Public accountability: Effectiveness, equity, ethics

This article tests a wide range of government activities against requirements for public accountability. The article explores the incentives for ethical behaviour by public officials; the need for more outcome focused performance indicators, tensions between parliamentary and managerial accountability; the standards of accountability applied to public providers of services can be applied to private providers; the utility of spelling out service requirements in advance; the impacts on accountability of the convergence of the public and private sectors; the need, where responsibility for programs is collaborative, for a clear governance framework, tensions between representative and participative democracy, and trends towards more participative and collaborative leadership.     

Downsizing the civil service in developing countries: golden handshakes or smiling farewells?

Some researchers have suggested innovative ways to successfully implement civil service reform in developing countries. Although most approaches to implementing public sector management reform are still very much process-driven, and focus almost exclusively on civil service reform, long-term success in making the public sector more efficient may be better assured if civil service reform is but one outcome of a broader public sector management reform agenda. Particularly, re-focussing from traditional input-driven reform thinking towards output-oriented measures, such as the introduction of accrual budgeting in the public sector, may well result in greater popular acceptance and, thus, longer-term success for sensitive reform programs. Although output-driven accrual budgeting is by no means a panacea for all public sector illnesses, it can at least set the scene for profound and durable cultural change in the public sector. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How Leadership and Public Service Motivation Enhance Innovative Behavior

Prior research has linked the innovative behavior of public sector employees to desirable outcomes such as improved efficiency and higher public service quality. However, questions regarding the drivers of innovative behavior among employees have received limited attention. This article employs psychological empowerment theory to examine the underlying processes by which entrepreneurial leadership and public service motivation (PSM) shape innovative behavior among civil servants. Based on three‐wave data from 281 Chinese civil servants and their 59 department heads, entrepreneurial leadership is found to positively influence subordinates' innovative behavior by enhancing two dimensions of psychological empowerment: meaning and impact. Additionally, PSM was found to influence subordinates' innovative behavior by enhancing the dimensions of meaning and competence. These findings suggest that to facilitate innovative behavior among employees, public organizations should consider introducing training that encourages leaders to serve as entrepreneurial role models and recruit employees with high levels of PSM.     

Value-Based Integrity Management and Bureaucratic Organizations: Changing the Mix

ABSTRACT

This article examines integrity management initiatives designed to introduce more value-based elements in public bureaucracies. Incorporating value-based practices, which emphasize the personal ethical responsibilities of individual public servants, into a hierarchical, rule-based system may present difficult organizational problems. A central issue is to determine whether any change has actually occurred or whether the organization is simply functioning as it did previously. In addition, there are problems of implementation: new value-based initiatives may conflict with the pre-existing system; they may not be adequately reflected in training programs; and there may be differential impacts on departments and agencies. We analyze problems in this new organizational mix in a classical Weberian bureaucracy, the Hong Kong civil service. The findings are based on a 2011–2012 administrative ethics survey of 355 senior public servants, a separate survey of 70 Ethics Officers, and semi-structured interviews with 32 senior public servants.     

Thirty Years of Changing Federal, State, and Local Relationships in Employment and Training Programs

There have been three major training programs in the UnitedStates in the past thirty years: the Manpower Development andTraining Act (MDTA)from 1962 to 1973, the Comprehensive Employmentand Training Act (CETA)from 1973 to 1982, and the Job TrainingPartnership Act (JTPA)from 1982 to the present. MDTA was a categoricalprogram, with service providers funded directly by the federalgovernment. CETA was a hybrid block grant program that gavelocal units of government substantial autonomy in administeringthe basic training component, but CETA also includedcategoricalprogramsfor specific target groups and for public service employment.Over time, CETA was increasingly regulated. JTPA is regulatedmore by the states and the private sector, and in 1992 amendmentstargeted the program more sharply and restricted activitiesthat could be undertaken. Federalism in employment and trainingprograms has followed a course similar to other areas, withcooperative federalism ending in 1978 being replaced by coercivefederalism. In recent years, stales have started a number ofinnovative programs.     

