Strategic management and public organizations: Lessons from the past and prescriptions for the future

The 1990s have become a decade of reflection and rethinking of foundational concepts in the field of public administration. Public adminstrationists are attempting to bring the best of management approaches to bear on the problems facing public organizations. Strategic management has been widely used in the private sector since the 1960s, and has gained increased acceptance in the public sector since the 1980s. It is a management approach that synthesizes much of what management theorists have long recognized as essential to effective management practice. This article traces the development of strategic management and examines what has been learned from the past that will improve future implementation efforts in public organizations.     

The emerging labour market and transformation from state amateurs to professional athletes

Corporate governance and its associated concerns had no bearing on Chinese industry management before its national economic reform in the early 1980s. The government's intention has been to make all state-owned enterprises more effective and efficient than they previously were by gradually introducing Western enterprise methods with a capitalist market approach. The article explores the notion of corporate governance in the context of Chinese football by studying the emerging labour markets and management of professional football players to gain a comprehensive understanding of the issues concerning the governance of Chinese sports and its human resource management. It seeks to contribute to the development of stakeholder theory as an important analytical framework on Chinese management studies in the field of professional sport during its economic transition.     

Gulick's efficiency the administrative management view

The works of Luther Gulick rank prominently among the contributors who influenced the modern administrative state's development. This paper examines how Gulick played a significant role during the New Deal Era in promoting administrative management in government operations. His commitment to administrative management is further explicated by how he structured efficiency of operations into his now classic organizational perspective so as to make managerial priorities inevitable. While Gulick's efficiency therefore illuminates the supremacy of management purposes, it is also critically elucidated as limiting human development and general participation among organizational employees.     

Transactional telematics in the city

Barriers to women's progress in senior management are often referred to as ‘the glass ceiling ‘. This research investigated these barriers in one local authority where an equal opportunities policy was well established. Interviews with employees in six departments focused on perceptions of and experiences of women in senior management. This study provides some evidence that change has taken place and staff in some departments suggest that a new climate of working relations has been fostered through policies and training. This change continues to be mainly limited to non‐management grades. This research questions why there are so few women in senior management in the local authority and raises issues about their experiences.     

Chester I. Barnard: president of the uso, 1942-1945

This article focuses on a relatively unheralded dimension of Chester I. Barnard, author of the classic 1938 management text The Functions of the Executive. Barnard was President of the United Services Organization, Inc. (USO), a morale-enhancing volunteer organization for allied servicemen and women during World War II. The article's purpose is to describe and analyze Barnard's activities and accomplishments at the USO from 1942 to 1945, Barnard used the general management principles that he espoused through his writings in this volunteer management environment.     

Group influence in American county politics∗

Judgement has a special place in management in the public domain, since a role of management is to enable effective political judgement. The article stresses Vickers's analysis of appreciative judgement. It goes on to discuss how the process of political judgement can be strengthened showing the implications for management, for political processes and for democratic practice.     

PLAYING THE TRANSPARENCY GAME: CONSULTATION AND POLICY-MAKING IN THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

The recent unveiling of a package of measures designed to make the work of the European Commission more‘transparent’is part of a wider effort to make EU decision-making more open and accessible. Yet, the Commission's transparency package was designed above all to cope with its chronic management problems. These include rigid lines of division between different spheres of the Commission, the strong loyalties of policy-concerned Directorates-General (dg s) to their specific‘clientele’, unclear rules governing access to information, and intense rivalries between dg s and the private offices of individual Commissioners. This article dissects the transparency package and uses case study material to highlight ways in which the transparency initiative seeks to provide antidotes to the Commission's management problems. It offers an early assessment of the transparency package's impact and examines the prospects for reform of the Commission under Jacques Santer.     

WOMEN’S MOVEMENTS AND NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT: HIGHER EDUCATION IN SWEDEN AND ENGLAND

This article considers change in academe in Sweden and England, focusing on gender equity and the new public management reforms. In drawing on social movement theory, it is argued that public sector agendas in these countries have been affected by the influences of their respective women’s movements as well as by the new public management. The article explores these developments through the experiences of a group of employees whose voices are heard infrequently in the literature, those in middle‐level academic positions in universities who are responsible for delivering change. It is argued that the rational, hierarchical, masculine discourses of the new public management offer challenges to women’s movement supporters, whose influences and responses are examined. It is contended that the use of social movement theory, as a vehicle through which to conceptualize change, offers a number of insights. These are: the contribution made to gender equity by women who are not self‐defined feminists or strongly committed to equal opportunities, known as femocrats; the contribution made by some supportive men to gender equity; and the potential for future collective opposition to the new public management from women’s movements.     

