How local governments prioritize multiple conflicting goals: Beyond the sole-goal perspective

Understanding how public organizations prioritize goals is crucial in studying goal-setting in the public sector. However, the extant literature has mostly adopted a sole-goal perspective and neglected the influences of the interplay among multiple goals. This article extends the literature by going beyond the sole-goal perspective and adopting a multigoal perspective to further explore the complexities in public organizations' goal prioritization when facing multiple conflicting goals. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of performance information use and interorganizational interactions, the main arguments of this study are twofold. First, an organization's prioritization of a particular goal will be positively associated with the performance gap in its conflicting goal. Second, organizations tend to adopt a differentiation strategy in the prioritization of multiple conflicting goals. Empirical findings based on the investigation of Chinese city-level governments' prioritization of environmental goals when confronting conflict between environmental protection and economic development goals support our arguments.     

GETTING TO KNOW YOU: ETHNIC DIVERSITY, TIME AND PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS

Research on links between ethnic diversity and performance frequently illustrates that organizational diversity leads to process-oriented problems and negative work-related outcomes. This can cause problems for public managers who are tasked to increase workforce diversity for normative purposes but are nonetheless required to focus on performance goals. In this study, we test the proposition that managers can improve work-related outcomes in diverse organizations by focusing on stability and allowing diverse groups to 'get to know' one another, a process that should improve communication and coordination difficulties inherent in ethnic diversity. Our results show that the negative relationship between ethnic diversity and organizational performance does indeed lessen with time and stability.     

Distributed leadership and performance-related employee outcomes in public sector organizations

Distributed leadership is the sharing of leadership tasks between managers and employees. This article demonstrates how a distributed leadership perspective adds to the public administration literature by including an important sensitivity to planned and nonplanned leadership. We propose a theoretical model that explains the impact of distributed leadership on employee outcomes which have a direct or indirect impact on organizational performance in public organizations contingent on alignment with individual leadership capacity and organizational goals. Our empirical analysis in the Danish hospital sector shows initial support for the expected relationships between distributed leadership and performance-related employee outcomes such as job satisfaction and innovative behavior. This indicates that the distributed leadership perspective holds the potential to strengthen service delivery in complex public service organizations while there is weaker support for the notion that the positive impact of distributed leadership depends on individual leadership capacity and their support for organizational goals.     

CORPORATE CAPACITY AND PUBLIC SERVICE PERFORMANCE

Corporate capacity is arguably a key determinant of the success or failure of public sector organizations. However, while there is growing evidence on the extent of corporate capacity, few researchers have systematically examined whether it is linked to public service performance. Does a larger corporate centre lead to better or worse performance for the organization as a whole? To answer this question we apply seemingly unrelated regression to measures of effectiveness, cost‐effectiveness and equity in English local government. We find that the effect of corporate capacity on performance is nonlinear, following an inverted u‐shaped pattern, and that its positive effect turns negative around the mean for effectiveness and cost‐effectiveness, and above the mean for equity. The study therefore suggests that senior managers face important trade‐offs between organizational goals when deciding on the appropriate level of corporate capacity.     

Performance Implications of Public Managers’ Goal Prioritization: An Empirical Test of the Link between Internal Management and Organizational Performance

Most studies on the goals-performance nexus focus on the implications of goal design. In public organizations with multiple goals, managerial goal prioritization can, however, in itself play a decisive role for performance. This study examines the effects of managerial goal prioritization and employee commitment on organizational performance. Analyses of parallel surveys of principals and teachers in higher secondary education and archival data on school performance show that principals’ goal prioritization is positively related to high school performance. The findings thus indicate that public managers should concentrate not only on how they design goals, but also on how they prioritize them.     

A System of Contradictory Goals and Realization of Ambidexterity: A Case Study of a Municipal Corporation

Pursuit of contradictory goals is inherent in the activities of any typical public-sector organization. Bulk of the existing literature on how contradictory goals can be pursued successfully focuses on a single pair of contradictory goals, largely pursued by private sector organizations. This empirical study identifies a system of multiple pairs of contradictory goals associated with structural separation of subunits of a public-sector organization in India, where the organization is a municipal corporation and two of its subunits engaged in the business of Public Urban Transport are involved. Emergence of contradictory goals was observed to be linked with the dynamics of key stakeholder interests. The study revealed that the top and middle managers may respond differently to a pair of contradictory goals, and the same manager also responds differently to different pairs of contradictory goals. Three pairs of contradictory goals were identified. These goals involved subunit identity and shared identity, contractor compliance and maintaining relationship with the contractor, and performance and learning. Realization of organizational ambidexterity appeared linked to how well the simultaneity and variety of contradictory goals are matched by simultaneity and variety of responses, namely a combination of structural, contextual and behavioral arrangements by the organization and individuals.     

