Governance myths: a typology

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-223
Author(s):  
Aaron Wachhaus
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
The State ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Gaining Insight

PurposeMyths matter. They are one of the ways by which we seek to make sense of the world; understanding myths helps us understand not only the world around us but ourselves as well. Governance myths – myths that we tell about the state and our relationship to it or about the structures and figures making up our government and our relationships to them – can serve as a valuable means of gaining insight into civil society and for illuminating the goals and values of good governance. Categorizing governance myths can aid in that process. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachThis paper develops a typology of governance myths, and then explores mythic types and their implications for governance.FindingsA typology of myths facilitates systematic examination of fundamental stories told to explain and illustrate governance. Characteristics of myths at each level of governance may be used to better understand implicit expectations and assumptions about particular aspects of governance.Originality/valueThis typology can be used by scholars and practitioners to deconstruct stories told about governance and more effectively respond to citizens’ perceptions of the public sector.

Do public sector mergers (re)shape reputation?

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vilma L. Luoma-aho ◽  
Mirja E. Makikangas
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose – The public sector worldwide is under pressure to downsize, which has led to mergers of public sector organisations. This paper seeks to bridge the unstudied gap of what happens to organisational reputation after a merger. The paper discusses change and reputation in the public sector, and reports findings of a longitudinal study on stakeholder assessments of four public sector organisations undergoing mergers recently. Design/methodology/approach – Following a theory-driven content analysis, this longitudinal study compares stakeholder assessments of four public sector organisations' reputations a year before an organisational merger with assessments of the two resulting organisations' reputations two years after the merger. Findings – The paper finds that the mergers did not really re-shape reputation, but the once established reputation persevered. Although the organisations faced greater expectations after the merger, only minor changes in reputation were detected post-merger: the reputation for expertise, heavy bureaucracy and trustworthiness remained strong after the merger, but certain traits, such as being international and esteemed, were lost. In both cases, one organisation's prior reputation slightly dominated the new reputation. Research limitations/implications – The findings may be limited to Finland and other Nordic countries, as well as those countries where trust in the public sector is high. Practical implications – Mergers may not change once-established reputations, and hence the improvements desired by mergers may go unnoticed by the different stakeholders. Organisations merging must prepare for increased stakeholder expectations, as the new organisations arise questions. Previous organisational traits may remain in stakeholders' assessments despite any achieved improvements. Originality/value – This paper addresses the gap in studying organisational reputation after public sector mergers, and contributes to both theory and practice by providing insight into the stability of once-established reputations.

scholarly journals The state of revenues and expenditures of ukrainian civil society institutions as a reflection of the efficiency of the organization of civil society finances

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
The State ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
The Public ◽  
Regulation And Supervision ◽  
The World

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to investigate the peculiarities of the formation of revenues and expenditures of civil society institutions in Ukraine (in terms of NGOs and political parties) and to highlight them as a reflection of the effectiveness of the organization civil society finances. Design/methodology/approach. The work consists of several stages. Firstly, the author's understanding of the category "efficiency of civil society finances" is highlighted. It corresponds to the peculiarities of the functioning of civil society institutions in Ukraine and the world. The study itself consists in a step-by-step analysis of the peculiarities of the formation of revenues and expenditures of civil society institutions in Ukraine (in terms of NGOs and political parties) and their interrelation as a reflection of the effectiveness of civil society finances. Findings. The ratio of revenues and expenditures of Ukrainian NGOs and PPs in the study period characterized the state of the professionalism of financial reporting and planning. It is depends on the mechanism of state regulation and supervision of the finances of PPs and of other CSIs. Thus, improving the existing mechanism of state regulation in the field of finance of CSIs can be an important step towards not only improving the efficiency of finances of civil society, but also the transparency of the public sector. Originality/value. The article is an original complex study, the results of which will be useful both for the leaders of individual civil society organizations and for developers of the state strategy for building civil society. Thus, the population, civil society organizations, the state and civil society itself benefit from the study.

The kids aren’t alright

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 8-10
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds his own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings This review gives not only a frightening but also helpful insight into the future of work in the public sector. While a solution presents itself so easily, the way forwards toward it must be regarded with trepidation, as if calls to increase youth employment through additional workers being drawn to the aged healthcare sector are unsuccessful, there will be a very bleak future indeed for those at both ends of the employment spectrum. Practical implications This paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives’ and researchers’ hours of reading time by selecting the very best and most pertinent information and by presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

ISO 9001 and the public service: an investigation of the effect of the QMS on the quality of public service organizations

