Strategic drift in international non‐governmental development organizations—putting strategy in the background of organizational change

Although the use of strategic planning has become widespread in INGDOs they have often been accused of strategic drift—continuous change in their strategic directions with plans only loosely coupled to their activities. However, the way that they prioritize their activities, and the reasons why strategic drift occurs has generally escaped in‐depth research. This article draws on detailed, qualitative research of strategic planning meetings at the executive levels in a major INGDO, carried out between July 2006 and December 2007 to identify the reasons why strategic drift occurs and the role of strategic planning. It was found that by deliberately crafting multiple, ambiguous, and ambitious strategies, managers were able to effect organizational change, not by literal strategy implementation, but by using these strategies as metaphors to harness consensus and legitimacy in key stakeholder groups. Senior managers utilize the symbols, language and deliberative arenas of formal strategic planning to effect organizational change; however, strategy, in rational terms, needs to be located in the background for its role to be properly understood. The research unpacks complex decision‐making processes in an INGDO and, contrary to normative literature, recommends that, in order to avoid inflationary planning, managers should not take their strategy literally. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamics of NGO legitimacy: how organising betrays core missions of INGOs

International non‐governmental organisations (INGOs) are prominent actors in the international arena, aiming to improve the life of disadvantaged people. However, INGOs often do not succeed in doing this. Consequently, INGO legitimacy is regularly questioned. Increased transparency and tightened accountability mechanisms are often‐mentioned solutions to this problem. Based on an analysis of four dimensions of INGO legitimacy—normative, regulatory, cognitive and output legitimacy—we argue that this is not necessarily adequate. We conclude that INGO mission statements create a normative source of legitimacy, but that this, in itself, is not enough to ground INGO legitimacy: it also needs to be institutionalised and organised. However, as a result of power relations and resulting pressures for accountability and transparency, as defined by their external stakeholders, INGOs experience a permanent struggle to reconcile their mission with the requirements for regulatory, cognitive and output legitimacy. The more these stakeholders press for increased organisation of INGO work, the more the pursuit of the core objectives of INGOs is obstructed. We illustrate this argument with the case of the post‐Tsunami humanitarian intervention (2004/2005). Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inter-regional diffusion of policy innovation in China: A comparative case study

Classic theoretical research on the diffusion of policy innovation is usually based on decentralized democratic regimes. However, in authoritarian centralized countries such as China, questions such as, ‘What are the driving forces and the structural dynamics behind local government policy innovation and inter-regional diffusion?’ and ‘How do the governmental structural factors lead to the different patterns of diffusion of policy innovation across local governments?’ are interesting research topics. The theoretical framework proposed in this study highlights the roles of the contingent vertical and horizontal governmental relations in innovation diffusion. I extract two key properties: vertical mandatory intervention from the central government and horizontal political competition among peer governments. This research uses four models to develop a new typology of the inter-regional diffusion of policy innovation in China: (1) the enlightenment model, (2) the championship model, (3) the designation model, and (4) the recognition model. A comparative case study is conducted in this research, with four policy cases showing that China has developed diversified mechanisms to encourage local governments to perform policy innovation and inter-regional diffusion.     

政府文化建设中存在的问题及对策探析

我国政府文化建设起步较晚,政府机构在文化建设中普遍存在较多的问题。只有制定出切实可行的对策,建立起完善的政府文化创新机制,才能走出政府文化建设的误区。     

环境污染诱致型群体性事件的过程——变量分析

农村环境污染诱致型群体性事件的变量包括怨恨变量、精英分子及其组织能力、理性计算三个方面。当前我国在现代化建设过程中存在着自然生态环境恶化、居民生活环境污染等问题，政府应该以科学发展观为指导，加强对农村的环境污染治理，真正构建环境良好的和谐社会。     

市场经济条件下的政府改革

政府要在社会主义市场经济条件下实践"三个代表",就必须深化体制改革、规范政府权力、加强制度建设、强化服务意识、重视人的发展和提高决策质量.     

当前我国农村女性就业问题初探

就业是衡量妇女地位的关键指标。在社会主义市场经济体制逐步完善的今天,我国的就业体制已经悄然发生了变化,农村就业形式呈现出一些新特点,也凸显不少问题和矛盾。鉴于农村女性就业的现状和存在的问题,政府在宏观上应提供有利于农村女性的就业环境及法律支持,从微观上给农村女性的就业予以应有的关注,同时针对农村女性自身特征,提高农村女性的就业能力,这对构建一个公正和谐的社会具有重要的意义。     

在实施西部大开发战略中切实抓好政府职能转变和人才资源开发

本文围绕在实施西部大开发战略中切实抓好政府职能转变和人才资源开发这个主题,从四个方面进行了比较详尽的阐释,即①转变政府职能是计划经济转向市场经济的客观要求;②实施西部大开发战略对转变政府职能提出了新的更高的要求;③当前转变政府职能要认真抓好的几项工作;④搞好人才资源开发建设,建设四川人才高地。     

Discerning Immunity for Governmental Entities: Analyzing Legislative Choices

In 2006, three disagreements about the scope of immunity for governmental entities were considered by the U.S. Supreme Court. Governmental entities were seeking to avoid liability for their actions, claiming the defense of sovereign immunity. Other lawsuits involving governmental immunity under state constitutional and statutory provisions disclose controversies concerning the responsibilities of governments to injured persons. The complicated jurisprudence governing immunity for governmental entities shows two alternatives for legislatures. They have the ability to increase liability by waiving immunity or to add defenses that defeat liability. The trend seems to be to waive immunity for governmental entities while adding statutory defenses that are available to both the private sector and governmental entities.     

现代政府绩效评价：中国问题与策略

现代政府绩效评价是当前政府公共管理领域关注的主要课题之一,本文主要探讨了政府绩效评价的主要问题,并提出了一套系统的整体性的应对策略。