bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Funding the vision: the Access Colorado Library and Information Network
Authors: Bolt Nancy M.
Published: July 2002

Describes the vision, development, initial and ongoing funding of the Access Colorado Library and Information Network (ACLIN). ACLIN is fully accessible and free to any Colorado resident with a computer and modem. It provides access to the holdings of 175 libraries and 25 databases, including the Colorado Legislative Database. Describes the strategies used to build both public and private partnerships, obtain federal and state partnerships, and establish both a technical infrastructure and training mechanisms. Also considers ongoing policy and budgeting issues.
Two libraries, one direction
Authors: Zappen Susan H.
Published: July 2002

Compares New York’s Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Skidmore College, two very different institutions with very different libraries. Both libraries are challenged by higher costs for serials. Both have cancelled serials. Although very different, both libraries are moving in the same direction: increasing electronic access; introducing full‐text electronic journals; and participating in collaborative efforts among libraries to provide access to information. Neither library is a trend setter. Believes that their choices and their direction may indicate how far‐reaching the effects of the serials crisis truly are, as well as indicate how much libraries have changed.
Impact of foreign exchange on library materials budgets
Authors: Lynden Frederick C.
Published: July 2002

Examines the impact of foreign currencies on the purchase of library materials, with particular reference to Brown University Library. Describes the importance of discovering the foreign exchange exposure, projecting costs, and keeping a record of changes. Covers ways of lessening the impact of foreign exchange on the library budget.
Academic libraries and campus computing costs
Authors: Pastine Maureen
Published: July 2002

Suggests that many universities and their libraries are not prepared to meet the expanding costs for computing and networking required in today’s technologically‐oriented environment. Southern Methodist University is attempting to do something about this problem. It began with hiring of consultants to help the campus plan for upgrading both administrative and academic computing and equipping the campus for improved electronic communications and networking within and outside the campus. This “re‐engineering” process included development of the mission and principles of computing, compiled with the help of the campus community. Focus groups set priorities and a structure has been put in place to address some of the priority administrative needs of the campus for the immediate future. Part of the process was to identify computing expenditures across the campus over a three year period so that future funding needs could be anticipated. Discusses the campus planning process and places some emphasis on how the process related to central university libraries, its planning process, expenditures, problems to address, and future needs.
Lattes ’n libraries
Authors: MacLeod Leo
Published: July 2002

Multnomah Country Library, Oregon, partnered with Starbucks Coffee to provide an onsite coffee bar. This article includes guidelines for feasibility assessment, constructing a Request for Proposal, and working with vendors on this increasingly popular type of project. The advantages and disadvantages of working with a big vendor and choosing a cart versus a full‐service café are discussed.
Public library business ventures ‐ risks, rubs and revenue
Authors: Anne Craft Mary
Published: July 2002

Public libraries are taking on business ventures that involve the selling of products and services. Most common are food services but these are primarily for customer and staff convenience rather than profit as they generally earn less than 0.25 percent of a library’s operating budget. The real income is in services, as in managing libraries at other institutions (Martin Library, York, PA), which earns nearly half of the library’s operating budget, or services such as issuing passports, and establishing a virtual university (Palm Springs Public Library, Palm Springs, CA) which are estimated to earn 15 to 20 percent of the library’s operating budget. In considering business ventures libraries should pay attention to the following considerations ‐ the library’s mission, its capability, the financial impact, legal aspects, community relations value, and professional and ethical issues.
Laying the groundwork: using relational databases for serials review decisions
Authors: Langley Anne
Published: July 2002

Explains how an academic library gathered data for and then used relational databases of faculty information and journals data to make purchasing decisions and how it plans to build on these databases for future serials reviews. Describes the survey process and lists database fields and criteria used in making purchasing decisions.
An evaluation model for electronic resources utilizing cost analysis
Authors: Svenningsen Karen
Published: July 2002