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM IN POST‐CONFLICT SOCIETIES: LESSONS FROM ACEH,INDONESIA

Post‐conflict reconstruction programs increasingly include components designed to strengthen the performance of the public service and to support public sector reform. Although there is a growing body of literature on the relationship between public administration, and peace and development, there have been few case studies of donor efforts to strengthen public administration as part of post‐conflict reconstruction. This study examines efforts to strengthen the civil service in Aceh, Indonesia, following the province's first post‐conflict elections in 2006. It examines the impact of a donor‐funded program designed to assist Aceh's first post‐conflict administration (2007–2012) to reform its personnel management practices. The case study sheds light on weaknesses in current donor approaches to public administration reform in post‐conflict situations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Government administration in a small microstate: Developing the Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands use some of the increasingly familiar methods of resolving administratively the problems of smallness. The country's development and administrative performance depend on human resources which need to be planned in order to reduce dependence on outsiders, especially among the middle ranks of technical and professional staff. Education and training for the public service in the Cayman Islands is inadequate. Control of the administration is weak, especially among the independent boards and commissions, and there is a need for appeal procedures when the principles of natural justice have been breached. Political manipultion in personnel matters adversely affects performance, and there is a need for an effective civil service association to deal with other abuses. The problems of public administration are solved by scaling down the role of government in favour of private enterprise and against the provision of social welfare.     

Public Service Neutrality in Hong Kong: Problems and Prospects

Before 2002, Hong Kong's higher civil servants were required to play the dual role of quasi-ministers and civil servants. In such a context, can we make sense of the claim that Hong Kong's civil service has all along been politically neutral? What role has neutrality played in the governance of Hong Kong? Informed by Kernaghan's model of political neutrality and Oakeshott's idea of civil association, this article argues that the public service should not be regarded solely as an effective instrument of the government in power. In conclusion, this article proposes some institutional measures to strengthen the neutrality of the public service in Hong Kong and argues that properly understanding this will help prevent excessive or illegitimate partisan political power.     

NEW DIRECTIONS IN EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING POLICY: A FEDERAL PERSPECTIVE

The U.S. Department of Labor's "Work Force 2000" project has identified long-term trends that will affect future employment and training policy. These include demographic trends such as a decline in the pool of young labor market entrants and an increase in women, minority, and immigrant workers; the continued shift from goods-producing industries to the service sector; and continued technological innovation in response to increased international competition. These projected changes in the labor market and workplace present a national challenge and an opportunity to tackle the longstanding problems of disadvantaged workers. Cooperative public and private programs to eliminate illiteracy and increase job skills and competencies, ease labor mobility and provide retraining, and attack underlying social problems that support the cycle of welfare dependency and unemployment are needed to provide the workforce America needs for the future.     

Introduction to the Special Issue on Comparative Chinese/American Public Administration

In the field of public administration practice, China has a history of several thousand years, whereas the United States has a much shorter history of hundreds of years of governance. In terms of the scholarly development of public administration in China, the roots of those intellectual resources can be traced far back, to Confucius's ideology of governance and the ancient development of a civil service system some 2,000 years ago. In terms of the systematic development of public administration as an independent subject of learning, however, the United States has been a leader worldwide. Public administration as a discipline in the United States dates back to the late nineteenth century, with extensive scholarly research and publications in the early twentieth century ( Follett 1926 ; Goodnow 1900 ; Taylor 1912 ; Weber 1922 ; White 1926 ). In the Chinese context, although there were occasional studies of public administration in the first half of the twentieth century, systematic study was deferred until the middle of the 1980s. They were only truly continued following the official launch of master of public administration degree programs at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In this respect, China was a latecomer, and Chinese scholars almost always date the study and scholarship in this field to about 1980. Over the past eighty years or so, the United States has established more than 200 MPA and related programs, while China has founded 100 MPA programs in just the past eight years. Recognizing the urgent need for MPA training, China is trying to catch up to the demand for social development and societal transition. Considering that China has a population of 1.3 billion, compared to a population of 300 million in the United States, it looks as if there is great potential for China to expand its MPA programs .     

