Time to get the finger out

Last year I devoted a lot of time to trying to identify what we have learned from 50 years of trying to improve the operation of our public services.  In 1989 “the state” had crumbled – at least in eastern Europe – and a huge effort was put in by international bodies and consultancies to try to help countries in that area build on western experience and create effective state bodies which would be responsive to public needs  … But also to deal with the new socio-economic challenges which required dramatic changes in how all state bodies went about their business…

The Brits had started this fashion in the 1970s – when it was only of interest to oddities written off as  “anoraks”, But suddenly everyone wanted in on the act….

In the current draft of How did Admin Reform get to be so sexy? I suggest 15 questions as the best way into the most interesting (and extensive) writing on the matter and note that

- Different parts of the world have their own very different approaches and ways of talking about the reform of public services. English language material has tended to dominate the literature; but  

- Scandinavians, Germans and French let alone South Americans, Chinese and Indians have also developed important ideas and experience - of which English-speakers tend to be blithely unaware.

- We are overwhelmed by texts on reform experience but most written by academics – targeting their students and other academics. Where are the writers who can help the public make sense of it all?

- At least 8 very different groups have been active in shaping our thinking about “reform” efforts. These are - academics, politicians, think-tankers, global bodies, senior officials, consultants, journalists and an indeterminate group- each uses very different language and ideas

– with academics being the most prolific (but tending to talk in jargon amongst themselves; and therefore being ignored by the rest of us)- Some “old hands” have tried to summarise the experience for us in short and clear terms. The lesson, they suggest, is that little has changed…

- What is sad is how few “social justice” campaigners seem interested in this issue (Hilary Wainwright being an honourable exception….).

One of the few groups positioned to act as a bridge between the public and the (extensive but generally arcane) writing on the subject are journalists who choose, however, to titillate readers with tales of blunders and corruption which – far from arousing protest and activism - only serves to develop cynicism and fatalism

It’s interesting that the book which helped spark off the global interest in what became known as New Public Management – Reinventing Government (1992) - was written by a consultant and journalist (David Osborne and Ted Graeber respectively). 
It’s more than time for other journalists and consultants to get the finger out and follow suit

I've offered reading lists before on this subject - but this is my most up-to-date and considered shot yet....

The Best reading on the reform of public services

It’s remarkable how few titles are available to help the concerned citizen (or official) make sense of the “reforms” which have deluged the public sector in the past few decades – whether privatisation, restructuring or austerity. There are, of course, thousands of academic books – but they have a weird focus on arcane and incestuous matters and simply don’t ask the sort of questions most people are interested in….   

The following may appear a long list – of the generalist books from the past 30 years I would recommend to the activist - but the 15 books work out as one every 2 years!!

Dismembered – the ideological attack on the state; Polly Toynbee and D Walker (2017) a clear analysis by two british journalists

“The 21^st century public manager – challenges, people and strategies”; Z van der Wal (2017) An interesting-looking book written by a Dutch academic and consultant who has spent the past  7 years as a Prof at the University of Singapore

Reclaiming Public Services – how cities and citizens are turning back privatisation; TNI (2017) An excellent overview by the radical international think tank of this very welcome trend

How to Run a Government so that Citizens Benefit and Taxpayers don’t go Crazy ; Michael Barber (2015). A clearly written and rare book about the approaches favoured by a consultant who became Tony Blair’s favourite "go-to" fixer

The Fourth Revolution – the global race to reinvent the state; J Micklewaithe and A Woolridge (2015) Editors of no less a journal than The Economist give us a breathless neoliberal analysis

The Tragedy of the Private – the potential of the public; Hilary Wainwright (PSI 2014) an important little pamphlet

Public Sector Reform – but not as we know it; Hilary Wainwright (Unison and TNI 2009) A rare readable case study (Newcastle) of a bottom-up  approach to reform. We need much more of this.....