Public Organizations, Multiple Constituencies, And Governance

Public organizations vary considerably. Yet little attention has been paid to the systematic analysis of this diversity. Drawing on case studies of four public organizations and a survey on all central government organizations in Denmark, variations in tasks, environments, constituencies, and central governance are conceptualized. Public organization tasks can be analysed at three levels ranging from user-oriented outputs, general outputs which can further be divided into policy goals, scope of profile, standard setting and capital accumulation, to the normative base of the public sector. Public organizations vary with regard to the emphasis put on level of output and on how the different aspects of the tasks are interrelated. Variations in constituencies and exchange cycles with the environment are further related to different task profiles. Finally it is shown that central oversight organizations compete with other actors in the public organizations' environment in the governance of public organizations. From an organizational point of view 'the state' appears to have a humble and remote position.     

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND CITIZEN SATISFACTION WITH THE GOVERNMENT: EVIDENCE FROM CHINESE MUNICIPALITIES

Despite the fact that performance management has been ubiquitously adopted in the public sector across the world today, there is limited and inconclusive evidence that it improves citizen satisfaction with the government. In this article, we use survey data and multilevel modelling to analyse the effects of multiple performance management components on citizens' perceptions of government performance across 19 major cities in China. The results reveal that performance management does have a positive impact on citizen satisfaction. In addition, citizen participation, performance feedback and accountability, and information openness are positively associated with citizen satisfaction along various performance dimensions in different magnitudes. While we should take account of and mitigate its unintended consequences, our results suggest that it is still promising for public organizations to implement performance management.     

HYBRIDS AND PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITIES: COMPARING UK REFORMS IN HEALTHCARE,BROADCASTING AND POSTAL SERVICES

Many countries use state‐owned, for‐profit, and third sector organizations to provide public services, generating ‘hybrid’ organizational forms. This article examines how the hybridization of organizations in the public sector is influenced by interaction between regulatory change and professional communities. It presents qualitative data on three areas of the UK public sector that have undergone marketization: healthcare, broadcasting, and postal services. Implementation of market‐based reform in public sector organizations is shaped by sector‐specific differences in professional communities, as these groups interact with reform processes. Sectoral differences in communities include their power to influence reform, their persistence despite reform, and their alignment with the direction of change or innovation. Equally, the dynamics of professional communities can be affected by reform. Policymakers need to take account of the ways that implementation of hybrid forms interacts with professional communities, including risk of disrupting existing relationships based on communities that contribute to learning.     

Managing life cycle demands through a leadership agenda

This article stresses that leaders can prepare their organizations to manage successfully life cycle demands by systematically developing administrative responses to life cycle demands. To this end, organizations are prepared to cope when leaders develop agendas that systematically manage chance. In this process change is anticipated, information is collected, and organizations are positioned to satisfy life cycle demands. It is our view that successfully managing life cycle demands enhances organizational survival. Further, most discussions of organization life cycle theory concentrate on the private sector. We develop a leadership agenda model with applicability to the public sector. The model is applied by examining the life cycle experiences of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (Metro). Applying the leadership agenda model to Metro provides a longitudinal analysis of how life cycle demands emerge, re-emerge, and are satisfied. We argue that Metro's leaders were able to anticipate or respond to life cycle demands, collect information, and change their organization to cope with life cycle demands. Therefore, leadership agendas were used to minimize systematically the impact of chance on Metro's development.     

VERTICAL STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICE PERFORMANCE

We report the results of a study examining the effects of vertical strategic alignment (that is, the degree to which strategic stances are consistent across different organizational levels) on public service performance. Longitudinal multivariate analysis is undertaken on a panel of public organizations over four years. We find that alignment on a prospecting strategy leads to better performance, but that no such effect is observed for a defending strategy. We also find that high levels of prospecting alignment produce stronger positive performance effects in centralized organizations and when environmental uncertainty is high. The implications of these findings for research and practice are considered in the conclusion.     

The Adoption of Outcome-Related Performance Indicators in External Reporting: An Empirical Study

ABSTRACT

Contemporary government reforms are changing how performance is measured and evaluated, by shifting the focus from inputs and processes to outputs and outcomes. This study uses agency theory, institutional theory, and organizational information processing theory to hypothesize and assess how particular organizational and institutional factors affect the disclosure of outcome information by public organizations, drawing on an empirical analysis of 214 Italian public organizations. Organizational size, mode of service delivery, and the degree of regulation are all strongly associated with the disclosure of outcome indicators in external performance reports.     