Towards a professional civil service in post‐transition Romania

To what degree and under what conditions can a young democracy build a competent, politically neutral public bureaucracy? A crucial component of the transition from communist party rule to democracy is the creation of a professional civil service. Success along this dimension of state‐building generates administrative capacity: non‐elected public officials ensure the implementation of reforms initiated by political leaders. In the communist party‐led regimes of Eastern Europe, forging this new administrative class from its highly politicised predecessor took place as new democracies sought to overcome historical legacies and integrate with the European Union. A case study of administrative reform in Romania during the post‐1989 period suggests the importance of external influences in forming a civil service more closely adhering to the Weberian ideal of an expert, rules‐based bureaucracy. Through analysis of survey data from a nationally representative sample of the Romanian civil servants, the public bureaucracy has professionalised insofar as educational and training credentials rather than political affiliation are significant predictors of salary levels. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Citizens,Partners or Patrons? Corporate Power and Patronage Capitalism

Abstract

The addition of new social roles in public service and civil society to large business corporations' enormous economic power and substantial political influence suggests novel but little-understood changes in the institutional relations between business, state and civil society. Sociological emphasis on the centrality of power relations in business conduct and radical diagnoses of a corporate ‘take-over’ of public and civil society institutions is contradicted by other literature which portrays corporations as socially responsible benefactors rather than all-powerful behemoths. The present analysis assesses rival emphases on power relations and normative shifts toward corporate social responsibility in the sphere of business–civil society partnerships. It argues that, in the United States and Britain, a new set of institutional relationships is emerging to fill a vacuum in tackling social and environmental problems. In this new institutional field, large corporations are taking on the role of patrons to a variety of clients amongst public and civil society organisations. This social relationship parallels similar episodes of patronage when systems of community and public welfare disintegrated during the rise of capitalism.     

浅谈民用爆炸物品安全管理中存在的问题与对策

从云南省丽江市发生的爆炸案件分析,发现民用爆炸物品的管理存在着违法违规销售和发放等诸多薄弱环节。为了进一步加强和改进民用爆炸物品的管理,今后应做好以下几个方面的工作:坚持“严打”方针不动摇;严格治安管理,违法必究;建立倒查制度、奖惩制度、民用爆炸器材公司跟踪服务制度;坚持深入开展安全检查整治,优化行业管理基础;抓好教育培训,不断提高从业人员专业化水平;坚持走群众路线,充分整合社会资源;统一思想,提高认识,建立部门协作机制,健全和完善网络监管;加强治安防控网络建设,全面提升爆炸物品整体防控水平;加强监督制约,健全长效机制。     

Reforming Social Services in Hong Kong: The Role of Contracting and Performance Management in the Non‐Profit Sector

Contracts and performance management, along with the concept of consumerism, have become the fundamental metaphors for New Public Management (NPM) and key changes in the public service. ‘Doing well while doing good’ and finding generally acceptable accountability measures for social services have become the perennial aspirations of planners, service providers and funders. This article examines the contingent factors and rationales behind the quality movement and recontracting exercise in reforming the delivery of personal social service programs in Hong Kong within the framework of New Public Management (NPM). It explains the use of long‐term relational contracts rather than the standard business contracts between the government as funder and non‐profit organisations as service providers. It also deals with the complex relationships among quality issues, quality standards, consumerism, accountability, performance indicators, and performance management.     

Co‐production: Option or Obligation?

Co‐production is an idea being discussed in the international public management literature but less so in New Zealand and Australia. Co‐production rejects the idea of service delivery to passive users, proposing instead they be treated as active participants in the production of outcomes. As partners in delivery, users bring resources, skills and capabilities to their interactions with providers. Co‐production requires providers to share power and negotiate the interaction. There are strong managerial reasons for adopting co‐production to improve effectiveness and efficiency. But the political reasons for adopting co‐production are even stronger because of trends of many decades towards greater citizen participation. These reasons oblige public managers in Australasia to adopt co‐production in many fields of policy as part of the future.     

