A formal model of street-level bureaucracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 104346312110432
Author(s):  
Ahrum Chang
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Formal Model ◽  
The Other ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
The Public ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Related Stress ◽  
Job Related Stress

Different from a classic Weberian bureaucracy, public service bureaucrats directly interact with citizens at the frontlines of government. These first responders use their discretion to meet some citizens’ needs but deliberately overlook the other clients. What lies beneath the street-level bureaucrats’ behavior in their contacts with citizens? This study develops a model to explain how street-level bureaucrats are motivated to move toward the public and the extent to which they are engaged in helping their citizens. The model is driven by costs and benefits of behavior based on the assumption that street-level bureaucrats are rational actors trying to maximize their utility. However, utility here is defined as more than self-interest; it is the set of outcomes valued by the bureaucrats such as reducing job-related stress, pursuing work-generated ends, serving needy citizens, and implementing good public policy.

scholarly journals Innovation and value in pre-commercial procurement

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Brogaard
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Innovation Process ◽  
The Other ◽  
Successful Development ◽  
Collaborative Process ◽  
The Public ◽  
Management Commitment

Governments increasingly use novel forms of public procurement to stimulate innovation in public service delivery. A notable example is pre-commercial procurement. Launched by the European Commission a decade ago, pre-commercial procurement encourages research and development of new solutions for the public sector. However, limited theoretical and empirical studies have made it difficult to assess and improve use of the model to foster public innovation. Based on two pre-commercial procurement projects in Denmark, the article aims to complete the first systematic and theory-based evaluation of national experiences. The evaluation shows that sufficient resources, participant and management commitment, and focused management of the collaborative process contributed to successful development and testing of a new solution in one of the projects. Meanwhile, technical obstacles in developing a prototype resulted in termination of the other project. In this case, the pre-commercial procurement model cannot accommodate significant changes to the agreed solution during the innovation process.

scholarly journals The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the performance of street level bureaucrats in Brazil

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Spanghero Lotta ◽  
Giordano Morangueira Magri ◽  
Ana Carolina Nunes ◽  
Beatriz Soares Benedito ◽  
Claudio Aliberti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Care Access ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Government Level

Abstract: Dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic requires that the State make hard decisions that involve the action of bureaucrats who interact with the population through the implementation of public policy, the street-level bureaucracy (SLB). In this paper, based on a mixed- method exploratory study, we analyze how the daily performance of street-level bureaucrats in different policy areas- health and social care, access to the justice system, public security and education - has changed during the pandemic. We also explore the repercussions of those changes. Based on the analysis of the perceptions of bureaucrats, changes in their work and in their relationship with the public, we identify three categories that illustrate the dynamics of SLB work during the pandemic: the SLB who faces the crisis on the front lines; the SLB who suffers the effects of the pandemic, but whose work does not require her to face it directly; and the SLB who began to work remotely. We conclude that, during the pandemic, SLB suffered in varying degrees an aggravation of structural problems, such as their removal from decision-making processes - now restricted to the highest government level - and the exacerbation of already existing conflicts and ambiguities.

Feeling the Pressure

2021 ◽  
pp. 316-341
Author(s):  
Richard Martin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
The Other ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Police Functions

Similar to the street-level bureaucrats in Lipsky’s classic study, the custody officers met in the course of fieldwork for this study were faced with a dilemma emergent from competing occupational demands and police functions. On the one hand, they were conscious of their statutory duties under PACE to act as guardians of suspects’ rights, and that the routine practices of their fellow officers could undermine the right to liberty. On the other, they were confronted with considerable organizational pressure to process arrests in custody and, in doing so, help their over-worked frontline colleagues who tirelessly bounced from one response call to another. This chapter aims to answer the question emerging from the last chapter: how did custody officers respond to the pressure they faced to authorize the detention of suspects, especially where the arrest seemed to be on dubious grounds? Did they succumb to workplace demands and authorize detention, or did they feel able to push back and challenge arresting officers and their supervisors? By the end of this chapter, the reader will come to understand how and, more importantly, why, the former attitude prevailed and what this tells us about custody officers as human rights practitioners.

