Clash of public administration paradigms in delegation of education and elderly care services in a post-socialist state (Poland)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the clash of concurrent perspectives (Public Administration (PA), New Public Management (NPM) and New Public Governance (NPG)) in the area of delegating public services by local governments to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in education and the elderly care sector in Poland. The article is based on 22 case studies of service delegation throughout Poland, carried out at the University of Warsaw in 2013 as part of an Innovative Project within the framework of the EC Human Capital Programme.

Workforce Policy and Care Quality in English Long-term Elder Care

“…Indeed, we demonstrate more positive outcomes in the statutory than the independent sector. External service provision does not always achieve the envisaged improvements (Schmid, 2003;Kordasiewicz & Sadura, 2016), and when care is delivered in the independent sector, cost-based commissioning mitigates against good employment practice (Cunningham et al, 2014;Grimshaw et al, 2015) and ultimately care quality. Yet in a policy context in which neoliberal principles are deeply embedded, we do not envisage a move away from NPM, market-based approaches, and a return to the statutory provision of ASC.…”

Ageing and Caring in Rural Environments: Cross-National Insights from Central Europe

“…The policies which determine the quantity and quality of care services are drafted at the local level, with care allocations based on family and financial situations. By in large, the care needs of older people are mostly met by the immediate family, neighbours and relatives, and in some cases by directly employed migrant carers (Perek-Białas and Slany 2015; Kordasiewicz and Sadura 2017). Non-governmental care organisations for older people are rare in rural areas (Turek and Perek-Białas 2014).…”

Foxes and Lions: How Institutional Leaders Keep Organisational Integrity and Introduce Change

“…Theoretical considerations presented in this chapter develop empirical findings from multiple case studies of Polish public administration entities struggling to adapt to field-level changes in governance patterns (Bevir, 2011;Gilardi & Radaelli, 2012;Strumińska-Kutra, 2018), particularly to environmental pressures for more inclusive and participatory public management. With the emergence of these pressures, public agencies in many Western and Central-Eastern European (CEE) countries have begun to function within institutional pluralism-between the traditional, hierarchically oriented paradigm of public administration (PA), the market-oriented paradigm of New Public Management (NPM), and the network-oriented paradigm of New Public Governance (NPG) (Kordasiewicz & Sadura, 2017). Each of these paradigms prioritises different logics, promotes different values and delivers a different frame for their interpretation.…”