BOOK NOTES

J. Griffith (Ed.). 1968 Australian and New Zealand Hospitals and Health Services Yearbook. School of Hospital Administration, University of New South Wales, and Hospital Administration Journal, Sydney, 1968 W. J. Penfold (Ed.). The Role of the Hospital Board. School of Hospital Administration, University of New South Wales R. L. Wettenhall . A Guide to Tasmanian Government Administration (Foreword by the Hon. Eric Reece, M.H.A., Premier of Tasmania) N.S.W. Parliamentary Library. The Eastern Suburbs Railway: Events from 1946 to 1965. Sydney Thomas Lee Roberts . Judicial Organization and Institutions of Contemporary West Africa: a Profile. New York, 1966, Institute of Public Administration The Records of the Cabinet Office to 1922. Public Records Office Handbook No. 11, London, H.M.S.O., 1966     

Implementing Open Innovation in the Public Sector: The Case of Challenge.gov

As part of the Open Government Initiative, the Barack Obama administration has called for new forms of collaboration with stakeholders to increase the innovativeness of public service delivery. Federal managers are employing a new policy instrument called Challenge.gov to implement open innovation concepts invented in the private sector to crowdsource solutions from previously untapped problem solvers and to leverage collective intelligence to tackle complex social and technical public management problems. The authors highlight the work conducted by the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies at the General Services Administration, the administrator of the Challenge.gov platform. Specifically, this Administrative Profile features the work of Tammi Marcoullier, program manager for Challenge.gov , and Karen Trebon, deputy program manager, and their role as change agents who mediate collaborative practices between policy makers and public agencies as they navigate the political and legal environments of their local agencies. The profile provides insights into the implementation process of crowdsourcing solutions for public management problems, as well as lessons learned for designing open innovation processes in the public sector.     

Policy and Organizational Change in the Federal Aviation Administration: The Ontogenesis of a High‐Reliability Organization

Although the high‐reliability organization (HRO) literature identifies several attributes that differentiate HROs from other types of organizations, these studies do not explain how an HRO comes into being, nor do they provide a means to gauge or measure the extent to which an organization exhibits the specified features. This article reports the results of a 97‐year longitudinal case study tracking the emergence and continuation of HRO characteristics in the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control operations to answer the following questions: how do HRO functions emerge in public organizations, and do policy changes lead administrative changes, or is there little relation between policy and organizational change? The analysis shows that (1) HRO characteristics emerged incrementally over an extremely long period of time, and (2) policy changes preceded organizational changes early in the process of HRO development, but the relationship of policy change to organizational change decreased in later stages.     

BOOK NOTES

J. H. Portus . Australian Compulsory Arbitration 1900–1970. (W. E. A. Monograph No. l), Hicks Smith, Sydney, 1971. Ruth J. Inall . State Health Services in Victoria. Occasional Monograph No. 4, Department of Government and Public Administration, University of Sydney, 1971.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Ferrel Heady . Public Administration: A Comparative Perspective. John J, Corson and R. Shale Paul . Men Near the Top. P. Loveday and A. W. Martin , Parliament, Factions and Parties: The First Thirty Years of Responsible Government in New South Wales J. A. La Nauze . Alfred Deakin. Ian G. Sharp and Colin M. Tatz (eds). Aborigines in the Economy. J. P. Sinclair . Behind the Ranges. R. L. Cope (ed.). Library Services to the Legislature: A Symposium. Deborah Paige and Kit Jones . Health and Welfare Services in Britain in 1975. Keith Mc Ewan . Once a Jolly Comrade.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: James A. Maxwell . Commonwealth-State Financial Relations in Australia. A. C. Palfreeman . The Administration of the White Australia Policy. Melbourne University Zelman Cowen . Isaac Isaacs. M. Beever and F. B. Smith (Compilers). Historical Studies: Selected Articles (Second Series) Mohammad Ayub Khan . Friends Not Masters. E. N. Gladden . Civil Services of the United Kingdom, 1853–1970. Frank Cass & Co. Ltd, London, 1967 Her Majesty's Government. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967 Local Government in Britain. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967 The Courts of Justice. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.     

Human service reorganization and its effects: a preliminary assessment of Florida's services integration 'experiment.'

The present discussion reports on some of the first statewide data gathering and analysis to assess the consequences of the 1975 reorganization of the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. Two major concepts guiding the reorganization were: (1) integration of services in order to cover more adequately the needs of clients, including "multi-problem" clients, and (2) decentralization of administrative authority of all programs under a single, district-wide management structure. Despite widespread interest in the Florida system, and two previous studies, no systematic, detailed study of the impact of reorganization at the service delivery level has been conducted until now. The results of this study indicate that departmental employees perceive substantial decentralization of authority and progress toward integration of services since the 1975 reorganization. Perceived improvement in client services is also indicated. Major factors cited as influential in the change are the move toward collocation of services, the establishment of administratively interlinked service networks, and to a lesser extent, the development of generalist managers.     

