Managing for Results in an Impossible Job: Solution or Symbol? Abstract

Abstract

Recent years have been characterized by widespread adoption of reforms that called for governments to manage for results. This article tackles the question: what is the impact of results-based reforms in functions that the public management literature has defined as “impossible jobs?” The implementation of strategic planning and performance measurement in the Alabama Department of Corrections provides a case study of such a scenario. The explicit goals of results-based reforms suggest a solution to “impossible jobs” by achieving improved allocation, effectiveness, and efficiency. However, the case evidence suggests that their main use is as a symbol of rational governance, to be used by beleaguered agencies and governments in a bid to increase resources. Beyond this, the public manager in an impossible job finds little benefit from results-based reform, and seeks to devote as few resources as is necessary to comply with reform requirements.     

Short notes on some books received

This article challenges the thesis that local‐level bureaucrats need be part of any ‘dominant coalition’ at the village level. Based on a case study of Egyptian agricultural officials, the paper argues that local bureaucrats may well be more useless than dominant in any political or economic sense. In rural areas in which local officials lack the resources (supplies, funds) to do their jobs, they may well be quite inconsequential. In such situations their position as ‘public servants’ may be appropriated by members of the rich peasantry, who have no particular need to work closely with resource‐poor local government staff.     

Jobs and buy local programs: expected employment effects of public-sector import-substitution in Chicago

This article uses a modelling approach to project the effects of a public sector urban import-substitution program called Buy Chicago. The City of Chicago would redirect its non-local procurement back to Chicago firms to reach a 90 percent local-buying goal with the intention of creating jobs, revenue and economic growth. The employment generated from Buy Chicago was projected by a computer-driven simulation and forecasting model developed by Regional Economic Models Incorporated which simulates the structural and behavioral characteristics of the Chicago region. Six alternative behavioral scenarios for Buy Chicago were developed, and employment projections were developed for each. Under the worst case scenario, the program would create substantial numbers of jobs, be substantially self-financing, and increase imports as a function of induced economic growth.     

The forgotten worker: Neglected aspects of public service in an information age

One of the most consistent themes among contemporary administrative theorists is that the workplace of the future will be a more hospitable environment for public workers than is currently the case. Decentralization, participative management, and intrinsically satisfying work are commonly forecast. Using survey data from state employees, this study identifies a large class of civil servants that has not yet, and probably will not, enjoy the enriched jobs that are so often predicted. The discussion identifies a number of factors in the work environment of these workers that are likely to frustrate attempts to make their jobs more meaningful and pleasant. Having acknowledged their existence and assessed their plight, the study concludes with a summary of measures that can be taken to address the needs of these “forgotten workers.”     

Socialism,Economic Development and Planning in Mali, 1960–1968

This article looks at practices of pilferage and bribery among African migrant dock workers in Durban in the 1950s. Many of Durban's dockers regularly engaged in small-scale theft, usually food for personal consumption, but sometimes they also got their hands on bigger and more expensive items or sold the pilfered goods. Many also relied on their social networks to find jobs and did not shy away from bribing izinduna to make sure that they were hired on ships that contained the right goods. Such crimes, which were often not recognised as such by the workers, have often been seen as forms of primitive and individual resistance to proletarianisation. This article, however, argues that these were not just reactive and opportunistic acts, but part of a conscious strategy to combine dock labour with a small business, which allowed several workers to withdraw from the wage labour market altogether.     

Shifting the Risk: New Employment Patterns, Informalization, and Women's Work

The paper argues that the processes of informalization of jobs observed during the past decades have affected both high and low income countries. Starting at the micro level of the firm, the emphasis is on how economic restructuring and globalization have generated the growth of informal activities—resulting in the vicious circle of poverty and economic insecurity for an important proportion of the population. The second part of the paper analyzes the growth of women's participation in informal activities, emphasizing that there are contradictory forces at work regarding women's employment. Despite a stubborn persistence of gender discrimination and obstacles to women's advancement, progress has taken place on several fronts, such as in the education field and in the absorption of female labor in many production processes. The paper concludes by pointing out that poverty eradication programs must emphasize the need to generate decent jobs without which these programs will continue to be ineffective. In addition, re-distributive mechanisms and different forms of social protection are needed to counteract the forces and policies generating economic insecurity.     

Non-farm Income and Employment in Rural Honduras: Assessing the Role of Locational Factors

This article emphasises the role of locational factors in the determination of rural non-farm (RNF) employment possibilities in rural Honduras. It finds that while RNF wage jobs are predominantly located close to urban areas, RNF self-employment jobs are geographically dispersed around the country, depending on local motors such as a profitable agricultural activity, an important road, or a tourist attraction. In all, the importance of RNF income for rural households (31.3 per cent of total income) suggests that the RNF sector should be considered when designing policies to improve the capabilities and livelihood of the rural Honduran.     

