From process consultation to a clinical model of development practice

This article argues that two related concepts, process consultation and, in particular, the clinical perspective, developed by the organizational psychologist Edgar Schein, can improve the understanding, teaching and conduct of development practice. Process consultation, which is more than just the application of so-called process approaches, and the clinical perspective are described, and the case for them is put, in relation to contrasts with ethnography and action research and in the light of contemporary debates about the relationship between development studies and development practice. Five particular aspects of the clinical model—the primacy of the ‘helpful intervention’, the subservience of science to helping, its client centredness, its recognition of interventionists’ financial and political status, and its overt normativeness—are seen as particularly relevant to development practice. In conclusion, the clinical model is seen to pose four challenges for development studies: the creation of development's own theory of practice, the establishment of rigorous practitioner training programmes, the consequent institutional change, and an acknowledgement of the implications of development studies’ disciplinary biases. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 , 325–340 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 48.     

Approaches to strengthening local government: lessons from Sri Lanka

This article sets out to describe recent approaches to strengthening local government within the framework of the World Bank's Municipal Management Programme (1985–95) in Sri Lanka. The article examines a number of innovations adopted within the programme that are of general relevance to the task of strengthening local government throughout the developing world. The article briefly outlines the background to the present system of local government showing that, whilst existing structures and functions remain relatively weak, a number of important innovations have been introduced to assist with the process of strengthening local resource mobilization and improving performance in service delivery, and enhancing certain aspects of accountability, particularly those areas concerned with the allocation and use of public funds. Since a number of these innovations have wide applicability to the process of local government strengthening and reform it is hoped that this article will demonstrate the practical relevance of certain key innovations for practitioners and policy makers elsewhere. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 : 251–265 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 13.     

On prediction in political science

This article discusses recent moves in political science that emphasise predicting future events rather than theoretically explaining past ones or understanding empirical generalisations. Two types of prediction are defined: pragmatic, and scientific. The main aim of political science is explanation, which requires scientific prediction. Scientific prediction does not necessarily entail pragmatic prediction nor does it necessarily refer to the future, though both are desiderata for political science. Pragmatic prediction is not necessarily explanatory, and emphasising pragmatic prediction will lead to disappointment, as it will not always help in understanding how to intervene to change future outcomes, and policy makers are likely to be disappointed by its time-scale.     

Policy planning in HM Customs and Excise Customs Policy Directorate. A trainer's perspective

Following the creation of flatter management structure, HM Customs and Excise reviewed the way they carried out the development of policy advice to decision takers. They wished to create a procedure to give an assurance of the quality of the work in the development of policy. With the aid of consultants, they identified a set of management tools and techniques to ensure that planning for policy development is carried out efficiently and effectively. These tools are: stakeholder analysis, to identify the key players and their interests in the policy to be developed; a policy family tree analysis to establish where a policy fits within wider government policy objectives; a project management checklist to enable decisions to be taken on resource allocation; an assessment of the priority to be assigned to the policy and its development; a high level assessment of the cost implications for business of complying with the policy; and the development of an evaluation plan to assess the success of the policy in delivering the policy objectives. HM C and E commissioned a successful training programme with the Civil Service College to help them deliver the quality in policy work they sought. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 : 223–234 (1997). No. of Figures: 4. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 0.     

Hospital management improvement in China

Hospitals in China, as in many parts of the world, are facing unprecedented changes. The situation in China may be more complicated than in some countries, because these changes are compounded by the influence of major changes in the macro-economic system as well. In response to this situation the Chinese Ministry of Public Health has launched a major initiative to strengthen the management of their hospitals. This article reports on the plan of action for management improvement in the areas of administrative training, management structure, staff motivation, information system, with emphasis on quality and inter-hospital cooperation. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 : 267–275 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 21.     

