Jennifer Law

Plans, performance information and accountability: the case of Best Value

The current UK government emphasizes the importance of mechanisms of accountability that involve the planning and public reporting of performance. One example of this is the Best Value performance plan. However, there has been little evaluation of the quality of the information provided in this type of document. This paper draws on literature on stakeholding and user needs to identify the data required for accountability. It then assesses whether the plans produced by Best Value pilot authorities in Wales provide appropriate information. The analysis shows that very few of the plans contained the relevant material. Interviews in the pilot authorities highlighted two key reasons for the poor level of data: a lack of performance indicators prior to Best Value and limited staff expertise in performance measurement. The evidence suggests that documents such as performance plans currently make little contribution to the accountability of public organizations.

Strategy Formulation, Strategy Content and Performance

Abstract This article tests the independent effects of strategy formulation and strategy content on organizational performance. The formulation variables include rational planning, logical instrumentalism and strategy process absence, and the strategy content variables are prospecting, defending and reacting, which are derived from the work of Miles and Snow (1978). The model, which also controls for past performance and service expenditure, is tested upon forty-seven service departments in Welsh local government. The statistical results indicate that logical incrementalism and strategy absence have negative consequences for performance while prospecting and defending are strategies that are likely to result in higher levels of organizational performance. The implications of these findings for public management research are considered.

Explaining the adoption of innovation: an empirical analysis of public management reform

Innovation has become a cornerstone of many government programmes of public management reform. In this study we provide the first empirical analysis of innovation adoption in a programme of public management reform that involves an external authority decision. Studies of this nature have not formed a central element of innovation-adoption research, which typically focuses upon the voluntary adoption of innovations by public organisations. Over a two-year period seventy-nine services adopting a programme of innovative management in local government were studied. The empirical results indicate that innovation adoption in local authorities is likely to be achieved where there are dispersed populations, where adoption is concentrated upon a limited number of services, and where there is prior experience of facets of the programme of innovative management reform. Explanations of these results are identified and the implications of researching innovation in public organisations are considered.

Strategic management and public service performance

Strategic Management and Public Service Performance demonstrates that strategic management makes a difference to the performance of public organizations. In detail the authors show how all three of the major elements of strategic management matter for the effectiveness of public services: strategy content, formulation and implementation. Often, however, it is impossible to provide a straightforward answer to the question does strategic management matter? Rather, as their evidence demonstrates, the most appropriate response to this question is it all depends on which aspects of strategy content and processes are pursued together, and how these in turn are combined with organizational structure and the technical and institutional environment. Their findings suggest that managers need to pay attention to the connections between these contingencies to get the best out of whatever strategy their organization has adopted. The comprehensive treatment of strategy and performance makes this book ideal reading for those interested in questions of strategic management, performance and contingency theory.

Best Value-Total Quality Management for Local Government?

This article argues that Best Value is a form of Total Quality Management (TQM). At the core of Best Value are the TQM principles of customer focus, continuous improvement and team–working. To discover if Best Value will deliver the performance improvements expected of local government, the authors examine evidence on the relationship between TQM and performance. Performance is most likely to be improved if the whole TQM approach is implemented in the Best Value framework.

Setting public service outcome targets: Lessons from local public service agreements

Public agencies in the UK and elsewhere are increasingly required to set outcome targets as a strategy for improving their services. A crucial element of this ‘results orientation’ is a clear definition of the desired outcomes and a specification of appropriate performance indicators. A recent example of this policy in the UK—Local Public Service Agreements (LPSAs)—is examined in this article. The authors’ analysis of the first generation of LPSAs shows that just under half of the indicators used were measures of outcome. The authors explain the ‘wicked’ issues in outcome measurement that emerged from the research.

PROBLEMS OF RATIONAL PLANNING IN PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS An Empirical Assessment of the Conventional Wisdom

Rational planning is widely regarded as difficult because of the technical problems of obtaining and interpreting relevant data and the political problems of rivalry between planners and service deliverers. Provided here is the first empirical test of these traditional hypotheses on the problems of rational planning in public agencies. The context of the empirical analysis is a recent attempt by UK local authorities to introduce a new planning system. The statistical results suggest that the problems of rational planning are largely technical (lack of resources and expertise) rather than political. Potential explanations for these results are identified, and the implications for theories of rational planning are considered.

Strategy Implementation and Public Service Performance

Much has been written about implementation in the public sector, but little is known about organizational implementation styles and their consequences for performance. The authors’ evidence shows that implementation style matters but only in combination with appropriate strategic choices. None of the established styles of implementation (rational, incremental, and “no clear approach”) by themselves are likely to lead to better performance. However, when the authors incorporate the strategic orientation of the organization (defender, prospector, and reactor), they find that it has an important moderating effect on the relationship between implementation style and service performance. Their evidence suggests that public organizations need to achieve a fit between strategic orientation and style of implementation if higher levels of performance are to be attained.

Competitive Tendering and Best Value in Local Government

The Government has introduced legislation to replace compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) with a new regime of Best Value (BV) in local government. Although CCT is to be abolished, competitive tendering is retained as part of the BV framework. The specific role of competitive tendering in BV has not been identified—what are the circumstances that determine whether councils should provide services themselves or seek external suppliers? The authors develop a theoretical framework that may help central and local policy-makers to answer this question. The framework emphasises the joint importance of organizational performance and contracting costs. Practical issues that arise in the application of the framework are also identified.

The Accountability of School Governing Bodies

The notion of accountability has been central to the reforms which have been introduced in education since the Education Reform Act of 1988. As a case in point, key responsibilities have been devolved from local education authorities to school governing bodies. While these bodies are now accountable for many aspects of education, it is not clear how they work in practice. The aim of this paper is to identify the nature of accountability of school governing bodies. The research it reports on involved interviews with a range of governors to determine both how they perceive themselves to be accountable and how such accountability operates in reality. From all this conclusions are drawn on the nature and effectiveness of governing body accountability.