encourages co-design: this makes local public services a special case of codesign. Analysing the two cases of co-design, we argue that since public services are subject to public scrutiny, and since design is a social activity, there exists a wider democratic footprint. Finally, we argue that co-design of local public services is best analysed from the perspective of action learning, for which we suggest an analytical framework.

Challenges in transitioning from new public management to new public governance in a developing country context

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 689-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wahed Waheduzzaman
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Developing Country ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Service Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Public ◽  
New Public Governance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the transitional status of new public management (NPM) into new public governance (NPG) in a developing country context. Some authors, based on their research in developed countries, have claimed that NPM is dead. However, such claims have apparently ignored the transformational status of NPM in developing countries. This paper addresses that gap. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative method was used in this research. Public officials, elected representatives and local users who were responsible for public service management at local levels in Bangladesh were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires tailored to each group. The interview texts were then organised and analysed using NVivo software. Findings This research reveals that four public management elements comprising decentralisation, market-based services, efficiency and accountability, which are prerequisites for creating an appropriate environment for NPG, have not been established successfully in Bangladesh. This finding suggests that NPG may not be achieved without effective implementation of these elements through NPM practices. The study concludes that NPM needs to be practiced for more time in Bangladesh for the effective transformation of public management into public governance. Research limitations/implications Findings from this research will help public policy makers and researchers to identify barriers to and design the pathway for a smooth shift from NPM to NPG. Practical implications The findings of this research would help the Government of Bangladesh and international aid agencies to better understand the status of NPM and NPG in regional Bangladesh. Social implications The research findings may help identify barriers to enhancing participatory activities in a developing society. Originality/value Though NPM is an obsolete theory for developed countries, it needs to be implemented successfully in developing countries prior to the implementation of NPG.

scholarly journals Changed Roles and Strategies of Professionals in the (co)Production of Public Services

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 59 ◽  
Author(s):  
van Gestel ◽  
Kuiper ◽  
Hendrikx
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Public Services ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
State Reform ◽  
New Public ◽  
Welfare State Reform

This paper investigates the changed roles and strategies of professionals in a context of hybrid welfare state reform. This context exposes public professionals to market regulation and rationalization (new public management), and simultaneously expects them to work across professional borders to co-produce public services together with their clients, colleagues and other stakeholders (new public governance). Adopting a comparative perspective, we studied different types of professionals for their views on the implications of this reform mix on their work. Hence, we investigate ‘strategy’ at the macro level of public sector reform and at the micro level of professionals’ responses. The study is based on literature and policy documents, participatory observations and especially (group) interviews with professionals across Dutch hospitals, secondary schools and local agencies for welfare, care or housing. We found that professionals across these sectors, despite their different backgrounds and status, meet highly similar challenges and tensions related to welfare state reform. Moreover, we show that these professionals are not simply passive ‘victims’ of the hybrid context of professionalism, but develop own coping strategies to deal with tensions between different reform principles. The study contributes to understanding new professional roles and coping strategies in welfare state reform, in a context of changing relationships between professions and society.

The political economy of English public services reform and implications for management knowledges in health care organizations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewan Ferlie ◽  
Sue Dopson ◽  
Chris Bennett ◽  
Michael D. Fischer ◽  
Jean Ledger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Public Services ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Health Care Organizations ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Management Reform ◽  
New Public

This chapter explores, in greater depth, the idea floated in the Introduction that the macro-level political economy of public services reform can exert effects on preferred management knowledges at both national and local levels. We argue that an important series of New Public Management reforms evident since the 1980s have made UK public agencies more ‘firm like’ and receptive to firm-based forms of management knowledge. We characterize key features of the UK’s long-term public management reform strategy, benchmarking it against, and also adding to, Pollitt and Bouckaert’s well-known comparativist typology. We specifically add to their model a consideration of the extent to which public management reform is constructed as a top-level political issue.

Agencification and Location

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Egeberg ◽  
Jarle Trondal
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
Large N ◽  
New Public

Chapter 7 offers a large-N study on whether the geographical location of government agencies affects public governance. Two decades of New Public Management have placed agencification high on the agenda of administrative policymakers. Moreover, agencies organized at arm’s length from ministerial departments have sometimes also been located outside of the capital or political centre. Although practitioners tend to assign weight to location as regards political-administrative behaviour, this relationship has been largely ignored by scholars in the field. This chapter shows that agency autonomy, agency influence, and inter-institutional coordination seem to be relatively unaffected by agency site. The chapter also specifies some conditions under which this finding is valid.

