IS Success and Failure—The Problem of Scale

In the midst of Implementing Electronic Government (IEG), the almost knee-jerk reaction of our political elite seems to be to embrace hugely ambitious Information Systems (IS) solutions to public-sector operations. Problem after problem has been viewed as solvable by throwing some big IT at it. However hindsight and a wealth of evidence and examples shows that overly large-scale public-sector IT projects do not work and persistently end in failure and costly waste. In this article we consider IT projects 'failures' and the combination of social and technical factors that contribute. We illustrate our argument with more detailed reference to the Connecting for Health agenda, part of the NHS National Programme for IT. We suggest 'think local, think modular' to build on good practice and advocate use of the government's own 2004 eGovernment Interoperability Framework (eGIF) to learn lessons from past IT project catastrophes.     

Managerial autonomy: does it matter for the performance of water utilities?

The public administration literature asserts that autonomy is central to performance. In this article we develop a managerial autonomy index, which we apply to 22 water utilities in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The 16 items that underlie our composite autonomy index display a high degree of internal consistency. This speaks for the validity of the autonomy concept. We find that the autonomy scores of the 22 utilities vary widely. We also find strong and positive associations between autonomy scores and six out of eight key performance indicators. Our results support the idea that autonomy is central to the performance of water service providers. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Employer associations: collective bargaining,services and power in historical perspective: the case of the EEF in the UK

ABSTRACT

This paper makes two major contributions: firstly, following on recent research, it offers a more detailed critical analysis of the historical role and structure of Employers’ Associations (EAs), concentrating on a detailed analysis of the range of member services offered by a local Employers’ Association within the Engineering Employers Federation (the EEF) during the 1970s. This focus is in contrast to the literature which has concentrated on the EAs national or ‘central peak’ level. It secondly addresses the ‘countervailing power’ hypothesis, and in so doing it illustrates the key roles of the disputes procedure. The study, as a typical or representative case, uses a qualitative methodology of documentary research combined with triangulation interviews of former officials: evidence which has so far not been prominent in the literature. This paper is, therefore, a significant addition to our understanding of these institutions.     

Family Representative Payeeship and Violence Risk in Severe Mental Illness

Although representative payeeship is prevalent among people with mental illness and shows promise to positively influence clinically relevant outcomes, research also suggests this legal mechanism could be implemented in ways that are problematic. The current study examined whether family representative payeeship was associated with elevated risk of family violence perpetrated by persons with severe mental illness (SMI). Data were collected every 4 months for 1 year in structured interviews with N = 245 persons with SMI who received disability benefits. Multivariate analyses showed that substance abuse, history of violence, frequency of family contact, and family representative payeeship were associated with elevated odds of family violence. Analyses also showed family contact and family representative payeeship had a cumulative effect on increasing the predicted probability of family violence (controlling for covariates such as violence history and substance abuse). The data shed light on the potential for family representative payeeship to be associated with increased risk of interpersonal conflict and violence in SMI.     

中国养老制度设计问题与认识反思

当下的中国养老制度在服务体系定位、志愿者服务、居家养老服务、政府示范性养老基地建设、乘车优待与尊老金等制度安排和养老协议等诸多方面的合理性存在不少疑点。如养老服务体系"以家庭照料为主,社区照料为辅,机构照料为兜底"可能更加准确;志愿者服务只能作为养老服务之补充,而决不能作为制度性养老服务安排;示范性养老基地配置的设备主要是满足入住的普通老年人的基本生活需求,而绝不应该是专为极少数老年权贵服务的高级养老院等等。社会形成的老年服务市场非常广大、老人独居问题严重、不应轻老重幼等共识也有反思的必要。随着陌生社区的形成和城市建设中养老障碍的增加,校正政策制定中的价值取向对当下中国尤为重要。     

Scenes from a mall: Retail training and the social exclusion of low-skilled workers

In this article we examine how post-industrial Britain and Denmark undertake vocational training for low-skilled retail workers. Specifically, we evaluate whether leaders in training skilled industrial workers are also doing the best job with low-skilled service workers. While Danish retail is increasingly becoming a haven for low-skilled workers, British workers are gaining in skills levels with the transition to services even in the retail sector. While some suggest that social democratic countries have sacrificed the political interests of low-skilled workers in order to protect core manufacturing workers, we find no evidence of this. Rather, the high expectations of vocational training in Denmark have forged barriers to the easy admission of low-skilled service workers, while the British system provides more entry points for vocational training at different levels. The structures of coordination that had narrowed the gap between white-collar and blue-collar manufacturing workers during the industrial age are creating new cleavages in the post-industrial economy.     

社团组织的发展路径研究：基于公共服务参与的考察

有关社团组织的发展与管理问题一直是我国学术界和政府管理部门的讨论热点.既有的研究和观点较为一致,大多集中在既有的体制钟罩限制了我国社团组织的兴起和发展等方面.社团组织的发展路径研究已经成为和谐社会建设的一个重要课题.从内生发展的角度来看,体制钟罩并未完全限制社团组织的活动与成长空间,制约我国社团组织发展壮大的根本性因素在于作为社团组织赖以生存和发展的公民社会这一基础性条件的缺失.在建设和谐社会的战略背景和当前我国政治社会语境下,有关社团组织的发展与管理问题的研究应当从实践逻辑的视角出发,即从社团组织参与公共服务的角度探察我国社团组织的现实发展路径.     

法律援助在实践中存在的问题及对策——以苏州市为例

我国法律援助制度自20世纪90年代初建立以来,得到了长足发展,各地不但设立了法律援助机构,而且还拥有了一批素质较高的法律援助队伍。本文以地方建设法治化政府的实践为例,分析了苏州市法律援助的特点,认为地方政府应从人民群众最关心、最直接、最现实的利益问题入手,不断加强和改进法律援助这一政府职能,为社会提供积极有效的法律服务。     

关于我市教育系统基层工会工作创新发展情况的调研报告

按照天津市总工会"创新发展年"的决策部署,今年年初以来,我市各级教育工会组织在创新发展上,实施了新举措,拓展了新途径,体现了新作为,并取得了新突破。针对尚存在的各项薄弱环节,今后拟从四个方面加以改进。     

Is a problem shared a problem halved? Shared services and municipal efficiency

It has long been argued that shared services represent an efficacious means of securing efficiencies for municipalities. Indeed, pressures from fiscal austerity, taxation limitations, and the specter of forced amalgamations have resulted in an increasing uptake of shared service arrangements. However, the extant evidence is rather inconclusive and is largely restricted to analyzing the nett efficiency outcomes for the specific service shared. We broaden this evidential base by examining the association between shared service production and the efficiency of entire municipalities. Our analysis, employing a 5‐year panel of data, suggests that shared services are associated with a statistically significant reduction in overall municipal efficiency. We conclude by explicating on the public policy implications arising from our prima facie surprising results.