Operating within their fiscal allotments, today’s information professionals are debating the best methods for evaluating the acquisition of a wide array of electronic information resources. Electronic publishing is affecting not only the way scholars conduct their research, but also the selection process librarians use in acquiring these products. Although electronic information resources have many advantages, the financial implications of implementing new technologies have yet to be fully revealed. The impact of these financial implications creates new scenarios librarians must consider when examining the budgetary implications of selecting print or electronic materials ‐ or, in some cases, several versions of the same resource. Among the many questions information professional face in this explosive environment is how do we decide which product will best serve the needs of the institution today and in the future and how can we provide all that is requested by the university’s community in an environment of static or shrinking budgets? Offers a subjective evaluation model for comparing the desirable and undesirable potential of a proposed acquisition.
Teaching about library budgets
Authors: Sizer Warner Alice
Published: July 2002

This article gives details about how the author teaches about “Fiscal Management” at Boston’s (USA) Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Included in the instructional methodology are methods of research, “the box,” outside speakers, class assignments, papers, and final presentations.
Revolving fund budgeting: eliminating the spend it or lose it mentality
Authors: Randall Eva
Published: July 2002

If program managers knew that unexpended funds could be rolled from one year to the next without explanation, would they roll funds and save for future expenditures? Wouldn’t you? This article is a proposal to allow for just such a strategy. This proposal also redefines and simplifies the budget process, as well as changing the focus from individual lines to whole activities.
Using management software for geographic information systems (GIS)
Authors: Tombarge John
Published: July 2002

Geographic information systems (GIS) are the most complex of several systems available for manipulating and mapping spatially referenced data, but it requires a lot of training and user assistance. Through adapting GIS to the desktop environment, software companies have created many options for mapping data which can be incorporated into library services. As the formatting of information, especially government information, becomes more electronic, these mapping services will become increasingly important to library services, library staff training and managing library users.
Extending the academic year: new opportunities for learning
Authors: Fallows Stephen , Symon Graham
Published: July 2002

The standard UK academic year runs from October to June; in the remaining months the university teaching infrastructure lies largely unused. Meanwhile, the proportion of students studying on a part‐time basis has increased; for these students, as for many of their full‐time counterparts there could be benefit in year round study. The University of Luton has been engaged in a UK Government funded pilot programme to extend the academic year. This paper describes the programme, its organisation and management and the outcomes of evaluation exercises. It also discusses the implications for extended academic provision for the higher education sector as a whole.
Performance management model
Authors: Isaac Mwita John
Published: July 2002

The delivery of public services in developing countries is over‐centralised. One of the reasons for this is the presence of centralised decision‐making apparatus, which distances power from communities. The centralised decision making reduces accountability among public sector employees and is a good recipe for undesirable decisions and mismanagement of performance and resources at the expense of public service quality. The quality of public sector management in developing countries lags behind those of the developed countries due to the ills caused by over‐centralisation. Hence, the public services in developing countries are a drain on the wealth‐producing part of their economy. Reviews the underlying literature and theoretical framework of performance management (PM) as a systems‐based model for cultivating the “achievement culture” in public sector organisations (PSOs). It looks at how the various practical econometric and managerial techniques can integrate with the PM model in an attempt to excel the philosophy of new public management. The paper concludes by looking at the “new” role of management accounting systems in meeting “information needs” of modern public sector managers, as a potential area for further research. The paper proposes that the adoption of the PM model is a universal remedy for improving service quality in PSOs in developing countries.
Contracting in ten English local authorities: preferences and practices
Authors: Darwin John , Duberley Joanne , Johnson Phil
Published: July 2002

During the 1990s the contract has become a key feature in the restructuring of the UK public sector. Currently available literature demonstrates an awareness that the implementation of contracting must entail new forms of management control and organizational structure which involve new patterns of intra‐ and extra‐organizational relationships. However, there is little consideration of the nature of the relationships which are developing between contractors and clients nor the factors that influence those behavioural processes. This paper reports on research funded by ESRC into contracts in ten local authorities in the UK. Analysis was undertaken to identify the nature of the contracts and the factors which both clients and contractors felt had led them to develop a particular type of relationship. This is followed by an exploration of the literature on partnerships, summarising the implications for the nature of the relationship between the client and contractor, based in particular on the distinction between transactional and relational contracting. It is shown that “textbook” approaches provide a useful heuristic, but do not reflect the subtleties of the interactions which develop during contracts. The overall implications are then considered, and related to theories of fair process and trust. The practical implications for public sector contracting (in particular best value) and for partnership activity are then outlined.
Relationship‐based services marketing
Authors: Conway Tony , Willcocks Stephen
Published: July 2002

