Joining public accountability and performance management: A case study of Lethbridge,Alberta

Abstract: This article presents an in‐depth assessment of how performance measurement, public reporting, and internal performance management have been merged in Lethbridge, Alberta. Business‐unit managers and council members both share the view that performance measurement and reporting are useful and that performance information is credible. This finding contrasts with the more general view that performance information is not used much, despite widespread commitments to collecting it. In Lethbridge, a balance has been struck between performance measurement for management uses and council uses. The current system is driven by managers who share the view that performance measurement and reporting are useful for improving programs and providing information that can be a part of public accountability. If performance measurement is to add value in public‐sector organizations, it needs to have the continued support of managers – they are key to developing the measures, collecting the information and using it, and sustaining such systems. Changes that undermine the trust that is critical to a workable compromise for performance measurement, public reporting and performance management ultimately undermine the integrity of these systems.     

Patterns of Canadian departmental survival

Assertions have been made about the immortality of public‐sector organizations and the need for higher rates of termination of public‐sector organizations. Research on the American federal government argued that such organizations had mortality rates lower than private‐sector organizations. Better research demonstrated that the mortality of public‐sector organizations has occurred at the highest rates observed in the private sector, where rates could be expected to be high because most organizations were very small. Mostly large public‐sector organizations were examined in the U.S. – they should have had low mortality rates. What is the situation in Canada? How does Canadian survival of public‐sector organizations compare to that in other sectors and other countries? This article compares the survival and mortality rates of Canadian public‐sector organizations to those of the private sector and the non‐profit sector. It also compares Canadian public‐sector organizations to those in Ireland and the U.S., finding that Canadian federal organizations have not been immortal and that their mortality rates are among the highest detected. The pattern of Canadian public‐sector organization terminations is punctuated equilibrium.     

Sexual orientation,work values,pay, and preference for public and nonprofit employment: Evidence from Canadian postsecondary students

Evidence shows that gay men hold fewer government jobs in the US than their share of the population would predict. Two large surveys of Canadian university and college students, however, indicate no lack of interest in public sector jobs among gay, lesbian, transgender and queer people (GLBTQs). This article explores data on the differing perceptions, motivations, and expectations of GLBTQ students of public and nonprofit employment. We find that (1) GLBTQs are more likely than heterosexuals to prefer public and nonprofit sector employment; (2) GLBTQ career goals and work values predict stronger desire for public and nonprofit sector jobs than heterosexuals; and (3) GLBTQs expect to pay a smaller penalty for working in the public and nonprofit sectors.     

Frontiers of public service motivation research in Canada: A scoping review

The Canadian public sector employs around one-fifth of Canadian workers; they are responsible for policy making, stewarding public funds, and serving the public. Canadian governments struggle with job satisfaction, engagement, retention, and turnover, all of which may be associated with public service motivation (PSM). We conducted a scoping review of Canadian PSM research to synthesize what is known about these associations in the Canadian context. We identified 24 published studies and four works in progress. These demonstrate that PSM exists among Canadian public servants from the early stages of their career until later stages, and that PSM bolsters attraction to public sector work among students. No studies measured PSM among Canadian public servants using a validated instrument. Further research about the contributions of PSM to the quality of Canadian public services and how employers can nurture PSM is recommended, particularly given recent changes in work environments.     

Dancing with giraffes: Why philanthropy matters for public management

The role of institutionalized philanthropy is a blind spot in Canadian scholarship on public management. This article identifies five ways in which private “family” foundations add value to public management: through their roles in grantmaking; advancing social innovation; field building; shaping ideas; and advocating for policy and social change. An assessment of how well Canada's largest family foundations—those holding more than $100 million in assets—perform on each of these indicates they are not realizing their potential and need to be more attentive to their claim to public legitimacy. Equally, governments need to be more creative in how they work with the philanthropic sector.     

