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“Corporate planning” is the term which, perhaps more than any other, epitomises the adoption of business management techniques by the public sector. In Britain, with massive local government reorganisation in 1974, many librarians were forced to come to terms with such techniques whether they liked it or not. Of course, in its purest sense corporate planning applies to the combined operation of an entire organisation be it local authority, university, government department or industrial firm. However, in this paper I do not intend discussing “the grand design” whereby the library is merely a component part of a greater body. Rather, it is my intention to view the library as the corporate body. It is a perfectly possible and very useful exercise to apply the principles of corporate planning, and the management techniques involved, to the running of a library or group of libraries. Indeed, many librarians have already done this either independently or as their part in the corporate plan of their parent organisation.

Explores issues surrounding the recent evolution of benchmarking in the UK public sector with particular regard to local authorities. Argues that what is being done in the name of benchmarking in UK local authorities is fundamentally different to the current understanding of benchmarking practice in the private sector. Despite these differences, and somewhat ironically, the development of benchmarking in the public sector pre‐dates its popularity in the private sector. In the public sector, benchmarking is frequently in response to central government requirements, or is used for defensive reasons rather than striving for performance gains. These themes are captured in two new benchmarking typologies: compulsory and voluntary models of benchmarking. Concludes that: the reasons for benchmarking in the public sector are confused; pressures for accountability in the public sector may militate against real performance improvement; and an appropriate balance between the use of benchmarking for control and improvement purposes is yet to be achieved.

This study aims to investigate the association of perceived accountability, perceived responsiveness and perceived transparency, and public trust in local government. Additionally, mediation of the perceived effectiveness of e-governance was also tested between these relationships.

Using a quantitative cross-sectional field survey, primary data was collected at local administration levels from two cities in Indonesia. The final data set of 355 respondents was then analyzed using SmartPls3 and the measurement and structural models were tested.

Positive results were obtained for all the hypothesized links (direct and indirect relationships). The study’s findings revealed useful insights for policymakers and researchers regarding the public’s perception of good governance and their expectations from the government, which further lead toward trust in local governments.

The study concluded that good governance practices develop and enhance the public’s trust in the government, thus provided key policy directions.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge related to good governance elements and their impact on public trust in the local government via the underlying mechanism of perceived e-governance effectiveness in developing countries in general and particularly the Indonesian context. Moreover, it is a unique study in the good governance domain while considering three good governance elements into a single theoretical framework. Previous studies have explored these elements individually with public trust, so this combined framework advances the body of knowledge. This research’s findings also contributed toward validating good governance theory with e-governance effectiveness and public trust integration in a single comprehensive framework. This research also helped answer the questions arising from past literature about declining public trust trends in local governments.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze economically several versions of the philosophical common good in order to contribute to the search for a viable conceptualization of the common good.

The paper presents an economic analysis of the common good by examining the extent to which eight different versions of the philosophical concept possess the consumption characteristics of excludability and rivalry – and thus how each version may be classified as an economic good: private, public, common, or club.

One of the examined versions of the philosophical common good is an economic common good; three versions are club goods; and four versions are public goods. Only those versions of the common good that are classifiable as public goods merit consideration as adequate conceptualizations in political and philosophical thought. In assessing the admissible versions the authors conclude that a viable conceptualization of the common good may simply be the maintenance of a peaceful social order that allows people to pursue their individual and collective goals in community.

The paper shows that an analysis of the philosophical common good using the economic criteria of excludability and rivalry can contribute to common good discourse.

The general aim of this chapter is to scrutinize implicit assumptions regarding leadership in the public sector entailed in the normative concept of “good governance.” We draw on the concepts of leadership substitution (Kerr & Jermier, 1977), managerial leadership activities (e.g., Bass & Avolio, 1994), and demands for leadership (Blom & Alvesson, 2014). In our empirical study, we explore fine-grained processes of leadership in several local government organizations, including everyday decision-making and social interactions.

A qualitative study was conducted on the basis of 21 interviews with middle- and lower level managers and their subordinates in five municipal departments in Germany and three in Lithuania.

The results suggest that everyday leadership processes can be considered as the coexistence of leadership substitutes and leadership interventions, initiated by the leaders and their subordinates. Such leadership substitutes like routines, laws, and instructions turned out as particular important constituents of leadership processes.

Results of our study open several new avenues for further research on governance and leadership in local governance organizations. First, future research can proceed with a re-conceptualization of leadership in the context of local governance by drawing on the follower-oriented approaches of leadership and governance. Particular focus on tensions, conflicts, and struggles as well as on the interrelationships between different hierarchical levels of public administration could represent a fruitful extension of our study. Second, the institutional and country-based contexts of local government systems should be taken into account more explicitly while studying leadership practices.

