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Strategic Management and Public Service Performance

verfasst von: Rhys Andrews, George A. Boyne, Jennifer Law, Richard M. Walker

Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan UK

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

Strategic management makes a difference to the performance of public organizations. This book demonstrates that the most appropriate response is 'it all depends': on which aspects of strategy content and processes are pursued together, and how these are combined with organizational structure and the technical and institutional environment

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

1. Introduction

Abstract

In recent years it has become increasingly evident that the performance of public organizations is highly variable. Marked differences are present, for example, in the exam passes achieved by schools, death rates across hospitals, levels of crime successfully prevented and detected by police forces, rents collected by public housing authorities and the quality of care provided for elderly people in residential homes. The flood of performance indicators associated with ‘new public management’ reforms has produced much more comprehensive information on the successes and failures of different organizations, and revealed evidence of substantial inequality and ineffectiveness in service standards. These indicators of performance are, of course, open to interpretation and debate. Nevertheless, the evidence is overwhelming that, on specific criteria and measures of performance, some organizations are better than others at delivering effective public services. Taxpayers and service consumers cannot simply assume that they ‘get what they pay for’; instead, service quantity and quality depends partly on where they live and whether local public organizations are performing well or poorly.

Rhys Andrews, George A. Boyne, Jennifer Law, Richard M. Walker

2. Organizational Environments and Performance

Abstract

The organizational environment is a key issue in management and organization studies (Boyd and Gove, 2006). Contingency theorists, in particular, posit a direct link between the relative ‘task difficulty’ that the environment poses and organizational outcomes (see Donaldson, 2001). In this chapter, we theorize the nature of the organizational environment in the public sector, distinguishing between its technical and institutional aspects; survey the existing quantitative evidence on the environment-performance relationship in public organizations; and empirically assess the effects of the technical and institutional environment on the achievements of local government service departments in Wales. Drawing on the Miles and Snow model, we then go on to examine the combined effects of the environment and strategic management on public service performance in subsequent chapters.

Rhys Andrews, George A. Boyne, Jennifer Law, Richard M. Walker

3. Strategy Content and Performance

Abstract

Public management research has long been concerned with the service public agencies provide and the way it is provided (Rainey, 2010). However, only in more recent years has attention been turned to the strategy content of public organizations (Joyce, 1999; Moore, 1995). This may have arisen because of the ‘traditional’ view that public organizations are controlled by higher levels of political authority, giving managers limited discretion to manage, or because public agencies have multiple goals, many stakeholders and decisions are rule-bounded. As such only a limited number of authors sought to develop strategy models for public organizations. For example, Stevens and McGowan (1983) examined strategy during times of fiscal austerity in US local governments, and Wechsler and Backoff (1986) sought to derive four models of strategy in four agencies in Ohio. The focus on strategy content has, however, increased over recent years (Joldersma and Winter, 2002; Joyce, 1999; Lane and Wallis, 2009). This is in part because stakeholders (including users, regulators and often higher levels of government) have become interested in and have greater expectations about the performance of public agencies.

Rhys Andrews, George A. Boyne, Jennifer Law, Richard M. Walker

4. Strategy Formulation, Content and Performance

Abstract

In this chapter, we explore the effects of strategy formulation on performance, and whether these effects are moderated by strategy content. This discussion attends to two of the central facets of the wider strategic management literature examining the ways in which strategy is formed, referred to as strategy formulation, and the substance of those decisions, or strategy content (which was explored in Chapter 3) (Boyne and Walker, 2004; Hart, 1992; Ketchen et al., 1996). By focusing upon content and formulation, we contribute towards the literature on strategic management in a number of ways. To date, research in the public sector has typically focused on either formulation or content (Andrews et al., 2006a; Boyne and Gould-Williams, 2003, for an exception see Walker et al., 2010). Furthermore, when such studies are undertaken on public agencies they typically focus on either a single approach to formulation or a limited range of alternative strategy content options (Elbanna, 2006; Zahra and Pearce, 1990). This is perhaps one of the central weaknesses in much of the prior literature. Over a decade ago, Ketchen et al. (1996, 231) passed similar remarks: ‘The traditional distinction between strategy process and strategy content has perhaps limited the ability of strategic management research to explain the determinants of organizational performance.’