Administrative reform in Haiti: Problems,progress and prospects

A growing awareness among officials in Haiti of the need for public service reforms has resulted in the reorganization and revitalization of the country's Administrative Reform Commission (Commission Administrative). At present there is no uniformity in organization, procedures, regulations or remuneration between the different government agencies. The bureaucrats have little security and the bureaucracy is completely dominated by the executive branch of government. Coupled with this, owing largely to the budgeting system, the public service has developed into virtually two separate services, one dealing with development and the other with recurrent tasks. The number of public servants has doubled in the past decade. The Administrative Reform Commission has identified its priorities including the creation of a unified career service system, a restructuring of the bureaucracy and decentralization. This article comments on the Commission's proposals and the problems of implementing them.     

Same Bed,Different Dreams? Structural Factors and Leadership Characteristics of Central Government Agency Reform in China

ABSTRACT

The reorganization of government agencies can be studied as a pre-reform process in terms of the structural changes made, or as a post-reform process in terms of the effects of the reorganization. In this study of two mergers of agencies in China’s central administration, we focus on structural features and the post-merger process, paying special attention to structural and cultural integration. Our qualitative analyses reveal that the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) is considered to have been more successful in merging agencies and integrating functions than the State Administration for Press, Publications, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT). We found that using physical arrangements and leadership features as explanatory variables generated helpful theoretical and policy implications for organizational architecture and public sector reforms.     

A Call to Action—The Essential Role of Advocacy

Editor's Note: The Perspectives featured in this issue of Public Administration Review were adapted from May 2016 commencement addresses: Anna Maria Chavez, the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, spoke on the 12th at Arizona State University's College of Public Service and Community Solutions; Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Leader in the United States House of Representatives spoke on the 7th at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service; and Tommy Thompson, the former Governor of Wisconsin and Secretary of Health & Human Services, spoke on the 15th at the University of Wisconsin's La Follette School of Public Affairs. These Perspectives reaffirm the highest principles of American public administration: that by and large, government is NOT the problem, and quite often indeed holds the solution; that effective and helpful public policy depends on informed expert opinion and research; and that those who enter public service should do so with a commitment to the notion that America best fulfills its promise when we seek the well‐being of all people, including the least fortunate. We chose these messages from among a wealth of commencement speeches because while they come from leaders with quite different political views, background, and experience, taken together they offer a coherent and inspiring call to public service. Dan Feldman, Perspective and Commentary Editor     

Band-aid solutions

She has been a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University; Director of the Division of Economic and Quantitative Analysis, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services; and Director of the Office of Research in the Health Care Financing Administration. She is president of the Foundation for Health Services Research.     

Interpreting Administrative Change: Bureaucratic Self‐Interest and Institutional Inheritance in Government

Between 1946 and 1995, Danish central government had been subject to numerous reorganization initiatives. Based on the assumption of self‐interest motivated and risk‐averse bureaucrats, these initiatives are analyzed in a long‐term historical perspective. It is argued that civil servants both feel a strong incentive to and have good chances of defending the existing organization. This creates a historical bias in favor of whatever organizations were created in the past. Still, the mutual dependence between political executives and their civil servants opens up for bargaining dynamics allowing for mostly incremental change. While ideology has been unimportant in the development of central government organization, broadly shared ideas about reform may account for some instances of radical reform, consistently opposed by Danish civil servants.     

单位社区再组织化的网络建构逻辑——对北京市海淀区学院路街道的案例研究

社会发展需要基本的组织载体和平台,但因社会转型而导致的社会组织结构和社会组织方式的改变,使得现阶段我国单位社区出现一定程度的“去组织化”。如何打破单位社区的封闭性,实现单位社区与社区外其他组织单元结合实现再组织化,以解决基层社会治理中的成员动员、统筹协调和资源整合等问题,是当前我国基层社会治理的一个重要问题。北京市海淀区学院路街道通过区域化党建引领基层治理创新,建构了一个由党组织引领、统筹的基层治理组织间网络,其单位社区的再组织化过程就是一个基层治理网络重构的过程。借助网络分析框架,考察学院路街道的基层治理创新实践,尝试揭示转型社会中单位社区再组织化的动态过程,以丰富学界对基层治理网络及其建构过程的认识。     

How pre‐ and postrecruitment factors shape role perceptions of European Commission officials

Individuals' role perceptions are central guides to their behavior and choices as members of an organization. Understanding organizational dynamics thus requires knowledge about the determinants of such role perceptions, as well as whether—and when—organizations can influence them. This article brings forward a theoretical framework allowing for both prerecruitment (extraorganizational) and post‐recruitment (intraorganizational) determinants of individuals' role perceptions, and examines its empirical implications using a large‐N data set of temporary officials in the European Commission. We find that intergovernmental and epistemic role perceptions are strongly linked to pre‐recruitment factors (such as educational and professional background), whereas postrecruitment factors (such as length of affiliation and embeddedness within the Commission) are the main driving force behind supranational and departmental role perceptions. This heterogeneity in the importance of pre‐ and postrecruitment factors for distinct role perceptions has important consequences for conceptualizing organizational change.     