PERFORMANCE IN THE THIRD SECTOR: A MICRO-LEVEL FRAMEWORK AND SOME LESSONS FROM ISRAEL

Organizational performance is perhaps the most studied topic in management literature. For many years much attention has been given to understanding performance of the first (private/business) and second (public/administrative) sectors. Only recently have studies shown interest in the performance of the rapidly evolving third sector. However, most studies on the performance of Voluntary and Non-Profit Organizations (VNPOs) have so far adopted a distinctly macro-oriented perspective, overlooking micro-level viewpoints which may have special merit for a broader understanding of effectiveness and efficiency in these bodies. This paper provides an insight into this less studied dimension of performance analysis and tries to illuminate its advantages for VNPOs. The model applies existing knowledge from other fields such as organizational behavior and labor studies, and puts forward a theory that may prove useful for third-sector organizations struggling to improve results in a turbulent public arena. Furthermore, we provide some preliminary findings as collected in Na'amat (an Israeli VNPO of working women) that support the usefulness of this model.     

PUBLIC–NONPROFIT PARTNERSHIP PERFORMANCE IN A DISASTER CONTEXT: THE CASE OF HAITI

During disasters, partnerships between public and nonprofit organizations are vital to provide fast relief to affected communities. In this article, we develop a process model to support a performance evaluation of such intersectoral partnerships. The model includes input factors, organizational structures, outputs and the long‐term outcomes of public–nonprofit partnerships. These factors derive from theory and a systematic literature review of emergency, public, nonprofit, and network research. To adapt the model to a disaster context, we conducted a case study that examines public and nonprofit organizations that partnered during the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The case study results show that communication, trust, and experience are the most important partnership inputs; the most prevalent governance structure of public–nonprofit partnerships is a lead organization network. Time and quality measures should be considered to assess partnership outputs, and community, network, and organizational actor perspectives must be taken into account when evaluating partnership outcomes.     

RETHINKING E‐GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT FROM A CITIZEN PERSPECTIVE

The use of information and communication technology (ICT), particularly that related to the consolidation of the internet as a social and business networking medium, has impelled governments towards enabling e‐government (e‐gov) programs to transform the future of the delivery of public services. E‐gov has a clear economic, social, and political impact that should be monitored in order to steer the design of effective public policies. In this article, we argue that evaluating the impact of e‐gov entails a complex process of e‐gov performance assessment that should take into account the perspective of citizens. Supported by a framework that combines two theoretical views, namely the structurationist view of technology and the social shaping of technology, we propose a model that consolidates nine performance dimensions. This model is the result of empirical work based on an in‐depth analysis of interviews with relevant social groups regarding their perceptions of the technological artefacts of e‐gov.     

ON THE PERFORMANCE OF COMPETITIVELY TENDERED, PUBLIC SECTOR CLEANING CONTRACTS

Quantitative analysis of competitive tendering and contracting typically focuses on their effect on the cost of providing public sector services. In this article we turn to the systematic factors that appear to influence the performance of cleaning contracts. This is defined as compliance with contract specification, public perception of service quality and other qualitative measures of service characteristics as observed by the contracting authority. Our analysis attempts to isolate particular features of contract design, monitoring and enforcement that influence performance positively or negatively. Econometric results based on a sample of public sector cleaning contracts suggest that contractor selection procedures and contract enforcement mechanisms have the greatest influence on performance.     

Collaborative Crisis Management and Leadership in the Public Sector

The goal of this article is to discover how leadership competencies affect the perceived effectiveness of crisis management. The study, based on a self-reported survey of executive public leaders in Turkey, found that the core leadership competencies have a positive relationship with the effectiveness of crisis management. Among task–oriented, people–oriented, and organization-oriented categories of leadership behaviors, task-oriented leadership behaviors were found with the highest level of impact on the effectiveness of crisis management. The study demonstrated the importance of the core leadership competencies in the effectiveness of crisis leadership. The hypothesis testing with the covariance structure model supported the positive impact of the core leadership competencies on the effectiveness of crisis management. This study contributes to the literature on leadership during crisis situations, and also provides proposals for public managers and practitioners to increase their effectiveness in leading their organizations during crises.     

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.     

A hand up,not a hand out: Lessons for public policy

For many in our society owning a home is not possible without the help of grass-roots organizations such as Habitat for Humanity. The study of the response of public institutions to personal problems can provide policy makers with valuable information about changing or creating new programs and policies to assist those having difficulty finding decent, affordable housing to own. This paper presents the findings of a study of the relationship between those whose dream did become reality and those who helped them. In addition, this paper presents a model of the process that policy students can use to examine the public responses to private troubles.