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Article
Publication date: 3 August 2018

Jose Manuel Lasierra

Using selected personal and job-related variables, the purpose of this paper is to analyse job satisfaction among public sector senior managers and employees and then compare both…

Abstract

Purpose

Using selected personal and job-related variables, the purpose of this paper is to analyse job satisfaction among public sector senior managers and employees and then compare both cohorts with private-sector managers and employees.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors apply a General Linear Univariate Model with interactions that allows us to detect the influence of the independent variables based on the baseline reference value.

Findings

Results indicate that public employees differ considerably from employees in the private sector, while public sector managers’ behaviour and preferences are very similar to those of private-sector managers.

Research limitations/implications

One main conclusion is that the management function of senior managers is basically the same, whether they are in the public or private sectors, and, thus, private management techniques, such as new public management (NPM), can be applied to the public sector. The main shortcoming of the study is that a qualitative analysis does not allow us to observe the impact of ethical aspects that could guide value-oriented management.

Practical implications

Difficulties in management by public-sector managers may arise from public employees’ perceptions regarding the application of private management practices.

Social implications

High job-satisfaction ratings by public managers may indicate that, in spite of their lower wages compared to the private sector, there is no reason to conclude that a suboptimal staffing of public managers might occur that would jeopardise public services.

Originality/value

The authors are unaware of precedents that analyse differences between the public and private sectors in comparing employees and senior managers. Uniquely, the authors use a very large sample to draw conclusions. This paper can guide public senior managers who work in public administration.

Propósito

Se analiza la satisfacción laboral de los directivos y de los empleados públicos en contraposición a los directivos y empleados privados a partir de determinadas variables de tipo personal y laboral.

Metodología

Aplicación de un Modelo Lineal General Univariante con Interacciones que nos permiten ver la influencia de las variables independientes a partir del valor base de referencia.

Resultados

Los resultados señalan que los empleados públicos difieren notablemente de los empleados del sector privado mientras que los directivos públicos expresan comportamientos y preferencias muy similares a los directivos del sector privado.

Limitaciones/Implicaciones

La implicación general es que la gestión pública de los directivos no se diferencia mucho de la gestión privada por lo cual es susceptible de aplicar las técnicas de gestión privada como el New Public Management. La limitación fundamental es que el análisis cuantitativo no permite observar la incidencia de aspectos éticos susceptibles de orientar la gestión con valores.

Implicaciones prácticas

Las dificultades en la gestión de los directivos públicos pueden venir de la propia percepción que tienen los empleados públicos de la aplicación de prácticas de gestión privada.

Implicaciones Sociales

La elevada Satisfacción laboral de los directivos públicos señalaría que a pesar de que sus remuneraciones son inferiores a las del sector privado no tiene por qué producirse una dotación subóptima de gestores públicos que pudiera perjudicar los servicios públicos.

Originalidad y valor

No conocemos precedentes de analizar la diferencia entre los sectores público y privado al comparar empleados y directivos. Utilizamos una muestra elevada. El trabajo permite orientar la gestión pública de los directivos públicos.

Book part
Publication date: 12 January 2021

Sonia M. Ospina, Nuria Cunill-Grau and Claudia Maldonado

This chapter describes an institutional choice that most Latin American countries have taken in the past 25 years: the creation of national Public Performance Monitoring and…

Abstract

This chapter describes an institutional choice that most Latin American countries have taken in the past 25 years: the creation of national Public Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME) systems. We summarize research assessing their institutionalization, identify their shortcomings, and discuss trends demonstrating a potential – not yet realized – to fulfill their vocation as instruments of political and democratic accountability. Despite remarkable progress in their institutionalization, the evidence suggests that the systems fall short in producing strong results-oriented democratic accountability. Key factors hindering this aspiration include the systems' low credibility, problems associated to their diversification, low institutional coherence, and lack of effective coordination mechanisms to improve information legibility, its quality, its usefulness, and thus its use by both public managers and citizens. We suggest that PPME systems depend on environmental conditions beyond government structures and processes and argue that citizen-oriented mechanisms and entry points for social participation around the systems are required to fulfill their accountability function.

