Bram Verschuere

The Role of Public Agencies in the Policy Making Process: Rhetoric versus Reality

This article focuses on the role public agencies play in the policy making process. Based on a single embedded case-study of one Flemish public agency and two policy-programmes in which this agency is involved, the normative practitioner model of the policy/operations divide is tested. This model assumes (or prescribes) that policy making is a political prerogative, while public agencies as administrative actors should stick to implementing policy. The evidence shows that reality is more complex than the rhetoric of the practitioner model. Agencies may be more involved in policy preparation and policy decision-making than assumed, and political actors may in some cases have a large say in policy implementation. The evidence from my case-study shows that in reality the policy/operations divide might not be that clear-cut, and that this normative model should be revised on some points. Next to that, the findings may be discussed in the light of the current administrative reform projects in various countries that propagate a strict labour division between the political sphere (policy) and the administrative sphere (implementing policy). This discussion is particularly relevant for the Flemish public sector that is currently facing a major reform of that kind.

The Impact of Public Resource Dependence on the Autonomy of NPOs in Their Strategic Decision Making

Private nonprofit organizations (NPO) involved in publically funded welfare programs face the challenge of maintaining autonomy in their strategic decision-making processes. In this article we study the extent to which NPO managers perceive this autonomy vis-à-vis government in defining the NPO’s mission, their working procedures, the target groups to be served and the results to be achieved. Empirical evidence is taken from a large-N sample of 255 NPOs engaged in social welfare provision in Belgium. Our findings suggest that public resource dependence does have a negative impact on the perception of NPOs about the level of organizational autonomy. Still, we will argue that, when looking at the relative share of public income in the NPO’s total budget, the nature and intensity of the consultation process between government and NPO and some measures of organizational capacity, this picture is less black and white than presumed.

The autonomy – control balance in Flemish arm's length public agencies

Abstract This article aims at contributing to the study of arms length agencies by focusing on what are considered to be core concepts of agencification: autonomy and control of public agencies. The balance between autonomy and control is studied for a set of Flemish public agencies, from three angles: (1) To what extent can we observe the practitioner model of disaggregation, managerial freedom and results based control in Flanders?; (2) Which autonomy-control balances do we find empirically? Departing from two extreme cases – control loss and false autonomy – I conclude that there is a lot of variation amongst Flemish public agencies as to their autonomy-control balances; and (3) Based on a third set of empirical conclusions, I try to broaden the normative discussion on the accountability debate that surrounds arms length agencies, by proposing a broader concept of steering and control. I conclude the article by proposing four directions for future research on this specific topic of agency research.

When employee performance management affects individual innovation in public organizations: the role of consistency and LMX

Abstract Public sector challenges translate in more complex job demands that require individual innovation. In order to deal with these demands, many public organizations have implemented employee performance management. In a multilevel study, we examine when employee performance management affects individual innovation. We contribute by focusing on consistent employee performance management and Leader–Member Exchange (LMX). Based on goal-setting theory, we first argue that employee performance management fosters individual innovation when it entails consistent subpractices. Subsequently, LMX is theorized to function as a moderator in this linkage. We use multilevel data from 68 elderly homes and 1095 caregivers in Flanders to test our hypotheses. The study reveals that individual innovation is related to consistent employee performance management, and that LMX functions as a moderator in this relationship. Our findings contribute to scholars’ understanding of effects from employee performance management in public organizations.

The state and the reconstruction of civil society

The current relationship between the state and civil society in Europe is a curious and historically unique one. This is no longer a situation in which participation and association prepare citizens for the offices of the state; rather, it is the state urging a sometimes-reluctant citizenry to engage actively in civil society. This phenomenon stems from a combination of changes in prevailing governance paradigms and of the more general process of social liquefaction. In the article, we analyse these two intertwining trends and discuss the new type of relationship between the state and civil society that may be emerging. Points for practitioners The article puts the current vogue for renewed state–civil society relationships in a larger context. It shows that, however commendable many initiatives may be, there is the risk that the desire on the part of governments for their citizens to participate and self-organize may lead the state to take over such initiatives, leading to a manufactured civil society that has little to do with spontaneous citizen initiatives. Another possible consequence is that truly spontaneous citizen initiatives will shun collaboration with the state and focus only inwards, to the detriment of broader public values. Therefore, in this area, the state must strike a delicate balance between encouragement and restraint.

