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Public Sector (public + sector)
Terms modified by Public Sector Selected AbstractsGOVERNING BY NETWORK: THE NEW SHAPE OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR by Stephen Goldsmith and William D. EggersECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 2 2006Keith Boyfield No abstract is available for this article. [source] MIND YOUR ACCRUALS: PERCEIVED USEFULNESS OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC SECTOR UNDER DIFFERENT ACCOUNTING SYSTEMSFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010Ralph Kober This study examines the usefulness of three accounting systems (cash, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) accrual, and Government Finance Statistics (GFS) accrual) for public sector decision-making. From a survey of internal users, external users, and preparers in Australia, we find that GAAP accrual information is perceived to be relatively more useful and understandable than the other two systems for most decisions examined. The relatively higher ratings for GAAP accrual information differ from earlier studies and may reflect an experience or familiarity effect whereby perceptions of usefulness are enhanced because respondents have become more used to the system. This effect might also explain the lower ratings for GFS accrual. [source] MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING CHANGE AND NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: A REASSESSMENT OF AMBITIONS AND RESULTS , AN INSTITUTIONALIST APPROACH TO ACCOUNTING CHANGE IN THE DUTCH PUBLIC SECTORFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2008Henk J. Ter Bogt Dutch municipalities and provinces, denoted here as local government, have seen a succession of changes in their management accounting systems and have also introduced other changes related to New Public Management (NPM) in the last twenty years. This paper examines accounting changes, such as the introduction of accrual accounting, output and outcome budgets and performance measurement, from an institutionalist point of view. The paper presents experiences of 23 politicians and professional managers with the various changes over a period of fifteen to twenty years. The interviewees, just like various researchers in the field of NPM, were critical of the accounting changes and their effects. However, several of them also made clear that, seen over the long run, the changes did have some effects that they liked and seem to be in line with the ,ideals' presented in NPM literature. The paper suggests that an institutionalist perspective is helpful for studying change processes in organizations and for observing factors and developments that might not be noticed when a more functional and short-term perspective is adopted. [source] ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND THE ADOPTION OF MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING PRACTICES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: A SINGAPORE STUDYFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2007Yew Ming Chia First page of article [source] STRATEGY, STRUCTURE AND PROCESS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: A TEST OF THE MILES AND SNOW MODELPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 4 2009RHYS ANDREWS We present a comprehensive empirical application of the Miles and Snow (1978) model of organizational strategy, structure and process to the public sector. We refine the model by distinguishing between strategy formulation and implementation, and applying it to 90 public service organizations. Although the empirical evidence shows that organizational strategies fit the Miles and Snow categories of prospector, defender and reactor, the relationship between these strategies and organizational structures (for example, centralization) and processes (for example, planning) is less consistent with their model. Conclusions are drawn for public management theory and practice. [source] LIBERALIZATION AND THE PUBLIC SECTOR: THE PRE-EMINENT ROLE OF GOVERNMENTS IN THE ,SALE' OF HIGHER EDUCATION ABROADPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 2 2009ANNELIESE DODDS Much recent scholarship concerning liberalization has emphasized the role of regulatees, rather than governments, in promoting liberalization. This article examines such scholarship in the light of an important development in the British and French public sectors,the creation of new agencies (the Education Counselling Service and EduFrance) to ,sell' British and French higher education to potential international students. The new agencies attempted to induce two things: competition amongst higher education institutions for the recruitment of international students from developed and emerging economy countries, and the commodification of these students. This article shows that, contrary to existing theories of liberalization, governments were pre-eminent in pushing forward this liberalization, while higher education institutions attempted to hold it back. [source] PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM IN DUTCH HIGHER EDUCATION: THE ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE UNIVERSITYPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2007HARRY F DE BOER During the past few decades traditional state-centred governing arrangements have been critiqued and replaced by alternative modes of governance. Higher education is one of the public sectors where such shifts in governance have been seen. As a consequence of the reshuffling of authority and responsibilities across the different levels in Dutch higher education, universities as organizations have become important foci of attention in the system's coordination. The main question addressed in this article is to what extent we can speak of an organizational transformation of Dutch universities. Based on conceptual ideas from researchers such as Greenwood and Hinings (1996), Ferlie et al. (1996), and Brunsson and Sahlin-Andersson (2000), we use a framework that focuses attention on the concepts of the construction of identity, hierarchy and rationality to systematically analyse the various aspects of transformations of professional organizations. [source] ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF THE PUBLIC SECTORANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2009Pierre Pestieau ABSTRACT,:,One is used to hearing harsh statements about inefficient public services. It is not surprising to see public sector performance questioned. What is surprising is that what is meant by performance, and how it is measured, does not seem to matter much to either the critics or the advocates of the public sector. