Outsourcing Myths and Workers’ Compensation Claims Administration

The outsourcing of claims administration is a feature of some Australian workers’ compensation jurisdictions. While the benefits of outsourcing in this area of public administration have often been asserted there has been a lack of research into these claims. In this article the South Australian workers’ compensation scheme is used as a case study to address whether the supposed benefits of outsourcing are soundly based. A number of other issues associated with the outsourced claims management environment are also considered as they have had an important bearing on the scheme's performance. The main finding to emerge is that outsourcing has failed to meet financial and other key objectives. Outsourcing has also created new tensions that have added to the complexities of scheme management. In light of these findings, there is a strong case that the scheme's business model should be recalibrated to facilitate a return to in‐sourced claims management.     

Two Models of Contemporary Public Service Wage Determination in Australia

Rather than taking Louise Thornthwaite and Robyn Hollander (AJPA June 1998) to task, I need to chide them gently for failing to acknowledge two other jurisdictions in Australia – the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. Had they canvassed the Northern Territory's experience, they may well have concluded that there are in fact three models of public sector wage determination, not two. They may have also concluded that the Northern Territory's rather unique adaptation of the federal system under the Workplace Relations Act represents something more than an approach dictated by its relatively small size and that it arguably represents the best of both the other models. May I suggest that Thornthwaite and Hollander, or others, could usefully explore the question as to whether the approaches adopted by the various jurisdictions have produced worthwhile results for both employers and employees.     

The Impact of Administrator Willingness on Website E-Participation: Some Evidence from Municipalities

The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) has led to the rise of e-participation, whereby governments adopt digital tools to promote citizen involvement. Disparities exist, however, among jurisdictions concerning the opportunities they offer residents; some governments have extensive online participation forums while others do not. Research to explain the diffusion of e-participation has examined the roles of various kinds of governmental capacity and some other factors, including political culture and jurisdiction size. Researchers have paid less attention to the role of administrator willingness, that is to say whether administrators want to use ICT to advance participation. With data from municipal managers/business administrators in New Jersey, this exploratory study found that administrator willingness has significant impact on e-participation offerings, both directly and indirectly. Governments where the senior administrator has stronger willingness to involve citizens and use ICT are more likely to have more extensive e-participation offerings.     

Trends in Australian and Canadian Public Service Perceptions from an Employee Survey Perspective

A comparative analysis of results from the 2011 Institute of Public Administration Australia and Institute of Public Administration of Canada surveys of public service leaders is mapped against related public sector employee survey tools results. Alignment of past results with current leader perceptions shows remarkable consistency across the jurisdictions over time. This overarching coherence points to two broad hypotheses: either senior public service leaders possess a common set of preoccupations in the modern global context, or a more critical perspective would question the shortcomings of the instruments given that remarkable change has occurred that one would expect should have driven result variance. Regardless of the conclusion brought to this preliminary analysis, ongoing identification and mapping of senior leader perceptions through such tools is celebrated as an important contribution to ongoing public service organizational health.     

The changing colours of the post-communist state: The politicisation of the senior civil service in Hungary

Abstract.  This article examines claims that senior civil services in post-communist Europe are subject to instability and politicisation, and that both features are at the centre of what amounts to the emergence of a distinct type of executive governance different from Western traditions. At the conceptual level, the article develops four modes of politicisation that differ with respect to the political control over the making and breaking of bureaucratic careers. Modes of politicisation serve as an analytical tool to assess and classify the politicisation of post-communist senior civil services and to compare them to prevailing modes of politicisation in Western democracies as well as the communist past. At the empirical level, the article examines the politicisation of the senior civil service in post-communist Hungary. It argues that the politicisation of the Hungarian senior civil service is characterised by high turnover, recruitment of outsiders and heavy reliance on the appointment of officials who come and go with their bloc of political parties while bridging the out-of-office period in the private sector, academia or at a political party. The article concludes that the politicisation of the senior civil service in post-communist Hungary has more in common with the communist past than with the prevailing modes of politicisation in Western democracies. The main difference from the communist era lies in the periodically changing political colours of the post-communist state.     

Workplace Relations: Friendship Patterns and Consequences (According to Managers)

This article examines orientations toward workplace friendship. Based on a survey of senior managers in cities with populations over 50,000, it addresses the following questions: Do senior managers promote, condone, or discourage workplace friendship? What risks and benefits of workplace friendships do these managers perceive? What policies and strategies that affect workplace friendship are found in organizations? How do these organizational efforts affect perceptions of employee performance? This article finds that, despite the risks, orientations in favor of workplace friendships are widespread, and many jurisdictions engage in efforts to promote them.     

