scholarly journals Understanding Structuring and Variation in a Nonprofit Subfield: Examining Institutional and Regional Pressures in U.S. Historic Preservation Nonprofits

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Lise Knox Velez
Keyword(s):  
Historic Preservation ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Organizational Capacity ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Nonprofit Advocacy

Public administration and management recognizes key subsectors in the public sphere as nested within and shaped by institutional fields. However, we know little about the forces that influence their development at different levels or how patterns in institutional fields and in forces shaping these fields vary by level and location. We therefore understand little about potential levels for shaping nonprofit advocacy, decision-making, and organizational capacity in nonhomogenous subsectors. This mixed methods study examines nested pressures shaping a U.S. nonprofit subsector, focusing on two ecological levels of influence in historic preservation nonprofits. I use data from 96 interviews with National Trust Partner organizations in 44 states to develop typologies of professional approaches to preservation and capacity. Findings indicate that both national and regional pressures shape scope and capacity in these nonprofits, underscoring the importance of considering institutional contexts structuring subsectors rather than assuming sector-wide patterns and behaviors. This study provides a baseline for future research on developments in the U.S. nonprofit historic preservation subsector and provides insight for practitioners and legislators into the levels that shape scope and capacity in nonprofit subsectors.

scholarly journals Living Labs for Public Sector Innovation: An Integrative Literature Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Lars Fuglsang ◽  
Anne Vorre Hansen ◽  
Ines Mergel ◽  
Maria Taivalsaari Røhnebæk
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Innovation ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
Living Labs ◽  
Elusive Concept

The public administration literature and adjacent fields have devoted increasing attention to living labs as environments and structures enabling the co-creation of public sector innovation. However, living labs remain a somewhat elusive concept and phenomenon, and there is a lack of understanding of its versatile nature. To gain a deeper understanding of the multiple dimensions of living labs, this article provides a review assessing how the environments, methods and outcomes of living labs are addressed in the extant research literature. The findings are drawn together in a model synthesizing how living labs link to public sector innovation, followed by an outline of knowledge gaps and future research avenues.

scholarly journals Quantification and classification in education: What is at stake?

2021 ◽  
pp. 147821032110320
Author(s):  
Ann Christin Eklund Nilsen ◽  
Ove Skarpenes
Keyword(s):  
Sociology Of Knowledge ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Social Phenomenon ◽  
Ian Hacking ◽  
The Public ◽  
Statistical Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
State Bureaucracy ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Different Levels

Histories of statistics and quantification have demonstrated that systems of statistical knowledge participate in the construction of the objects that are measured. However, the pace, purpose, and scope of quantification in state bureaucracy have expanded greatly over the past decades, fuelled by (neoliberal) societal trends that have given the social phenomenon of quantification a central place in political discussions and in the public sphere. This is particularly the case in the field of education. In this article, we ask what is at stake in state bureaucracy, professional practice, and individual pupils as quantification increasingly permeates the education field. We call for a theoretical renewal in order to understand quantification as a social phenomenon in education. We propose a sociology-of-knowledge approach to the phenomenon, drawing on different theoretical traditions in the sociology of knowledge in France (Alain Desrosières and Laurent Thévenot), England (Barry Barnes and Donald MacKenzie), and Canada (Ian Hacking), and argue that the ongoing quantification practice at different levels of the education system can be understood as cultural processes of self-fulfilling prophecies.

unrechtliche peinliche schmehung oder dem gemeinen nutz nuetzlich?Eine Fallstudie zur Normenkonkurrenz im Schmähschriftprozess des 16. Jahrhunderts

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-149
Author(s):  
Jan Siegemund
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The City ◽  
Different Levels

AbstractLibel played an important and extraordinary role in early modern conflict culture. The article discusses their functions and the way they were assessed in court. The case study illustrates argumentative spaces and different levels of normative references in libel trials in 16th century electoral Saxony. In 1569, Andreas Langener – in consequence of a long stagnating private conflict – posted several libels against the nobleman Tham Pflugk in different public places in the city of Dresden. Consequently, he was arrested and charged with ‘libelling’. Depending on the reference to conflicting social and legal norms, he had therefore been either threatened with corporal punishment including his execution, or rewarded with laudations. In this case, the act of libelling could be seen as slander, but also as a service to the community, which Langener had informed about potentially harmful transgression of norms. While the common good was the highest maxim, different and sometimes conflicting legally protected interests had to be discussed. The situational decision depended on whether the articulated charges where true and relevant for the public, on the invective language, and especially on the quality and size of the public sphere reached by the libel.

