Search results

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of New Public Management (NPM) reforms/practices on innovation in public sector organizations. Although much is written on NPM, the assumption that NPM reforms stimulate organizational innovation has not been empirically tested. The present study is an attempt to bridge this research gap.

Building on open-systems approach, institutional theory, and innovation research, this study argues that organizational innovation occurs in response to stimuli in the external (environmental factors) and internal environment (organizational factors), considering NPM reforms/practices as a proxy for external or environmental factors. Organizational factors include formal structural complexity, senior management support and job security. The study tests this model using data from a national survey conducted in five states in the US.

The study provides empirical insights into our understanding of the factors that drive innovation in public sector organizations. The study finds that although environmental factors are as significant as organizational factors in driving innovation in the public sector, senior management support remains the most important predictor of innovation.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study the effect of NPM reforms and practices on innovation in public organizational settings.

Purpose – The chapter aims to analyse specific management tools which can be used to facilitate public governance practices, such as the process of stakeholder involvement.Methodology/approach – By means of both a theoretical discussion and an empirical research conducted on Italian local public utilities (LPUs), the chapter attempts to understand: (a) the degree of application of quality management, sustainability mechanisms and stakeholder's involvement; (b) the correlation between the application of these tools stakeholder involvement processes.Findings – Not all the tools imported from the private sector have the same ‘attitudes’ for stakeholder involvement evidencing a gap of Italian LPUs in quality management systems in ensuring that stakeholders and their contribution to product value is considered. These results give support to the necessity to move beyond New Public Management. Therefore, governance becomes a new process for developing and implementing public policies: this requires original mechanisms of coordination among institutional actors, public authorities and stakeholders.Research limitations/implications – This study gives rise to new research path in LPUs corporate governance research. Looking for the creation of a series of suppositions and considerations as to why LPUs actively venture into the practice of good corporate governance trough stakeholder involvement. Accordingly, it is necessary to invest in the debate on the tasks of the board of directors.Originality/value of paper – This study gives a new path of research, asking board of directors to move toward a stakeholder-conscious governance model, with broader input and ongoing engagement, as an important aspect for a better corporate governance in public administrations.

In this article the authors discuss the utility of value‐based management on the basis of the case of value‐based management in the Mayor’s office of the administration of the Municipal of Aalborg, Northern Denmark. This was done in response to the pressure on public organizations in complex Scandinavian welfare states. They argue that value‐based management was introduced as an efficient way to make the organization more open to stakeholder expectations and demands, in particular the increasing request for efficiency of public organizations by citizens. Accordingly, value‐based management is a way to make public organizations less bureaucratic and more service‐oriented in a welfare state which is more open to management strategies from private firms. In particular they emphasize the significance of middle managers for the success of the process in organizations. Middle managers are requested to internalize values in their daily work. If this is done value‐based management is an efficient way to improve boths the ethics and the utility of public organizations without transforming them totally in to private market‐driven organizations.

During the past two decades a variety of reforms and projects under the mantle of public‐sector modernization were developed in order to achieve efficiency, effectiveness, economy and quality in service delivery. Despite the overwhelming consensus that public organizations must transform there is little evidence on how to pursue modernization successfully. This paper argues that modernization is tantamount to creating a “learning public administration”. Managing the transformation process rests on the organization's capability to continuously enhance, the collective capacity to reflect, to learn how to learn, to unlearn old ways of doing things and abandon old habits. How to best navigate the transition from a rigid and conventional mode of thinking towards a creative and strategic one remains the challenge in the current knowledge‐based economy. As a response to this challenge the present paper presents the management, training and evaluation (MATE) model – a knowledge management strategic technique – that can be utilized for modernizing government organizations. Based on the results of a pilot case study undertaken within the context of Greek public sector we argue that modernization's success depends on how knowledgable an organization is in the strategic running of three core systems: the management (MA) system, the training (T) system and the evaluation (E) system. More specifically, the case study has shown that the exercise of the range of activities included in the three MATE systems may serve as the practical field, as the ideal setting for developing inquiry skills, “double‐loop” learning capabilities at individual and organizational level.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences between public and private organizations in the paths of business excellence models and to identify the key drivers for creating business results and customer satisfaction.

