Shared Services: Lessons from the Public and Private Sectors for the Nonprofit Sector

Walsh, Peter; McGregor-Lowndes, Myles; Newton, Cameron

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8500.2008.00582.x

Cited by 44 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Besides the already mentioned studies, I investigated other areas of knowledge in management to gain insights and concepts for my research. For instance, the discussion on the appropriateness of the use of industry management practices in the public sector (Hughes, 2012;Pollitt, 1990;Flynn, 2007); the positive impacts of the use of SSCs in the public sector (Paagman et al, 2015;Goff, 2005;Janssen & Joha, 2006); the reformist movement New Public Management (NPM), that defends the adoption of successful practices of the private enterprise in the Civil Service, and favoured the adoption of the SSCs by governments in countries like the USA and the UK (Hood, 1995b;Pollitt & Summa, 1997); the comparisons between the practices of management in the public and private sectors (Hammer, 2007;Walsh et al, 2008;Denhardt & Denhardt, 2007); and Knowledge Translation, concept that explains how to move knowledge (e.g. a shared services centre model) from one context (e.g.…”

Section: Research Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Influencing the Performance of Shared Services Centres

Ferreira¹

2018

Preprint

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The efficient use of public money is a concern of all society. The more efficient the government machinery, the smaller the portion of funds raised assigned to operating costs and more invested in health, education, security, and transport, for instance. Shared service centres (SSCs) have contributed to this, allowing billions of dollars cost cut in the public service in several countries. However, cases of SSCs failures are causing billion-dollar losses, and it is necessary to understand and overcome the causes of failures. This scenery has motivated me to study the factors that contribute to the performance of SSCs and to explore whether there are SSCs models in the public sector that are simply copies of SSCs models of the private sector (without the necessary adaptations). Three objectives were established for the research: to analyse the factors that could influence the performance of SSC; to investigate to which extent there are significant differences between private and public SSCs; and to analyse if there are evidence of copy problems. Also, a principal research question: to what extent does factors such as culture, leadership, resources and readiness for change, influence on service excellence, market orientation and performance of Shared Services Centres? An action research design was defined with a mixed, quantitative and qualitative approach. The quantitative approach refers to a conceptual model with seven constructs (culture, leadership, resources, readiness for change, service excellence, market orientation, and performance), individually validated by previous studies. This proposed model was validated empirically through a survey with 146 SSCs respondents from countries like the USA, the UK, Canada, and Brazil, and the research hypotheses were confirmed. On the qualitative approach, were applied open-ended questions submitted later to content analysis, and the quantitative and qualitative results were discussed with an Action Learning Set ii composed of SSC managers and public-sector experts. The main findings were the confirmation of the proposed model variables' relationship, influencing the SSC performance. This allows managers to establish actions to improve the similar dimensions of their SSC, improving the overall performance. It was also confirmed the existence of significant differences in the context of public SSCs operation regarding the private. These findings were also discussed in the Action Learning Set and resulted in eight measures proposed for the best adaptation of public SSC models to the reality of the public sector. For further research, I suggest investigating whether the SSCs of the public sector have in fact the minimum requirements to be classified as SSCs or are just departments that centralised services from other areas and were named SSC for convenience. Another opportunity for research is to verify to what extent the New Public Management has been successful in encouraging the adoption of SSCs, e.g. in countries like the UK and the US, so that they were more oriented to their clients, as this research found evidence there are public SSCs not oriented to their customers.

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Section: Research Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Influencing the Performance of Shared Services Centres

Ferreira¹

2018

Preprint

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“…Willingness to pay a higher membership fee also may reflect greater trust in the organization's financial management and stability (Hodge and Piccolo ; Wicker, Longley, and Breuer ). High membership fees may also restrict membership to those loyal to the current mission and its director (AbouAssi ; Walsh, McGregor‐Lowndes, and Newton ). This loyalty may result in a more trusting relationship with and more deference to the director as the decision maker.…”

Section: Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Locations of Decision Makers in Membership Organizations

AbouAssi

Tschirhart

Makhlouf

2017

Nonprofit Mgmnt & Ldrshp

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Few studies have theorized and empirically tested variation in location of decision making in NGOs and relationship of decision location choices to accountability dimensions. Using a sample of Lebanese NGOs legally registered as membership organizations, we examine if their budget size and level of member dues, along with dependence on donors interested in democratic governance, predict who participates in their decision-making process through involvement in preparing and formally approving the annual budget, financial records, and work plan. Our study reveals the reality of shared leadership in these organizations and suggests the value of considering the location of decision making for NGO leaders and the government regulators and funders who wish to encourage democratic processes within membership organizations.

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“…Philly311 provides shared services to city departments through its consolidated channel for service requests and complaints. Shared services promise chiefly three benefits: reduced costs, improved quality of services, and fewer distractions [3,10,23]. One interviewee addressed Philly311's moderate (but not as much as expected) effect in saving the City's administrative costs.…”

Section: -Driven Changes In Service Deliverymentioning

confidence: 99%

Transforming city government

Nam

Pardo

2012

Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance

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This paper describes the transformation of a city government led by a 311 program, which provides a consolidated channel for nonemergency services and information. The paper first discusses the concept of "smart city" as a foundation for the examination of the 311 program as a practice of government innovation. The paper then presents the details of the 311 program as instantiated in the City of Philadelphia. In-depth interviews with Philadelphia City government officials and managers responsible for creating and operating the City's 311 system (Philly311) offer insights into the contributions the system is making to a more efficient, effective, transparent, accountable, and collaborative city government. Performance data provided by Philly311 enables more efficient resource allocation and informed decision making. Philly311 is credited with making the process of service delivery more transparent to the public, and providing traceability of requested services which imbues service departments with a sense of accountability. Service level agreements are providing measurable standards of municipal services and are used to support accountability in terms of service status. Regular reviews of service level agreements and content of the system are also recognized as promoting interdepartmental collaboration. 311 systems are broadly recognized as powerful tools to engage residents in improving their neighborhoods. Institutionalizing interdepartmental collaborations emerged from the interviews as a critical capability in advancing from the initiation stage of Philly311-like systems to operations and refinement.

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Shared Services: Lessons from the Public and Private Sectors for the Nonprofit Sector

Cited by 44 publications

References 7 publications

Factors Influencing the Performance of Shared Services Centres

Factors Influencing the Performance of Shared Services Centres

Locations of Decision Makers in Membership Organizations

Transforming city government

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