scholarly journals ESTIMATION OF EFFICIENCY OF STATE AUTHORITIES’ ACTIVITY

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 776-785
Author(s):  
I.Yu. Chazova ◽  
M.V. Israilov
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Public Interests ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fair Wage ◽  
Udmurt Republic ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Selection Of

The problem of increasing the efficiency of public administration is a key point that refutes or supports the methods and forms of power that are used, but only within the framework of efficiency criteria. The determining factor on this issue should be, first of all, socio-economic efficiency, that is, the universal consideration of public interests of Russian citizens. Taking into account the analysis of thematic sources on assessing the effectiveness of the public administration system, we can conclude that this category contains a combination of various results of managerial activity, both in the state and in the public sphere. The effectiveness of public authorities should take into account quantitative statistical indicators, but special attention should be paid to qualitative indicators, which should be assessed by the population of the subject of the Russian Federation. The purpose of evaluating the performance of public civil servants, heads of executive authorities is the introduction of an optimal and fair wage system both at the regional and federal levels. The article discusses the foreign experience of the CAF self-assessment model of public authorities, which is based on the selection of 9 criteria that correspond to the main areas that are taken into account when analyzing public authorities. Examples of evaluating the effectiveness of executive bodies in the Irkutsk and Kurgan regions are shown. The current and developed measure for assessing the effectiveness of the activities of executive bodies of state power and officials on the example of the Udmurt Republic is reviewed and analyzed.

scholarly journals FEATURES AND PROSPECTS OF AGILE APPLICATION IN THE ACTIVITY OF PUBLIC AUTHORITIES IN TERMS OF UKRAINE’S PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION TRANSFORMATIONS

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-151
Author(s):  
H. Mishenina ◽  
D. Pavlenko
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Electronic Interaction ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
The Public ◽  
Agile Approach ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Conceptual Foundations

The article is devoted to the study of conceptual foundations of the Agile management, the need and prospects for implementing its methods in the sphere of public authorities. Systemic shortcomings of traditional governance in public authorities hinder the effective, prompt solution of important tasks of local socio-economic development and the country as a whole, and do not respond quickly to changes in the external environment. Now, during the period of active transformation of social, economic, political systems caused by the COVID 19 pandemic, the speed and quality of digitalization of all processes play a significant role. In the future, such changes will only deepen, covering all areas of socio-economic relations. Emphasis is placed on the processes of reforming the sphere of public administration and local self-government, in particular in terms of digitalization of public administration elements. The analysis of preconditions of active use of flexible methods of management in the public sphere is carried out. The introduction of the Agile technologies to project-oriented structures of public authorities is argued. The essence and practical aspects of effective application of Scrum methodology are considered, and the scheme of its introduction to work of bodies of regional management and local government is offered. The article analyzes the experience of practical application of the Agile approach in the public sector in some countries of the world (such as Great Britain, USA, Australia) and defines the basis for further «State Agile» development in Ukraine. The relevance of further the Agile approach popularization in public administration is confirmed by the need for changes in public-management relations, and prospects for the public digitalization in the following areas such as: development and implementation of a strategy for digital transformation of regions; implementations of digital solutions for increasing the public authorities' efficiency; ensuring electronic interaction between national, regional and local registries; digital democracy development, and so on.

Racialized Emotional Labor: An Unseen Burden in the Public Sector

2021 ◽  
pp. 009539972110375
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Humphrey
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public

Discussions of race have often been on the periphery emotional labor scholarship. This piece considers the link between race and emotional labor, arguing that racial bias in public organizations creates disparities in emotional labor among employees. To make this argument, this piece explores white normativity in public administration and the implications this has for people of color when managing their emotions at work. Following this discussion, the article identifies key themes from the literature, before providing a framework for future research on emotional labor and race.

scholarly journals The cost of democracy: The determinants of spending on the public administration of elections

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 354-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair Clark
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Administrative Data ◽  
Organizational Capacity ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Multivariate Model ◽  
Electoral Process ◽  
The Public ◽  
Electoral Democracy ◽  
The Cost

Managing the electoral process requires considerable administrative and organizational capacity. Poor performance can lead to voters being disenfranchised and the integrity and legitimacy of elections undermined. Providing sufficient capacity to manage a national electoral process is expensive. Little research assesses how much electoral democracy costs, and what drives those costs. These are crucial questions for democracies, political science and public administration. Using rare comprehensive data from Britain, this article’s major contribution is to begin identifying some of the drivers impacting on the cost of electoral administration in advanced democracies. It presents an overview of influences on spending on electoral administration, before developing a multivariate model utilizing socio-economic, organizational and administrative data on election spending. It finds that costs in an important advanced democracy have been driven in a major national election by the need to provide capacity, notably on the ground close to electors.