Public Values in Special Districts: A Survey of Managerial Commitment

Special districts are increasingly important in the landscape of public organizations and now constitute about 40 percent of all U.S. jurisdictions. Yet little is known about the public value commitments of managers in special districts. This systematic study of senior managers in large special districts finds that support for public values is strong and similar to that of senior managers in cities. This study explores the effect of concomitant commitments to “businesslike” values on public values and the impact of concomitant commitments on perceived organizational outcomes. Though a positive relationship exists between commitments to public and businesslike values among senior managers, the authors find evidence that both too much and too little commitment to businesslike values has a negative impact on perceived organizational outcomes, which are furthered by strong commitment to public values. This article demonstrates that special districts are a relevant but underresearched area of public administration.     

Politics and Administration: A Trichotomy?

This article compares changes in the education and career paths of senior federal civil servants in Canada between 1967 and 1987. It shows that there has been a marked trend toward managers with less formal education than had previously been the case and also a shift toward managers with less experience in the policy areas within which they are responsible for providing policy advice and program management. This finding is consistent with Osbaldeston's study of Canadian deputy ministers, and with studies of bureaucratic elites in other Western democracies. In an increasingly complex environment, problems facing government decision-makers require high levels of technical expertise. This requirement is central to Weber's concept of bureaucracy, and it has been used as an explanation for the increasing prominence of bureaucrats in the policy-making process. In recent decades, however, bureaucratic reforms have emphasized the administrative functions of senior managers at the expense of their technical roles. In Canada, at least, this process appears to have gone so far that it may have seriously compromised the capacity of senior civil servants to give informed advice and to make knowledgeable decisions about the policies and programs of their departments.     

POLITICAL RIGHTS OF VICTORIAN PUBLIC EMPLOYEES

Abstract: The article examines the history of legal restrictions on political activities by Victorian public employees from the introduction of responsible government in 1856. As in other Australian jurisdictions, the rules have gradually become less restrictive. Special aspects of the Victorian experience examined include: (a) the short lived experiment of not excluding permanent officials from membership of Parliament; (b) the creation of separate parliamentary constituencies for public employees in 1903; (c) the attempt to devise safeguards against political pressure by public employees after separate representation was abandoned; (d) special restrictions on the police, including disenfranchisement from 1854 to 1888 and the ban on participating in elections otherwise than by voting.     

Competition, Marketisation, Public Services and Public Ethics

The topic I address provides an embarrassment of scope. At the same time, it allows the development of a theme that is worthwhile discussing. When in the public sector is it worthwhile to import private sector concepts, principles and practices and when would the adoption of a private sector model be injurious to the state's constituents? The theme is worthwhile discussing, in part because some of Australia's jurisdictions appear to be adopting what they consider to be private sector practices, without an adequate framework to guide them. Because there is no proper framework, mistakes are made which could have been avoided. There is also some evidence that the public is uneasy about the loss of ‘public’ from the term public services. It would not be in the public’s own interests to resist, for no good reason, the adoption of private sector principles where that would allow more cost-effective services. The topic also allows a discussion on the influence on public sector ethics of the trend to place senior public servants on contracts that can be disposed of without a reason or prospect of appeal.     

Determinants of Pro‐Fracking Measure Adoption by New York Southern Tier Municipalities

New York municipalities passed more than 60 measures promoting high‐volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF), 2008–12. These policies and resolutions signaled to state officials that municipalities desired HVHF's promised economic benefits and were anxious for an end to the state's HVHF moratorium. They also may be evidence of municipalities proactively preparing for a drilling boom. Why did some jurisdictions adopt these measures while others did not? While scholarship suggests that policy adoption is facilitated when jurisdictions and citizens possess more resources, capacity appears to have a negative or negligible impact on pro‐HVHF action. Such action appears more likely when local actors anticipate HVHF's potential gains but have not previously experienced substantial drilling, perceive that the industry could be viable locally, and can access relevant policy examples. Some lessons from conventional adoption scholarship may not apply when policies are symbolic, advocacy may be elite‐driven, and mimicry is an important diffusion mechanism.     

Dignity,discrimination, and context: New directions in South African and Canadian human rights law

Conclusion The current approaches to equality law in South Africa and Canada place these jurisdictions at the forefront of serious and comprehensive judicial at tempts to give effect to substantive equality. These attempts to overcome formalism are processes, judicially acknowledged as such, and as yet far from complete. At the conceptual center of the development of substantive equality is the legal realization of human dignity: not an abstract, individualistic notion, but a concept about the relation between the individual and state, and individual and group, which is circumscribed by concern, respect and consideration. But substantive equality is not possible only through the case law. The current issues surrounding intersectional discrimination and the contextual appreciation of a claimant’s circumstances are urgent reminders that the methods and remedies afforded by the structure of litigation of equality rights claims simply cannot accommodate many instances which call for relief. The fact that these inadequacies of court enforced claims are beginning to be laid bare by some of the problems being faced by the Courts in equality claims is perhaps not a failing of equality law and the concept of dignity, but its strength. The methodology of human rights litigation in countries like Canada and South Africa supports a dialogue between court and legislature. As substantive equality develops in these jurisdictions, the limits of judicial development will be challenged. That is ultimately to be welcomed, if the legislatures are responsive to the definition of human dignity and substantive equality in development judicially, and respond with efforts to support and promote these developments.     

