Coproduction and Equity in Public Service Delivery

Public managers and researchers devote much attention to the benefits of coproduction, or the mixing of the productive efforts of public employees and citizens in public service design and delivery. One concern, however, is the distributional consequences of coproduction. This article proposes that disadvantaged citizens may be constrained by a lack of knowledge or other resources necessary to contribute to and benefit from the coproduction process. From this assumption, the authors develop the theoretical argument that if coproduction programs were designed to lift constraints on disadvantaged citizens, they might increase both efficiency and equity. This claim is tested using a field experiment on educational services. A coproduction program providing immigrant parents with knowledge and materials useful to their children's early educational development had a substantial positive impact on the educational outcomes of disadvantaged children, thereby diminishing inequity. Economically, the program was more efficient than later compensation of low‐performing children.     

Service Delivery: The Audit Dimension

Reporting of performance information on public sector services has increased substantially in recent years. The audit of such information, however, is still relatively uncommon. In 1989 the Audit Office in New Zealand was confronted with a legislative requirement to audit Statements of Service Performance (SSPs). This paper backgrounds New Zealand's shift in emphasis from program effectiveness audits to the audit of non-financial performance information, describes the development of audit methodology in this area and identifies lessons learned.     

从公民文化权利的确立到文化公民身份的认同

本文以公民基本权利的分析入手,论及“文化”已成为公民权利和义务讨论的新维度,已成为等级划爱和身份认同的新维度。文章指出,公民文化权利的确立不仅应强调政府对公民依法享有的诸多文化权利的有,保障,还应诉求公民在参与文化、消费文化、创造文化和保存文化等各方面的责任和义务。由此,教育的责无宴贷、文化观念的转变、文化政策的引导成为从公民文化权利的确立到文化公民身份认同的关键环节。     

Managing Collaborative Service Delivery: Comparing China and the United States

Successful adoption of collaborative service delivery requires that governments develop better capacity to handle potential pitfalls. In this essay, Yijia Jing of Fudan University and E. S. Savas of the City University of New York provide a framework that compares and contrasts the management practices in China and America. Both nations favor collaborative service delivery and engage in it extensively. Can China's state-affiliated strategy and the United States' competition-oriented strategy both work effectively? Such distinct systems, embedded in vastly different socioeconomic and political institutional environments decisively influence the effectiveness of collaborative service delivery management in the two countries.     

论公共服务市场化与政府职能转化

本文根据我国现阶段市场经济的一些发展情况,讨论了实施公共服务市场化的必要性,以及具体实施的设想.     

Alternative Methods of Service Delivery in Small and Rural Municipalities

Data from approximately 1,000 small, mostly rural municipalities in Illinois, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin address local choices on production and contracting arrangements for a wide range of services. The results suggest that the use of both for‐profit contractors and cooperative agreements with other governments correlate negatively with population size. Small municipalities are less likely to use competitive bidding processes, compare costs between production options, or report that privatization produces savings. Median income, rural geography, and ideology show statistically significant associations with contracting decisions. Respondents generally consider themselves “satisfied” with services provided by contract, although satisfaction levels are lower than those associated with self‐provision of the same services. Citizen satisfaction associated with services delivered by other governments is lower than those provided by private contractors, suggesting that no trade‐off in service quality is directly attributable to for‐profit contractors.     

The Art of Service v The Science of Measurement: Measuring and Managing Service Delivery

Mantras such as 'If you can't measure it you can't manage it' have become standards of management practice. At no point are the logic or assumptions that link measurement to performance questioned. Formal measurement has its place in the broader art of service leadership. But so do the other aspects of assessment, including personal experience of the service, observation, frontline input, customer meetings and a raft of informal monitoring activities. When conducted properly, these other ways of knowing are just as reliable, valid and manageable as any quantitative system. More quantification is not necessarily better. Service leaders must stand back and understand when to use the science of measurement and when to develop the art of management.     

论电子政务与行政效率

电子政务已经成为各级政府转变职能,创新管理方式,提高行政能力的重要途径和手段,是全方位提高行政效率的一场革命。要从实际出发,探讨加快电子政务建设提高行政效率有效的途径。     

American E-Government at the Crossroads

Abstract

This article reports analyses, findings, conclusions and implications about the first U.S. survey of Web sites of 223 major American cities with populations of 100,000 or more. The national survey sought to provide one of the most comprehensive reviews of, and current and future implications regarding, Web site uses by major cities as well as optimal uses by features and user benefits. It made concrete suggestions for future uses of governmental Web-strategy development. Completed in June 2001, the study sought particularly to evaluate how American cities are incorporating online services into their constituency services. Analyses and findings indicated that many major U.S. cities were advancing their e-gov-ernment initiatives and virtually all cities acknowledged the importance of a basic Web presence. However, a large gap still remained between current practice and Optimal, Ml online potential.     

Knights and Knaves Return: Public Service Motivation and the Delivery of Public Services

ABSTRACT

There are several models for delivering public services such as health care or education, most of which can be summarised under the headings of trust, mistrust, voice, and choice. Each contains assumptions concerning the motivation of the professionals and others who provide the service concerned: that is, the extent to which they are “knaves,” motivated primarily by self-interest, or “knights,” motivated by altruism and the desire to provide a public service. This article highlights the assumptions concerning motivation implicit in each of the delivery models, illustrating the points made by reference to the author's experience as a senior policy adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and to some evidence on the performance of public services under the different models.     

Reinventing Local Governments and the E-Government Initiative

The Internet provides a powerful tool for reinventing local governments. It encourages transformation from the traditional bureaucratic paradigm, which emphasizes standardization, departmentalization, and operational cost-efficiency, to the "e-government" paradigm, which emphasizes coordinated network building, external collaboration, and customer services. Based on a content analysis of city Web sites and a survey of Web development officials, this article shows that many cities are already moving toward this new paradigm. These cities have adopted "onestop shopping" and customer-oriented principles in Web design, and they emphasize external collaboration and networking in the development process rather than technocracy. The article also analyzes the socioeconomic and organizational factors that are related to cities' progressiveness in Web development and highlights future challenges in reinventing government through Internet technology.     

New Geographies of Disadvantage: Implications for Service Delivery

Shifts are apparent in the spatial distribution of disadvantage in Australia since the 1970s. Not only are new sites of disadvantage emerging (small rural towns, manufacturing centres, coastal welfare regions, some outer suburbs), but research suggests a possible spatial cleavage between best-accessed Melbourne and Sydney, and 'the rest' of the country. At the same time, examples of provision and delivery of services continue to occur locally andregionally that demonstrate lack of attention to the characteristics of the places in which those services are received. The paper calls for spatially conscious public policy in service delivery, and considers the possibilities of this occurring if governments form partnerships with other organisations to provide services for communities.     

公民社会视野下中国志愿服务发展与社会支持性因素探讨

根据我国志愿服务发展的现状与问题,应顺应国际公民社会的发展趋势,将我国志愿服务纳入到公民社会的视野之中,逐步转变目前"以政府引导的志愿服务"组织方式,着力扶持和发展民问志愿者组织,以民同志愿者组织为主体来发展志愿服务事业,促进我国志愿服务的规模化发展与可持续发展.