Sandra van Thiel

The Performance Paradox in the Public Sector

Administrative reform has led to a strong increase in the use of performance assessment instruments in the public sector. However, this has also led to several unintended consequences, such as the performance paradox, tunnel vision, and “analysis paralysis.” These unintended consequences can reduce the quality of the knowledge about actual levels of performance or even negatively affect performance. Examples can be found in all policy sectors. The authors argue that certain characteristics of the public sector–such as ambiguous policy objectives, discretionary authority of street–level bureaucrats, simultaneous production and consumption of services, and the disjunction of costs and revenues–increase the risk of a performance paradox, either unintentionally or deliberately. Performance assessment should therefore take the special characteristics of the public sector into account and develop systems that can handle contested and multiple performance indicators, striking a balance in the degree of “measure pressure” and minimizing dysfunctional effects.

New Public Management in Europe

New Public Management (NPM) is the label which many academics have given to a series of reforms from the 1980s onwards, to improve the efficiency and performance of western governments and/or public sector organizations. Examples are the development of performance indicators and benchmarking, personnel reforms aimed at ‘normalising’ public sector employment on private sector models, placing executive bodies at arms’ length from ministries, establishing public private partnerships and introducing new management techniques and instruments. Continental European governments have adapted and re-interpreted many of the Anglo-American ideas underpinning the NPM, to adjust them to their own national politico-administrative contexts. As a consequence, reforms of the public sector may have the same labels in different countries but need not be the same in practice or in meaning; there is both convergence and divergence.

TRENDS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Since the 1980s the number of quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations has increased in most western countries. This article offers a theoretical explanation for politicians’ apparent preference for quangos. The model is based on rational choice sociology, neo-institutional economics and public choice. Hypotheses are formulated on the conditions that are expected to influence politicians’ choice. The statistical analysis, using a database of 124 decisions to establish 392 quangos in The Netherlands between 1950 and 1993, shows that quango proliferation is more a trend than a well-informed choice. This raises new questions for research.Since the 1980s the number of quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations has increased in most western countries. This article offers a theoretical explanation for politicians’ apparent prefer...

Innovation-oriented culture in the public sector: Do managerial autonomy and result control lead to innovation?

This article examines the effect of specific new public management (NPM)-related characteristics to explain innovation-oriented culture within public sector organizations. According to NPM doctrines, an enhanced managerial autonomy combined with result control will stimulate a more innovation-oriented culture in such organizations. Using multi-country survey data of over 200 public sector agencies, we test for the influence of organizational autonomy, result control and their interactions, on innovation-oriented culture. High levels of managerial autonomy and result control have independent and positive effects. However, the interaction between high personnel management autonomy and high result control has a negative effect.

Quantitative Methods in Public Administration: Their Use and Development Through Time

ABSTRACT This article aims to contribute to recent debates on research methods in public administration by examining the use of quantitative methods in public administration research. We analyzed 1,605 articles published between 2001–2010 in four leading journals: Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART), Public Administration Review, Governance, and Public Administration (PA). Results show that whereas qualitative methods are still predominant compared to quantitative methods (56% versus 44%), the field is becoming increasingly quantitative. Of quantitative methods used, surveys are most dominant, while a combination of methods is used far less often. In general, very few studies use a mixed methods design. As to the areas of research, we found that the use of quantitative methods is unequally distributed; some subfields (public management) use quantitative methods more often than others (policy and politics), and some journals (JPART, PA) publish articles on quantitative research more than others (Governance). Implications for public administration research are discussed.

Good neighbours or distant friends?: Trust between Dutch ministries and their executive agencies

Abstract Agencification has extended and intensified the delegation problem. It has created new (administrative) principals, who are confronted with even more uncertainty as agents operate at arms length. Trust is suggested as a new mode of governance. Based on the literature seven hypotheses are deduced on conditions that politicians can use to build trust: autonomy; contacts; policy involvement; and involvement in the design of monitoring devices. These hypotheses are tested using survey data on 219 Dutch executive agencies. Contrary to the expectations, executive agencies with low degrees of autonomy have a more trusting relationship with their parent ministry than agencies with high autonomy. Proximity and frequent interactions appear more important to trust than autonomy. Monitoring is not always perceived as a sign of distrust. These findings raise new questions on how principals can reduce the delegation problem and control executive agencies.

The Management and Control of Executive Agencies: an Anglo-Dutch Comparison

In Chapter 3 Walter Kickert explored recent developments in three continental countries where New Public Management (NPM) reforms have been attempted, but in various ways have been absorbed, adapted or resisted so as not to fundamentally disturb the basic bureaucratic traditions and culture of the countries concerned. Later, in Chapter 9, we will look at a situation where the UK introduced performance indicators early and on a large scale, whereas the Netherlands only moved twenty years later, and very cautiously even then. In both those chapters, therefore, we find diversity between countries and continuity of national traditions, and only marginal convergence by continental states towards Anglo-American-style NPM. The subject of this chapter may at first sight seem a much more promising example of international convergence, as we are going to examine the creation, management and control of central government executive agencies in the UK and the Netherlands.

Styles of Reform: Differences in quango creation between policy sectors in the Netherlands

National governments follow country-specific reform trajectories, which imply uniform preferences for specific types of quasi-autonomous organisations (quangos). However, at micro level there is little uniformity; similar tasks are charged to different types of quangos. This contradiction could be explained by the existence of styles of quango creation at the level of policy sectors. Do such styles exist? Using the literature on policy styles and administrative culture, four styles of quango creation are deduced: traditional, bureaucratic, professional and managerial. The analysis shows that the majority of Dutch policy sectors indeed have a dominant style of quango-creation. The bureaucratic style is found in ten out of eighteen sectors. Replication of this study may help to improve the explanation of quango creation in western countries.

'New public managers' in Europe: Changes and trends

New Public Management (NPM) reforms as described in Chapter 1 have affected the profile and functioning of top civil servants. This chapter discusses the combined effect of personnel reforms and the creation of so-called quasi-autonomous organizations. It would seem that as a result of these reforms two different types of ‘new public managers’ have emerged: senior public officials within the central departments and the top executives of quasi-autonomous agencies. We expect a number of differences between these two categories. The main aim of this chapter is to investigate these expectations. To do so, we will use data from two surveys of our own (on the Netherlands and France) and secondary sources on a number of countries (Denmark, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom).

Lessons and Recommendations for the Practice of Agencification

The previous chapters have provided an overview of agencification in 29 countries and one supranational organization. The authors have demonstrated that there is large variety in both the types of agencies and in experiences with agency creation over time. These experiences can now be used to draw some lessons and formulate recommendations that governments may use to improve their decisions about the creation and governance of agencies.