Productive Resistance within the Korean Public Sector: Exploring Organisational Culture

The article examines how South Korean civil servants responded to the introduction of pay for performance. Drawing upon 31 in-depth interviews with career civil servants, it identifies what became known as 1/n, a form of ‘discreet resistance’ that emerged and evolved. The analytical framework allows productive resistance to be seen as ebbing and flowing during organisational change that sees institutionalisation, deinstitutionalisation and re-institutionalisation. In understanding the cultural context of organisational resistance the contribution is three-fold. First, a nuanced definition and understanding of productive resistance. Second, it argues that productive resistance must be seen as part of a process that does not simply reflect ‘offer and counter-offer’ within the change management process. Thirdly, it identifies differences within groups and sub-cultures concerning commitment towards resistance and how these fissures contribute towards change as new interpretive schemes and justifications are presented in light of policy reformulations.     

Examining the Relationship between Civil Servant Perceptions of Organizational Culture and Job Attitudes: in the Context of the New Public Management Reform in South Korea

This study investigates the relationship between public officials’ perceptions of organizational culture and their job attitudes, particularly emphasizing a mediating role of job satisfaction under the new public management reform in South Korea. Data collected from Korean civil servants indicate that perceptions of the competing values rooted in different organizational culture types—clan, market, hierarchy, and adhocracy—differentially affect their job attitudes. In addition, the findings show the mediating influence of job satisfaction between public officials’ perceptions of organizational culture and organizational commitment.     

Public Servants’ Trust in Citizens: An Extension of Theory and an Empirical Examination with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)

This study examined trust that public servants have in citizens. We build on the reciprocal nature of trust and applied Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test both the antecedents to public servants?? trust in citizens (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational politics, public sector motivation and generalized trust) and several of its potential outcomes (exit, voice, loyalty, neglect and cynicism) among Israeli civic servants. A revised and improved model found that organizational politics and generalized trust are the strongest predictors of public servants?? trust in citizens and that exit intention is its major outcome. Implications and suggestions for future studies are presented.     

Public Sector Reform in Denmark: Organizational Transformation and Evaluation

Public sector reform in Denmark has not been studied extensively, despite the country's tireless reorganization efforts and track record of trying new ideas. This article thus seeks to fill a gap in the literature. It does this by examining the reorganization of the public sector in terms of the transformation of organizations, and by assessing how successive governments have evaluated the initiatives taken with the aim of knowing whether or not reorganization has worked. The discussion shows that reorganization has been incremental and pragmatic, and that governments have rarely evaluated their reorganization efforts in any systematic way. One of the primary reasons for this has been the desire of politicians and top civil servants to have political and administrative flexibility and freedom to seize on strategic opportunities, unconstrained by the findings of detailed evaluations.     

Dimensionality of Counterproductive Work Behaviors in Public Sector Organizations of Pakistan

This study attempts to analyze dimensionality of Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB) in public sector organizations of Pakistan. Previous studies identified different dimensions of CWB but they lack discussion on some unique counter work behaviors which are facts of life in public sector organizations of many developing countries including Pakistan. Analysis of data collected from 785 public servants in Pakistan indicate that theoretical debate on dimensionality of CWB is not exhaustive unless corruption is considered a major dimension of CWB in public sector organizations.     

The neglected mediating role of self-efficacy in the goal setting process in local public administrations

To analyse the role of self-efficacy in goal setting in public administrations, this study combines goal-setting theory, public service motivation literature and cognitive theory. Using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), survey data from 105 German civil servants are analysed. The results underline the role of goal setting (represented by goal difficulty and specificity) in determining the self-efficacy of public servants. Public service motivation and goal specificity both increase public servants’ work performance; however, the effects of goal difficulty are negatively mediated by the employee’s self-efficacy. That finding reflects the central role of self-efficacy, which should not be ignored in the goal-setting processes of public administrations.     

Implementing Meritocracy in Senior Public Administration: the Dilemma for Chilean Politicians

This article addresses the question of whether politicians are willing to overcome patronage by creating a merit-based recruitment and selection system of the senior civil servants with the purpose of making public administration more effective. To answer the question the paper analyses the Chilean administrative reform of 2003. It concludes that the reform created a hybrid system of appointment of top civil servants: one with elements of meritocracy but restricted to the members of the political coalition in power. Information came from 67 interviews to key actors, official documents, academic literature and the press.     

Servant Leadership in the Public Sector: Employee Perspective

Public Organization Review - The purpose of this study is to explore how servant leadership affects public sector employee engagement, organisational ethical climate, and public sector reform, of...     