The federal government's banks: Financial services and public policy

Internationally, interest in and research on state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) have increased significantly, particularly in the developing world, where they play a vital role in national economies. The evolution of Canadian SOEs is, for the most part, largely absent from this literature. This article analyzes and evaluates the performance of three SOEs in the financial sector owned and operated by the federal government: Export Development Canada (EDC), the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) and Farm Credit Canada (FCC). The article seeks to evaluate the performance of these commercially oriented hybrid entities which are policy (and politically) sensitive to the needs of their single shareholder. There is evidence that these firms take on higher‐risk investments than their private sector counterparts, in addition to performing other politically significant policy roles. There is also evidence that, as publicly owned entities, they enjoy some significant advantages over other actors in the sector.     

The state of talent management in Canada's public sector

For more than a decade, senior officials from across Canada's public sector have identified the capacity to “recruit and retain highly‐trained, qualified staff” as central to public service renewal and success in the 21^st century. And yet, despite the consensus behind this priority, students of Canadian public administration know little about the strategies and programs that are in place to attract, recruit, retain and transition key public servants in this country. This article tries to address this gap by describing talent management, one approach to getting “the right people in the right place at the right time” currently in use in British Columbia, Canada, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Saskatchewan. The article concludes with some observations about the present and future of talent management in Canada's public sector.     

Comparing accountability relationships between governments and non‐state actors in Canadian and European international development policy

This article examines the alignment of different governance arrangements and alternative accountability mechanisms in international development policy making in Canada and the European Union (EU), with a particular focus on relationships between governments and non‐governmental organizations. The Canadian case illustrates an entrepreneurial mode of governance that aligns with fiscal auditing and performance management mechanisms, while the networked governance model of the EU relies more heavily on accountability instruments of public reporting and deliberation. The article concludes that the European accountability regime likely provides policy makers with more opportunities for social policy learning but would be difficult to implement in Canada given the underlying action logic of the federal government.     

A hitch-hiker's guide to Ottawa public policy

Canadian Public Policy: Ideas, Structures, Process. By G. Bruce Doern and Richard W. Phidd . Toronto: Methuen. 1983. Pp. 624. $21.95. G. Bruce Doern and Richard Phidd's Canadian Public Policy: Ideas, Structures, Process is an important addition to the field of public policy studies and demands to be read in part, if not in full. Its importance lies, first, in the authors who are well known and recognized as among the leaders in the field. This volume represents an effort by the two authors to bring to paper nearly twenty years of thinking and writing about Canadian public policy. Second, the book represents an ambitious attempt to introduce a neo-institutional approach to the study of public policy, the “interplay” approach. In this regard, the book is ground-breaking, for it represents the first book-length effort in recent memory that systematically studies Canadian public policy under the rubric of a general, integrating conceptual scheme. Finally, its importance rests with its extraordinary wealth of detail and insights into public policy institutions, actors, historical trends, contemporary events, and political and public policy theory.     

Bringing accountability up to date with the realities of public sector management in the 21st century

This article identifies basic shortcomings of traditional approaches to accountability and considers some of the reasons for the persistence of an approach that is known to: provide an inaccurate and distorted view of actual performance; inhibits rather than facilitates improved performance; and contributes to less rather than more confidence in government. The article then presents a vision of accountability more in keeping with the realities of public sector management in the twenty‐first century.     

Academic research and engagement with the Canadian public service: Insights from three surveys

This article explores the area of research engagement between two very important communities in the Canadian public policy landscape: academics and senior public service executives. Using data from three surveys, we argue that while public sector executives may be more receptive to academic research than the literature suggests, academic advice and knowledge remain underutilized. While there does not seem to be a strong cleavage between the two groups, they also tend to come together mostly under very specific conditions. Oddly enough, academics do not seem to be troubled by the underutilization of their research.     

Net debt in the Canadian public accounts: Its emergence,evolution and entrenchment

Abstract: “Net debt” is considered an important measure of the financial strength of a government and is currently a required line item on the “statement of financial position” in Canadian government financial statements. In this article, the authors look at the emergence, evolution and entrenchment of net debt in the public accounts of the Government of Canada. They trace the history of this financial indicator through a study of archival data from the Province of Canada and the Government of Canada and interpret the data using Klaus Lüder's contingency model of public‐sector accounting innovations.     

