Stability not change: Improving frontline employee motivation through organizational reform is harder than it looks

As evidence mounts about the positive effects of autonomous motivation such as public service motivation, there is a growing case for public organizations to design reforms to better support public employees’ inherent desire to help others. But how feasible is this in reality? Most experimental evidence on autonomous motivation stems from interventions at the individual level, possibly exaggerating what government reforms can achieve in reality. We present a longitudinal study that analyses a three-year trial in Danish hospitals in which incentives and autonomy were changed to encourage autonomous motivation. This set-up offers a rare opportunity to observe the potential malleability of intrinsic, public service, user and external motivation. The results show little observable change in motivation due to the reform. We explore the practical difficulties of translating evidence about motivation into reforms given implementation challenges, contextual factors and a recognition that motivation might be less malleable than implied by research.     

Is Public Service Motivation Related to Overall and Dimensional Work-Unit Performance as Indicated by Supervisors?

ABSTRACT

Due to the use of self-reported data and mixed findings, doubts have been raised about the positive relationships found between public service motivation (PSM) and performance. This study aims to provide a robust test of the PSM–performance relationship by using work-unit supervisor ratings, thereby decreasing the risk of common-source bias. Further, this study provides a robustness test by analyzing the relationship between PSM and overall performance, as well as with various dimensions thereof (output, efficiency, service outcome, responsiveness, and resilience). Survey data on employees in 55 work-units of a healthcare organization were analyzed using multiple regression. The results indicate that PSM is significantly related to overall performance but, when regressed on the separate dimensions, PSM is not significantly related to efficiency and responsiveness. The results have implications for both theory and practice as they show that whether PSM relates to performance depends on how performance is conceptualized.     

The Policy and Expenditure Management System in the federal government: the first three years

Abstract: The Policy and Expenditure Management System (pems) inaugurated by the federal government in late 1979 is now entering its fourth year. Experience with the system indicates that it appears to operate reasonably well but that there are several issues which should be addressed as the system evolves. In particular, relationships among central agencies should be considered and the way in which the system is typically described may need reconsideration. The article suggests that pems actually consists of four somewhat independent subsystems for managing revenue-raising and macroeconomic issues, the A-base, major government priorities and “routine” new programs. Failure to recognize this leads to unrealistic expectations about the new world ushered in by pems and may also prove misleading when future revisions of the system are being made. Sommaire: Le système de gestion des politiques et dépenses lancé par le gouvernement fédéral à la fin de 1979 entre maintenant dans sa quatrième année d'existence. L'expérience semble indiquer qu'il fonctionne assez bien, mais qu'il y aura différentes questions à considérer au fur et à mesure de son évolution, en particulier en ce qui concerne les rapports entre les organisations centrales; et il est possible qu'il faille repenser la façon dont on le décrit. D'après l'auteur, le s.g.p.d. se campose en fait de quatre sous-systèmes pour la gestion des levées de fonds et des questions macroéconomiques, pour la base A, pour les principales priorités gouvernementales et les nouveaux programmes “routiniers”. La méconnaissance de ce fait entraînerait des attentes injustifiées de ce monde nouveau créé par le s.g.p.d. et pourrait aussi être une source d'erreurs lors de révisions futures.     

Red Tape: Developing and Validating a New Job‐Centered Measure

Red tape studies typically focus on burdensome rules that have negative effects on organizations, as perceived by managers. The one‐item general red tape scale is representative of this approach. However, scholars have called for improved measures that address the scale's shortcomings. This article introduces a new measurement scale that features (1) red tape as a two‐dimensional construct that includes compliance burden and lack of functionality and (2) a job‐centered approach that measures red tape as experienced by employees in their jobs rather than more generally in the organization. A set of survey questions derived from interviews with government employees was validated using data from 1,203 government employees. The findings indicate that the two‐dimensional job‐centered red tape scale is reliable and valid. The authors conclude that this measure can improve research and be used by managers for a “quick scan” to detect the location and severity of red tape.     

Talking the Talk of Public Service Motivation: How Public Organization Logics Matter for Employees' Expressions of PSM

This article aims to move beyond the public-private dichotomy in studying public service motivation (PSM) by showing how organizational logics matter for the type of PSM (instrumental, normative, or affective) that employees express. Using data from 50 interviews in police stations, prisons, hospitals, municipalities, and schools, we show that differences in service logic (the user's feeling of the desirability of a service) and user logic (people-changing or people-processing services) matter for employees’ expressions of PSM in that this results in different emphases within public service motivation. We conclude that institutions such as organizational logics matter for PSM expressions and that research on PSM should account for differences between public service-providing organizations.     

Stop the music: the current policy and expenditure management system in Ottawa

Abstract. The process of policy and expenditure management in Ottawa is in continual evolution. This paper examines the current system and attempts to draw some conclusions about overall directions of change. The current ‘envelope’ system is a logical outgrowth of attempts dating back at least through the 1970s to better integrate policy initiation and expenditure management considerations. The changing constellations of agencies over that period are examined as is the attempt to impose a higher level of overall coordination on the system. The current interrelationships among central agencies are outlined and some comments are made on the evolving relationships between cabinet and the agencies which support its deliberations. Finally some conclusions are attempted on the basis of the interrelationships among overall planning systems within the federal government. Sommaize: A Ottawa, le processus de gestion des politiques et des dépenses est en évolution continuelle. L'auteur de cet exposé examine le système actuel et essaie de dégager des conclusions quant aw orientations générales de ce processus. Le système actuel de « l'enveloppe » est la suite logique des tentatives, qui remontent au moins aux années 1970, de meilleure intégration en ce qui conceme l'élaboration des politiques et les nouveaux principes de gestion des dépenses. L'auteur examine les changements dans les regroupements d'agences péndant cette periode ainsi que les efforts entrepris pour imposer un plus haut degré de coordination à l'ensemble du système. Il expose les relations actuelles existant au sein des organismes centraux et propose ses commentaires sur l'évolution des rapports entre le Cabinet et les organismes qui aident à ses déliérations. Finalement, I'auteur essaie de tirer certaines conclusions en se basant sur les rapports existant entre les divers systèmes de planification globale au sein du gouvemement fédéral.