Decent work and indecent trade agendas: the European Union and ACP countries

The European Commission has promised to promote decent work in the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries through pro-poor direct investment and livelihood-creating trade deals. Aligning with the discourse of the International Labour Organisation, the European Commission seeks to achieve ‘fair globalisation’ in which economic growth is translated into decent jobs. Applying a moral economy perspective, however, the article argues that there is a disjuncture between the norms espoused under the Decent Work Agenda and the tangible implications of European interventions in ACP economies. Specifically, Economic Partnership Agreements will have deleterious consequences for the lives of many poorer producers and workers in ACP countries. The provision of Aid for Trade for decent work, moreover, may not deliver meaningful decent work opportunities in ACP countries. In this analysis, the article explores the emergent normativity-outcomes gap in this sphere of European Union external relations.     

The policy adoption-implementation spiral

The “Policy Adoption-Implementation Spiral” is an exploration of the policy-making process that begins at the national level and proceeds through the labyrinth of administrative interpretations, court decisions, and judicial decrees before it is finally implemented at the state level. This analysis is based on the premise that policy adoption and policy implementation are not two separate steps in the policy-making process. The adoption/implementation process may be more clearly thought of as a continually narrowing spiral with each inward band of the spiral representing a further specification, refine- ment, clarification, or interpretation of a piece of public policy.

Equal Employment Opportunity policy is the content area used in this analysis. A case study is used which follows EEO policy from the National level down to its implementation in the area of employment opportunities for state jobs in the State of Alabama.     

The Public Sector as the Employer of Choice among Youth in Egypt: The Relevance of Public Service Motivation Theory

Young people in Egypt want to work in the public sector, even if they get less pay there than at the private sector. This article seeks to explain the attractiveness of public-sector jobs to this group, embedding this experience within the literature and theorization on public service motivation (PSM) and discussing its relevance. Issues of trust, respect, and social status are reflected in the discourse of interviewed youth about this job preference. A generation-held and culturally-ingrained appreciation among the educated to work in the public sector also contributes to this sector preference. Qualitative and quantitative data also show that extrinsic benefits of job security and stability are also pivotal to this preference. The analysis in the article suggests a holistic reading of motivational factors to join the public sector in contexts of job scarcity and labor surplus.     

In the Same Boat,but not Equals: The Heterogeneous Effects of Parental Income on Child Labour

This paper examines the impact of parental income on child labour. The empirical literature has found conflicting results regarding whether poverty leads parents to send their children to work. Most of this literature, however, treats child labourers as a single homogeneous group, ignoring differences among working children in work intensity, hazard exposure, and type of employer. This paper argues that accounting for the heterogeneity in child’s working conditions may explain the conflicting results in the literature. Specifically, the existence of this heterogeneity may reflect heterogeneity in parents’ perceptions about the returns to child’s work, and hence in parental reasons to send their children to work. To test this hypothesis, I estimate the effects of parental income on child labour for various working conditions, using data from the 2010 Egypt National Child Labour Survey. This dataset provides rich information on the working conditions of child labourers. The findings show that the effect of parental income on child labour is minimal among children who work in non-hazardous jobs, jobs that are not highly physical, or in family businesses. In contrast, higher parental income does decrease the likelihood of child labour in market work, jobs that are physical and hazardous jobs.     

The Transition from Education to Employment Abroad: The Experiences of Young People from Poland

This article examines the subject of the transition from education to the labour market among young people moving directly from education in Poland to first jobs abroad. With free labour mobility in the European Union (EU), there are now more options for transitions into adulthood, including working abroad. This study uses mainly qualitative empirical material with some contextual quantitative data to examine the characteristics of young people who opted for a first job abroad, how they made their transitions from education to the foreign labour market, and the impact of their first jobs abroad on their subsequent occupational paths after returning home.     

The promises and perils of subsidiarity in global governance: evidence from Africa

In the messy world of global governance, the principle of subsidiarity has the potential to order relations between different layers of governance as well as compensate for the legitimacy deficit of global governance institutions. However, subsidiarity has received surprisingly little scholarly attention in the discipline of International Relations. This article therefore seeks to examine the promises and perils of subsidiarity in global governance by adducing empirical evidence from Africa, a region which has authored norms and policies that often contest global norms and institutions. Based on two case studies of pro-democratic intervention in The Gambia and court proliferation at the (sub-)regional levels, the article concludes that while subsidiarity may strengthen democracy and the rule of law at the national level, it may also undermine the rule of law at the global level, as well as dilute fundamental global norms that serve to protect basic human rights. At the same time, subsidiarity provides opportunities for normative innovation, which suggests that more attention needs to be paid to the law-generating effects of subsidiarity and to the Global South as an agent of change in international law and global governance.     

Using job evaluation to achieve pay equity

Job evaluation has become linked to debates over comparable worth. Proponents of pay equity complain that job evaluation is often biased against predominantly female jobs. Nonetheless, job evaluation is proposed as a tool to achieve more equitable pay for predominantly female jobs. We discuss ways in which conventionally used job evaluation plans incorporate sex bias and how these biases may be minimized. We conclude that, when care is taken to avoid sex bias, job evaluation is the best available tool to achieve pay equity. We predict that its use will grow, particularly in the public sector.     

Local authority performance indicators: Dousing the fire of campaigning consumers?