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a definition, and a way to measure the performance of the public sector or rather of its main components. Our approach is explicitly rooted in the principles of welfare and production economics. We will proceed in four stages. First of all we present what we call the ,performance approach' to the public sector. This concept rests on the principal-agent relation that links a principal, i.e., the State, and an agent, i.e., the person in charge of the public sector unit, and on the definition of performance as the extent to which the agent fulfils the objectives assigned by the principal. The performance is then measured by using the notion of productive efficiency and the ,best practice' frontier technique. In the second stage we move to the issue of measuring the performance of some canonical components of the public sector (education, health care and railways transport), assuming that there is no constraint as to data availability. The idea is to disentangle the usual confusion between conceptual and data problems. In the third stage, we move to real world data problems. The question is then given the available data, whether it makes sense to assess and measure the performance of such public sector activities. The final stage is devoted to explaining performance or rather lack thereof. This exercise has clear implications for public policy. Finally we argue that when the scope is not components but the entirety of the public sector, one should restrict the performance analysis to outcomes and not relate them to inputs. [source] THE PUBLIC SECTOR AND THE SOCIAL ECONOMY IN THE ANNALS (1975,2007): TOWARDS A NEW PARADIGM1ANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 3-4 2008Fabienne Fecher First page of article [source] Ethnic Inequalities in the Public Sector: A Comparative AnalysisDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2006Yusuf Bangura This article uses empirical data to discuss the links between ethnicity, inequality and governance in a framework that divides countries according to their levels of ethnic polarization. It makes three main arguments. First, types of diversity, not the existence of diversity per se, explain potentials for conflict or cohesion in multiethnic societies. Ethnic cleavages are configured differently in different social structures and are less conflictual in some countries than in others. Second, relative balance has been achieved in the public sectors of countries that are highly fragmented or those with ethnicity-sensitive policies, but not in those with ethnicity-blind policies. Third, the article is critical of institutional approaches to conflict management that underplay background conditions in shaping choices. Consociational arrangements may not be relevant in unipolar ethnic settings or fragmented multiethnic societies, where governments may be ethnically inclusive under democratic conditions. They seem unavoidable in ethnic settings with two or three main groups or in settings with strong ethnic/regional clusters. [source] Competing with the Public Sector in BroadcastingECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2000David Elstein There are two public sector broadcasters in the UK: the BBC and Channel 4. In their different ways, their behaviour attracts criticism from the private sector. However, this critique is unfocused and potentially counter-productive. A more efficient , or privatised , public sector would create greater, not lesser, problems for the private sector. The allegations of abuse of privilege and unfair competition may be justified, but the private sector needs a coherent alternative rationale for public funding of broadcasting before it can expect to win a public and political debate. [source] Accrual Accounting in the Public Sector: Experiences From the Central Government in SwedenFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2006Gert Paulsson First page of article [source] Board Structure and Executive Compensation in the Public Sector: New Zealand EvidenceFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2005Steven F. Cahan We provide evidence on the relation between board structure and CEO compensation in public sector corporations in New Zealand. Using a sample of 80 New Zealand public sector companies, we find that similar to private sector studies, CEO compensation is related to board size, whether the CEO sits on the board, and director quality. We also find that a composite measure of board structure is significant. We conclude that, similar to the private sector, board structure is important in constraining CEO pay. Moreover, our results suggest that private sector-style board can be effective in a public sector context. [source] Foreword: Modernisation in the Public SectorFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2005G. Jan Van Helden No abstract is available for this article. [source] Tax Competition, Capital Mobility and Innovation in the Public SectorGERMAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 1 2007Michael Rauscher Tax competition; economic growth; innovation; Leviathan Abstract. The paper analyses the impact of tax competition on innovation in the public sector. It is shown that the effects of increased mobility of the tax base on innovation and growth are ambiguous. The negative relationship is more likely, however. Moreover, it is shown that a Leviathan government may be induced to spend a larger share of its budget on unproductive activities. [source] Private Regulation of the Public Sector: A Neglected Facet of Contemporary GovernanceJOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 1 2002Colin Scott The centrality of regulation among the tools deployed by governments is well established in the social science literature. Regulation of public sector bodies by non-state organizations is an important but neglected aspect of contemporary governance arrangements. Some private regulators derive both authority and power from a legal mandate for their activities. Statutory powers are exercised by private regulators where they are delegated or contracted out. Contractual powers take collective (for example, self-regulatory) and individuated forms. But a further important group of private regulators, operating both nationally and internationally, lack a legal mandate and yet have the capacity to exercise considerable power in constraining governments and public agencies. In a number of cases private regulators operate more complete regulatory regimes (in the sense of controlling standard setting, monitoring, and enforcement elements) than is true of public regulators. While private regulators may enhance the scrutiny given to public bodies (and thus enhance regimes