A note on seniority and political competition

Seniority conveys political power to legislators despite the fact that all legislators have equally valuable voting power. What prevents a coalition of junior members from exercising their political power to form a coalition and claim an equal share of the power by eliminating the benefits of seniority? Several models explain how valuable services are supplied by senior members, so the returns to seniority may be looked at as compensation for their services. This still does not explain why the providers of those services should be chosen based on seniority rather than on some other criterion.Seniority is used because it provides benefits to every member of the legislature. Legislators want to be reelected, and regardless of the seniority level of an individual in the legislature, the incumbent will always have more seniority when running for reelection than the challenger. Since voters benefit from being represented by more senior representatives, the seniority system enhances the reelection chances of even the most junior representative.     

Management by Inquiry: A Discursive Accountability System for Large Organizations

Over the past decade, American police departments have developed a new management methodology that is beginning to be adopted by agencies outside law enforcement. Although the technique has been given different names by different agencies, this article refers to it generically as "management by inquiry" because the approach uses frequent, highly formalized meetings of top executives, middle management, and line personnel to inquire into the operations of individual units. The authors have had five years of direct experience with management by inquiry and have observed it in other jurisdictions. The present analysis draws on Habermas's theory of communicative action to contrast the communication premises in much management theory and practice with those implicit in inquiry-centered management. The article concludes that management by inquiry has dramatic effects on administrative behavior because it takes advantage of universal communicative norms that public administration has long overlooked.     

Community Commitment in Special Districts

ABSTRACT

Special districts now constitute about 42% of all U.S. jurisdictions, yet little is known about them. Some critics are concerned that special districts and their staffs have insufficient community commitment. This study, based on a national survey of senior managers in large special districts, examines activities and programs of special district managers that foster community building and engagement, including correlates of these. Study results reveal that special districts are committed to their communities and several strategies and conditions are associated with increased community commitment, such as jobs that focus on community interactions, service type, and ethics management, as well as, to a lesser extent, graduate degree qualifications and charters that specify the role of managers in promoting the public interest and in relation to the board.     

Race,Representation, and the Voting Rights Act

Despite wide scholarly interest in the Voting Rights Act, surprisingly little is known about how its specific provisions affected Black political representation. In this article, we draw on theories of electoral accountability to evaluate the effect of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the preclearance provision, on the representation of Black interests in the 86th to 105th congresses. We find that members of Congress who represented jurisdictions subject to the preclearance requirement were substantially more supportive of civil rights–related legislation than legislators who did not represent covered jurisdictions. Moreover, we report that the effects were stronger when Black voters composed larger portions of the electorate and in more competitive districts. This result is robust to a wide range of model specifications and empirical strategies, and it persists over the entire time period under study. Our findings have especially important implications given the Supreme Court's recent decision in Shelby County v. Holder.     

Congressional Attention and Opportunity Structures: The Select Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee

This article examines the role that overlapping committee jurisdictions play in fostering or hindering attention to environmental and energy issues in the U.S. Congress. The Select Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee, created by House Democrats in 2007 , and its chairman Rep. Ed Markey took advantage of opportunities within the existing jurisdictional arrangement to increase attention to these issues despite lacking any legislative authority. Data from the 110th and 111th Congresses show that the Select Committee held more hearings on climate change and alternative energy, and on environmental and energy policy generally, than any other committee. The committee also increased the range of sources informing debate on these issues by calling different witnesses than other committees. These findings have important implications for the relationship between institutional structure and agendas and for Congress' policy‐making role on energy and the environment.     

Gone with the Wind: Federalism and the Strategic Location of Air Polluters

In federal systems, both state governments and firms have incentives to strategically locate polluting facilities where the environmental and health consequences will be borne as much as possible by residents of other jurisdictions. We analyze air polluter location in the United States using a spatial point pattern model, which models where events occur in latitude and longitude. Our analyses indicate that major air polluters are significantly more likely to be located near a state's downwind border than a control group of other industrial facilities, results that are robust to a wide variety of model specifications and measurement strategies. This effect is particularly pronounced for facilities with toxic air emissions. The observed pattern of polluter location varies systematically across states and time in ways that suggest it is responsive to public policy at both the national and state levels.     

INITIATING A COMPARABLE WORTH WAGE POLICY IN MINNESOTA: NOTES FROM THE FIELD

As of January 1986, Minnesota has progressed farther than any other state in implementing acomparable worth (pay equity) wage policy, with two laws requiring pay equity, one covering state employees and a second covering employees of all types of jurisdictions. This article presents a discussion of Minnesota's importance as a case study, a definition of comparable worth, the history and politics o f pay equity policy in Minnesota, and an analysis of Minnesota's role in a national campaign to change wage policy. The article shows that implementation has been more straight-forward in state government than for the 1,583 local jurisdictions, many of which had less-developed personnel systems than did the state. The passage of the local pay equity law ushered in a new stage in this policy, where the issue Is no longer controlled by a small number of legislators, bureaucrats, and lobbyists.