Details

The Emerald Handbook of Public Administration in Latin America
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-677-1

Book part
Publication date: 12 January 2021

Manuel Villoria

This article will attempt to answer the following question: what has been done to prevent corruption and promote a “good government” in Latin America, what are the results and…

Abstract

This article will attempt to answer the following question: what has been done to prevent corruption and promote a “good government” in Latin America, what are the results and what explains the current situation? After analyzing very different experiences, the following could be stated: (1) there is at least a formal concern for promoting integrity in several countries, but there are problems of diagnosis and formulation; (2) the examples of implementation failures are far too many in Latin America. In any case, the most important factor explaining failures of design and implementation is the presence of a social trap and a political trap. The social trap is expressed by the incoherence of society itself, which demands honesty from Government, but in practice incentivizes corruption by paying bribes, breaching rules, and demanding privileges within the framework of clientelist networks. The political trap emerges from the strong path dependency effect resulting from the consolidation of patronage or clientelist networks.

Details

The Emerald Handbook of Public Administration in Latin America
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-677-1

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 12 January 2021

J. Ignacio Criado

This chapter studies Digital (or Electronic) Government in Latin American (LatAm) countries from a comparative perspective. It analyzes a group of countries with a significant…

Abstract

This chapter studies Digital (or Electronic) Government in Latin American (LatAm) countries from a comparative perspective. It analyzes a group of countries with a significant degree of economic diversity and public administration heterogeneity. This chapter presents data about the development of the Information Society in Latin America, regarding the diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the Internet in the countries of the region and taking into account the digital divide phenomenon. It also analyzes Digital Government from a regional perspective, pinpointing intergovernmental institutions and international organizations devoted to design and define, and, in some cases, implement, shared perspectives and a common agenda within this region. This overview is brought forward by a comparative approximation to the development of e-Government readiness in LatAm countries, using data from the United Nations reports. Additionally, this chapter analyzes sectional e-Government dimensions, including digital public administration national agendas, electronic public service delivery websites, interoperability initiatives, social media technologies, open data and open government strategies, and the future of technology in public sector of the region. Therefore, this chapter is important to understand the role of ICTs as one of the most recent sources of innovation and reform in public administrations Latin America.

Details

The Emerald Handbook of Public Administration in Latin America
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-677-1

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 January 2007

José Manuel Lasierra

This paper aims to study the development of new forms of management systems such as quality management in the context of the Spanish public administration.

901

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to study the development of new forms of management systems such as quality management in the context of the Spanish public administration.

Design/methodology/approach

It reviews the main literature on the topic and relevant policy texts.

Findings

The organisation of work within the private sector has undergone important transformations compared with the model of industrial worker that existed in the mid‐twentieth century. In the public sector, these changes have been less noticeable, at least within the Spanish context. Yet, it has undergone and is still undergoing important changes as far as its economic and social standing, targets and procedures are concerned. Organisational adjustment to such changes has been limited, especially in the area of work organisation.

Research limitations/implications

It is a general overview of key developments.

Practical implications

It is relevant for a discussion of the general trends and dynamic of public sector industrial relations in Spain.

Originality/value

It manages to take an overview of changes in the public sector and point to the uncertain development of a new market approach.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 12 January 2021

Susan Alberts, Mireya Dávila and Arturo Valenzuela

In the decades following Chile's 1990 return to democracy, successive governments adopted pioneering reforms aimed at modernizing the state and strengthening democratic…

Abstract

In the decades following Chile's 1990 return to democracy, successive governments adopted pioneering reforms aimed at modernizing the state and strengthening democratic governance. This chapter discusses the major developments within Chile's public sector since 1990, with an emphasis on reforms affecting the civil service and public sector management. The politics of the reform process was notable for successful consensus building and led to a more meritocratic, professionally managed public employment system. This chapter also provides an overview of initiatives to strengthen accountability through greater transparency and citizen participation in government, as well as the major public sector management reforms adopted during the last three decades.

Details

The Emerald Handbook of Public Administration in Latin America
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-677-1

Book part
Publication date: 12 January 2021

Mercedes Iacoviello, Diego Pando and Mercedes Llano

Administrative reforms in Argentina have followed an irregular trajectory as a result of the penetration of patronage in the state apparatus. Extensive politicization has impeded…

Abstract

Administrative reforms in Argentina have followed an irregular trajectory as a result of the penetration of patronage in the state apparatus. Extensive politicization has impeded the development of a univocal and stable civil service at the national level.