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Armando López-Lemus
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Services ◽  
The State ◽  
Iso 9001 ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the influence exerted by a quality management system (QMS) under ISO 9001: 2015 on the quality of public services organizations in Mexico. Design/methodology/approach The methodological design was quantitative, explanatory, observational and transversal, for which a sample of 461 public servants from the state of Guanajuato, Mexico was obtained. To test the hypotheses, a structural equation model (SEM) was developed through the statistical software Amos v.21. For the analysis of the data, software SPSS v.21 was used. Regarding the goodness and adjustment indices of the SEM (χ2 = 720.09, df = 320, CFI = 0.933, TLI = 0.926 and RMSEA = 0.05) which, therefore, proved to be acceptable. Findings According to the results obtained through the SEM model, the QMS under ISO 9001: 2015 is positively and significantly influenced tangible aspects (β1 = 0.79, p < 0.01), reliability (β2 = 0.90, p < 0.01), related to response quality (β3 = 0.93, p < 0.01), guarantees (β4 = 0.91, p < 0.01) and empathy (β5 = 0.88, p < 0.01) of the quality related to public services in Mexico. The study’s key contribution is that it discovered that implementing a QMS in accordance with the ISO 9001: 2015 standard has an impact on the quality of public services, with the most influential quality of response. Similarly, the assurance and dependability of service quality turned out to be important in providing public service quality. Research limitations/implications In this paper, the QMS was only evaluated as a variable that intervenes in the process of obtaining quality in public service under the ISO 9001 standard in its 2015 version. In this regard, the results’ trustworthiness is limited to the extent that the findings may be generalized in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico’s public service. As a result, the scientific community is left primarily focused on service quality to promote new future research. Practical implications The ISO 9001: 2015 standard’s QMS is one of the tools for success in both the commercial and government sectors. However, there are practical limitations, which focus on the time during which managers exercise their vision in the public sector: first, the dynamics that managers play in public policy; second, the length of time they have served in public office; and third, the interest of directors of public institutions to improve the quality of service provided by the government. Other practical consequences concern organizational culture and identity, public servant commitment, senior management or secretaries of government, as well as work and training. Originality/value The findings of this paper are important and valuable because they foster knowledge generation in the public sector through the ISO 9000 quality area. A model that permits the adoption and implementation of a QMS based on the ISO 9001: 2015 standard in public organizations that seek to provide quality in their services offered to the user is also presented to the literature. Similarly, the paper is important because there is currently insufficient research focusing on the variables examined in the context of public service in Mexico.

Role reflections of police reservists: a study of volunteer reserve officers in Malaysia

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 813-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phaik Kin Cheah ◽  
N. Prabha Unnithan ◽  
Suresh Suppiah
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Role Orientations ◽  
Grounded Theory Approach ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Insight Into

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the work roles of the Royal Malaysia Police Volunteer Reserve officers.Design/methodology/approachA grounded theory approach was utilized for the generation and analysis of the data. Data were collected through interviews, observations and follow-ups. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 male and female volunteer reserve officers and 5 regular police officers aged between 24 and 58 years of mixed socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities and ranking in the Royal Malaysia Police force. Two civilian respondents (spouses of the Police Volunteer Reserve officers) were also interviewed for this study for the purpose of theory sampling.FindingsThe data were analyzed qualitatively resulting in a model of Royal Malaysia Police Volunteer Reserve officer roles consisting of four orientations.Research limitations/implicationsStudy outcomes are discussed theoretically and administratively. The four role orientations identified will assist researchers studying police reserve volunteerism.Practical implicationsStudy outcomes allow administrators to utilize and deploy police reservists in consonance with the four role orientations identified.Social implicationsThis study provides insight into how police reservists conceive of and execute their roles as they negotiate them in relation to the regular police officers they work with and the public from which they are drawn.Originality/valueThis is the first study of police volunteerism in Malaysia.

Reimagining leadership – and its relationship with management – for the public sector

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-111
Author(s):  
Don Dunoon
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Distinct Form ◽  
Dominant Form ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review and critique three conventional assumptions about leadership and put forward an alternative framing, with leadership presented as a distinct form of intervention in particular moments to management. The paper also presents a structure for supporting leadership action by individuals and groups as an alternate to management action, which is seen as the dominant form. Design/methodology/approach Reflects an elaboration and distillation of concepts developed by the author since an earlier paper on essentially the same topic, drawing on his 20-plus years’ experience as a leadership developer. Findings Although not an empirical account, the paper seeks to demonstrate how, when conventional but infrequently challenged assumptions about leadership are “peeled back”, a new way of understanding leadership, especially in connection with management, is revealed. Research limitations/implications Suggestions are offered as to how the concepts and tools presented here could be evaluated, including in comparison with established leadership frameworks. Practical implications Outlines three practices for supporting leadership action in public sector organisations. These practices are working from observation, attributing reasonableness (allowing that others are reasonable) and speaking with authenticity. Collectively, these are known as the OBREAU Tripod (with “OBREAU” comprised of the first two letters in each of the pivotal words, observation, reasonableness and authenticity). Originality/value Conceiving of leadership as a different form of in-the-moment action to management in a public sector context is a distinctive contribution to the literature.

scholarly journals The state of heritage and cultural property policing in England & Wales, France and Italy

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kerr
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
The State ◽  
Cultural Property ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World ◽  
Cultural Economies

Presenting a large threat to irreplaceable heritage, property, cultural knowledge and cultural economies across the world, heritage and cultural property crimes offer case studies through which to consider the challenges, choices and practices that shape 21st-century policing. This article uses empirical research conducted in England & Wales, France and Italy to examine heritage and cultural property policing. It considers the threat before investigating three crucial questions. First, who is involved in this policing? Second, how are they involved in this policing? Third, why are they involved? This last question is the most important and is central to the article as it examines why, in an era of severe economic challenges for the governments in the case studies, the public sector would choose to lead policing.