‘twinning’ as a method of sustainable institutional capacity building

‘Twinning’ is the distinctive method employed during the last two decades by the Swedish International Development Co‐operation Agency (Sida) to promote institutional capacity building in development co‐operation. This article reports on a study undertaken to provide evidence which would help Sida to make judgements about the efficacy of the twinning model as a basis for sustainable capacity building, and to explore ways of enhancing the method. The study indicates that the twinning method has potential advantages over other modes of development co‐operation, particularly that it offers enhanced possibilities for organizational learning and sustainable capacity building. However, the study suggests that this potential is not being fully exploited. Twinning arrangements have produced major benefits in professional/technical upgrading, but there is less evidence of outcomes at the level of sustainable institutional capacity building. Contrary to Sida's expectations of its distinctive advantages, in operation, twinning tends to become a rather routine process, viewed by developing country partners as an unexceptional way of delivering aid which presents few fundamental challenges and provides essentially the same benefits as alternative methods. It appears that institutional development and organizational learning are generally not issues of major significance for partner organizations in twinning arrangements. Even at the individual level the focus is on training rather than learning, which results in the usual emphasis on formal off‐job training rather than seeking opportunities for learning from work. The article presents ideas on how the current twinning approach might be renovated, and considers how agencies such as Sida might enhance their development co‐operation in the realm of governance by moving beyond twinning. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organizational learning in non-governmental organizations: What have we learned?

Learning is considered to be an essential component of organizational effectiveness in all sectors—private, public and non-governmental. All NGOs aspire to be ‘learning organizations’, yet few have reflected systematically on the success in this regard. This article summarizes the experience to date of international NGOs that have prioritized learning as an objective, drawing out areas of both success and failure, and reflecting on whether there are any features that distinguish learning in NGOs from learning in other types of organization. A simple typology and set of tests of NGO-learning are presented, along with a series of challenges for the future. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 : 235–250 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 48     

Reinventing the Hong Kong state or rediscovering it? From low interventionism to eclectic corporatism

Abstract

The low-intervention state of Hong Kong in colonial times did not originate from strong neo-liberal ideological convictions. It was an artefact of the colonial political configuration, a pragmatic governing strategy adapting to the political and economic needs at the time. Political changes, economic restructuring, divestiture and marketization of state institutions since the 1980s had brought a new state form after 1997. A new business and professional elite class, embedded in an eclectic corporatist structure, evolved and brought multilateral, ad hoc and particularistic bargaining, leading to more sectoral intervention after 1997. Fragmented state institutions nonetheless weakened state capacity, making it difficult for the post-1997 state to be highly penetrative, transformative or developmental.     

State and Local Government Procurement and the Winter Commission

The Winter Commission proposed a state and local government procurement reform agenda that placed public managers at the core of a depoliticized, deregulated, and more pragmatic public sector contracting process. Drawing on the literature and data from several state and local government surveys, this article shows that between 1992 and 2003, state and local governments’ contracting practices moved in directions consistent with the commission’s reform agenda. By 2003, state and local governments had decentralized and deregulated their contracting processes, were contracting more effectively and in circumstances in which it is more likely to be successful, and had adopted several innovative technologies and management practices.     

The colour purple: perceptions of accountability across the Tasman

This article explores the changing rhetoric and substance of accountability in the relationships between parliamentarians and public servants in what Alex Matheson terms the ‘purple zone’—where the ‘blue’ of political strategy and ‘red’ of public administration merge in ‘strategic conversation’. The primary focus is on current developments in Australia. As the Westminster system of governance, and the role of public administration within it, undergo profound transformation, the prerogatives of elected parliamentarians (in the blue corner) and the responsibilities of career public servants (in the red corner) are changing fundamentally. In Australia and New Zealand the increasingly complex relationships that exist between government, parliament, public service and the wider community challenge the traditional notions of accountability. Both the lines of accountability, and its standards, are under challenge. The acceleration of Australia's move to contract out the delivery of government services is creating new arenas of creative tension between administrative review and management for results. Public service agencies are increasingly perceived to be themselves in a contractual relationship with government. There is a risk that the public good may become subverted by private interest. How will we ensure that agencies will ‘not contract out responsibility at the citizen's expense’? © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 , 293–306 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 33.     

Working with Complexity: Community Engagement and the Murdi Paaki COAG Trial 2002–2007

Achieving improvements in indigenous health and education and reducing the incidence of crime and domestic violence in indigenous communities has proved heartbreakingly difficult. The Murdi Paaki COAG trial in western NSW aimed to break this pattern of failure by tailoring flexible Commonwealth and State government support to indigenous communities, working within a framework of shared responsibility. In this article we assess the trial as a policy strategy by comparing outcomes and patterns of outcomes across the sixteen communities. We found that the strategy worked best where ‘good enough’ governance was aligned with flexibility, rather than with control. This way of working is difficult for governments as it can be a slow process, and requires stability in the policy and engagement framework to deliver results. More broadly, our findings confirm the usefulness of complexity theory to illuminate and to explain the evolution of process in administrative contexts involving networked governance.     