Much criticism has been levelled at the reliability of the Audit Commission's measures of local authority performance, but less attention has been paid to the reality of their empowering effect on consumer groups. This article reports on the impact of the policy on one consumer group, ALL MOD CONS, a national charity which campaigns for more and better public toilets. It argues that, far from empowering the group, the annual publication of performance indicators has diverted its energies and resources into disseminating the Audit Commision's statistics to their members and drawing misleading conclusions from them which risk undermining the group's credibility. The case raises questions about the role of performance indicators in the democratic process.     

Understanding the foreign policy of autocratic actors: ideology or pragmatism? Russia and the Tymoshenko trial as a case study

While the literature on the autocratic regimes has been rapidly growing in the last years, there still exists a research gap in this field: which impact do autocratic regimes have on the regime transition in the neighbouring countries? The literature on autocracies has demonstrated that autocratic political leaders tend to support each other. This article argues that the external influence of an autocracy may be more complex. The article analyses the case of Russia's international standing in relation to the trial of Yulia Tymoshenko. Using detailed process tracing, it has been shown that in terms of the Russian position, pragmatic goals may undermine ideological goals. Thus, while the main objective of Russia is to ensure the stability of gas contracts, the unintended consequences of its actions undermine the consolidation of autocratic regime in Ukraine. The article builds on the literature on regime transition, autocracy, and international relations.     

Co-opting Good Governance Reform: The Rise of a Not-so-Reformist Leader in Kebumen,Central Java

Challenging the existing literature, which tends to downplay the impact of good governance reform in post-Suharto Indonesia, the article suggests that greater intervention by international donors, combined with the process of decentralisation, has influenced the dynamics of political competition at the local level. It suggests that the increasing availability of international aid has provided local elites with an option to engage in a new form of patronage politics that relies less on old instruments, such as money politics and violence. By selectively committing themselves to good governance reform, Indonesian local elites can now seek a new source of power in the form of support from international donors, with which they can raise their profiles as ‘reformists’ and consolidate power, only to engage in familiar, if less blatant, forms of patronage politics. The article highlights such a dimension of local politics with reference to the case of Kebumen's former regent, Rustriningsih.     

Finding a mission in bureaucracies: How authentic leadership and red tape interact

Finding a mission is important for employees to perform well in public service jobs. Research has demonstrated that leadership can facilitate mission valence among followers, but if and how leadership unfolds this effect in the presence of excessive bureaucracy (i.e., red tape) is unclear. This interaction is particularly interesting in the case of authentic leadership (i.e., a positive leadership style based on self-awareness, consistent behaviors, and transparent relations with followers), as red tape may either neutralize or enhance the association of authentic leadership with mission valence. We test these rivalry hypotheses in a sample from a two-wave survey among public employees in Germany. Results provide support for the neutralization hypothesis, as the relationship between authentic leadership and mission valence strengthens at lower levels of red tape. HR practitioners are thus challenged to reduce red tape and to make public organizations authentic places, where leaders can develop authenticity through self-awareness.     

Women’s work and development in Latin America

The discussion explores the problem of women's employment patterns under capitalist development in Latin America, first by analyzing the way in which women's work has been conceptualized within modernization theory. It then goes on to examine the 2 types of work in which most Latin American women are engaged -- domestic service and informal work such as selling produce and taking in laundry -- to provide evidence for challenging modernization theory and for developing a more useful approach. Subsequently, the discussion considers women's domestic and informal work within the context of capitalist development, which provides some insight into the broader structures shaping women's employment. Finally, the discussion proposes some reconceptualizations of women's work and development. Modernization theorists analyze women's work in the cities within a variety of constructs, interpreting it as a backward manifestation of traditional society, a reflection of women's inadequate training for the modern sector, an indication of women's primary orientation to the family, or as a phenomenon that is too tangential to warrant examination. The primary assumption is that modernization improves women's status and the conditions of their lives as it brings greater productivity, more advanced technology, and more highly differentiated institutions. Assumptions concerning women's absorption into the modern sector and the equalization of work roles between men and women are not borne out by actual employment trends, which reveal the persistent concentration of women in domestic work, informal jobs, and the lower-paying service jobs. Despite their predominance, domestic service and informal jobs are infrequently included in employment statistics and are virtually ignored in studies of development, yet these 2 types of work are the primary forms of work for Latin American women. Even when modernization theorists recognize the proliferation of informal and domestic service jobs, they see it as part of a progressive development stage, with displaced rural laborers becoming incorporated into the modern sector by way of informal jobs. In most Latin American countries, rural women become a permanent part of the services and the informal labor market when they move to the cities. There is little sign of their transition to industrial employment. In general, capitalist development marginalizes Latin American women, who in several important ways lose status. The range of pursuits considered women's work should include their activities within the infromal labor sector. Informal work is still virtually unexplored, especially as it relates to wage work in underdeveloped countries. Informal labor is not registered in the census, nor is it included in the gross national product. Yet, it is a major component of women's work. Domestic service and infromal jobs should be seen in relation to other forms of labor and to total social production.