Prisoners as Customers or Clients?

Is the market for prisons or prisoners? The question remains unresolved by the debate between Sue Vardon, former Director-General, Department of Correctional Services, South Australia, and Patrick Weller, former Chairman, Corrective Services Commission, Queensland, in the March issue of this journal. Both asked whether prisoners are customers or clients of corrective service agencies. The distinction between clients as customers and clients as consumers in service delivery has important implications for the performance management of prisons, yet was ignored in the Vardon/Weller interchange. This distinction has implications for prisons and public services generally.     

ʽYou’re not getting rid of usʼ. Performing acts of citizenship in times of emigration

This article uses academic literature on acts of citizenship and performative citizenship to investigate the contestation, protest, and resistance actions carried out by the Marea Granate collective in defence of the citizenship rights of Spanish citizens living abroad. Marea Granate (Maroon Wave) is a transnational network of young Spanish emigrants that emerged in 2013 as a result of the recent widespread emigration provoked by the economic crisis and austerity politics in Spain. Based on their shared identity as economic exiles and demanding the right to participate in Spanish political life to change the conditions that led them to emigrate, the members of this organization have been carrying out innovative, creative citizenship acts that are breaking conventions and causing ruptures in the Spanish citizenship regime. These ‘transformative acts of recovering’, the term used to refer to Marea Granate’s demands and struggles for citizenship, have proven to be capable of being a driving force for change and also reveal the fluid and contested nature of citizenship in the contexts of austerity and emigration.     

Motivated to Adapt? The Role of Public Service Motivation as Employees Face Organizational Change

Researchers concerned with organizational change have consistently emphasized the role that the work environment plays in employee acceptance of change. Underexamined in the public management literature, however, is the role that employee values, particularly public service motivation (PSM), may play in employee acceptance of change. Some scholars have noted a positive correlation between employee PSM and organizational change efforts; this article extends this work by attempting to isolate the mechanisms that explain this relationship. Using data from a survey of employees in a city undergoing a reorganization and reduction in workforce, the authors find that only employees who scored high on a single dimension of PSM—self‐sacrifice—were more likely than others to support organizational change. Rather than support changes for their potential to improve public service, this finding suggests that employees with higher PSM may simply be less likely to resist changes that might disadvantage them personally.     

The Changing Politics of States' Reorganization

This essay highlights the change in altitude, among the Indianruling elite, in no longer treating states' reorganization asthe emergence of parochial identities. Different regions establishedtheir identity on the basis of language, culture, administrativecoherence, economic development, or lack of it. Gradually, ithas been recognized that the reorganization of states leadsto good governance if such reorganization stems from administrativeconvenience, economic viability, similarity in developmentalneeds of a subregion, and cultural-linguistic affinity.     

Diffusion milieus as a focus of research on innovation in the public sector

Public policies to increase the efficiency of state and local governments through fostering the use of new technologies are based, implicitly at least, on theories of diffusion. Existing theories of diffusion have been found to be deficient. This paper presents an approach to the diffusion of technological innovations in state and local governments organized around the concept of diffusion milieus.A diffusion milieu contains those elements external to the organization which bring pressure to bear on the organization to alter its existing practices, which define the range of feasible alternatives to these practices, and which condition the information flow on the performance characteristics of the proposed innovation(s). These milieu components are then filtered through the internal decision-making process(es) of the organization to produce a decision to accept or reject the innovation(s). More specifically, the milieu contains (1) the specific nature of the demands upon the agency to change behavior (performance gaps), (2) the supply of alternatives to existing practices (technological change), (3) agency-executive relationships, (4) the activities of suppliers in marketing innovations, (5) the resources available to the agency to acquire new techniques, (6) the characteristics of the knowledge infrastructure which affect the search behavior and the degree of uncertainty associated with adopting new techniques, (7) the impact of intergovernmental relationships, and (8) citizen demands. The components of the diffusion milieu are then (9) related to a set of agency decision-rules concerning the adoption of new techniques.The rate of diffusion in each field will depend upon themagnitude of the components and on thelinkages between them.Functional fields differ in both respects.Research for this paper was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, Office of R & D Assessment. We have benefited from the helpful comments of Professor Marvin Rozen, an anonymous referee and the research assistance of Ms. Lee Ann Kozak. The views expressed in this paper are the sole responsibility of the authors. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1975 American Political Science Association meetings.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Felix A. Nigro . Modern Public Administration. Harper and Row, New York, 1965 J. A. Griffith . Central Departments and Local Authorities. George Allen & Unwin, U.K. Fred W. Riggs . Administration in Developing Countries. The Theory of Prismatic Society. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston Burton Benedict (ed.). Problems of Smaller Territories. Athlone Press, London, 1967