ARE YOU BEING SERVED? THE RESPONSIVENESS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION TO CITIZENS' DEMANDS: AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION IN ISRAEL
Article Abstract:
Research in public administration (PA) is preoccupied with questions of efficiency and effectiveness which are aimed at improving public sector performance. According to the new public management approach, addressing this prominent challenge must rely upon a comprehensive understanding of citizens' /clients' perceptions of public sector operation and the extent to which public organizations are aware of public needs. This paper suggests a theoretical grounding and empirical examination of the relationship between citizens' demands and PA's responsiveness. Participants in the study were 281 residents of a large Israeli city who reported their feelings, attitudes, and perceptions of local government activities in a variety of fields. Results indicate that perceptions of PA's responsiveness are affected by both policy and cultural factors (for example business or social orientation of the public authority, entrepreneurship and initiation of changes, ethics, organizational politics) and by the quality of the human resource system and of public servants (for example quality of leadership and management, quality of employees, general stress when contacting public officials). Implications of the study are discussed in light of the ongoing debate regarding the need for a more responsive and efficient new public management and the difficulties it faces in western societies.
Publication Name: Public Administration
Subject: Political science
ISSN: 0033-3298
Year: 2000
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
MODELS FOR RESEARCH INTO DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES: ON PHASES, STREAMS AND DECISION-MAKING ROUNDS
Article Abstract:
This article elaborates on the question of how complex decision making can be analysed. Three conceptual models are compared: the phase model, the stream model and the rounds model. Each model is based on specific assumptions about what decision making is and how it should be analysed. The phase model focuses on successive and distinctive stages in a process, i.e. defining a problem, searching for, choosing and implementing solutions. The stream model emphasizes concurrent streams of participants, problems and solutions, defining decision making as the connection between these streams. The rounds model combines elements of the other two models, in assuming that several actors introduce combinations of problems and solutions, and create progress through interaction. Each model generates specific insights, as is shown from the example of the `Betuwe line', a railway line intended for the transport of cargo, in the Netherlands. The phase model concentrates on decisions taken by a focal actor; the stream model focuses on the coincidental links between problems, solutions and actors; and the rounds model on the interaction between actors.
Publication Name: Public Administration
Subject: Political science
ISSN: 0033-3298
Year: 2000
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
POLICY NETWORKS AND POLICY LEARNING: UK ECONOMIC POLICY IN THE 1960s AND 1970s
Article Abstract:
Policy networks are advanced as an alternative to the Westminster model of the UK polity but the theory lacks an internal dynamic and has typological problems. This article applies Peter Hall's (1993) concept of `social learning' to policy networks and maps the networks found in two case studies of British economic policy making: Hall's own study of the shift from Keynesianism to monetarism in the 1970s and the author's research on the advent of `Keynesian-plus' in the early 1960s. The article advances three main propositions. Firstly, that integrating the concept of social learning can dynamize the policy network model. Secondly, the case studies suggest that different network configurations are associated with different orders of policy change but that Hall's definition of `third order change' may be too restrictive. Thirdly, policy networks can be much more complex and fluid then is generally claimed, sometimes becoming so extensive that they might be termed a `meta-network'.
Publication Name: Public Administration
Subject: Political science
ISSN: 0033-3298
Year: 2000
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: BOLA -- THE BUSINESS OPEN LEARNING ARCHIVE. TEACHING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN FINLAND. TEACHING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN NORWAY
- Abstracts: REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE? TESTING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM. COMPETITION AND CONTRACTING IN THE TRANSITION FROM CCT TO BEST VALUE: TOWARDS A MORE REFLEXIVE REGULATION?
- Abstracts: Assessment and analysis of Li Hongzhi's fallacies. Li Hongzhi issues statement in response to global order of arrest
- Abstracts: Paying for pollution. The year the climate changed: The G8 and the Katrina effect. Protecting the planet
- Abstracts: Promise to protect. The United Nations Special Session on Children: for the sake of our children. Refugees without borders