This conceptually‐focused paper looks at particular changes implemented in the UK National Health Service. The specific context is the creation of a new organisational form: the primary care group, which brings together general practitioners and other primary care staff in a given locality. The paper attempts to examine the consequences, for the development of these groups, of the shift from competition (in the internal market) to relationships based on collaboration and partnership. The broad policy objectives envisage much greater emphasis on working in partnership, participating in strategy and planning (via new health improvement programmes), developing joint working, and promoting the integration of service delivery. A relationship marketing perspective is explored as one way of conceptualising the development of new relationships between primary care groups, health authorities, local authorities, trusts and other agencies and the paper suggests that relationship marketing offers a way of facilitating policy change.
Public utilities and low income customers – A marketing approach
Authors: Wodon Quentin T.
Published: July 2002

There is increasing recognition of the importance of dealing with material hardship rather than just income poverty. This paper deals with electricity disconnection and shows how Electricité de France (EDF), the French monopoly provider of electricity, has been testing a number of new policy instruments to avoid disconnection among its low income residential customers. EDF’s approach is grounded in marketing principles and techniques both in terms of its willingness to respond to French public opinion on the need to reduce poverty and hardship, and in terms of its use of poor customers surveys to analyze the satisfaction of this segment of clientele to its energy assistance programs. EDF’s programmes show how utilities, both public and private, can go beyond financial assistance as represented by the LIHEAP energy voucher programme in the USA.
Human resource management in Ghana: prescriptions and issues raised by the Fourth Republican Constitution
Authors: Abdulai A.I.
Published: July 2002

Human resource management in the public sector does not take place in a vacuum. It is carried out within a regulatory framework of laws, rules and regulations. Recent times have witnessed commendable efforts by many African countries to embrace democratic governance with its trappings of constitutionalism, which requires that the behaviour of politicians, public officials, public institutions and citizens should conform to the strictures of the Constitution of the land. This study examines the Fourth Republican Constitution of Ghana and identifies constitutional provisions or prescriptions which have some relevance for human resource management in the Ghanaian public sector. Constitutional provisions identified in this regard deal with the following issues: human resource management policy, laws, rules and regulations, recruitment and selection, equal employment opportunity, employee rights and welfare, compensation and benefits, state of the economy, human resource development, work environment, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), decentralisation and ethical issues. The paper discusses the relevance and implications of issues raised and concludes that the Fourth Republican Constitution contains important provisions which make for sound human resource management in the Ghanaian public sector.
Legislating for cultural change
Authors: Skinner Julie
Published: July 2002

This paper is based upon the writer’s observations when one local area began to implement the requirements of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The interaction of statutory and voluntary groups is examined by using an existing analysis of the areas that, it is argued, have proved problematic. Argues for the need for participants to revisit stereotypes and assumptions and to explore mutual purpose and understanding.
Addressing ethnic imbalances in the public services of plural societies
Authors: Bissessar Ann Marie
Published: July 2002

Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana are plural societies in the Commonwealth Caribbean in which two major ethnic groups, the Africans and the East Indians, vie for state control and power. Since the early pre‐independence period in both these countries, electoral outcomes have reflected ethnic cleavages. However, this kind of ethnic divisiveness has not been confined to the political environment alone, but to a large extent has permeated the public sectors of these countries as well. This article will accordingly examine the extent to which allegations of ethnic imbalances are a reality in the public sectors of these two Caribbean countries, and the mechanisms that have been introduced to resolve ethnic imbalances in these countries. Finally it seeks to assess the relative successes or failures of these mechanisms.
Public officials’ attitudes towards privatization in Jordan
Authors: Awamleh Nail A.H.K
Published: July 2002

