Comparing Autonomy and Control of Agencies

Verhoest, Koen; Roness, Paul G.; Verschuere, Bram; Rübecksen, Kristin; MacCárthaigh, Muiris

doi:10.1057/9780230277274_11

Cited by 12 publications

(51 citation statements)

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“…Another caveat in existing measurements can be identified. The development of BC is, as Gaillmard and Patty (2007) highlight, endogenous to the relationship between the principle and the agent – with other operationalizations, such as the use of number of employees in an organization (Chalmers, 2014; Verhoest et al., 2010) being exogenous to that relationship. According to Gaillmard and Patty’s (2007: 875) theoretical model, politicization emerges as an independent variable of capacity, as it provides policy-interested bureaucrats with incentives to aquire expertise.…”

Section: Bureaucratic Capacitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining perceptions of autonomy in the last chain of delegation

Silva

Jalali

2018

Public Policy and Administration

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This article explores the impact of consolidated principles of delegation on top civil servants’ perceptions of autonomy in management and policy-making processes across European parliamentary democracies. Particular attention is devoted to the extent to which bureaucratic capacity can be equated as a principle of delegation, considering the lenses and perspectives of bureaucrats instead of relying on politicians’ formal mechanisms to control bureaucratic activities. Empirically, this article is based on a large-scale study survey of senior public executives applied in eight European countries. While consolidated principles of delegation seem to be able to explain perceptions of autonomy across parliamentary democracies, results also suggest the importance of including bureaucratic capacity as a predictor of autonomy in the last chain of delegation. This emerges as one of the strongest explanatory variables of perceptions of managerial autonomy, regardless of the hierarchical position of respondents. However, it does not impact on bureaucrats’ perception of policy autonomy, as respondents’ position within the administrative state and the distinct traits of national public bureaucracies in Europe have a greater impact on the delegation of authority.

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Section: Bureaucratic Capacitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining perceptions of autonomy in the last chain of delegation

Silva

Jalali

2018

Public Policy and Administration

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“…Agencies have been described variously internationally as non-departmental public bodies, quangos and quasi-autonomous public organizations (Christensen and Lægreid 2006; Roness 2007). How an agency is defined and what it does varies considerably across national and organizational cultures, legal systems and political systems (Verhoest et al 2010). We will focus on public sector organizations that have the following features (Pollitt et al 2004): (1) they are public law bodies; (2) they are structurally disaggregated from other organizations or from units within core departments; (3) they have some capacity for autonomous decision-making with regard to management or policy; (4) they are formally under at least some control by ministers and departments; (5) they have some expectation of continuity over time; and (6) they have some resources (financial and personnel) of their own.…”

Section: Relevance To Public Sector Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining the Innovative Culture and Activities of State Agencies

Lægreid

Roness

Verhoest³

2011

Organization Studies

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In this article we examine the innovative culture and activity of 121 Norwegian and Flemish state agencies, based on an analysis of survey data. We examine variations in innovative culture and activity from a structural-instrumental perspective, a cultural-institutional perspective, a task-related perspective and an environmental-institutional perspective. We use regression analyses to reveal the effect of managerial autonomy, result control, agency size, agency age, organizational performance culture, individual incentive culture, service delivery tasks, source of income and geographical location on innovative culture and activity. The main findings are that the level of innovation is fairly high in state agencies. Secondly, an organizational culture oriented towards organizational performance and individual incentives has a significant impact on both innovative culture and activity. Having service delivery as a main task and a large budget also makes a difference. Although NPM doctrine assumes that managerial autonomy and result-oriented control will enhance innovative culture and activity, we found no direct effect of these variables when we controlled for other variables. Result-oriented control does, however, have an indirect effect on innovative activity.

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“…The politico‐administrative regime approach, with its focus on the impact on administrative reform trajectories, has won increasing prominence in the public administration field (Pollitt & Bouckaert, ). Basically, it is argued that politico‐administrative systems have the potential to shaping administrative reform trajectories (Knill, ; Christensen & Lægreid, , Verhoest et al., , Painter and Peters ). As such, they constrain and enable political choice.…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scandinavian Higher Education Governance—Pursuing Similar Goals Through Different Organizational Arrangements

Bleiklie¹,

Michelsen²

2019

European Policy Analysis

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The differences and similarities among the three Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have been discussed by social scientists on several occasions. Focusing on higher education (HE) governance systems, this paper raises three questions. (1) What are the differences and similarities among the three countries? (2) How can the similarities and differences be explained? (3) Are the similarities strong enough to justify the common label of a Scandinavian model of HE governance? The three HE governance systems are briefly described and compared. They are then analyzed as, respectively, outcomes of partisan politics or politico-administrative regimes. The paper argues that similarities such as publicness, massive investments, and emphasis on access are best explained in terms of partisan politics, while the variation in governance arrangements can best be explained by path dependencies following choices made at critical junctures within similar politicoadministrative regimes.Gobernanza de educaci on superior en Escandinavia -Perseguir objetivos similares a trav es de diferentes configuraciones organizacionales Los cient ıficos sociales han discutido las diferencias y similitudes entre los tres pa ıses escandinavos, Dinamarca, Noruega y Suecia en varias ocasiones. Centr andose en los sistemas de gobierno de la educaci on superior (HE), este documento plantea tres preguntas. (1) ¿Cu ales son las diferencias y 190 similitudes entre los tres pa ıses? (2) ¿C omo pueden explicarse las similitudes y diferencias? (3) ¿Son las similitudes lo suficientemente fuertes como para justificar la etiqueta com un de un modelo escandinavo de gobierno de la HE? Los tres sistemas de gobernanza de HE se describen y comparan brevemente. Luego se analizan como resultados respectivos de pol ıticas partidistas o reg ımenes pol ıtico-administrativos. El documento sostiene que las similitudes, como el car acter p ublico, las inversiones masivas y el enfasis en el acceso, se explican mejor en t erminos de pol ıticas partidistas, mientras que la variaci on en los acuerdos de gobernabilidad puede explicarse mejor por las dependencias de la trayectoria siguiendo las decisiones tomadas en coyunturas cr ıticas dentro de reg ımenes pol ıticoadministrativos similares.PALABRAS CLAVES: pol ıticas p ublicas, administraci on p ublica, educaci on superior, pol ıticas partisanas, reg ımenes pol ıticos administrativos

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Comparing Autonomy and Control of Agencies

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Explaining perceptions of autonomy in the last chain of delegation

Explaining perceptions of autonomy in the last chain of delegation

Explaining the Innovative Culture and Activities of State Agencies

Scandinavian Higher Education Governance—Pursuing Similar Goals Through Different Organizational Arrangements

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