Why are Local Authorities Reluctant to Externalise (and Do They Have Good Reason)?

10.1068/c0419 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Entwistle
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Performance Improvement ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Labour Government ◽  
Theoretical Support

In vogue with the international currents of public management, the United Kingdom's New Labour government sees the outsourcing, or externalisation, of public service delivery as a key instrument of performance improvement. Evidence suggests, however, that a significant proportion of local authorities are reluctant to externalise. On the basis of fifty interviews in six case-study authorities, the author identifies five reasons for a reluctance to externalise. He further considers the degree of theoretical support for this reluctance, concluding that gaps in our knowledge—critical to ‘make or buy’ decisions—make it impossible to determine whether a reluctance to externalise is well founded or not.

scholarly journals Contracting out parks and roads maintenance in England

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 441-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Dempsey ◽  
Mel Burton ◽  
Johanna Selin
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Public Service Delivery ◽  
Contracting Out ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Economic Constraints

Purpose – Different models have been adopted in England over time to organise public service delivery. The purpose of this paper is to explore contracting-out, a prevalent model of public service delivery in England, in relation to parks and roads maintenance delivery by examining private contractors’ performance according to local authority stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach – Since the Conservative Government was in power during the 1980s, local authorities have been an arena for experimentation of contracting-out to private and other sectors. This paper provides a review of the academic and grey literature, and findings are presented from a large-scale online questionnaire survey (n=103) which was distributed to the relevant public realm managers in English local authorities. Findings – The paper shows that contracting-out of parks and roads maintenance happens across the country in different ways. By and large, local authorities are satisfied with the performance of contractors, particularly as a response to economic constraints. Responsibilities, particularly for parks, are increasingly shared with non-governmental organisations, including community groups, although this is not reflected in budget distribution. Research limitations/implications – Despite the efforts, the response rate was relatively low (32 per cent), potentially due to the e-mail communication and online nature of the questionnaire. Originality/value – The research provides empirical evidence about how contracting-out is currently delivering public services and how it has changed in recent years. The findings suggest that responsibilities (and to a lesser extent, budgets) are increasingly shared in England between different combinations of public, private, third and community sector stakeholders. This marks a shift away from in-house public sector delivery of parks and roads services.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing innovation management development through organizational learning in the public service: any lessons for developing states?

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-275
Author(s):  
Lere Amusan ◽  
Oluwayemisi Adebola Oyekunle
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Innovation Management ◽  
Management Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
New Public

The present economic realities, the effects of globalization, the thirst for innovation and the public’s demand for improved services have led many developing states to review their approaches to service delivery. Most public service managers and professionals spend most of their time dealing with the day-to-day pressures of delivering services, operating and reporting to senior managers, legislators and agencies. They have little or no time to think about innovation, which would ease the pressures and burdens of service delivery. The intention of this paper is to point out the fact that capacity building is the bedrock of new public management development. This paper proposes that innovation management could be used as a form of organizational learning capability in challenging the maze of diplomacy and negotiation with experienced multinational extractive industries for the benefit of developing states. This could be achieved through excellent public investments and nurturing capability, from which they execute effective innovation processes, leading to new service innovations and processes, and superior service performance results. To achieve this objective, extensive literature on innovation management and organizational learning was consulted and the need for future research. In trying to unpack the discussion in the paper, the New Public Management Theory (NPMT), which is a pro-private sectors human resources management is proposed, though other available theoretical positions are explored taking into consideration the lapses entrenched in NPMT. Keywords: innovation, NPMT, learning culture, public management, developing states, development. JEL Classification: O10

scholarly journals ETHICAL RISKS IN PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: THE CASE OF LAHORE WASTE MANAGEMENT COMPANY

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (5) ◽  
pp. 56-72
Author(s):  
Zubair Syed Sohaib ◽  
◽  
Ali Khan Mukaram ◽  
Saeed Aamir ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Public Service Delivery ◽  
Management Company ◽  
Public And Private Sector ◽  
The Impact

The world is coming up with new solutions to old problemsin orderto improve efficiency and effectiveness in public service delivery. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) isarelatively new form of participatory governance. This approach is linked with New Public Management (NPM) and, since its inception, the private sector has taken over the entire world despite incongruence and incompatibility in indigenous values and cultures. PPPis also claimed to be the best solution in terms of service delivery; however, its effectiveness is yet to be achieved. The purpose of this study is to find the effectiveness ofthePPP mode of governance. This study is qualitative in nature and has taken one entity based on PPP as a case,i.e. Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC),in orderto study the impact of this solution to all,theills of public service delivery. Fourteen officialswere interviewed in this studyof LWMC (a quasi-governmental institution) and its private partners. Findings suggest that this PPP mode has major ethical risks in the form of lack of transparency in awarding contracts, equity-efficiency trade-off, overall conflict of philosophy of public and private sector, low professionalism, value for money (compromise on cost and quality), and weak accountability mechanisms.

scholarly journals Twinning arrangements and service delivery in Zimbabwe’s local authorities: The case of Bulawayo City Council (Zimbabwe) and eThekwini Municipality (South Africa)

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alouis Chilunjika ◽  
Sharon RT Chilunjika
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
City Council ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Developing Cities ◽  
The Impact