The purpose of this study is to assess prospects for privatization in Jordan through a field survey of the attitudes of public officials in a sample of 24 public enterprises in Jordan. Among major findings of this study are: respondents expressed high level of conviction in the principle of privatization though their expectation of successful privatization in Jordan is lower than the level of conviction; and respondents selectively agreed on certain forms and fields of privatization in Jordan. That is, privatization is suitable in certain, but not all, sectors, enterprises and forms. The study recommends enterprise‐specific and gradual privatization on the basis of feasibility studies. It also recommends overall socio‐economic and administrative changes as well as democratization, stability and peace in the region.
Adopting a multi‐perspective approach to the study of public sector managerial effectiveness
Authors: Willcocks Stephen George
Published: July 2002

Suggests that there is a need to explore managerial public sector effectiveness given its complexity and subjective nature. Argues the case for a multi‐perspective approach to public sector effectiveness, based on specific, inter‐related perspectives. Chooses these perspectives based on their ability to contribute to an explanatory framework focused on the features of effectiveness. Concludes that managerial effectiveness is essentially about understanding, reinterpreting and making sense of differing role expectations, which the framework developed will hopefully help in developing.
Eyes on the Prize
Authors: Pullen William
Published: July 2002

Agencies are small public organizations that can be managed
strategically to achieve a legislated goal. Develops a framework that
can help them do this by working with their five key relationships: the
Minister and Government, the Minister′s department, central control
agencies, the agency′s board, and the professional staff. Suggests a
general approach to a strategy for managing agencies: do the work
envisaged in the founding legislation, while managing the primary
relationships with Minister and Government and the Board, and monitoring
the constraints of lateral relationships and other legislation. Within
this context, set priorities and make choices in terms of managerial
capacities and operate the agency to attain credibility, primarily in
terms of achieving the legislated goal, while developing a reputation
for managerial competence.
Can Cities Market Themselves Like Coke and Pepsi Do?
Authors: Matson Erik W.
Published: July 2002

Consumer marketing techniques apply to public sector marketing.
Cities can employ innovative targeted marketing capabilities to send a
message to maximize an area′s greatest potential. Examines the how and
what in a broad way, to provide stimulating ideas for city marketers and
exposure to a variety of concepts used extensively and successfully by
consumer marketing‐oriented businesses.
Managing Competition in UK Local Government
Authors: Fenwick John , Shaw Keith , Foreman Anne
Published: July 2002

Examines the impact of compulsory competitive tendering on the
management of UK local government. The changing managerial skills
required under conditions of competition are considered alongside
overall changes in the role of local government. Drawing directly from
the authors′ recent research study, the “three Cs” of local
authority management are identified: the client‐side, the contractor,
and the corporate manager. Considers the characteristics of each in
turn, before a general review of the implications for a
“new” public management. Concludes that there has been a
fundamental diversification in the needs of (and skills required of)
local authority managers in a competitive environment. This may be
moving UK local government either towards greater efficiency or towards
a fragmentation of its central activities.
A New Era in Costing and Budgeting
Authors: Alam Manzurul , Lawrence Stewart
Published: July 2002

The effectiveness of the reforms of the health sector in New
Zealand will depend on the development of new accounting and information
systems. The reforms have been rapid and significant. Increasing
attention is being given to the development of costing and budgeting as
a part of the reform process. Focuses on the organizational strategies
in implementing such reforms. Although the progress has been
significant, problems of implementation and change of organizational
culture remain.
Planning for the impacts of agrobiotechnologies
Authors: Marks Leonie A. , Kerr William A. , Klein K.K.
Published: July 2002

Biotechnology involves the use of modern biological procedures to
enhance economically desirable traits exhibited by plants, animals and
micro‐organisms. These new technologies are currently reaching the stage
of commercial application in agriculture. Developing countries will face
a major challenge over the next decade as they attempt to develop
policies and administrative structures which will allow the successful
introduction of agrobiotechnologies while minimizing the socio‐economic
disruptions which may accompany rapid technological change. Attempts to
provide public sector managers with an operational planning framework
which will allow them to anticipate the impacts of biotechnologies in
advance of their introduction and, hence, take steps to mitigate the
costs associated with their introduction.
From public administration to public sector management
Authors: Ackroyd Stephen
Published: July 2002

