Crisis Management Capacity in Central Government: The Perceptions of Civil Servants in Norway

2018 ◽  
pp. 225-243
Author(s):  
Tom Christensen ◽  
Per Lægreid
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Management ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Management Capacity

Games for Top Civil Servants

2014 ◽  
pp. 32-50
Author(s):  
Hester Stubbé ◽  
Josine G. M. van de Ven ◽  
Micah Hrehovcsik
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Creative Design ◽  
The Way

In designing De BurgemeesterGame—The Mayor Game—we aimed to develop a game that would be used and appreciated by a target population that was hardly used to being trained and had little affinity with applied gaming: mayors. To make sure that the (learning) goals, the context, the characteristics of the target population, and the creative design were all integrated into the game, we chose to work in a consortium with a focus group. We included engaging elements like simple gameplay based on actual processes, authentic scenarios presented in the way of dilemmas, time pressure, and collaboration. This resulted in a game that was accepted by the target population and has been played by more than half of all mayors in The Netherlands. Mayors feel the game challenges them to explore their decision making during crisis management and stimulates them to discuss this with other mayors.

Fragmentation and Financial Recentralization

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Lamouroux
Keyword(s):  
Technical Communication ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
High Ranking ◽  
Financial Organization ◽  
Monetary System ◽  
The Military

In creating four General commands (zonglingsuo) between 1141 and 1145, at the end of the first Song-Jin war, the central government of the Song Empire hoped to marshal resources from the four areas along the new border while also controlling the military officials in charge of the armies. With the fragmentation of the monetary system, this financial organization resulted in a real autonomy of these strategic areas. Eventually, this reform induced the fragmentation of the fiscal and financial authority and, as accounting procedures became more complex, generated a new kind of technical communication between the regional and the central administrations. Lastly, it allowed high-ranking civil servants involved in this process to reinforce their institutional positions.

scholarly journals What Caused the Outbreak of COVID-19 in China: From the Perspective of Crisis Management

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 3279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziheng Shangguan ◽  
Mark Yaolin Wang ◽  
Wen Sun
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Management System ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Information Management System ◽  
Government Control ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Public Health Crisis

Since the first known case of a COVID-19 infected patient in Wuhan, China on 8 December 2019, COVID-19 has spread to more than 200 countries, causing a worldwide public health crisis. The existing literature fails to examine what caused this sudden outbreak from a crisis management perspective. This article attempts to fill this research gap through analysis of big data, officially released information and other social media sources to understand the root cause of the crisis as it relates to China’s current management system and public health policy. The article draws the following conclusions: firstly, strict government control over information was the main reason for the early silencing of media announcements, which directly caused most people to be unprepared and unaware of COVID-19. Secondly, a choice between addressing a virus with an unknown magnitude and nature, and mitigating known public panic during a politically and culturally sensitive time, lead to falsehood and concealment. Thirdly, the weak autonomous management power of local public health management departments is not conducive for providing a timely response to the crisis. Finally, the privatization of many state-owned hospitals led to the unavailability of public health medical resources to serve affected patients in the Wuhan and Hubei Province. This article suggests that China should adopt a Singaporean-style public health crisis information management system to ensure information disclosure and information symmetry and should use it to monitor public health crises in real time. In addition, the central government should adopt the territorial administration model of a public health crisis and increase investment in public health in China.

The EU’s civilian crisis management capacity and the challenge of trust

2018 ◽  
pp. 88-115
Author(s):  
Sten Widmalm ◽  
Thomas Persson ◽  
Charles Parker
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Management ◽  
Management Capacity

Administrative elites in the Netherlands from 1980 to 2011: making the invisible visible

2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 726-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jos Raadschelders ◽  
Frits M. Van der Meer
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
The Public ◽  
Management Group ◽  
New Public ◽  
Administrative Elites

The Dutch top civil service level has seldom been described in ‘elitist’ terms; befitting a country with a strong egalitarian social culture. Though formally open to outside recruitment, in practice the (top) civil service in central government is a rather closed system. There is relatively little occupational mobility between these civil servants and political officeholders, and virtually none between the public and the private sectors. However, some initiatives have recently been taken to improve this external mobility. New Public Management has had little impact upon the structure and functioning of the Dutch administrative elites. More important for the positioning and functioning of these civil servants has been the creation of the Senior Executive Service, and, within the SES, the top management group. By creating this career system at the very top of the civil service at the central level, the elite nature of the top civil servants has been reinforced. Points for practitioners The structure and functioning of the Dutch civil service has not been influenced by New Public Management (NPM). The rotation of positions at the top, through the Senior Public Service, is mainly inspired by the effort to decrease the compartmentalization of government departments. What has changed is the environment in which higher civil servants work, with Parliament, media and citizens demanding fast and tangible results.

scholarly journals New Public Management, Public Service Bargains and the challenges of interdepartmental coordination: a comparative analysis of top civil servants in state administration

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Balle Hansen ◽  
Trui Steen ◽  
Marsha de Jong
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Close Link ◽  
New Public ◽  
State Administration ◽  
The Impact

In this article we are interested in how the coordinating role of top civil servants is related to the argument that country-level differences in the adoption of New Public Management significantly alter the Public Service Bargains of top civil servants and consequently their capacity to accomplish interdepartmental coordination. A managerial PSB limits top civil servants’ role in interdepartmental coordination, as their focus will be on achieving goals set for their specific departments, rather than for the central government as a collective. We test our argument with empirical insights from a comparative analysis of five countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. We find that our argument is only partly valid and discuss the theoretical and empirical implications of the analysis. Points for practitioners Alongside the introduction of New Public Management, the relationships between ministers and their top civil servants in state administration have evolved. At the same time, societal issues are getting more complex and demand a holistic, cross-sector approach. The concept of a managerial Public Service Bargain is used to analyze changes in top civil servants’ role and the impact of reforms on the capacity of top civil servants to accomplish interdepartmental coordination. Practitioners can learn more about the close link between challenges for interdepartmental coordination and changes in the role and functioning of top civil servants.

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