The state of Ontario's municipal performance reports: A critical analysis

Abstract: Focus on results and accountability in public performance management is now firmly entrenched. Governments around the world, at all levels, have invested significant time and resources into measuring and reporting performance, with very mixed results. In 2000, Ontario became the first state or province in North America to mandate a municipal performance measurement program for all municipalities. One measure of the system's effectiveness is the documentation produced to show citizens how their government is doing – in this case, an annual performance report. Although the legislation is clear in terms of measurements and some reporting standards, there are clear differences in the overall quality of the annual reports produced by each of the 445 municipalities. This article will focus on the reports as the primary communication tool between the municipalities and citizens. The primary question that frames this research is the current quality of municipal performance reports in Ontario.     

GitHub use in public administration in Canada: Early experience with a new collaboration tool

GitHub is a web‐based digital project hosting service that facilitates collaboration. We introduce how GitHub works and assess how it has been used in the public sector in Canada based on interviews with federal government leaders and a survey of Canadian public service GitHub users. With little research to date on public sector use of GitHub, and none on its use in Canadian governments, we explore the early experience with this collaboration tool and consider the possible implications for collaboration in government.     

Is there performance convergence in OECD public administration styles?

This article contributes to the assessment of the comparative evolution of the public sector performance, productivity and efficiency of 22 OECD countries in the first decade of this century. Overall results show that the average public sector productivity of Anglo‐Saxon countries is higher than that of European Continental and Nordic countries, but the inequality of the distribution of wealth is also bigger. Although the administrative culture of the countries studied influences the areas on which public policies are focused, there is more than one route to improve the performance and productivity of the public sector.     

Public‐private partnerships in Canada: Theory and evidence

Abstract: This article develops some theory on and examines the implementation and performance of Canadian public‐private partnerships (P3s). It focuses primarily on infrastructure projects and addresses three questions: 1) What goals do governments expect to achieve through P3s? 2) How effective are P3s likely to be at delivering value to governments and citizens? 3) What lessons can be derived from the use of P3s? The article reviews the government's intended social goals for P3s and evaluates how effective P3s have been in fulfilling them. It then formulates a more comprehensive framework and outlines a “positive theory” perspective of P3s that takes into account the divergent goals of the partners – profit maximization goals of private‐sector participants and the political goals of the public sector. The article evaluates and summarizes the findings and implications of ten Canadian P3s. The appropriate test of success, from a social (normative) perspective, is whether P3s have lower total social costs, including production costs and all of the transaction costs and externalities associated with the project. The ten case studies indicate that the potential benefits of P3s are often outweighed by high contracting costs due to opportunism generated by goal conflict. These costs are particularly high when construction or operating complexity is high, revenue uncertainty (use‐risk) is high, both of these risks have been transferred to the private‐sector partner, and contract management effectiveness is poor. In infrastructure projects, it rarely makes sense to try to transfer large amounts of risk to the private sector. Sommaire: Le présent article élabore une théorie et examine la mise en œuvre et la performance de partenariats des secteurs public/privé canadiens (P3). Il se penche essentiellement sur des projets d'infrastructure et aborde quatre questions : 1) quels objectifs les gouvernements prévoient‐ils atteindre en ayant recours aux P3 ? 2) Dans quelle mesure les P3 seront efficaces à fournir de la valeur aux gouvernements et aux citoyens ? 3) Quelles leçons peut‐on tirer des P3? L'article passe en revue les justifications normatives avancées par le gouvernement pour les P3 et examine leur efficacité. Ensuite, il formule un cadre normatif plus exhaustif. Puis, il présente les grandes lignes d'une perspective de «théorie positive» des P3 en tenant compte des objectifs divergents des partenaires : à savoir, les objectifs de maximisation des profits pour les participants du secteur privé et les objectifs politiques du secteur public. Par la suite, l'article passe en revue et évalue dix études de cas de P3 canadiens. Le test du succès, selon une perspective (normative) sociale, consiste à déterminer si les P3 ont des coûts sociaux totaux inférieurs, y compris les coûts de production, et tous les coûts de transactions et coûts externes associés au projet. Les dix études de cas indiquent que les avantages potentiels des P3 sont souvent surpassés par les frais élevés de passation de contrats dûs à l'opportunisme généré par les conflits en matière d'objectifs. Ces coûts sont particulièrement élevés lorsque la complexité de la construction ou de l'exploitation est élevée et que l'incertitude des revenus (le risque d'utilisation) est forte, que ces deux risques ont été transférés au partenaire du secteur privé, et que l'efficacité de la gestion du contrat est médiocre. Dans les projets d'infrastructure, il est souvent absurde d'essayer de transférer de grands montants de risque d'utilisation au secteur privé.     