of control and accountability), their existence suggests a need to identify the conditions under which such private power is legitimately held and used. One such condition is the existence of appropriate mechanisms for controlling or checking power. Such controls may take the classic form of public oversight, but may equally be identified in the checks exercised by participation in communities or markets. [source] Identifying, Enabling and Managing Dynamic Capabilities in the Public Sector*JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 5 2007Amy L. Pablo abstract In this paper, we examine how a public sector organization developed a new strategic approach based on the identification and use of an internal dynamic capability (learning through experimenting). In response to the need for continual performance improvement in spite of reduced financial resources, this organization engaged in three overlapping phases as they shifted to this strategic approach. First, managers identified appropriate latent dynamic capabilities. Next, they used their leadership skills and built on established levels of trust to enable the use of these dynamic capabilities. Finally, they managed the tension between unrestricted development of local initiatives and organizational needs for guidance and control. [source] Narrating the Power of Non-Standard Employment: The Case of the Israeli Public Sector*JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 4 2005Orly Benjamin abstract Applying a critical discourse analysis approach, this study shows how the argument equating non-standard employment (NSE) with organizational efficiency gains dominance over the contesting argument that views NSE as reducing organizational efficiency. We interviewed 24 senior-level HR managers in the Israeli public sector, where NSE is used extensively, in order to shed light on the discursive order and the power struggle between these contesting arguments. Findings point to two story-lines that helped discredit the argument in which NSE reduces organizational efficiency: (1) a statement of loyalty to organizational efficiency, accompanied by a gesture of concern for employees in non-standard arrangements; and (2) subordinating an implied preference for eliminating NSE to organizational constraints. [source] Regional Income Disparity and the Size of the Public SectorJOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMIC THEORY, Issue 5 2009MICHELE GIUSEPPE GIURANNO This paper explores the impact of income inequality between jurisdictions on government decision making affecting the size of the public sector. We model policy choices as the outcome of regional representatives' negotiations in the legislature. We show that the more unequal interregional income distribution is, the greater the underprovision of public goods. More specifically, greater interregional income disparity leads to a smaller public sector. A wealthier economy as a result may have a relatively smaller government size when income disparity increases. [source] Why Do People from Southern Italy Seek Jobs in the Public Sector?LABOUR, Issue 1 2003Laura Pagani This paper analyses the choice open to a worker seeking a job in the public and private sectors of the labour market. The private sector is identified by a steeper wage profile and by lower job security than the public sector. The reservation wage for the two sectors is calculated in the first part of the paper. The results reveal that the reservation wage for the public sector is higher than that for the private sector. The effect of career prospects, job riskiness and labour demand on optimal time allocation between the search in the two sectors is then analysed. Finally, an empirical analysis is made in order to study Italian workers' search strategies. It highlights relevant geographical differences which can be interpreted through the theoretical results obtained in the paper. [source] Wages and Politics: Evidence from the Norwegian Public SectorOXFORD BULLETIN OF ECONOMICS & STATISTICS, Issue 3 2001Kare Johansen First page of article [source] Public Sector Added Value: Can Bureaucracy Deliver?PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2001Peter.M Jackson This paper takes stock of our understanding of the ,architecture' of public sector resource allocation mechanisms. It is a speculative venture and provides a framework for thinking about issues rather than a completed theoretical model. The concept of architecture is borrowed from the design sciences and is used to explore the conditions of performativity within networks of relational contracts. The age-old question of markets versus hierarchy is too simplistic. Instead, the search is for optimal complex network relationships that are based upon co-operation and participation rather than competition and control. Within these networks the public sector, it is argued, has a new role of acting as a broker in the creation of value. Judging the public sector's relative effectiveness in the creation of value also requires closer attention to be given to the context within which public sector managers take decisions. In particular it is necessary to acknowledge that they confront the ,wicked' problems of society that the electorate demand to be solved. This gives renewed interest in the notion of market failure. [source] Human Resource Management in the Public Sector: Examining International CasesPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2010Stephen E. Condrey No abstract is available for this article. [source] Strategic Human Resource Practices: Introducing Alternatives for Organizational Performance Improvement in the Public SectorPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 1 2010Jungin Kim Can public sector organizations increase productivity through competition in spite of inherent limitations, such as budget constraints? This study addresses that question by examining the impact of four factors that contribute to employees' expectations regarding competitive work environments on organizational performance in terms of overall quality of work and client satisfaction. The four factors measured include rewards for merit such as salary and benefits, opportunities, organizational rules, and the capacity to deal with risks as perceived by employees. Using data on public and nonprofit sector employees, expectations for merit rewards were positively related to employees' perception of organizational performance when the conditions of performance-based organizational rules and risk-taking behaviors were also satisfied. Moreover, employees' perceptions of organizational performance tended to increase when they felt that organizational rules were oriented toward performance plus