Getting innovations out of interactions in the public procurement context

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (12) ◽  
pp. 2051-2065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Melander ◽  
Ala Pazirandeh Arvidsson
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Business Model Innovation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Demand And Supply ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Product Service

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss how a seller can use interactions to respond to public procurement needs for innovation when the buying side is restricted by public procurement regulations. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected data using qualitative semi-structured interviews of different empirical examples, in which private–public interactions of four different high-technological products are studied. Two products belong to the defence industry and two to the civil industry. Findings The findings point to three types of innovations in public procurement: product, service and business model. The empirical examples further indicate, as suggested in previous studies, that innovation is hindered by regulations that limit interaction between suppliers and the public. In addition, the empirical examples indicate that firms mobilize actors in their network when the buyer is restricted in regard to interaction. The findings also add to the IMP literature by comparing interactions in the three types of innovations in the public procurement context. Originality/value Public procurement is an area where innovations are lagging behind, compared with private procurement. Research points to limited interaction between actors as an obstacle to innovation in public sector collaborations. This paper extends the literature on how organizations interact in the setting of public procurement. The authors identify demand and supply triggers for three types of innovations: product, service and business model innovation.

scholarly journals The purposes, promises and compromises of extinction accounting in the UK public sector

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 875-899 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Weir
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Environmental Accounting ◽  
Species Loss ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Corporate Context ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Ecological Criteria ◽  
The Uk

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the state of extinction accounting, and the motivations for its use in the UK public sector. Prior studies are mostly concerned with corporate attempts to account for species, despite studies in related areas calling for examinations of the public sector context. Design/methodology/approach The paper analyses the use of extinction accounting in three separate case organisations, conducting a total of 21 interviews across the three cases. Interviews were conducted with a range of organisational participants each having experience with extinction accounting. Findings Interviews reveal a number of common uses and applications of extinction accounting across the three councils. Practices are used to generate reports on species loss and recovery within each region, and to facilitate planning for species protection and recovery. However, in attempting to use this information, key trade-offs emerge between satisfying economic and ecological criteria, and even trade-offs are created regarding development of protection schemes. This leads to a subversion of extinction accounting. Research limitations/implications Commensurate with prior studies in the corporate context, the study finds the presence of an economic logic impinging upon ecological decision making, suggesting that practices of extinction accounting may be affected by the same acknowledged economic motivations that reside in corporate attempts to account for nature. Originality/value The paper makes an important contribution by evaluating the public sector context of extinction accounting, which is lacking in existing research. The findings relating to the public sector use of species and extinction information also provide a useful context to understand how relatively new social and environmental accounting practices are deployed in organisations, as well as some indication of their effectiveness and limitations.

The use of accounting in managing the institutional complexities of a festival organisation pursuing financial and social objectives

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Per Ståle Knardal ◽  
John Burns
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Institutional Complexity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Alternative Community ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of accounting when managing the institutional complexities of a festival organisation pursuing financial and social objectives. Specifically, it focuses on how accounting can be implicated in handling a festival’s multiple and potentially conflicting logics. Also, through mobilising the concept of institutional work, the following builds on our knowledge of the importance of what people do, in managing an organisation’s institutional complexity. Design/methodology/approach This paper is grounded in a qualitative case study, for which the primary data derives from interviews, plus examination of internal documents and information in the public domain. Findings The festival studied is commercially successful, though ultimately one of its main organisational goals is to maximise donations to charitable causes. Other goals include: offering an alternative community through music, particularly to the young; fostering new and innovative artistry; and nurturing a festival family that is rooted to a large extent in its army of volunteers. The paper reveals how seeking such goals simultaneously requires the handling of logics that potentially can pull in opposite directions. Moreover, it highlights the efforts of festival organisers to maintain coexistence between the different logics, including the utilisation of accounting, accounts and accountability to facilitate this. Originality/value There are three main contributions of the paper. First, it offers new insight into how accounting can be purposefully used to mediate between potentially opposing logics in a complex organisational setting. Second, the paper extends our knowledge of the use of accounting specifically within a popular culture context. Third, the following adds to recent use of the concept of institutional work to understand why and how people mobilise accounting to handle institutional complexity in organisational settings.

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