Political Steering and Bureaucratic Autonomy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Egeberg ◽  
Jarle Trondal
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Organizational Capacity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Questionnaire Data ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
Bureaucratic Autonomy ◽  
Large N ◽  
New Public ◽  
Political Steering

This chapter draws attention to the effects of vertical specialization of organizations and how it affects public governance. The chapter documents that agency officials pay significantly less attention to signals from executive politicians than their counterparts within ministerial (cabinet-level) departments. This finding also holds when controlling for variation in tasks, the political salience of issue areas, and officials’ rank. In addition, it is documented that the greater the organizational capacity available within the respective ministerial departments, the more agency personnel tend to assign weight to signals from the political leadership. Expert concerns are strongly emphasized at both levels; however, agency personnel are more sensitive to the influence of affected parties. The chapter applies large-N questionnaire data at four points in time (1986, 1996, 2006, and 2016) that spans three decades and shifting administrative doctrines: New Public Management as well as post-New Public Management.

scholarly journals Bringing the Law Back in the Law-Government Nexus in an Era of Network Governance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stavros Zouridis ◽  
Vera Leijtens
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Network Governance ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Law

Abstract Recently, scholars have claimed that public management theory has too much ignored law. Consequently, the under-legalized conception of public management has produced a flawed understanding of public management theory as well as public management practices, threatening public institutions’ legitimacy. In this article, we argue that law never left public management theory. Rather, the link between government and law has been redefined twice. We refer to the assumptions that constitute this link as the law-government nexus. This nexus changed from lawfulness in a public administration paradigm, to legal instrumentalism in a (new) public management paradigm, and to a networked concept in the public governance (PG) paradigm. In order to prevent a faulty over-legalized conception of public management, bringing the law back in should be built on lessons from the past. This article elaborates on three strategies to reconnect law and public management. We map the strengths and weaknesses of each law-government nexus and illustrate these with the case of the Dutch tax agency. In our strategies that aim to reconceptualize the current law-government nexus, we incorporate the benefits of each paradigm for public management theory. The revised law-governance nexus enables the PG paradigm to correspond to contemporary issues without encountering old pathologies.

scholarly journals Ledelseskommunikation på tværs af styringsparadigmer

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 44-58
Author(s):  
Cecilie Glerup ◽  
Ursula Plesner
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
New Public ◽  
New Public Governance

Der har gennem de seneste år været stort fokus på kommunikation i den offentlige sektor. Kommunikation er blevet en organisatorisk og institutionel betingelse for offentlig ledelse, der fylder som opgave i den offentlige leders daglige arbejde. Denne artikel anskuer sproget som aktivt medskabende af den kontekst, hvori det indgår. Den undersøger relationerne mellem offentlig ledelseskommunikation og styringsparadigmer såsom New Weberian State, New Public Management og New Public Governance, fordi disse kan anskues som de sociale kontekster, kommunikationen skal virke i. Artiklen er baseret på kvalitative forskningsinterviews med offentlige ledere fra forskellige sektorer; undervisning, ældrepleje, politi, psykiatri, planlægning m.m. Analysen anskueliggør hvordan ledernes kommunikation formes af og er med til at forme forskellige typer styring: bureaukrati, New Public Management og New Public Governance. I alle disse kontekster beskrev lederne forskellige udfordringer med at mobilisere interesse, hvorfor vi konkluderer, at offentlige lederes kommunikation fra denne artikels perspektiv er et konstant mobiliseringsarbejde, og ikke blot et værktøj til at løse konkrete problemer. Et blik på kommunikation og styringsparadigmer fortæller os således, at offentlige ledere har brug for at kunne arbejde analytisk og strategisk med at skabe opmærksomhed om og engagement i en mængde sammenhænge via 1) en formel juridisk og økonomisk retorik, 2) en visionær og historiefortællende praksis og 3) eksperimenterende og lokale dialoger.

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