Operational research in government and planning

This paper analyses the difficulties encountered by OR in the field of government and planning, difficulties due to the sociological nature of the executive and the administrative systems and to the psychology of ministers and civil servants. To improve this situation the paper suggests (1) changes in the composition of OR teams and the competence of their members (collaboration of model-builders and “reformers”, improvement of knowledge of basic sciences by model-builders, long experience of reorganization of reformers, sufficient familiarity with the public sector); (2) transformations in the mode of realization of studies (definition of problems, choices of objectives and criteria, reasoning in terms of general systems, costing, ...); (3) definition of a long-term policy for OR research-teams; (4) modifications in the relations between teams and decision-makers; (5) introduction of OR in the functioning of the democratic systems.     

Intelligent Public Organisations

The article explores the nature of the intelligence and organisational learning of public sector organisations with regard to both individual organisations and multiple organisational ecosystems. The main ideas behind modern systems theory (MST) and the logic developed by the MST theorists in the domain of organisational intelligence are pinpointed in the paper. The article presupposes that the basic structure of the organisational features of intelligence consists of leadership, strategy and foresight, people, partnerships and resources, and organisational processes, and the intelligence builds on these features. The article concludes with an explicit definition of the organisational activities that generate organisational intelligence, putting forward best practice examples with regard to these activities while also presenting scientific evidence to back up these claims.     

从语言翻译角度分析巾国公务员跨文化交流问题

公务员作为我国社会的一个特殊群体,在跨文化交流中承载着重要的作用。参与跨文化交流的公务员并非每个人都要成为专业翻译人员,但从追求跨文化交流工作尽善尽美的角度讲,每一个身处其中的公务员都应当从语言翻译的角度审视一下自己的跨文化交流能力,从而不断完善自我,精益求精。这既是公务员这一身份的要求,同时也是时代发展的要求。语言翻译是一种技能、一种手段,也是跨文化交流研究的一个视角。本文正是通过这个视角对公务员在跨文化交流中应当注意的五大类问题进行分析,并在应对策略方面做了相应研究。文章将翻译作为衡量公务员跨文化交流的一个尺度,从语言翻译的视角来归纳和剖析中国公务员跨文化交流中遇到的问题,以求在发现和解决问题的同时,培养公务员正确的跨文化交流思维方式和行为模式。     

The Challenge of Coordination in Central Government Organizations: The Norwegian Case

This paper addresses coordination problems in central government by focusing on the Norwegian case. The main research questions are: What are the experiences of civil servants concerning horizontal and vertical coordination, and internal and external coordination? What is the relative importance of structural, demographic and cultural variables for explaining variations in civil servants’ perception of coordination? The data base is a questionnaire to civil servants in ministries and central agencies in 2006. The main findings are that there are more problems with horizontal coordination than with vertical coordination; that coordination problems are bigger in central agencies than in ministries; and that a low level of mutual trust tends to aggravate coordination problems.     

浅析从严治理与人本管理在公务员管理中的契合

当前，从严治理公务员队伍，改进公务员作风，严惩公务员腐败，已经成为公务员管理的主题。如此同时，在现代人本管理的总体潮流的影响下，在公务员管理中注入人本管理的理念和方法，体现人性化关怀与尊重，保障他们的合法权利对于调动公务员的工作积极性与创造性是十分必要的，因此，本文就如何实现从严治理与人本管理在公务员管理中实现完整的契合和互补进行探讨。     

The façade of consultancy in the Fiji public service

In any common definition consultancy entails the provision of advice to improve the status quo. This paper examines the notion of consultancy in the Fiji public service and highlights the consultancy qualities and their contextual application in Fiji's case. The examination of the role of internal consultancy necessitates a discussion of the general framework of Fiji's political system, in particular the decision-making process, and the cultural values and practices dominant in the public service. The contemporary notion of political neutrality of the public service requires that civil servants are endowed with the qualities of ‘disinterestedness’. The character of the public service is, therefore, emphasised as ‘precise, soulless and machine-like’. This, however, is difficult to achieve in a society divided in two along ethnic lines. The paper argues that while civil servants carry out consultancy functions they are not recognised as such and the boundary between consultancy and project management is blurred by the job and work environment in the public service.     