organizational members and top leaders exhibited greater risk-taking behaviors. However, no correlation was evident between employees' expectations of opportunities and perceived organizational performance. [source] Pessimism, Computer Failure, and Information Systems Development in the Public SectorPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 5 2007Shaun Goldfinch The majority of information systems developments are unsuccessful. The larger the development, the more likely it will be unsuccessful. Despite the persistence of this problem for decades and the expenditure of vast sums of money, computer failure has received surprisingly little attention in the public administration literature. This article outlines the problems of enthusiasm and the problems of control, as well as the overwhelming complexity, that make the failure of large developments almost inevitable. Rather than the positive view found in much of the public administration literature, the author suggests a pessimism when it comes to information systems development. Aims for information technology should be modest ones, and in many cases, the risks, uncertainties, and probability of failure mean that new investments in technology are not justified. The author argues for a public official as a recalcitrant, suspicious, and skeptical adopter of IT. [source] Learning Organizations in the Public Sector?PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 1 2003A Study of Police Agencies Employing Information, Technology to Advance Knowledge In an attempt to reap the purported benefits that "knowledge workers" bring to organizations, many police departments have shifted to a community problem,oriented policing philosophy. Rather than focusing on enforcement and incarceration, this philosophy is based on the dissemination of information to promote a proactive, preventative approach to reduce crime and disorder. In keeping with much of the contemporary literature on the "learning organization" (sometimes called the "knowledge organization"), police departments hope to deter crime through the knowledge benefits that derive from information and its associated technologies. With goals to stimulate productivity, performance, and effectiveness, police departments across the country are employing information technology to turn police officers into problem solvers and to leverage their intellectual capital to preempt crime and neighborhood deterioration. Many public and private organizations are striving to change their operations toward this same concept of the knowledge worker. Information technology is often touted as a vehicle for capturing, tracking, sorting, and providing information to advance knowledge, thus leading to improvements in service,delivery efforts. Based on an extensive study of police departments that have attempted to implement a knowledge,worker paradigm (supported by information technology initiatives), this research explores the feasibility, effectiveness, and limitations of information and technology in promoting the learning organization in the public sector. [source] New Labour and the Public Sector in BritainPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 5 2001Mark Bevir In Britain, New Labour has a distinctive public philosophy that contains an ideal often found in the socialist tradition,that is, citizens attaining moral personhood within and through the community. Old Labour generally sought to realize such an ideal in a universal welfare state characterized by a command form of service delivery. New Labour has responded to dilemmas, akin to those highlighted by the New Right, by transforming this model of the public sector. It conceives of the state as an enabler acting in partnership with citizens and other organizations, delivering services through networks characterized by relationships of trust. We explore this distinctive public philosophy through its ethical vision and then its implications for welfare reform and the delivery of public services. [source] A Twenty-First-Century Reception for Diversity in the Public Sector: A Case StudyPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 5 2000Vidu Soni In the past decade, most large public-sector organizations have adopted a philosophy of valuing workforce diversity and have implemented a variety of initiatives for effectively utilizing and managing the current and projected workforce diversity. However, whether organizational members subscribe to the diversity value or support the employer-sponsored diversity-management initiatives still largely remains unanswered. This article discusses the influence of employee race/ethnicity and gender identity, associated stereotyping and prejudice, and the nature of interpersonal relations on acceptance of diversity and support for diversity-management initiatives. The hypothesis that these three variables have a significant influence on receptivity to diversity in the workplace was empirically tested in a case study of diversity-management practices of a federal agency, and the study findings are reported in this article. [source] From Cash to Accrual Budgeting and Accounting in the Public Sector: The Dutch ExperiencePUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE, Issue 1 2005M. Peter van der Hoek Traditionally, governments used to deploy input-based budgeting systems and cash-based accounting systems. However, these systems do not provide the information that is necessary for a government to operate efficiently and effectively. Therefore, a growing number of countries have already shifted or are planning to shift from cash-based to some form of accrual accounting in the public sector. Usually, the implementation of some accrual-based system is linked to wider financial management reforms including performance management requiring information on cost. This paper focuses on the Dutch experience with the shift from cash-based accounting and budgeting systems to an accrual-based system. [source] Output,Purchase Funding and Budgeting Systems in the Public SectorPUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE, Issue 4 2002Marc Robinson Output,purchase funding systems are systems in which payments made to service delivery agencies by government are an explicit function of quantities of outputs delivered by those agencies. This article considers the feasibility of such systems for the funding of tax,financed public services. It focuses on the implications of key characteristics of public sector outputs and specifically upon the prevalence of heterogeneous outputs, the predominance of services (as opposed to physical goods), and the presence of many "contingent capacity services." [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||