The Zimbabwean local government environment has been affected by chronic defects in the provision of basic public services. As such, city twinning has been adopted as one of the strategies to address the impasse in service delivery as it allows for the sharing of expertise in local governance, development, strategic international relations and the enhancement of service delivery in local authorities. Using the exploratory case study research design the study explores the impact the twinning arrangement between Bulawayo City Council (BCC) and eThekwini Municipality and how it has enhanced service delivery in Bulawayo. Data was gathered from written documents, observations and in-depth interviews. The study established that the BCC-eThekwini cooperation has been very fruitful and Bulawayo City Council has benefited immensely through the exchange of ideas and information as well as technology transfer among others from this twinning arrangement. Nonetheless, it was also observed that weak legal and financial frameworks hinders the city twinning partnership from realising its full fruition. The study concluded that city twinning between BCC and eThekwini is a favourable route for creating sustainable South to South linkages that benefit developing cities. As recommendations, the article argues that there is need for clarity in defining the partnership roles and goals, community involvement as well as an enabling policy and institutional environment.

scholarly journals Impact of the New Public Management Paradigm on the Operation of Federal Establishments in Borno State, Nigeria

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Usman D Umaru
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Service ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Impact

The study examined the impact of the New Public Management Paradigm on the operation of Federal establishments in Borno State, Nigeria. To achieve this objective, the collected data were analysed using Chi-square, Correlation and ANOVA. The study revealed that there is a significant improvement in the performance of the staff and the quality of service delivery in the Federal establishments under study. The study concluded that the outsourcing of services has improved the quality of service delivery. However, the policy was not being properly implemented because in some of the Federal establishments under study, the same services outsourced were being carried out by very few retained staff. They were not enough to do the job and the outsource firms given the contract, did not provide enough qualified staff to augment the short-fall. The study recommended that qualified service providers (outsourcing firms) in the relevant cadres be allowed to do the job or as an alternative, the Federal government can encourage the setting up of Independent Units in all its establishments to compete with the outsourcing firms in carrying out outsourcing services at a fee, in order to attain qualitaty service delivery.   Keywords: New Public Management, Public service, Outsourcing and Service delivery.

scholarly journals UNDERSTANDING URBAN GOVERNANCE IN THE CONTEXT OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: A Case Study of Solid- Waste Management in Rayong Municipality, Thailand

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Taweesak Kritjaroen
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Solid Waste Management ◽  
Public Private Partnership ◽  
Public Service Delivery ◽  
Private Partnership

Local government practices in Thailand have become more networking orgovernance-oriented since the promulgation of the Constitution of 1997 and the Decentralization Plan and Process Act of 1999. Several local governments have applied modern concepts of New Public Management (NPM) in order to perform their tasks. Public- Private Partnership is, therefore, regarded as a mode of governance for the sake of successful public service delivery. This article aims to describe and analyze local governance in political economy perspective. The case study of Rayong Municipality is selected to present the factors that drove the emergence of public-private partnership and how local government coalitions cooperate in public service delivery, especially the case of solid-waste management. The waste problem in Rayong Municipality had risen considerably due to the rapid increase in population, a trend that may continue in the future. The causes of the problem are many; lack of proper disposal units, limited budget, personnel and landfill areas. This problem has a negative impact on the quality of life in the municipality and therefore this is best dealt with collectively. The project that has been implemented is the waste recycling scheme, garbage banking in schools and communities. The Waste-to-Fertiliser and Energy project makes the Integrated Waste Management Approach complete with the cooperation from other government agencies and NGOs and the involvement of the private sector as PPP.

scholarly journals Between Revenues and Public Service Delivery

2020 ◽  
Vol 176 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 304-337
Author(s):  
Shidarta ◽  
Stijn Cornelis van Huis
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Public Service Delivery ◽  
New Public ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
The Government ◽  
Public Service Agencies

Abstract This article examines the development of policies regarding the state-owned enterprises (SOE s) and public service agencies (PSA s) in Indonesia. In 2004, the government of Indonesia introduced PSA s—government agencies that were given large autonomy to manage their financial affairs. The rationale behind this autonomy is consistent with the New Public Management ideal: the creation of more market-oriented government institutions with the objective of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery. The PSA policy has increased state revenues significantly, yet the quality of services and accountability has not improved accordingly. A comparison with SOE s reveals that the restructuring of government agencies and SOE s took place before a supportive framework was set in place. We argue that to tackle informality and to safeguard the social functions of public services, the spearheads of efficiency and revenues in Indonesian bureaucratic reform policies require a strong foundation, consisting of regulatory and ideological components.

scholarly journals Public Service Innovations and Changing Ethos in Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chukwuemeka Okafor ◽  
Jacob Olufemi Fatile ◽  
Ganiyu Layi Ejalonibu
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Analytical Method ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Critical Factor ◽  
Market Values ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
The Ideal

One of the widely held beliefs in public management is that strict commitment to an ideology of public service values, which is a critical factor in the delivery of public services. However, with the introduction of market-oriented reforms-innovations, most of these values face severe and serious challenges. This study, using a comparative and analytical method, examines the principles which underpin the African governments’ program of innovation in public service delivery and in particular the traditional public service ethos. The article reveals that over the years, African public services and those who work in them fall short of the ideal leading to the attempt to innovate by introducing the market values which have equally raised questions about possible threats to the ethos. After identifying some challenges that innovation may pose, the article suggests that traditional public sector ethos should be redefined to allow for innovative ideas in service delivery. Finally, the study concludes that a new “synthesized” ethos that draws on the core elements of bureaucratic principles as well as market based values, would deliver superior public services.

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