Leadership for the Common Good; Crosby and Bryson (2^nd edition 2005) Probably the most comprehensive of the practical guides to getting the public services working well. Clicking the title gives the entire 500 pages!

The Essential Public Manager; Chris Pollitt (2003) A great and very practical analysis of the political and technical aspects of the search for effective public services

“The Values of Bureaucracy”; Paul du Gay (2003) Proceedings of an academic conference on du Gay's 2000 book which was a rare attempt to rescue aspects od this all-too-easilymaligned institution. You should be able to access the full book by googling the title – or try clicking this address blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=attachment&id=23845

“The Captive State – the corporate takeover of Britain; George Monbiot” (2000) A powerful critique of the nature and scale of corporate involvement in our public services which first alerted me to the nature of public-private partnerships

In Praise of Bureaucracy; weber, organisation, ethics; Paul du Gay (2000) It may be academic, but is clearly written and has become a classic defence of a much maligned institution. Well reviewed here

Change the World; Robert Quinn (2000) Simply the best analysis of the process of social and organizational change

Creating Public Value – strategic management in government; Mark Moore (1995) One of the few books which actually looks at examples of effective leaders in the public sector. Started a wave of (in-house) discussion which led to what could be the third stage of public admin

Reinventing Government; David Osborne and Graeber (1992) The book which started the New Public Management revolution.

More specialist recommended reads

Supporting small steps – a rough guide for developmental professionals (Manning; OECD 2015)

A Governance Practitioner’s Notebook – alternative ideas and approaches (Whaites et al OECD 2015)

Rethinking policy and politics – reflections on contemporary debates in policy studies ed C Ayres (2014)

Reinventing Organisations; Frederic Laloux (2014)

People, Politics and Change - building communications strategy for governance reform (World Bank 2011)

Governance Reform under Real-World Conditions – citizens, stakeholders and Voice (World Bank 2008)

The 21^st Century Public Servant; C Needham and Mangham (undated) Results of a British research project

The Blacksburg Manifesto and the postmodern debate about PA; Marshall and White (1990)

Public service trade unions

The International Trade Union Confederation

European Trade Unions (ETUC)

https://publicservices.international/resources/publications

Public Services International

TUC (Trade Union Council) UK

Playing Games with a serious issue?

Part of me understands the groans (sometimes more than metaphorical!) which meet the term “public management reform” whenever it comes up in conversation…..

I have sometimes wished we could find a better phrase to do justice to what is, after all, one of the most important issues confronting countries everywhere – namely how we structure and fund the rights and responsibilities we all have ...in order to help make and keep societies secure.

So this post looks at some of the efforts which have been made in the last 20 years to find a less brutal approach to public service management than that represented by New Public Management… 

Just why and how the British adopted NPM – which then became a global pandemic - is a story which is usually told in a fatalistic way – as if there were no human agency involved. One persuasive explanation is given here - as the fatal combination of Ministerial frustration with civil service “dynamic conservatism” (as Donald Schoen would put it) with Public Choice economics offering a seductive explanation for that inertia….  A politico-organisational problem was redefined as an economic one and, heh presto, NPM went global 

The core European systems were, however, different – with legal and constitutional safeguards, Proportional Representation systems and coalition governments – although the EC technocracy has been chipping away at much of this.

”Good governance” ?

This became a fashionable phrase in the 1990s amongst at least policy wonks in the World Bank – although it was aimed mainly at ex-communist and “developing” countries and never really caught on in everyday conversation. One of the ingredients of the rather formulaic “good governance” goulash was anti-corruption measures - which I felt were always basic aspects of sound public management and not a novel add-on….  

“Public Value”?

Mark Moore’s Creating Public Value – strategic management in Government (1995) demonstrated how the passion and example of individual leaders could inspire teams and lift the performance and profile of public services. The decentralisation of American government allowed them that freedom.