In this context, the goal of this chapter is to analyze the characteristics of the federal civil service in its interaction with actors and institutions of the political system during the 2004–2014 period. The study reveals two main findings: (1) a diversity of bureaucratic formats coexist in the country, both formally and informally; and (2) the relationships between the administration and the political system vary according to the predominant bureaucratic format.

Details

The Emerald Handbook of Public Administration in Latin America
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-677-1

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 12 January 2021

Christian Schuster

This chapter assesses public administration in Paraguay. It argues that the country's public administration and public personnel structures have been shaped by a predominance of…

Abstract

This chapter assesses public administration in Paraguay. It argues that the country's public administration and public personnel structures have been shaped by a predominance of informal decision-making norms, patron–client relations, exceptional legislative interference in what elsewhere tend to be executive prerogatives, and weak accountability mechanisms of a state largely captured by a small oligarchy. In this context, administrative reform has been mostly instigated by external actors—donors and international financial institutions—and only achieved incremental progress in, in particular, the modernization of public finance institutions during periods of economic crises or political change when external demand coincided with domestic pressure. Except for some “pockets of efficiency,” Paraguay thus remains a benchmark case of a neopatrimonial state in a formally democratic Presidential system, in which informal patron–client relations trump formal bureaucratic structures—albeit one in which the legislature has exceptional influence over administrative matters and public sector jobs are exceptionally dominant in clientelist exchanges of state resources.

Details

The Emerald Handbook of Public Administration in Latin America
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-677-1

Book part
Publication date: 12 January 2021

Conrado Ramos and Alejandro Milanesi

Identifying a single model of public administration in Latin America entails a simplification due to the variety of countries with different governance structures, administrative…

Abstract

Identifying a single model of public administration in Latin America entails a simplification due to the variety of countries with different governance structures, administrative systems, historical legacies, and ways of addressing public sector reforms over time. Nevertheless, an extended feature among Latin American public administrations is the coexistence of Weberian models with patrimonialism and large-scale patronage practices. Although at first sight public administrations can formally contain all or most of the typical characteristics of a modern bureaucratic system, some of their practices are extraneous to everyday management. In this context, the waves of administrative reforms have sought, with different approaches, to strengthen the public machinery. An important point is that administrative reforms in Latin America largely followed a center–periphery pattern. Firstly, through the imitation of practices of the colonialist countries and later by importing reform packages from the central countries. Thus, this chapter goes over the main historical characteristics in the construction of the Latin American public administration, the reforms paradigms that have marked it and their consequences.

Details

The Emerald Handbook of Public Administration in Latin America
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-677-1

Keywords

Abstract

Supplementary materials

Se adjunta notas de estudio.

Learning outcomes

Conocer la problemática de la informalidad y cómo ésta se desarrolla, aprovechando las falencias de control de las instituciones públicas y privadas. Así como su crecimiento por la legitimidad de la sociedad. Analizar el rol del organismo regulador en su lucha contra la informalidad desde el área de su influencia que es el sector energía. Analizar el impacto económico y social de una solución como la planteada en el caso. Analizar el impacto a nivel de políticas públicas de soluciones como la planteada en el caso. Revisar la estrategia de la mano de la tecnología pueden lograr el desarrollo de soluciones originales para luchar contra la informalidad

Case overview/synopsis

Caso de estudio escrito sobre la base de una historia real de éxito que explica el desarrollo de una solución tecnológica que permitió al Organismo Supervisor de Energía y Minería del Perú (OSINERGMIN) combatir eficazmente la informalidad en la comercialización de combustibles y convertirse en un referente en la región. La historia empieza recreando el sistema que existía de comercialización de combustibles y cómo las falencias del propio sistema alentaban la aparición de comerciantes informales que se beneficiaban de la situación. También se explica como la autoridad reguladora decide hacer frente a esta problemática creando una unidad especial que combata este flagelo y cómo después de algunos fracasos se logra diseñar una estrategia original con ayuda de la tecnología que finalmente logra controlar la informalidad

Complexity academic level

Escuelas de negocios, donde se pueden analizar diferentes aspectos como la estrategia empleada en la cadena de suministro del comercio informal o formal. También se recomienda su utilización en programas de maestría en sectores específicos, como la gestión pública o la administración de la energía. Finalmente, también puede ser utilizado en emprendimiento, dado que el emprendimiento informal es considerado como una nueva línea de investigación en este campo.

Subject code

CSS 11: Strategy.

1 – 10 of 560