Rhys Andrews, George A. Boyne, Jennifer Law, Richard M. Walker

5. Strategy Implementation, Content and Performance

Abstract

The effective implementation of strategies has long been recognized as crucial to organizational success. Clearly, strategies may only contribute to organizational performance if they are actually implemented. However, many have argued that organizations are not very good at implementation; for example, Nutt (1999) suggests that as many as half of strategies are not implemented. This is a critical issue for all organizations, but it may be especially important for public organizations, as it has been argued that they are increasingly using strategic management models and techniques more traditionally associated with private corporations, but are failing to learn and are simply recycling ‘techniques which have been shown to be badly flawed’ (Ferlie, 2002, 287).

Rhys Andrews, George A. Boyne, Jennifer Law, Richard M. Walker

6. Structure, Strategy and Performance

Abstract

The allocation and distribution of the authority to make decisions is a critical task of organizational design in the public and private sector. Classical theorists of bureaucracy regarded the relative degree to which decision-making is centralized as integral to understanding how managerial choices are conducive to greater organizational efficiency (Gulick and Urwick, 1937; Weber, 1947). Contingency theory suggests that the extent of centralization within an organization should be dependent upon other key characteristics, especially the strategy content of an organization. In this chapter, we conceptualize centralization in organizations; survey the existing quantitative evidence on the centralization-performance relationship in public organizations; and theorize and empirically assess the separate and combined effects of centralization and strategy on public service performance.

Rhys Andrews, George A. Boyne, Jennifer Law, Richard M. Walker

7. Strategy, Environment and Performance

Abstract

The central theoretical perspective of this book has been provided by the contingency theory developed by Miles and Snow. According to Miles and Snow, not only is it important to achieve alignment between the internal characteristics of organizations, but a fit between those characteristics and the environment is also critical to organizational success. Miles and Snow (1978, 3) note the demands that this places on organizations at the outset of the book: ‘For most organizations, the dynamic process of adjusting to environmental change and uncertainty — of maintaining an effective alignment with the environment while efficiently managing internal interdependencies — is enormously complex.’ In the introduction to the Classic Edition (as published in the 2003 reprint, xviii) they argue that they were ‘less certain about how consistency across strategy, structure and process contributed to firm success. Eventually, we decided that the concept of fit could be used to explain the dynamics of organizational adaptation and effectiveness.’ In view of the need for fit, in Chapters 4–6, we examined how strategy interacts with key internal characteristics to influence performance. In this chapter, we explore how strategy content, formulation and implementation interact with the technical and institutional environment confronted by public organizations to affect organizational outcomes.

Rhys Andrews, George A. Boyne, Jennifer Law, Richard M. Walker

8. Conclusions

Abstract

The idea that public organizations perform better if they adopt the ‘right’ strategy is prevalent in generic management theory, public management literature, policy debates, governmental reforms and popular culture. Various stakeholders and pressure groups, depending on their ideological position and policy priorities, exhort public organizations to follow different strategies: to be more innovative, ‘stick to the knitting’ and focus on efficiency, or react more directly to the external demands placed upon them by government agencies. Similarly, public managers are sometimes pressed to develop and implement strategies in a rational manner and follow processes that rely on planning and data, whereas at other times they are asked to be more flexible and intuitive, and pay less attention to technical procedures and more attention to organizational politics.

Rhys Andrews, George A. Boyne, Jennifer Law, Richard M. Walker

Backmatter

Titel: Strategic Management and Public Service Performance
verfasst von: Rhys Andrews
George A. Boyne
Jennifer Law
Richard M. Walker
Copyright-Jahr: 2012
Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan UK
Electronic ISBN: 978-0-230-34943-8
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-32205-3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230349438

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