Performance Decline and Turnaround in Public Organizations: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis*

Public sector performance is currently a significant issue for management practice and policy, and especially the turnaround of those organizations delivering less than acceptable results. Theories of organizational failure and turnaround derive largely from the business sector and require adaptation to the public service. The performance of public organizations is more complex to measure, is related to institutional norms, and the idea of ‘failure’ is problematic. Empirical findings from a real‐time, longitudinal study of poorly performing English local authorities are used to develop an initial theory of performance failure and turnaround suited to public organizations. The paper argues that the typical performance of public organizations over time is cyclical. Where cognition and leadership capability are absent, organizations fail to self‐initiate turnaround. In this situation authoritative external intervention is necessary. The strategies applied are principally concerned with building a leadership capability that engages senior politicians and managers in order to overcome inertia and collective action problems. The theory is presented in the form of seven propositions that provide a basis for further research across the public sector.     

The Failure of Theory to Predict the Way Public Sector Organisation Responds to its Organisational Environment and the Need for a Mosaic-View of Organisational Theory

What does theory predict about the way government size and structure adapts to changes in government’s organisational environment (particularly to uncertainty and complexity)? In this paper, we review the theory and evidence from the literature about the way government size adjusts to such changes -- particularly to changes in macroeconomic fundamentals like gross national product (GDP). We find that the traditional theories from the organisational theory literature—like the contingency-based view, resource-based view and the rational choice view -- fail to provide global explanations for much of the variation we see in the world around us. Instead, theorists need to adopt a “mosaic view” of organisational theory -- accepting that different theories may explain the way public sector size and structure responds to the uncertainty and variability in its (macroeconomic) organisational environment. We also provide several empirical hypotheses to test such a mosaic-view.     

Research into the psychological contract: Two Australian perspectives

Despite their increasing relevance, employees' psychological contracts have attracted little research attention in Australia. The present paper presents two studies, which examined the psychological contracts of specific cohorts of professional employees and those in a managerial career track. The first study was an in-depth qualitative investigation of research scientists in an Australian public sector research organisation. They were found to have a strong professional affiliation and had developed psychological contracts that were best understood by reference to the ‘ideological currency’ of the scientific community. The second study was a quantitative examination of 156 MBA students at an Australian university, and how their psychological contracts could be related to perceptions of the contextual variables of organisational justice, perceived organisational support and external employability. Organisational justice and perceived organisational support were found to be related to the nature of the psychological contracts measured, but perceptions of external employability were not.     

Expectations and the performance of governance functions between a board,management and other stakeholders: the case of Robotdalen

Previous research has called for an enhanced understanding of the dynamic and interactional aspects of board work in public sector governance. Using a longitudinal case study of Robotdalen, this paper attempts to meet this call through a processual and qualitative study of board work in public organisations. The aim of the paper is to enhance our understanding of the human side of governance and the interactions between a board, the management in the governed organisation and other stakeholders. We do this by addressing the theoretical concept of an expectations gap. The results demonstrated how funding regimes influence governance functions, structures and practices at the organisational level, and how internal actors such as managers also carry out governance functions. Moreover, the results show how an expectations gap shifts and changes over time. In this way we have contributed a more nuanced theoretical understanding of how the governance function is co-produced and the importance of understanding the expectations gap to further understand the dynamics of public sector board work.     

Perceptions of Civil Servants Toward Privatization and Development: A New Exploratory Study

This study examines the perceptions of civil servants towards privatization with respect to national development. Using case studies and official interview data, it also examines the efficacy and effectiveness of privatization programs in a developing country, Bangladesh. The study rejects the conventional beliefs about the role of bureaucracies as anti-privatization by revealing that civil servants of Bangladesh have positive perceptions towards privatization with respect to national development. The study, however, finds no significant differences in the perceptions of different levels of civil servants towards privatization with respect to national development; they all share a common goal. Research demonstrates that civil servants generally believe that privatization positively affects economic, social, political and administrative development, although it negatively affects equity, fairness and social justice issues by widening the gap between the rich and the poor. Additionally, the study demonstrates that privatization is not conducive to employee empowerment.

Women and training: an empirical investigation in the Arab Middle East

Few studies have explored the professional training experiences of Arab women within the contexts of learning organisational cultures and relevant human resource development (HRD) practices. Capitalising on in-depth, face-to-face interviews, this study explores the experiences of women managers in Lebanon with professional training and organisational learning. The findings demonstrate the paucity of professional training and learning opportunities for women and illustrate how organisational discrimination and gender-biased cultures and tension influence women’s learning. To overcome these barriers and alleviate organisational tension, the Lebanese women managers capitalise on their agency and individual capacities to improve their training experiences and increase their access to learning opportunities. By virtue of individual agency and through their agentic process, the careerists shape their training and overall learning by being adaptive and developing structures of action that enable them to advance their learning. The results have important implications for HR managers and HRD scholars. They also extend our understanding of the importance, or lack thereof, of the learning culture within an organisation.