Gerhard Hammerschmid

Changing Institutional Logics and Executive Identities A Managerial Challenge to Public Administration in Austria

In this article, the authors analyze whether and to what extent an “old” administrative orientation is being replaced by a new managerial logic in the Austrian public sector. They illustrate that shifts in institutional logics can be analyzed by the extent to which actors draw on the social identities derived from the competing logics and show that the vocabularies and accounts the actors employ to communicate their identity claims reflect the local translation of global logics.

Public Management Reform: An Identity Project

Based on an executive survey this article analyses the extent to which a new managerial logic has replaced traditional administrative values and identity in Austria. We do not find any strong evidence of a new managerial logic but rather modifications, local translations and the emergence of a hybrid identity.

Internal and external use of performance information in public organizations: results from an international survey

This paper analyses how public managers use performance information. A sample of over 3,100 high-level public sector executives from six European countries, provided evidence of significant country variations. Considerable variations were also found in patterns of use in different policy fields; and performance indicators were not used as often in central government as in local and regional government. Implementation of performance management instruments in an organization had a strong effect on the actual use of performance information.

Contextualizing Influence Activities: An Objective Hermeneutical Approach

Influence activity is a central aspect of organizations and has attracted a wide range of theoretical and empirical research. Most studies in this field rely on categorization schemes to classify either actors or acts. This article draws on the notion of organizations and actors as socially constructed phenomena and understands influence activities as social practices whose shape and meaning is derived from the social contexts they are embedded in. In this paper, we argue that it is necessary to gain an understanding of the activities’ diverging meanings in their organizational contexts before generalized typologies of tactics and strategies can be fruitfully applied. By drawing on ‘objective hermeneutics’ as methodology, our analyses focus on influence activities within three organizational contexts.

Public Administration Reforms in Europe

Based on a survey of more than 6700 top civil servants in 17 European countries, this book explores the impacts of New Public Management (NPM)-style reforms in Europe from a uniquely comparative perspective. It examines and analyses empirical findings regarding the dynamics, major trends and tools of administrative reforms, with special focus on the diversity of top executives’ perceptions about the effects of those reforms.

Public management dynamics in a federal legalistic Rechtsstaat system

Purpose – Sets out to present current dynamics of public management reform in Austria, a country that is characterized by institutional governance features (federal structure, legalistic Rechtsstaat tradition) often described as an obstacle to management‐oriented reforms. The papers focus lies in the reception of management ideas and concepts by public sector executives within this special national context and in differences between federal and state administration.Design/methodology/approach – Presents results of a recent questionnaire‐based executive survey (sample size: 385). Apart from non‐parametric correlation analyses, investigates level differences (federal vs state) by using an independent samples Mann‐Whitney U rank sum test.Findings – Highlights the importance of the national institutional background for understanding public management changes. Finds considerable support for reform initiatives despite some scepticism and resistance towards management knowledge and instruments. Results confirm ...

Introduction: public administration reforms in Europe

Despite the salience of public administration reforms in Europe, there is surprisingly little systematic research identifying how and whether public sector reforms have been implemented, and with what outcomes. This introductory chapter introduces the topic of public administration reform, as well as the general approach and purpose of the book. With an aim of evaluating public administration reforms in different European countries, three reform paradigms are distinguished. The first has the implementation of Weberian-style structures and processes at its core; the second is the introduction of the New Public Management, and the third brings together elements of Weberianism with aspects of NPM. A secondary objective is to study convergence and divergence in European public administration reform through a comparison across a large set of European countries.

Conclusion: a kaleidoscope of administrative reforms in Europe

This chapter discusses the lessons that can be drawn from the findings presented in the book and outlines a future research agenda for European comparative public administration. The evidence on the salience of different reform paradigms in European central governments is summarised, along with the broad patterns of convergence and divergence in reform trends across Europe. Suggestions for more detailed analyses that can build on the research presented in the book are then made. The main lessons from the book are that: (a) between 2008 and 2013 most public management reforms were of a neo-Weberian/New Public Governance (NPG) type focused on transparency, collaboration and e-government; (b) important cross-country variations in the interpretation and implementation of public management reforms still persist; and, (c) future research should focus more closely on the influence of administrative and political cultures on the causes and consequences of management reforms.