John Benington

Researching the Roles of Internal‐change Agents in the Management of Organizational Change

There have been increasingly rapid changes inboth the external and the internal environmentsof many organizations – in both private, publicand voluntary sectors – over the past few years,and these have encouraged renewed interest inthe planning and management of change. This hasled in turn to a greater recognition of the need to mobilize programmes and processes of organ-izational and cultural change, and of the role ofchange agents.The recognition that organizational change can no longer be conceived as a one-off event, ora temporary adjustment, but must be seen as acontinuous process of adaptation to flux in the en-vironment, has encouraged an explosion of bothacademic and management literature charting theimportance of organizational learning processesas key assets for long-term success (e.g. Garratt,1990; Kanter, 1990; Quinn-Mills and Friesen,1992; Pedler, Boydell and Burgoyne, 1991; Senge,1992). Organizational learning requires, amongother features, the development and dissemina-tion of personal learning about the managementof organizational change. In this respect, internalchange agents may be important assets for anyorganization, whether in the private, public orvoluntary sectors.This paper focuses on the perceptions, rolesand learning needs of internal-change agents inelected local authorities. Changes in the externalenvironment of local authorities and other UKpublic-service organizations have been no lessprofound than those experienced by the privatesector (Benington and Stoker, 1989; Leach,Stewart and Walsh, 1994). Research has high-lighted the scale and the scope of the economic,social and political changes facing the welfare stateand the public-service sector in the UK, includingBritish Journal of Management, Vol. 8, 61–73 (1997)

Creating the Public In Order To Create Public Value

Abstract This paper extends and develops both the theory and the application of the notion of Public Value developed in Moore (1997) Creating Public Value, Harvard University Press, and transposes them into an alternative framework which starts with the public sphere and the collective as the primary units of analysis, rather than with the private market and the individual. The article addresses basic questions about public value, how, by whom and where is it produced, and how can it be measured. It argues that PV often depends upon processes of co-creation with citizens and users at the front-line. It also argues that public value is a contested concept which depends upon a deliberative process within which competing interests and perspectives can be debated. This requires the creation of a well informed “public” with the consciousness and the capability to engage actively in this kind of democratic dialogue.

Copy and Paste, or Graft and Transplant? Knowledge Sharing Through Inter-Organizational Networks

This article discusses the governments use of inter-organizational networks to promote sharing of knowledge and innovation between public service organizations. It analyses the conditions for successful knowledge transfer between organizations, and highlights the importance of recognizing the contested nature of knowledge, the differences in interests between organizations, and the importance of relationships of trust, curiosity and respect for diversity, for generating a creative process of co-creation and cultivation of knowledge. It concludes by looking at the implications for policy-making and practice, as well as for academic theory and research.

Editorial: The Modernization and Improvement of Government and Public Services

This special issue of Public Money & Management focuses on lessons arising from implementation of the Government’s programme of modernization of the public sector and improvement of public services. It includes articles by leading policy-makers and practitioners and academics at the Local Government Centre, Warwick Business School, who are closely involved in evaluating the implementation of the modernization agenda and analysing how to translate ideas into practices on the ground. These articles draw on evidence and evaluation gathered from several of the Government’s pilot programmes for modernization and improvement. The latter embrace Best Value, the Better Value Development Programme, Better Government for Older People, Social Exclusion, and programmes established to develop and test new forms of local democracy, political leadership, organizational and cultural change and continuous improvement. This editorial offers an interpretation of the Government’s broad programme of modernization of the public sector and improvement in public services. It discusses the Government’s overall vision and model of the public sphere, its implicit theories of change, and its implications both for the theory and the practice of governance. It draws on my involvement in the national steering committees for the DETR’s Best Value pilot programme and the Cabinet Officeled programme of Better Government for Older People, and the advisory group for the Performance and Innovation Unit study of leadership in public services. It also draws heavily on the University of Warwick’s long-standing work with five national networks of local authorities involved in translating the Government’s ideas for modernization into organizational practices on the ground. Leading and governing local communities in a diverse and continuously changing society involves managing complex and fluid interrelationships between state, market and civil society, and over-lapping relationships between different levels of government. It requires new patterns of inter-organizational networking in order to share the risks and the opportunities of knowledge-creation and innovation. However, it is also crucial for governments to manage continuity as well as change, routine as well as reform. This means that logistics are as important as leadership in achieving improvement in public services.