Teaching social media and public administration: Applying four approaches to an emerging issue

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-186
Author(s):  
Mark K McBeth ◽  
Adam M Brewer ◽  
Mackenzie N Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
City Council ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Education Literature ◽  
Wide Scale ◽  
Approach To Teaching ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Insight Into

This article presents an approach to teaching how social media impacts the public-sector workplace. Social media creates new challenges for both public administration practitioners and teachers. Yet, the topic does not yet have wide-scale discussion in the public administration education literature. After a review of four approaches to public administration (managerial, legal, political, and ethical), we developed a fictional social media case that was administered in an email survey to a sample of 50 graduates of a Master of Public Administration (MPA) program (37 responded and completed the survey). The case involves a local government employee whose employer wants to terminate because of the employee’s use of social media following a city council meeting. The results of our survey provide insight into how administrators would deal with the situation presented in the case and leads to the development of a series of questions for faculty using the case in their classroom. Our teaching case should provoke serious classroom discussions. Our study reveals the importance of the teaching and discussion of social media in public administration courses along with identifying continuing areas of future research.

Public service bargains and non-partisan ministerial advisors: servants of two masters

2020 ◽  
pp. 002085232095521
Author(s):  
Rose Cole
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Single Agent ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Distinct Subgroup ◽  
The Public ◽  
Administrative Reforms ◽  
Administrative Action ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Different Levels

To what extent can the public service bargain framework be applied to non-partisan ministerial advisors? Public service bargains are defined as ‘explicit or implicit agreements between public servants – the civil or uniformed services of the state – and those they serve’. The public service bargain framework has increasingly been used as an analytical tool with which to examine the elements of the bargain as experienced by various actors in different jurisdictions. The elements of the public service bargain framework are explored through the experiences of a distinct subgroup of non-partisan advisors – portfolio private secretaries – serving in the politicised environment of ministers’ offices. The minister’s office has been characterised as the ‘purple zone’ where politics (represented by the colour blue) and administration (represented by the colour red) converge to transform political will into administrative action. This qualitative research article: briefly reviews the public service bargain literature; describes the actors and setting; gives voice to their experience of the public service bargain; applies the public service bargain heuristic; and reveals new insights into how the public service bargain operates with dual principals. Points for practitioners The public service bargain framework allows for dual principal–single agent relationships within public administration settings. Applying the public service bargain heuristic to this group of non-partisan advisors: enables a view of how the public service bargain operates at different levels (macro, meso and micro); shows that the public service bargain for these advisors has changed over time in response to administrative reforms; and demonstrates that these advisors are professionally and personally affected through the misaligned expectations of dual principals.

Improving the efficiency of public administrations through business process reengineering and simulation

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Rinaldi ◽  
Roberto Montanari ◽  
Eleonora Bottani
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Business Process Reengineering ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Process Reengineering ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Research Activities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a business process reengineering (BPR) approach to a public administration of Italy, to first assess the efficiency of the administration, then to redesign its internal processes, to improve the current performance. Design/methodology/approach – A detailed mapping of the AS IS processes of the public administration was initially carried out, together with the collection of the relevant data. Then, a simulation model was designed to support the BPR approach. In particular, the model was exploited to assess the performance of the AS IS scenario of the organization, then to investigate numerous TO BE process configurations and evaluate the achievable performance improvements. Findings – From the study, it emerged that the current efficiency level of the public administration examined has potentials to be significantly improved. For instance, by maintaining its current workforce, the public administration could consider the opportunity of providing additional services to the citizens or to serve citizens from the neighbouring municipalities. Otherwise, the organization could consider a reorganization and reduction of its current workforce, at the same time keeping the service level to its citizens almost unchanged. Research limitations/implications – Results of this study cannot be fully generalized, since the whole analysis is grounded on specific public administration. Moreover, although the simulation outcomes of the TO BE processes show interesting improvements compared to the AS IS scenario, the TO BE configurations were not (yet) implemented in practice. Therefore, the results provided should be confirmed in future research activities. Practical implications – The case study allowed deriving some useful guidelines to improve the efficiency of the public administration examined, as well as to identify some TO BE configurations that could be implemented in practice. Originality/value – Scientific literature includes a limited number of studies that evaluate the efficiency of public organizations in real contexts. Moreover, no studies target public administrations in Italy. Therefore, this case study represents an interesting addition to the literature.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document