The partial least squares structural equation modeling technique is used to compare the path coefficients and to identify the key driver constructs for creating business results.

The variation in endogenous constructs is found to be more difficult to explain or predict for private organizations than for public organizations, despite the fact that the performance of private organizations is almost always higher than or equal to the performance of public ones in all criteria. The effect of “leadership” on “management of processes” is significantly higher in public organizations than in private ones. However, “management of processes” in public organizations does not seem to translate into “results.” The effect of “strategic planning” on creating business “results” is negative for public organizations and remains inconclusive, due to insufficient evidence, for private organizations.

The results may not be generally applicable to other countries. However, they do support the move toward more tailor-made models for specific sectors.

It is necessary to review the national business excellence model in order to fit specific sectors.

This is the first study to investigate the differences between private and public organizations in the Swedish business excellence model.

This paper explores the characteristics and organisational attributes of hybrid non‐profit organisation (NPO)/public sector settings to identify the particular challenges presented for performance management and to further explore the extent to which such characteristics and attributes might impinge on a move to “performance governance” as a performance framework ideal type.

A preliminary case study of an Irish NPO/public sector hybrid organisation was used to ground a review of NPO and public sector performance management concepts and theoretical developments. The review focused on the implications of organisational characteristics/attributes of the hybrid case study organisation for performance management.

Five organisational characteristics/attributes are identified as central to the understanding of the challenges for performance management in such settings: inter‐stakeholder relationships; tensions across priority objectives; culture and institutional clashes; power distribution; and interdependent stress. Further, it is suggested that while the adoption of collaborative public sector models suggests a move toward performance governance, the performance challenges identified in the hybrid setting give rise to particular barriers to any substantive movement in that direction.

Performance of NPO/public sector hybrid organisations has only relatively recently attracted the attention of researchers. The paper contributes to this emerging area by identifying certain organisational characteristics/attributes particular to such hybrids that are critical to understanding the challenges for performance management in such settings.

The project management literature contains a growing body of research addressing information technology (IT). Currently, the majority of these studies direct attention towards projects completed within private sector organizations. Given the unique characteristics surrounding public sector organizations, this paper aims to argue that it is inappropriate to apply the lessons learned from private sector organizations in the public arena without investigating their applicability empirically.

A review of the historical evolution of IT usage within public sector organizations is offered. The broad body of project management knowledge is discussed, and the unique characteristics of public sector organizations are detailed. These three concepts combine to provide a conceptual framework for reviewing empirical research published in Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy.

It is concluded that the additional empirical research is needed to further our understanding of the applicability of project management principles, developed and applied in private sector organizations, to the unique organizational format presented by public sector operations.

As the use of, and dependence on, IT within all organizations continues to expand throughout the world, it becomes critically important for managers to understand “best business practices” so that these successful managerial techniques can be applied appropriately to enhance and refine operational practices. Importantly, problems associated with the successful management of information technology projects have been and continue to be significant concerns, thus highlighting the need for better knowledge development and transfer that can be provided by well designed and completed research.