Co-research: a new methodology for new times

This article describes an innovative methodology based on inter-organizational collaboration between academics and practitioners, using a “co-research” method that builds on but goes beyond the methodology of insider/outsider research teams. Co-research establishes a dialectical process of enquiry by drawing on the complementary perspectives, interests, skills, and knowledge bases of academics and practitioners. Co-research is based on a triad of research roles. First, the academic responsible for the research, who manages the research team and who contributes an “outsider” view of the organization. Second, the host manager employed by the organization being researched. This person brings an “insider” perspective on the organization. Third, the co-researcher from a different organization who carries out the research alongside the academic(s). He or she is an “insider” in that they are familiar with the type of organization being researched, but an “outsider” in that their own organization has a different context and processes. This article argues that co-research is effective in producing valid organizational research, partly through the harnessing of inside/outsider knowledge and partly through “surprise and sense-making” (Louis, 1980). The research paradigm is one of knowledge generation through a negotiated and dialectical approach to organizational processes.

Towards a multi-actor theory of public value co-creation

ABSTRACT This essay suggests changes to the theory of public value and, in particular, the strategic triangle framework, in order to adapt it to an emerging world where policy makers and managers in the public, private, voluntary and informal community sectors have to somehow separately and jointly create public value. One set of possible changes concerns what might be in the centre of the strategic triangle besides the public manager. Additional suggestions are made concerning how multiple actors, levels, arenas and/or spheres of action, and logics might be accommodated. Finally, possibilities are outlined for how the strategic triangle might be adapted to complex policy fields in which there are multiple, often conflicting organizations, interests and agendas. In other words, how might politics be more explicitly accommodated. The essay concludes with a number of research suggestions.

The Modernisation and Importance of Government and Public Services: Multi-Level Networked Governance—Reflections from the Better Government for Older People Programme

The concept of joined up government has been interpreted mainly in terms of the need for horizontal integration between services which traditionally have been delivered through stand-alone departments, specialist professions, and ‘silo’ organizational structures. Two parallel concepts within the Governments modernization programme, namely ‘citizen-centred governance’ and ‘community leadership’, imply the need also for vertical integration between different levels of governance. This article explores multi-level governance in terms of the complex inter-relationships between UK central government, local government, and civil society, drawing on an evaluation of the Cabinet Office-led programme of Better Government for Older People (BGOP). New structures, on their own, are inadequate without the necessary changes in the inter-connections and inter-relationships. A number of suggestions are made on how the Government might bring about the type of cultural changes required to make multi-level networked governance a reality.

Innovation, design and delivery of MPA programmes for public leaders and managers in Europe

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse three innovative Masters programmes designed for public and voluntary sector managers across three EU countries.Design/methodology/approach – The paper compares similarities and differences between the programmes in order to shed light on the “innovation journey” which the authors took in establishing these programmes, and on the distinctive pedagogies which have been designed and developed to help address the complex dilemmas and challenges facing public and voluntary sector managers in the three countries.Findings – The paper draws on theories of innovation and entrepreneurship to illustrate how these programmes were created, and how both new curriculum content and new approaches to pedagogy had to be developed.Originality/value – The paper addresses the current and future learning needs of these public and voluntary service managers.

Local Economic Development in the 1980s and 1990s: Retrospect and Prospects

The authors suggest that local economic development in the 1990s is facing a very different economic and political context from that of the 1970s and 1980s, and that this requires the development of very different paradigms and strategies. In particular, they argue that the transition from a Fordist to a post-Fordist economy, and the process of economic and political integration in the European Community confront local economic development agencies with a fundamentally new set of challenges in both the United Kingdom and the United States. This also means that the focus of comparative study of local economic development needs to be shifted to recognize the European context within which British localities increasingly operate.

The future of European motor industry regions: New local authority responses to industrial restructuring

The motor and components industries will undergo radical restructuring during the 1990s, and this will have major repercussions for particular firms and particular regions. This presents local and regional authorities in European motor manufacturing regions with many new challenges. If tackled constructively however, it also opens up new opportunities for regional and local authorities to play a positive role (alongside the employers, trades unions, the national governments and the European Commission) in preparing and planning for the future of the auto industry, as part of the transport needs for a changing Europe. This paper is intended to provide a framework within which change in the motor industry, and the implications for localities and regions, can be considered.