Al Qaeda's Operations: Project Management Analysis

In recent years, Al Qaeda succeeded in perpetrating several terrorist attacks that were successfully calculated and executed. Each operation may be considered to be analyzed as a project. This article analyzes the events taken by Al Qaeda prior to their operations, focusing on planning, controlling, and decision-making processes, using common tools from the project management area. This unique approach enables an understanding of the operational aspects of Al Qaeda and the managerial processes that its leaders were focused on. It was found that Al Qaeda's greatest managerial strength lies in human resource management, which includes team members recruiting, developing a clear organizational structure, team developing and team members motivating. Al Qaeda's greatest weakness lies in time management, resulting with many operations’ schedule delays.     

The rise of risk assessment and risk management in the United Kingdom

This article examines the reform of the health care system in England in terms of the risk assessment and risk management. Three major health policies are examined, the Health of the Nation strategy, community care and the Patient's Charter. The article demonstrates that effective risk assessment and risk management is an important component of each initiative. The Health of the Nation strategy is based on epidemiological evidence on the nature of health risks and is linked to specific targets for the reduction of harm that require effective management of risks. Community care is a well established policy designed to provide long term and continuing support for vulnerable individuals in the community. With high profile incidents in the 1980s, there has been a greater emphasis on effective risk assessment and risk management, especially to protect the public. The Patient's Charter is designed to empower users of service.

Central to this strategy is informed consent. Effective empowerment depends of the provision of adequate information, especially on the risks of treatment. Although competent adults may formally be autonomous risk-taking decision-makers, their ability to assess risk and make decisions depends on having adequate information.     

Value orientation and value profile of nigerian public managers: implications for management practice

Using England's personal value questionnaire the value orientations and value profile of public managers at the state level in Nigeria were analyzed. The analyses revealed that most of these managers have a pragmatic value orientation. Implications for management practice and management development in the Nigerian public sector were discussed. Future research directions were also suggested.     

NIGERIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATORS' PERCEPTION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF MANAGERIAL SKILLS

ABSTRACT

This study analyzes Nigerian public managers' perception of the importance of managerial skills and management principles. The study presents an argument that national and state governments in Nigeria should use management principles to “steer, not row” their respective societies. It outlines some of the major steps required to create a dynamic public management and governmental machinery capable of both planning and execution of comprehensive development plans in the future. The study addresses the question: How can Nigeria's government extract management resources from its society and deploy them to create and support a cohesive and innovative administration? It further suggests reasons why public management in Nigeria needs to be reformed to play a more developmental and accountable role in the future. New public management principles are also utilized in evaluating how the reform can be accomplished.     

Irrigation and Water Management in Turkmenistan: Past Systems,Present Problems and Future Scenarios

FOR THE FORMER SOVIET REPUBLIC OF TURKMENISTAN agriculture is the single most important economic activity in that more than 40% of the population is directly in its employ. For a greater number of people it represents a major secondary income source, which in the economic crisis of the post-independence period has assumed even greater significance. With agriculture in Turkmenistan being almost totally dependent on irrigation, access to water is essential and the control and management of the region's water resources has long been an important factor in Turkmen history. Archaeological and historical records indicate that the amount of land irrigated in the region has varied considerably over time. During periods of political stability, often when a single polity ruled over the area, irrigation flourished, but declined after periods of invasion or when internal political conditions were unstable. It was during the 70 years that Turkmenistan was part of the Soviet Union, however, that the region's irrigation network reached its greatest extent with the construction of huge, highly integrated systems which allowed large tracts of desert to be cultivated. But what are the implications of the collapse of the Soviet Union for irrigated agriculture in Central Asia? Will there be, as has been seen in the past, a decline in irrigation now that there is no longer centralised management and funding or can Turkmenistan buck the trend and maintain its irrigation network which is so essential to the republic's economy? In this article we assess the impact of the break-up of the Soviet Union on water management strategies in Turkmenistan. In particular we focus on the Karakum canal, which is the world's largest irrigation canal and feeds an area of approximately one million hectares. The problems of managing such a system are highlighted and some of the different ways in which future management may be directed are discussed.     

The special action office for drug abuse prevention : drug control during the nixon administration

The creation of the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention, during the Nixon Administration , provides a case study in presidential program management. Much has been said and written about the President-as-manager, especially in terms of hands-on program management. The Special Action Office, an outgrowth of the Nixon-Agnew “law and order” campaign, provided close proximity to the President and increased visibility for drug abuse prevention efforts.