Offers a general historical analysis of the development of public
service provision in Britain. First discusses the slow emergence of
industrialism in Britain, then discusses the development of social
services in this context. Suggests that there are three significant
stages in development: local public administration, 1870‐1950; central
Welfare State, 1950‐1980; and decentralized provision, 1980‐1995. Goes
on to argue that, in order to understand this sequence, and especially
the emergence of centralized public provision, it is necessary to
discuss modes of delivery of services within these institutional
frameworks of provision. Examines different stages in patterns of
organization for delivery of services which overlap with stages of
provision. Suggests that the recent re‐emergence of decentralized
provision has a certain inevitability, but that it is important that
this takes an appropriate form. Identifies this form as a participative
management
Privatization and the internal environment
Authors: Parker David
Published: July 2002

Privatization is occurring at various levels of government in many countries around the world. So extensive is the reform programme that the term “reinventing government” has taken on a fashionable gloss. To date, privatization and market testing programmes have been advocated with surprisingly little exploration of the internal changes that are likely to be necessary if performance is to improve as expected. Explores the type of internal changes that are likely to be necessary if privatization is to have a beneficial impact on performance.
The public sector entrepreneur ‐ a definition
Authors: Boyett Inger
Published: July 2002

Since the early 1980s there have been fundamental changes in the structure and management of the UK public sector, based on the introduction of quasi‐markets. The literature suggests that, for markets to operate at their maximum level of efficiency, there is an overwhelming need for entrepreneurial activity. Attempts through a synthesis of the published literature, surveys of educational and health managers and case examples, to determine whether a new strain of leadership ‐ the public sector entrepreneur ‐ is emerging to display many of the characteristics of their business counterparts.
Executive pay, accountability, and Training and Enterprise Councils
Authors: Turner Royce
Published: July 2002

Examines accountability in training and enterprise councils and uses executive pay as an example of changing mechanisms and values. Discusses a number of issues crucial to public sector management: democracy in “quangoland”; public sector ethics; what constitutes a private, as opposed to a public, organization. Contributes to the debate on the wider reordering of the machinery of government: the emergence of “quangoland” and the implication of this for accountability and democracy. One of the central issues in this is the seeming confusion over lines of responsibility, and how responsibility is divided between agency executives and Ministers in Parliament. Draws a contrast between the determination of pay for executives in the newly “private sector” Training and Enterprise Councils and their predecessors and counterparts in nationalized industries and local government. Highlights many of the central debates in the vastly changed world of public sector management in Britain.
An alternative to privatization: the listing of H‐shares in Hong Kong
Authors: Lin Chan Hing
Published: July 2002

Details how, in a bid to invigorate its state‐owned enterprises, the Chinese government allows some of its large state‐owned enterprises to list on the stock exchanges of Hong Kong and New York. Reports that, although at the beginning the stocks were very well received, the H‐share prices started to experience a free fall when the companies reported poor earning results in the summer of 1995. Looks at several arguments which have been put forward to explain this drastic change, but observes that most of these theories miss one important dimension, namely, the institutional factor. By using this particular point of view, argues that the H‐shares are poorly designed, noting, in particular, that the concerns for agency cost and asymmetric information problems have not been dealt with properly. Analyses the institutional problems of the H‐share companies and, based on this analysis, outlines some preliminary recommendations on how the H‐share companies can be reformed.
Re‐engineering a public organization: an analysis of a case of “successful failure”
Authors: Kock Nerev F. , McQueen Robert J. , Baker Megan
Published: July 2002