Is compulsory voting more democratic?

Lijphart (1997) endorses compulsory voting as a means to increase voter turnout. Considering the likely effects of the role of information (including its costs) on the decision to vote and taking an expressive view of voting, however, compels us to investigate two unexamined claims by such advocates: (i) that individuals are transformed by forcing them to vote, and (ii) that a compulsory electoral outcome is a more accurate reflection of community preferences.We argue that compelling those who are not particularly interested in, or informed about, the political process to vote increases the proportion of random votes and we show that under simple majority rule, compulsory voting may violate the Pareto principle; the less popular candidate is more likely to be elected. Our results cast doubt on the ”miracle of aggregation“ argument, which optimistically concludes that as long as uninformed votes are not systematically biased, they will have no effect on voting outcomes. We also briefly consider how information cascades can exacerbate this problem.     

Indonesia: what do we mean by decentralization?

Decentralization has been a major theme in many countries in recent years. In Indonesia it has been part of the rhetoric of the Government for some time, but recent initiatives have suggested some more substance. This article reviews two main concepts: inter-governmental decentralization and management decentralization. It examines the Indonesian approach to decentralization in law and in practice, focusing on some recent initiatives in reforming the grant system and the declaration of a ‘pilot areas’ decentralization project. The aim of such initiatives appears to be to reap the efficiency gains of management decentralization without transferring power. However, the Indonesian system lacks some of the institutional requirements for effective management decentralization, notably the absence of performance measures and an effective framework of constraints, as reflected in the shortcomings of the systems of central controls over local government. The article concludes with an analysis of the reasons why the Indonesian Government appears to be so wary of western notions of decentralization. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 , 351–367 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 2. No. of Refs: 49.     

Building sustainable professional capacity in African public sectors: retention constraints in Kenya

Significant investments are being made by aid agencies to increase Master's-level training of African professionals serving in the public sector. Yet no case studies present detailed data or analysis of past efforts to build sustainable human capacity in governmental institutions. The article reviews career and retention data on 169 economists, planners, and statisticians trained under funding provided by 6 long-term aid projects for targeted posts in Kenyan ministries. After reviewing retention constraints revealed by this data and other evidence, it offers recommendations that might assist governments and aid agencies to design and implement capacity building initiatives with a higher probability of ensuring that returned graduates serve for adequate periods of time in the positions for which they were trained. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 , 307–324 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 1. No. of Refs: 31.     

Emerging Indicators and Bureaucracy: From the Iron Cage to the Metric Cage

ABSTRACT

Among the New Public Management (NPM) tools that have been implemented, one of the most common is use of indicators. Many studies have argued that imposition of an indicator entails a bureaucratization process. But the scholarly debate on these instruments has been shaped by a vertical perspective and has been focused on the effects of top-down indicators on organizations at the local level. In this paper, we wish to lay the emphasis on an emerging indicator, constructed and used by the actors themselves within a local forest management unit. We wish to draw attention to the manner in which, at the micro-level, a performance measure is worked out. We argue that these emerging indicators place a new locus of power in the hands of rangers but, rather than emphasizing hierarchy and chain of command, such indicators do not contribute to development of a Weberian iron cage. In contrast, there appears a metric cage, a mix of pragmatic rationality (instrumental and communicative), non-fixed rules, and technical-normative authority.     

The deceptive illusion of multi-paradigm development practice

This article responds to commentaries by Blunt, Bell and Joy on Cooke's ‘From process consultation to a clinical model of development practice’ in the August 1997 issue of Public Administration and Development. Following the paradigmatic analyses those commentaries introduce, it begins by trying to clarify the range of meanings attributed to the term ‘paradigm’. It then argues, that Blunt's critique does actually derive from a particular single (i.e. mono-) paradigm, the application of which causes my initial arguments to be mis-represented, and exemplifies the limits of that paradigm in practice. It goes on to agree that generic process approaches do have some cultural limitations, and that they can be used for ideological manipulation, although not inevitably in the pursuit of so-called democratic values. The clinical-process model is, however, distinct from these generic approaches and actually provides some safeguard against these problems. The article moves on to demonstrate that a multi-paradigm approach to practice, as opposed to analysis, is illusory, because it is impossible, and deceptive, as claims for multi-paradigm practice conceal the practitioner's inescapable paradigmatic assumptions. In conclusion it argues that until we recognize that ‘development’ per se is a ruling paradigm we are all imprisoned within it. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