scholarly journals Archaeology in the Czech Media: Does anyone care?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zdeněk Šámal
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Television News ◽  
The Other ◽  
Media Convergence ◽  
The Public ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
Television Broadcasting ◽  
Output Efficiency

This article discusses the possibilities and effectiveness of the presentation of archaeological information and topics in Czech Television News in the context of continuing media convergence. Comparisons are made between the output efficiency in linear television broadcasting and online platforms. Quantitative analysis is given of audience and attendance data on five particular archaeological themes prepared by the public service television news. This is a view from the 'other side'.

scholarly journals Maternity Leave of a Prison Service Officer

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1 ENGLISH ONLINE VERSION) ◽  
pp. 17-39
Author(s):  
Ewelina Kumor-Jezierska
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Employment Relationship ◽  
The Other ◽  
Parental Rights ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cash Benefits ◽  
Service Relationship

The study examines maternity leave regulations in a situation where both parents or legal guardians of a child are officers of the Polish Prison Service, or one of them is a PS officer, and the other is an employee or insured on the basis other than the employment relationship, e.g. a contract of mandate. The latest amendment of 24 July 2015 amending the Labour Code Act and certain other laws has extended the range of cases where it is possible for other eligible persons to use part of maternity leave. The new solution enable not only the parents of the child but also other immediate family members to use part of maternity leave. The complexity of the provisions related to parental rights makes interpretation difficult. Moreover, neither the Prison Service Act nor the provision of Article 29 para. 5 of the Act on cash benefits from social insurance, referred to by the Labour Code, specifies which specific persons can be regarded as the closest family. Proper determination of entitled persons is crucial, as it entails the payment of benefits financed by the State, and also, on the basis of the Act on Prison Service, the legislator guarantees protection of the public service relationship by virtue of Article 108 to officers (regardless of the eligible person’s gender and the degree of relationship) taking maternity leave or holiday leave on the terms of maternity leave.

scholarly journals Public agents of front line: the creator of administrative law

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana Bonacorsi de Palma
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Front Line ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Action ◽  
Street Level ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

<span>Abstract: The role of the front-line public agents in the implementation of the public policies created by the first-tier is the subject addressed by the author. From the notion of street-level bureaucrats, it seeks to identify the difficulties encountered by such public agents in decision-making and the need for standards that provide for institutes and administrative dynamics that in fact lead to more efficient, impersonal and guaranteeing public action to protect the well-intentioned front-line public agent to fully exercise the discretion he needs in case-by-case action.</span>

scholarly journals Who Is in Charge? The Provision of Informal Personal Resources at the Street Level

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Einat Lavee
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Personal Resources ◽  
The Public ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Informal Service

Abstract Street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) nowadays provide services under conditions of increased demand for public services coupled with scarcer financial resources. The literature that focuses on how workers adapt to this situation mainly examines their provision of formal resources as part of their job. What researchers have not systematically examined is the delivery of informal personal resources (IFRs) by street-level workers to clients. Understanding the provision of IFRs is particularly important when “no one is fully in charge” of public services. Drawing on 214 in-depth qualitative interviews with SLBs who provide education, health, and welfare services in the public sector in Israel, we found a remarkable range of IFRs they provided to clients. We also found that four main factors influencing the provision of IFRs: lack of formal resources; professional commitment; managerial encouragement; and a work environment whose values combine old and new approaches to public service. The findings contribute to the public administration literature by exposing how public service function in a somewhat vague reality, and they contribute to the SLB literature by highlighting the unrecognized component of informal service provision.

Administrative Justice in Street-Level Decision-Making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Raaphorst
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Professional Judgment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Discretionary Powers

Street-level bureaucrats’ discretionary powers play an increasingly important role in public service provision and law enforcement. In order to deal with societal challenges, legislators and policy-makers leave room for professional judgment by formulating open laws, rules, and policies. In making responsive decisions, however, that is, when treating different cases differently, street-level bureaucrats do not necessarily attach less value to treating similar cases alike. This chapter discusses how two notions of fairness—treating similar cases alike and treating dissimilar cases differently—are studied in street-level bureaucracy literature, and sheds light on the factors that influence how bureaucrats behave in this regard. Subsequently, it is explored how street-level bureaucrats could enhance equality of treatment when rules run out. The chapter concludes with an agenda for future research.

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