PPPs and the Changing Public Sector Ethos: Case-Study Evidence from the Health and Local Authority Sectors
PPPs and the Changing Public Sector Ethos: Case-Study Evidence from the Health and Local Authority Sectors
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PPP 和不断变化的公共部门精神：来自卫生和地方当局部门的案例研究证据
DOI：
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发表时间：
2003
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
M. Marchington
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Gail Hebson;D. Grimshaw;M. Marchington
本文探讨了通过公私伙伴关系 (PPP) 提供公共服务的新合同方法在多大程度上改变了管理者和工人之间支撑公共部门精神的传统价值观。借鉴 PPP 的两个详细案例研究（卫生部门的私人融资计划和地方政府部门的住房福利索赔外包），我们确定了一系列影响公共部门精神传统概念的五个关键要素的新压力。我们的研究结果表明，PPP 的合同关系明显削弱了传统的管理问责制和官僚行为观念，反映出向新的问责制（私营部门股东）的转变以及伙伴组织之间监督和不信任的恶性循环，取代了对官僚程序的旧有信心。在工人中，某些传统价值观——尤其是对公共利益工作的关注——继续影响着他们对提供公共服务的工作的认同和理解。然而，与 PPP 相关的成本削减和工作集约化对这些价值观构成了重大威胁。本文列举了传统公共部门精神的短期弹性的例子，以及威胁其长期生存的发展。
This article explores the extent to which a new contractual approach to delivering public services, through public private partnerships (PPPs), is transforming the traditional values underpinning the public sector ethos among both managers and workers. Drawing on two detailed case studies of PPPs - a Private Finance Initiative in the health sector and the outsourcing of housing benefit claims in the local government sector - we identify a range of new pressures impacting on five key elements of a traditional notion of the public sector ethos. Our findings demonstrate that the contractual relations of PPPs have led to a clear weakening of traditional notions of managerial accountability and bureaucratic behaviour, reflecting both a shift to new lines of accountability (private sector shareholders) and a vicious circle of monitoring and distrust between partner organizations, in place of the old faith in bureaucratic process. Among workers, certain traditional values - especially a concern for working in the public interest - continue to inform the way they identify with, and understand, their work in delivering public services. However, the cost cutting and work intensification associated with PPPs present a significant threat to these values.The article identifies examples of short-term resilience of the traditional public sector ethos, as well as developments that threaten its long-term survival.