British New Labour, however, chose to go in the opposite direction and to build on to what was already a tight centralised system a new quasi-Soviet one of targets and punishment – although this 2002 note, Creating Public Value – an analytical framework for public service reform, showed that there were at least some people  within the Cabinet Office pushing for a more flexible approach.

Measuring Public Value – the competing values approach showed that there was still life in the idea in the UK – if only amongst academics  eg Public Value Management – a new narrative for networked governance by Gerry Stoker in 2006.

Sadly Public Value; theory and practice ed by John Benington and Mark Moore (2011) offered no clarion call to a better society, it was full of dreadful jargon…..Who in his right mind imagines that networked public governance is going to set the heather alight???

“The Common Good”?

One of the things which struck me on rereading some of these references is how academic (apart from Moore’s original book) they are….For example John Bryson’s work on public strategies constitute the best writing on the subject eg Leadership for the Common Good; Crosby and Bryson (2^nd edition 2005) but when I look at the indexes and bibliographies of the material on Public Value, their names and books don’t appear! This shows utter contempt for the practical side of things…..

Quite rightly, the title of their latest book Creating Public Value in Practice – advancing the common good in a ….noone in charge world; ed J Bryson et al (2015) shows that their contribution is much more valuable than that of the academics….. 

“Communitarianism”?

At one stage, I thought that communitarianism – so eloquently served by the indefatigable Amatai Etzioni – held an important key……But I soon realised that it smacked of what Orwell benignly called the sandal-wearers and others, less kind, would call the Calvin sect……

Before I finish let me bring up the neglected issue of….Service.

Like Mark Moore, Chris Pollitt’s The Essential Public Manager (2003) focused on the human aspect of public management by exploring the core attributes and values of those who used to be called “public servants”… It’s a pity that more politicians don’t see themselves as “public servants” – and indeed Pollitt might consider, for the next edition of the book, replacing the word “manager” with that of “servant”; and adding at least one chapter to deal with Ministers…. ….????? And “Public Service Reform” is certainly the better phrase since it removes that offensive word “management”….and takes me to Robert Greenleaf whose On Becoming a servant leader (1996) is a book I sometimes turn to for inspiration.

Greenleaf was a thoughtful senior manager with corporate giant AT and T who took early retirement in 1964 to set up a foundation to develop his ideas about leadership - which had a clear influence on writers such as Stephen Covey and Peter Senge. These two management gurus preached/preach in the 90s a softer approach to the subject – while avoiding the explicit critique evident in the later work of, for example, Canadian Henry Mintzberg, one of the rare management writers to break ranks  and call big business to account – in his 2014 pamphlet Rebalancing Society – radical renewal beyond left, right and center. As early as 1970 Greenleaf wrote an article which set out the main elements of his approach - The Servant as Leader (1970). His continuing influence on at least some management writing can be seen here

In conclusion

This has been quite a romp – which has taken me longer to craft than my normal post. But, from my point of view at least, has been very useful….

 “Good government”, “Public service reform”, “networked public governance”, “public value”, “communitarianism”, “the Common Good”……what is it to be????  Perhaps I should do a straw poll?

But it has left me with one conclusion….that there are two significant sets of voices we don’t hear in most of these texts – the officials who run the services and the citizens who experience them. Last week I discussed the notion of public service ventures in the shape of cooperatives; and this is an issue which really does need to be pushed more strongly…….

 Further Reading

From NPM to Public Value (2007) – a useful academic overview

Public Value and Leadership; 2007 – a mercifully short and clear paper on the subject

Public Value; conjecture and refutation (2010) – a good academic overview with an emphasis on ethical consideration

Appraising public value; past, present and futures (2011) is an excellent review of the literature in the first 15 years of the concept’s life

Stocktake of a concept (2015) – a clear exposition of the development of an idea

Designing the model of public value management; (2015) How the concept is seen in Romanian academia

Creating Public Value in Practice – advancing the common good in a ….noone in charge world; ed J Bryson et al (2015), 

Comparison of public value frameworks (2016) a good academic assessment

To be continued