In terms of implications for practice, the results of the study call for an explicit consideration of the everyday activities while implementing “good governance.” Considerations of leadership as process of daily interactions between leading persons, subordinates and codes, structures, process rules, and management instruments should become a necessary element of such concepts, otherwise, important aspects of a “good governance” would be ignored and couldn’t be realized.

Our study contributes to the behavioral perspective of governance structures in the public sector by providing empirical insights from local government contexts and by re-conceptualizing governance and leadership processes. Instead of a merely reductionist concentration on managerial positions and persons, we propose a social-constructionist view on governance that allows for a more fine-grained, context-sensible perspective on governance in the public sector. Concretely, we call for a conceptualization of micro-level governance structures and processes mainly as a result of ongoing order-maintaining and order-negotiating processes between supervisors and subordinates, accompanied by institutions of leadership substitution and interventions from leaders and subordinates.

For centuries, dreamers have looked forward to the day when people would overlook their differences and recognize all as brothers, that under their skin they were very much alike and aspired to much the same future. Then, they would see the advantages of cooperating together, burying their disagreements, and working toward common objectives. Barriers between people would be removed. People and goods would move freely across the globe. Every human being would be accorded the same rights and be treated with the same consideration. And people would lay down their arms and make peace, not war. The world would unite and all human beings would realize that they shared a common fate. In time, the advancement of technology has indeed reduced distance and increased mobility, thereby bringing people closer and closer together and uniting the planet. But the experience of global warfare in increasingly horrifying form has made imperative an end to the madness of continued internecine conflict and a need to create universal bonds. Slowly, in fits and starts, the world's statesmen began to devise a new international order that would better suit humanity until in the last quarter of the 20th century, the world awoke to the fact that the future had at last arrived at thanks to globalization.

Discusses the implications of activity in the UK which has resulted in the preparation of library plans, and the introduction of best value and benchmarking for public libraries. It provides a review of the distinction between benchmarks and process benchmarking; the development of benchmarking in the private and public sectors; annual library plans and best value, and the implications of the best value process for public libraries.

The purpose of this paper is to present the relationship between records management (RM) and accountable and efficient governance.

In this paper, the required framework and the prerequisites for planning and implementing an effective and efficient RM system are presented and a literature review and empirical studies are used to depict the interaction between good governance and RM.

The following conclusions are derived from the bibliographic data analysis. Specific training by RM professionals for recordkeeping is useful for public servants. All levels of the administrative chain should be trained and involved in RM processes. Good governance, information security and RM are all deeply connected. The tendency of regarding archives only as cultural thesaurus or valuable historical resources and not also as products and assets of their originating organizations has to be abandoned. Electronic RM and preservation is a complex matter that requires interdisciplinary action in order to be resolved. Technology and computers are not the panacea of records keeping and information management problems in governmental institutions. Institutional capacity and top‐level support are two elements, plus technology that enhances change management, work flow, standardization and interoperability.

Top management of the public (and private sector) has to be persuaded that there is cost reduction and effectiveness through the implementation of RMS. Public administration needs to turn to records and archives management professionals and involve them in the legislative, planning and operating work regarding the information management and its influence on good governance in public organizations.

Governments have to set and apply a comprehensive strategy for records and archives management, meaning the physical and intellectual control over all records created and held in public administration. Citizens should be always informed on their rights to access and use of governmental information. Only responsible and informed citizens can demand transparency and accountability by governments.

Through this work one can identify the major key issues and problems in planning and implementing a strategy for the creation and management of public records in governments. The most important goal is to raise awareness amongst all participants for emerging legal, fiscal and administrative issues involved with managing governmental information.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the concepts confidentiality and transparency in the context of good governance.

After exploring the concepts of confidentiality, good governance and other relevant concepts, they are related to each other.

When it comes to good governance, transparency is overrated and confidentiality is taken for granted. For good governance, there must be a balance between the two to preserve the public sphere.

The paper contributes to the understanding of good governance and the evolution of the public sphere.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between government and Balinese society in tax decentralization through budgeting seem to insignificantly improve the welfare of Balinese society.

This research was conducted in Bali Province involving eight regencies and one city. The data used in this study were secondary data, derived from relevant institutions or from websites through internet browsing and other documentations in the form of official reports/publications, such as regional budget, accountability reports, regional regulations and documents on budget and development of the regional economy. The present research used the partial least squares analysis technique.

Fiscal decentralization does not necessarily lead to better budget management. The success of fiscal decentralization can be found in the quality of the regional budget and the quality of budget management. The allocation of the regional budget for public service improvement and the development of infrastructure will increase the economic capacity of the regions. Improvement in regional economic capacity encourages the improvement of community welfare.

This income inequality points to the issue of fiscal capacity. The development of the financial role of district/city regions in the Province of Bali remains at a level gap with the development level of community welfare. During this period, the financial role of the government as estimated from the ratio of the national budget to the regional budget is higher than that of the society development. The acceleration role of the government is not proportional to the development of Human Development Index outcomes.