Suchergebnisse

Local governments play a critical role in delivering services to the public. Over recent decades scholars have begun to empirically examine the relationship between the management and performance of local governments, locating this in economic, contingency, and resource-based theoretical frameworks. In this study, we undertake a comprehensive assessment of what is currently known about the management-performance hypothesis in local governments by integrating the empirical research that has been published over the past 40 years. We uncover 86 empirical articles that rigorously test the management-performance hypothesis and apply the support score review technique to the findings of these studies. Our analysis suggests that scholars have yet to explore all of the approaches to local government management with the same vigor. The majority of attention has been focused on the concepts of organization size, strategy content, planning, staff quality, personnel stability, representative bureaucracy, and networking. The evidence points toward strong positive performance effects resulting from staff quality, personnel stability, and planning, and moderate support for the benefits of networking, representative bureaucracy, and strategy content. Subanalyses reveal different relationships across dimensions of performance and organizational levels within local governments, and that the British and American scholars that have dominated these studies have largely drawn upon divergent theoretical perspectives. Directions for future research are also considered. Adapted from the source document.

SUMMARYThis study reports the findings of a 3‐year investigation into dimensions of trust in governmental capacity to deal with environmental risks (air pollution, sustainable development, waste, and water). We explore if levels of trust in Hong Kong correspond with the two‐dimensional structure identified in the research of Poortinga and Pidgeon. Findings of this multi‐method study (survey and focus group) conducted between 2005 and 2008 point towards largely low but unchanging levels of trust in the Hong Kong government. By contrast, the number of dimensions of trust reduced over the study period, pointing towards growing levels of scepticism. This leads us to conclude that, in relation to environmental risks, Hong Kong is characterised by cynicism. These findings reflect a wider argument that there are two underlying dimensions of trust—reliance and scepticism. The implications of these findings are discussed, and strategies to address low levels of trust are outlined. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In recent years, many public sector reforms have attempted to loosen personnel constraints on the assumption that more managerial flexibility will increase organizational performance. The authors mount an empirical study to test this assumption using data taken from English local government authorities. Personnel constraints are operationalized using Rainey's long‐standing measures of the concept. Statistical results from multiple regression analyses indicate that "difficulty in removing poor managers" is harmful to organizational performance, but "difficulty in rewarding good managers" has no effect. The authors delve inside the organizational hierarchy and find that attitudes toward personnel constraints vary by organizational level and managerial rank: for example, frontline managers feel more constrained overall, while senior managers' perceptions of constraints are more closely linked to organizational performance but in some unexpected ways. The implications of these findings, including the fact that personnel constraints have varying impacts on organizational performance, are considered.

Questions have been posed about the lack of knowledge of the role public managers play in the policy process. In this study, following on the suggestions of Hicklin and Godwin and Meier in this journal, we identify different dimensions of the analyst–manager divide among professional policy workers. Using the results of several recent large‐N surveys of Canadian federal, provincial, and territorial policy workers, we explore the roles each group plays in the policy analytical process and the variations in their behavior in terms of duties and tasks, attitudes, and interrelationships. We also examine these to see the impact of federalism on professional policy practices. The study uncovers three groups of policy workers and policy managers—coordinator‐planners, research‐analysts, and director‐managers. Differences between groups of policy workers are found for their policy‐related work and their perceptions of tools of policy effectiveness, and differences between levels of government are identified for issues of time demands and coordination and tools of policy effectiveness. The implications of these findings for the study of public managers in the policy process are considered in conclusion.

Introduces a special issue of this journal concerning publicness and in comparing public and private sectors within the Public adminstration discipline. Adapted from the source document.

Strategic management is now prominent on the agenda of public administration scholars and practitioners. In this review, the authors outline why approaches based on strategy are suited to public agencies, noting the ways in which strategy varies across public organizations, seeks to match internal capacities to organizational environments, and shapes the impact of external and internal constraints on performance. Empirical evidence on the impact of strategy on performance is placed under the microscope, and while there are many positive relationships, the evidence base is limited in terms of its scope, data, methods, measures, and coverage. The authors trace out what needs to be done to move the field forward, noting in particular that theoretical enrichment, empirical variety, and explanations of causal complexity are likely to come from a synthesis of models of strategy and publicness.