Toward a definition and taxonomy of public sector ombudsmen

The world‐wide diffusion of the ombudsman concept and the accompanying academic literature have failed to produce a universal definition of “ombudsman.” As a result, liberal interpretations of the concept have flourished, and the invention of technical terms has gone unchecked. This article examines the two most commonly cited definitions of an ombudsman and the wealth of technical terms for their conformity to the original concept. A definition for public sector ombudsmen congruent with primordial functions and recent conceptual extensions is proposed. The article concludes with a taxonomy of the different kinds of ombudsmen in place today.     

Performance management and “undesirable” organizational behaviour: Standardized testing in Ontario schools

Performance management (PM) is a major administrative mechanism for assessing efficiency and effectiveness, and for exacting accountability from organizations and individuals. Many have argued, however, that using PM in such ways creates perverse incentives and may lead to undesirable behaviours, such as the obstruction of accurate performance measurement in an effort to avoid public mortification. By examining the introduction of standardized testing in the Ontario public school system, this article adds to the debate on whether PM leads to undesirable behaviours and distorts the representation of actual performance by public sector employees. It argues that, while PM in the public sector may be well intentioned, it may generate a system that produces undesired results.     

From research to practice: A survey of public administration scholars in Canada

Abstract: This article reports on a survey of Canadian scholars of public administration that asked about the influence their academic research has had on the practice of public administration and some characteristics of their research. The scholars identified a wide range of publications as having influenced practitioners by having been read and discussed or by influencing policy, legislation or judicial decisions. Three‐quarters of the respondents had public‐sector experience early in their careers. The average age at which they did influential research was in their mid‐forties. They received research support for these projects from a wide range of sources, but the amounts were relatively modest. The article concludes with the implications of these findings for the design of a possible federal government program to enhance support for the Canadian academic community in public administration. Sommaire: Le présent article porte sur une enquête réalisée auprès de chercheurs en administration publique du Canada au sujet de l'influence qu'a joué leur recherche universitaire sur la pratique de l'administration publique, et de certaines caractéristiques de cette recherche. Les chercheurs ont mentionné tout un éventail de publications qui ont influencé les praticiens qui les avaient lues ou en avaient discuté ou qui ont influencé les décisions politiques, législatives ou judiciaires. Les trois quarts des personnes interrogées ont vécu une expérience dans le secteur public en début de carrière. C'est vers le milieu de la quarantaine que leur recherche a exercé le plus d'influence. Ils ont reçu pour ces projets un soutien d'une grande variété de sources, mais les montants étaient relativement modestes. L'article se termine sur les répercussions que ces résultats pourraient avoir sur la conception d'un programme éventuel du gouvernement fédéral pour accroître le soutien des universitaires canadiens dans le domaine de l'administration publique.     

Navigating the principle of open court in the digital age: The more things change,the more they stay the same

The belief that courts should be open to the public is a guiding principle of the Canadian legal system. This article examines the principle of open court in the digital age by analyzing policies governing live text‐based communication in Canadian courtrooms. We argue that courts have and have not responded to the changing digital landscape. While Canadian journalists have the ability to use live text‐based communication in courts, the general public does not despite new affordances provided to them by digital technologies. This article explores the tensions between administrative judicial independence, open court, and digital technology.