Organizational commitment and perceived management styles were examined using survey responses from 1418 employees from both public and private sector organizations, operating in Australia. Comparisons between public (n=474) and private (n= 944) sector employees revealed significantly higher levels of commitment amongst private sector employees. These differences were consistent with differences in perceived management styles. The concept of organizational commitment was found to incorporate the notion of “corporate loyalty/citizenship” and the notion of “attachment to the organization”. Management styles (as perceived by respondents) were found to relate to four main sub‐dimensions: (1) the degree of “emphasis on flexibility and adaptation”; (2) the degree of “emphasis on rules and regulations”; (3) the degree of emphasis on “hierarchy and role specialization” and (4) the degree of “work‐group discontinuity/change”. For both sectors, statistical analysis (regressions) revealed that the degree of organizational commitment as well as the extent of loyalty and attachment to the organization were affected positively by perceptions of greater (perceived) emphasis on “flexibility and adaptation” and by lesser (perceived) emphasis on “rules and regulations”. Salient implications of these findings on management practice are discussed. In recent years, a great deal of attention has been invested in identifying the various causes and implications of organizational commitment. The main thrust was to afford reasonable explanations of the development process of organizational commitment defined as the strength of an individual's identification and involvement with an organization. One of the most contended views is that positive organizational commitment, including feelings of affiliation, attachment and citizenship behaviour, tends to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness by contributing to resource transformations, innovativeness, and adaptability (Williams & Anderson, 1991). As such, organizational commitment has important implications for both individual and organizational outcomes and is central to organizational life. In general, the antecedents of commitment have been grouped into two categories: personal characteristics and situational attributes. However, previous research has not reached any substantial agreement on the precedence of the above characteristics. While some researchers have found (and argued) the prevalence of personal characteristics (Brooks & Seers, 1991) others have tended to emphasise situational effects (Grau et al, 1991), while still others have underlined equal effects of both types of characteristics (O'Reilly et al, 1991). In an attempt to contribute to the research debates and suggestions, the present article examines the potential impact of management styles (as perceived by members) on the degree of organizational commitment. The notion of management style is considered from the organizational standpoint (Burns & Stalker, 1961; Shrader et al, 1989). The article draws on an empirical study focusing on a sample of 1418 public and private sector employees from a variety of industries based in Australia. Management style can significantly influence the degree of workers commitment to organizational values and goals. In general, it has widely been shown and argued that the more flexible and participative management styles can strongly and positively enhance organizational commitment (Gaertner & Nollen, 1989). These styles tend to decrease role stress and thereby significantly increase employee commitment. The organic style of management emphasising flexibility and adaptation (Burns & Stalker, 1961; Gonring, 1991) might provide greater concern for workers as human beings, and for the work organization as a total social and cultural system. The success of this type of management style lies with its flexibility and adaptability to changing conditions while maintaining organizational consistency and continuity. Because of its greater reliance on worker loyalty and trust, this style of management might also be geared to enhance organizational citizenship behaviours (Williams & Anderson, 1991).

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors influencing an organization’s predisposition to bridging strategy, and tests relationships between those factors and bridging strategy.

Online survey was conducted in South Korea. Hierarchical regression was used.

Identified factors are environmental complexity, top management attitude toward stakeholders, analysis orientation, and authoritarian culture.

By adopting the concept and measures of bridging as an organization’s public-engagement strategy, this study was able to capture an organization’s strategic approach for problem-solving in communication management.

Strong analysis orientation allows organizations to look into problems in their complex environments affecting their performance and their key stakeholders before deciding on strategies; resultantly, they are more likely to reduce problems and to improve their performance. In contrast, authoritarian culture discourages an organization’s adoption of bridging strategy.

This study is the first empirical study investigating the dynamics of factors influencing organizations’ strategic predisposition in communication management.

The Public Sector is usually assumed to have a risk avoidance culture, with a reactive rather than proactive approach towards the management. However, an improved holistic approach seems to be required, especially when considering the complexity and size of the Public Sector, and the challenges it faces to connect the services, clients and the different levels of governance.

Within this chapter, the authors lay out a maturity level evaluation of Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC) within the Maltese Public Sector. Through documentation analysis of the available literature on the subject, the authors determine the principal themes required to develop an effective GRC practice across the Public Sector. The authors then design statements based on the identified GRC themes and administer it using an online survey tool to Public employees across different Ministries, Departments, Agencies and Entities, in order to obtain their perception. This is in order to determine gaps, weaknesses or limiting factors towards the implementation of an effective GRC.

The results show that, although, there is a substantial percentage of scepticism and few disagreements towards some of the statements, especially those which related to Risk Management (RM) and Internal Auditing (IA), the majority of Public Sector bodies do in fact show high standards of GRC practices integrated and present in their day-to-day operations and internal environment, showing that there is a well-developed Governance, Compliance and Control structure and Internal Audit function across the Sector.

However, the perception of participants is that the RM function is the least developed area. IA needs some improvement especially where trust on advice is involved.