The SAODAP utilized its focal position to coordinate the many and disparate drug abuse programs of the federal government. Many of these programs derived substantial financial as sistance from SAODAP efforts . However, President Nixon's counter-bureau-cracy philosophy caused the organization to become embroiled in controversy.

Although the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention eventually fell from presidential grace, the organization's creation and operation provide further insight into presidential management styles and the view of the President as a “general manager” of government.     

Restrictive Institutions and Critical Resources: Non-Profit Organisations and Volunteer Resources in the Russian Federation

Abstract

Resource management is essential for any organisation’s success. For non-profit organisations (NPOs) volunteers are a key resource. In this article, we examine how NPOs recruit, mobilise and manage volunteers in a challenging institutional and operational context. By drawing on a qualitative study of Russian health NPOs, our study highlights that the operational and institutional environment encountered by Russian NPOs leads to ‘management by network’ to acquire necessary volunteer resources. This pragmatic approach, whilst ensuring an organisation’s short-term survival, ultimately limits the type of volunteer recruited by Russian NPOs. The implications of these findings are also explored.     

Modernisation and Political Management Arrangements: The Case of Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council

In the United Kingdom the Labour government has placed considerable emphasis on the need to modernise public services. In the case of local government, Labour's belief in the need for modernisation has resulted in radical measures to change local authorities' political management arrangements designed, in part, to achieve greater efficiency, transparency and accountability. In its response to the Labour government's agenda, Redcar &; Cleveland Borough Council established interim political management arrangements in May 2000 prior to the establishment of permanent arrangements. The permanent arrangements were to be decided upon following public consultation and a review of the interim arrangements. This article reports the outcomes and, in doing so, provides evidence of the impact of Labour's measures to achieve change in local government.     

Parliaments in Disguise? How German Councillors perceive Local Councils

Dominant narratives of neighbourhood working in the United Kingdom accentuate the diversity and ‘messiness’ of practices across local authorities. This paper questions such narratives. Drawing upon a study of 15 local authorities, we first argue that neighbourhood working is increasingly oriented towards neighbourhood management, privileging the ‘joining up’ of mainstream service delivery over the enhanced community engagement and political accountability more associated with the practices of neighbourhood governance. Deploying Lowndes and Sullivan's four rationales of neighbourhood working (2008), in combination with Mintzberg's metaphor of organisation as ‘structure in fives’ (1983), we suggest that the practices of neighbourhood working are currently best understood in terms of Mintzberg's decentralised divisional authority as a form of constrained decentralisation in which semi-autonomous divisions are brought together under a central administration and given limited control over service delivery in order to address the social and economic rationales for neighbourhood working. We then draw upon recent neo-liberal critiques of local governance to offer a critical evaluation of both the appeal for local officers and politicians of neighbourhood management and the potential tensions and contradictions of such a move for future policy and practice. We conclude that neighbourhood management as a neo-liberal ‘roll-out’ strategy may be self-defeating, surfacing the incapacity of local authorities to respond to local community expectations and grievances, whilst exposing the organisational constraints of partnership working, managerialism and outsourcing.     

Information resource management in Florida: A primer

This article presents a brief history of the development of information resource management (IRM) in Florida. The principal organizations involved in IRM oversight described in this article guide the management of critical information technologies such as computers and telecommunications equipment. Entering the next century, state agencies must maintain their leadership given the current projected growth in the state's population and service demand. Effective IRM key to their continued success.     

COMPARING BUSH–CHENEY AND CLINTON–GORE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES: ARE THEY MORE ALIKE THAN DIFFERENT?

Successful performance management strategies are intrinsically linked to the political environment in which public policy‐making occurs. Since the mid‐1990s, many governments have re‐examined how to simultaneously reduce costs, increase performance and achieve results. Public agencies are experimenting with performance measurement and management systems designed to meet public policy goals and respond to citizen demands. Various reform models have been proposed and public administrators now expend considerable time, effort and resources exchanging ‘best practices’, finding ‘best value’, and ‘rethinking’ government operations. Although equally important, less effort has been devoted to performance management (PM) within increasingly complex, ideologically charged and politicized decision‐making environments. Despite significant increases in productivity, more theoretical and empirical research is needed to assist public managers in applying private market‐based alternatives to public service delivery structures. This article compares the PM initiatives of the Clinton–Gore Administration in the United States, known as the National Performance Review (NPR), with President Bush‘s Presidential Management Agenda (PMA). Following the comparison, a theory‐based research agenda is proposed to determine which of many approaches best ‘fits’ the varied and often contradictory systems for delivering public services in a decentralized governance system.