Executive Agencies, Ministers, and Departments Can Policy and Management Ever be Separated?

The creation of executive agencies outside core departments has been a major element of administrative reforms throughout Europe during the past two decades, driven by a managerial logic, which also has been at the core of most academic works on “agencification.” In this article, the authors take a different perspective by focusing on executive agencies’ influence in the policy process. The authors analyze the policy influence of a large executive agency with service delivery tasks in the context of a parliamentary system of government (Flanders, Belgium). A comparison of the agency’s influence in two major policy processes shows that a complex interplay of policy content, patterns of interaction, and mutual trust with the political leadership and organizational characteristics helps in explaining the observed patterns of influence. The findings also raise normative concerns regarding potential problems of disconnecting operations from policy formulation via agencification.

Organisational Hybridity in a Post-Corporatist Welfare Mix: The Case of the Third Sector in Belgium

Although mixed public-private provisions of welfare have always been a typical characteristic of continental welfare states, recent international scholarship has pointed to a historically new process of institutional hybridisation, with a more systematic intermingling of rationalities of the state, market and third sector within one and the same organisation. In this article, we address two limitations in the current knowledge: first, the absence of an indicator-model for exploring organisational hybridity empirically; second, the lack of sensitivity to cross-national variation depending on the welfare regime. We develop a multidimensional analytical framework that takes regime differences into account and empirically assess organisational hybridity in a (post-) corporatist welfare regime. Based on a survey of 255 third-sector organisations (TSOs) in Flanders (Belgium) and using latent class analysis, we find three clusters of TSOs that reflect different types of organisational hybridity. Contextualising our results further shows that the positioning of TSOs in our cluster model to a large extent results from the institutional context in which TSOs operate.

Performance of Public Sector Organizations: Do Managerial Tools Matter?

The influence of management on the performance of public sector organizations has regained academic interest with the rise of the ‘management matters’ thesis, itself inspired to a large extent by the doctrines of ‘managerialism’ and the ‘New Public Management’. These doctrines advocate the adoption of private managerial tools (e.g. Hood 1991; Osborne and Gaebler 1992) within public sector organizations in order to increase their efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of service delivery. The amount of empirical evidence on the influence of managerial styles and strategies on organizational performance has been growing rapidly, but the contextual factors remain very unclear. Besides, not much is known about the influence of specific managerial tools on performance of public sector organizations. Finally, studies in this area mainly focus on governments as a whole rather than on individual public sector organizations.

Trajectories for Modernizing Local Governance: Revisiting the Flanders Case

Local government plays a central but altering role in local governance. Together with the shift from a night-watchman state to a welfare state , the models of governance provision changed. Government itself became larger and more scattered throughout the local community. Moreover, government was no longer the only governance provider. Many actors were involved in governance with a diversity of steering relations. In our time, governance continues to change. What are the emerging models of local governance today? After sorting out some terminological and methodological issues, we describe four emerging ideal-type models (i.e. the holding model , the autonomous networks model , the implementation model and the reintegration model ), based on four societal scenarios (i.e. triumphant markets , hundred flowers , creative societies and turbulent neighbourhoods ). The models represent four possible local governance futures. Next, the models are applied on two management issues: organizational structure and financial management. Finally, some embryonic evidence is given on the emergence of the models.

Organisational Governance Features, Innovation and Performance in Non-Profit Organisations: Existing Evidence and Future Research Directions

As public service deliverers, funded by public money and performing tasks on behalf of government, many non-profit organisations (NPOs) are under pressure to increase their performance. More and more NPOs have to prove they work efficiently, effectively and in line with the overall mission. As a result, the challenges these organisations are confronted with put pressure on their management. For NPOs, innovation and performance are managerial key issues. Ultimately, the question is what the factors are that lead to innovation and/or improved organisational performance in NPOs, given their important role in public service delivery, often acting as agents of government. For academics, this creates an ambitious research agenda. With a risk to oversimplify the picture, we could summarise this agenda as consisting of some crucial descriptive and explanatory questions. Major descriptive research questions concern the level of innovative behaviour of NPOs, their performance, and their organisational governance characteristics. In terms of explanations, there is a possible relationship between organisational governance features and organisational performance, between organisational governance features and innovation, and between innovation and organisational performance. In this chapter, we discuss the recent academic research concerning these issues, and, secondly, based on the assessment of this literature, we will propose some directions and challenges for such a research agenda.