THE OPERATIONAL DIMENSIONS OF RESULTS‐BASED FINANCING

As part of a growing focus on the effectiveness of development assistance from the World Bank and other agencies, new efforts are being made to relate development finance more closely to outcomes achieved rather than to inputs used, through the results‐based financing approach. We provide a framework for analyzing the operational dimensions of results‐based financing, including the conditions that suit this approach, and how best to define, measure, and report results. We review some of the early World Bank experience with this approach. Noting that this approach is as yet not fully tested, we suggest evaluative issues for future research while highlighting strengths and challenges in the range of techniques adopted so far. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finding Partisanship Where We Least Expect it: Evidence of Partisan Bias in a New African Democracy

Much of the literature on political behavior in Africa’s new semi-democracies has treated partisan affiliation as weak, purely pragmatic, or a proxy for other, more meaningful identities such as ethnicity. In this article, I dispute these conceptions by demonstrating that partisanship in an African context, like partisanship in established democracies, is a psychologically meaningful identity that can inspire voters to engage in motivated reasoning. By combining survey data with an original dataset of objective indicators of local public goods quality in Uganda, I show that supporters of the incumbent president systematically overestimate what they have received from government, while opposition supporters systematically underestimate. Partisan support precedes, rather than results from, this mis-estimation. I also show that partisans of the incumbent (opposition) are significantly more (less) likely to attribute any bad outcomes they observe to private actors rather than the government. I argue that these findings are consistent with the predictions of social identity theory: the conflict that marked many African political transitions, and the mapping of African parties onto existing social cleavages, are sufficient conditions for the creation of strong political-social identities like those that characterize partisanship in the West. My findings indicate that Africanists should take partisanship seriously as a predictor of political behavior and attitudes.     

Ideas,identity, and institution‐building: From the ‘ASEAN way’ to the ‘Asia‐Pacific way'?

Abstract

This article examines the extent to which the development of multilateral institutions in the Asia‐Pacific region may be viewed as an exercise in identity‐building. It argues that institution‐building in this region is more of a ‘process‐orientated’ phenomenon, rather than simply being an outcome of structural changes in the international system (such as the decline of American hegemony). The process combines universal principles of multilateralism with some of the relatively distinct modes of socialization prevailing in the region. Crucial to the process have been the adaptation of four ideas: ‘cooperative security’, ‘open regionalism’, ‘soft regionalism’, and ‘flexible consensus’. The construction of a regional identity, which may be termed the ‘Asia‐Pacific Way’ has also been facilitated by the avoidance of institutional grand designs and the adoption of a consensual and cautious approach extrapolated from the ‘ASEAN Way’. The final section of the article examines the limitations and dangers of the Asia‐Pacific Way. It concludes with the assertion that while the Asia‐Pacific Way is an over‐generalised, instrumental, and pragmatic approach to regional cooperation, and there remain significant barriers to the development of a collective regional identity that is constitutive of the interests of the actors, it has helped introduce the concept and practice of multilateralism into a previously sceptical region and might have ‘bought’ enough time and space for regional actors to adapt to the demands of multilateralism.     

The stability of stated preferences for public goods: Evidence from recent budget games

We have investigated the stability of the individual response in recent budget games based on survey data, which is an important requirement for the reliability of this instrument. Budget games have gained popularity due to the problems encountered with alternative methods to determine preferences for public goods, such as the analysis of actual public expenditure date using median-voter theory or similar approaches. The short-term test-retest correlations (within an interval of one month) turn out to be rather low, typical around 0.3. No explanation of the test-retest differences could be found from the usual socio-economic and political characteristics of the respondents or from information characteristics of the survey design. Also, the pattern of budget-game outcomes for different countries and different periods is rather similar. The cumulative evidence suggests that the survey response to budget games is generated to a large extent by very general notions on the (un)desirability of public goods: defence is bad, education and health care are good. This implies that outcomes are often not related to the actual level and structure of public expenditure or revenues. As a result, the individual responses, even to the more sophisticated budget games, are subject to large uncertainty margins. Our results should warn researchers and, even more important, policy makers against giving too much weight to stated preferences for public expenditure or taxation levels obtained from budget games. Of course, further research is needed to obtain the precise limits of the instrument, including laboratory experimental economics.