Designing Effective Civil Service Reform Lessons From Past Experience

Repucci, Sarah

doi:10.1002/pad.1684

Cited by 25 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The political will of the country's leadership is a key factor in the success of reform efforts (Wood et al ., ). Hence, effective civil service reforms are so fundamental to the system that they cannot take place without the agreement of the most powerful players within it (Repucci, : 210). However, decision makers do not operate in a vacuum.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forgoing New Public Management and Adopting Post‐New Public Management Principles: The On‐Going Civil Service Reform in Israel

Cohen

2016

Public Admin & Development

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Summary Since the 1980s, New Public Management (NPM) and post‐NPM reforms have dominated attempts to improve public administration. The literature suggests several reasons for the latter approach. However, these explanations seem to be less relevant to the ongoing civil service reforms in Israel. The Israeli experience is an example where NPM reforms did not occur, but post‐NPM reforms were adopted enthusiastically decades later. Our findings demonstrate how under the structural conditions of both non‐governability and bureaucratic centralization, post‐NPM reforms may provide an attractive layering strategy, offering the option of changing certain features of the system without requiring a drastic, comprehensive overhaul of it. Once Israeli decision makers decided that there was a real public demand for reform, and long‐term learning and diffusion processes convinced them that change was needed, the characteristics of the post‐NPM approach made it much easier politically for them to adopt. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forgoing New Public Management and Adopting Post‐New Public Management Principles: The On‐Going Civil Service Reform in Israel

Cohen

2016

Public Admin & Development

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“…Provincial education departments were selected as objects of this study not only because of their high policy priority but also because they are the single largest spending agencies in the provincial sphere, collectively comprising just over 40 per cent of the aggregate provincial expenditure in 2014(South Africa. National Treasury, 2015.…”

Section: Sample and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The table also reflects the average PFMP index score between 2007/2008 and 2009/2010 and between 2009/2010 and Table 3. Provincial education department PFMP index, 2007/2008/2014PFMP index 2007/20082008/20092009/20102010/2014 Source: Own calculations based on data from the National Treasury and Auditor-General. 2013/2014, which enables the comparison of the average performance of each PED across these two periods.…”

Section: Sample and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Financial Management Reform in South African Provincial Basic Education Departments

Ajam

Fourie

2016

Public Admin. Dev.

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SUMMARY Since the transition to democracy in 1994, the South African government has engaged in a sustained programme of public financial management (PFM) reform across the national, provincial and local spheres of government. This study evaluates the progress of the nine provincial education departments (PEDs) in implementing the Public Finance Management Act of 1999 and explores the factors that facilitated or impeded reform. A PFM progress (PFMP) index is constructed to track each PED's performance from 1997/1998 to 2013/2014 and then used to benchmark its progress over time and relative to the education sector as a whole. The indicators comprising the PFMP index assess key PFM functions (budgeting, accounting, financial auditing and audits of performance information), financial leadership and the effectiveness of governance institutions such as audit committees. While there has been considerable progress in PFM, distinct differences in the quality and effectiveness of PFM practices across the nine PEDs remain. Stable top administrative leadership, availability of PFM skills, varying degrees of accountability and departmental capacity to establish PFM systems that conform to new accounting standards drive variances in reform outcomes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…Recently, development agencies have indicated a growing willingness to engage in greater experimentation, signaling a change from the inertia which Repucci () diagnosed earlier. DfID's adoption of “Smart Rules” in 2014, USAID establishment of a US Global Development Lab in 2014, and similar efforts by other agencies offer some fertile ground for deliberately testing proposed new approaches and for engaging in greater monitoring and documentation of where and how these might deliver progress.…”

Section: Summary and Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Form to Function to Sustainable Solutions? Reforming Public Sectors in Low Income Countries: New Approaches and Available Evidence of “What Works”

Fritz

2016

Public Admin & Development

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Summary The article reviews the evidence about success of public sector reforms in low and middle income countries, external support for such reforms, and recent ideas of how such support could be better designed and implemented. Enthusiasm for supporting public sector reforms has decreased over the past decade, and available data suggest that there has been little overall improvement. However, it also indicates that a small number of countries have significantly strengthened their public sectors over the past 10 to 20 years. The article then reviews five new approaches that have been proposed for better supporting public sector reforms. It looks at how they diagnose what has not worked and the implications of what should be carried out differently. Furthermore, it explores to what extent the available evidence of overall stagnation as well as of success cases fits with these proposed alternatives, to gauge to what extent they are likely to make a difference. The final section sets out the implications. Development agencies should seek to deliberately test a combination of the proposed alternative approaches, particularly in more difficult contexts, taking political feasibility as a basis and adding other elements. The urgency to make progress remains high. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Designing Effective Civil Service Reform Lessons From Past Experience

Cited by 25 publications

References 6 publications

Forgoing New Public Management and Adopting Post‐New Public Management Principles: The On‐Going Civil Service Reform in Israel

Forgoing New Public Management and Adopting Post‐New Public Management Principles: The On‐Going Civil Service Reform in Israel

Public Financial Management Reform in South African Provincial Basic Education Departments

From Form to Function to Sustainable Solutions? Reforming Public Sectors in Low Income Countries: New Approaches and Available Evidence of “What Works”

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