Organization matters. Policy entrepreneurship among Street-Level Bureaucrats in public employment services. Insights from an Italian case-study

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Roberto Rizza ◽  
Silvia Lucciarini
Keyword(s):  
Public Employment ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurship ◽  
Employment Services ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

scholarly journals Modification of Public Policies by Street-Level Organisations: An Institutional Work Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC BREIT ◽  
TONE ALM ANDREASSEN ◽  
ROBERT H. SALOMON
Keyword(s):  
Pension Reform ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Managerial Control ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Retirement Pension ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Heuristic Device ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe literature on policy implementation is divided with regards to the impact of street-level bureaucrats on the implementation of public policies. In this paper, we aim to add to and nuance these debates by focusing on ‘institutional work’ – i.e. the creation, maintenance and disruption of institutions – undertaken by central authorities and street-level bureaucrats during public reform processes. On the basis of a case study of the organisational implementation of a retirement pension reform in the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration, we argue that institutional work is a useful heuristic device for conceptualising the variety of responses available to street-level bureaucrats during public reforms. We also argue that the responses demonstrate the impact of street-level bureaucrats in these reforms in the context of managerial control and regulation. Finally, we argue that the effectiveness of policy change is dependent on the institutional work of street-level bureaucrats and, in particular, on institutional work that supports the institutions created by politicians and public administrations.

scholarly journals Deserving of Social Support? Street-Level Bureaucrats’ Decisions on EU Migrants’ Benefit Claims in Germany

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Nora Ratzmann
Keyword(s):  
Market Integration ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
German Language ◽  
Cultural Performance ◽  
Host Society ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Societal Norms ◽  
Welfare Fraud ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

Migration raises the question of how street-level bureaucrats treat non-citizens when it comes to the distribution of limited welfare resources. Based on a German case study, this article reveals how local social administrators rationalise practices of inclusion in and exclusion from social assistance receipt and associated labour market integration services for mobile EU citizens, who are perceived first and foremost as ‘foreigners’. The findings from fifty-five qualitative interviews with job centre representatives show how politics of exclusion are justified by nationalistic and ethnic criteria of membership. Insofar as EU migrants are considered outsiders to the imagined welfare community of their host country, they are seen as less deserving than German-born claimants. However, mobile EU citizens can earn their legitimacy to access benefit receipt through sustained participation in the host society, demonstrating knowledge of the German language and societal norms so as to appear ‘German’. Such a cultural performance-based logic of deservingness tends to be intertwined with nationality-based and racialising stereotypes of welfare fraud to frame exclusionary practice.

Restructuring Probation in England and Wales: Lessons from an American Experience

1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUDITH RUMGAY ◽  
MARY BREWSTER
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Court ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Professional Ideology ◽  
American Experience ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
British System ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

The authors examine current proposals to restructure the probation service in England and Wales. A case study of a midwestern American juvenile court is used to explore the possible consequences of imposing change and constraints on the practice of probation officers, when such change conflicts with their professional ideologies. The authors explore differences between this case example and the British system of probation, in terms of professional ideology, organizational arrangements and networks of influence, arguing that the British system benefits from particular attributes that may be exploited to preserve its traditions and methods of practice in a hostile policy climate. As “street-level bureaucrats,” probation officers have considerable power to subvert policies to which they object.

Does Core Task Matter for Decision-Making? A Comparative Case Study on Whether Differences in Job Characteristics Affect Discretionary Street-Level Decision-Making

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 1125-1147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didde Cramer Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Job Characteristics ◽  
Systematic Variation ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

This article sets out to test the hypothesis that differences in fundamental job characteristics (service vs. regulation) affect discretionary street-level decision-making. The hypothesis was tested by examining whether systematic variation could be found in the moral assessments on which street-level bureaucrats performing different types of core tasks base their decisions. The issue was addressed in a comparative case study comprising three institutions, which differ systematically as far as variables of tasks are concerned. Findings showed that differences in core tasks do affect discretionary decision-making, as divergent moral assessments determine and justify decision-making across different core tasks.

The Role of Interorganizational Competition in Motivating Street-Level Bureaucrats to Adopt Policy Entrepreneurship Strategies: The Case of Israeli Rabbis in Government Hospitals

2020 ◽  
pp. 027507402098269
Author(s):  
Niva Golan-Nadir
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurship ◽  
Street Level ◽  
New Public ◽  
Government Hospitals ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Do So

What is the role of interorganizational competition in motivating street-level bureaucrats to adopt policy entrepreneurship strategies? What are their main goals in adopting such strategies? We argue that in the wake of New Public Management, interorganizational competition encourages street-level bureaucrats to adopt policy entrepreneurship strategies. We further suggest that three competition-oriented elements motivate entrepreneurial initiatives at the street level: (a) personal, (b) organizational (interorganizational and intraorganizational), and (c) cultural demographic. In addition, we argue that the goal of street-level bureaucrats as policy entrepreneurs is to influence public policy results for their own benefit. They do so because they and their organizations are rewarded financially as their clients’ satisfaction with the services provided increases. Using in-depth interviews, online questionnaires, and textual analysis, we test these claims by analyzing the case of Israeli rabbis in government hospitals. We demonstrate how their goal in entrepreneurship is mainly to attract patients to their organization.

Delivering Employment Services to Vulnerable Customers: A Case Study of the UK's Employment Service

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Stafford ◽  
Simon Roberts ◽  
Deirdre Duffy
Keyword(s):  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Public Employment ◽  
Employment Service ◽  
Employment Services ◽  
Public Employment Service ◽  
Customer Services ◽  
Self Service ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

This article explores the impact of a more individualised public employment service on vulnerable people. It analyses a system Jobcentre Plus implemented in 2008, Accessing Jobcentre Plus Customer Services (AJCS), to improve customer services by minimising ‘footfall’ in local offices, encouraging the use of self-service facilities and targeting service delivery to the requirements of customers. The article shows that certain vulnerable groups, notably people with disabilities, are not necessarily well served by the new system. The article highlights tensions between managing a large and complex service and addressing the individual needs of vulnerable members of society adequately.

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