The Commonwealth programme for applied studies in government: The commonwealth secretariat's division for the development of public management

The Programme of Applied Studies in Government in the Commonwealth Secretariat has been in operation for five years, and in this article the Assistant Director reports on the major features of the Programme. The staff of the Programme have arranged conferences and seminars, facilitated training and published bibliographies on topics and in a form that make them useful to civil service practitioners and institutions with small libraries. Matters to which attention has been given include the use in government of advances in science and technology, the functioning and role of public enterprise and among more specialized topics administration in microstates. The article emphasizes the way attention is given to application in the work of the Programme.     

Gauging the Effects of Social Accountability on Services,Governance, and Citizen Empowerment

Engaging citizens in holding public officials and service providers accountable, referred to as social accountability, is a popular remedy for public sector performance weaknesses, figuring prominently in many international donor‐funded projects and leading to widespread replication. However, the contextual factors that influence the successful transfer of social accountability are debated. Demand‐side factors (civil society and citizens) are overemphasized in much of the literature. Yet supply‐side factors (state structures and processes) and the nature of state–society relations are also important. This article examines four projects in developing countries to explore how these contextual factors influenced social accountability aims and outcomes. The salience of supply factors in enabling social accountability for service delivery and government performance stands out, particularly the degree of decentralization and the availability of space for citizen engagement. The capacity and motivation of citizens to occupy the available space, aggregate and voice their concerns, and participate with state actors in assessing service delivery performance and problems are critical.     

Moral Reasoning in the Context of Reform: A Study of Russian Officials

This article reports on an exploratory study of ethical reasoning among public administrators in Russia. Survey interviews and focus group follow-ups with civil servants participating in graduate training programs at the Russian Academy of Public Service provide information about their preferred mode of ethical reasoning; the demographic, attitudinal, organizational, and professional factors associated with that reasoning; and the behavioral choices implied. Using a sample of 113 public officials who represent a broad spectrum of regions in Russia, this study assesses moral reasoning, examines variables associated with alternative models, and compares these responses with findings from studies conducted in Poland and the United States. Based on this exploratory study, we suggest implications for theory, research, and practice.     

Policy sciences teaching in context: A note on Germany

This is an attempt to relate the specific opportunities for policy sciences teaching to the broader context of a changing policymaking system. In West Germany, policy-sciences teaching could not develop as long as legal education remained the predominant type of pre-entry training for the career civil service, and as long as constitutional and administrative law seemed to supply decision premises fully adequate for the types of policy problems that were regarded as critical. This pattern was functional as long as the basic conservatism of post-war policies did obscure the problem of policy choice and the need for policy analysis. It became dysfunctional, however, when the fiscal crisis of 1966/67 dramatized the need for a rationalization of budgetary choices, and when the urgency of new problems and new political demands exposed the insufficiency of conservative policies.These emerging demands on policymakers at all levels of government have led to an increasing awareness of the need for better policy-analysis and planning, and for the recruitment of personnel trained in policy sciences. While retraining programs will meet some of this demand, the growing number of planning staffs has created an opportunity for new policy-oriented programs of pre-entry training for civil service functions. The article concludes with the outline of one such program.     

"Federal Character" and Management of the Federal Civil Service and the Military

The "federal character" principle, which has been enshrinedin Nigeria's Constitution since 1979, seeks to ensure that appointmentsto public service institutions fairly reflect the linguistic,ethnic, religious, and geographic diversity of the country.Application of the principle in the federal civil service andthe military has amounted to a confused balancing of the meritprinciple and the quota system, based essentially on statesof origin. This has had adverse consequences for both institutionsin terms of discipline, morale, and overall effectiveness andefficiency. Faithful implementation of universal primary educationand imaginative rehabilitation of secondary and tertiary educationare required to ensure equal opportunities for all citizensto compete for civil service positions on the basis of merit.With regard to the military, only rapid implementation of theconstitutional provision on compulsory military training anda definitive end to military rule can help to reduce the salienceof the "federal character" principle.