Recent surveys show that process‐reengineering (BPR) has had widespread adoption in western countries. This has been motivated by case studies where drastic improvements in quality, productivity, cost reduction and competitiveness have been reported. The rate of failure in re‐engineering attempts, though, has been reported to be equally high. It is estimated that over 70 per cent of all re‐engineering attempts fail to produce bottom‐line improvements. Describes one such failed attempt in a large public organization in Brazil. As a result of the re‐engineering attempt, the organization had its IT infrastructure significantly improved, and the access to IT was decentralized by the downsizing of computer applications from a mainframe to a local area network. On the other hand, no radical changes in the organization’s business processes had resulted, despite the US$ 8 million invested in the BPR attempt. Moreover, even though some processes had been automated, almost no staff reduction was effected. The lack of layoffs meant that even the increase in efficiency in those processes, which by no means was radical, was not realized.
Steering not rowing
Authors: Barlow John , Röber Manfred
Published: July 2002

Identifies, classifies and compares a number of emerging models of co‐ordination and control in the management of public services which provide a scheme for an initial evaluation of the new “steering models” at the local level in the UK and Germany. Pays particular attention to issues of strategic management in the complex world of markets and networks which are replacing the hierarchical models of co‐ordination in the traditional classic bureaucracy. Discusses the key issues raised by each model in relation to values of public administration.
The Netherlands in the twenty‐first century
Authors: Wilderom C.P.M. , Joldersma F.
Published: July 2002

Spending cuts, privatization, decentralization and deregulation are undermining the dominant role of the Dutch Government in private non‐profit organizations. Less governmental interference will force non‐profit management to strike a balance between private management and public management. Argues that private non‐profit managers should adjust their managerial attitudes towards other stakeholders. Managers must first serve their own front‐line officers, and these front‐line officers, in turn, must communicate more interactively with their clients about the process of service delivery. However, this process should not be dictated by the client, but by the community of all relevant external and internal stakeholders. In interactions with many different stakeholders of the organization, non‐profit managers should develop and communicate a strategic quality credo.
Competition as a means of procuring public services
Authors: Smyth Judith D.
Published: July 2002

Competition is now widely used as the means of choosing the providers of essential public services in the USA and the UK. Many different approaches are found in the USA and there are useful lessons for the UK. With particular reference to mental health and substance abuse services, describes the effects of using competitive tendering on users, providers, purchasers and citizens and examines the problems of specification, transaction costs, the use of consultants, supply, the level playing field, trust, innovation, local accessibility and accountability. Ends with discussion of co‐operation and collaboration and the emergence of monopolies and integrated delivery systems in the USA and concludes by finding politics and political decision making of overriding importance.
Tracks of change in hospitals: a study of quasi‐market transformation
Authors: Kitchener Martin , Whipp Richard
Published: July 2002

Examines the process of change in hospitals that has emerged following the introduction of the health quasi‐market in 1991. Blends empirical evidence with Greenwood and Hinings’ archetype and tracks of change concepts to analyse the process which is labelled quasi‐market transformation (QMT). Argues that, before 1991, hospitals tended to operate within structures and systems underpinned by an interpretive scheme. Represents these similarities of configuration as the directly‐managed (DM) hospital archetype. When change initiatives challenged this configuration, the outcomes were negotiated and resulted in “adjustmental” change. In contrast, shows the introduction of the quasi‐market to have involved the first transformation of the DM archetype’s interpretive scheme, systems and structures. Analyses four years of transition to reveal that QMT has been interpreted differently within hospitals. However, presents data to suggest that many hospitals now display significant similarities in terms of configuration. Represents these similarities within the emerging Trust hospital archetype.
Administrative reform in Austria: public administration management as an organizational development process
Authors: Strehl Franz , Hugl Ulrike
Published: July 2002

Presents a theoretically based practical example of an organizational development process in the Austrian public administration from 1987 to 1994/95. Discusses a large scale reform endeavour, Verwaltungsmanagement, on a federal level. Comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the overall project goals and the improvement in effectiveness and efficiency of the chosen project steps. The key words of the project were performance accounting and performance responsibility. Suggests that the term Verwaltungsmanagement indicates that the focus of the reform on a management orientation was necessary as well as fashionable. Discusses the contents, organization, methods and procedures, main results and further outcomes of this important and controversial project.
The role of government in enhancing the competitiveness of developing economies
Authors: Wint Alvin G.
Published: July 2002

This study examines the recent efforts by the governments of two Caribbean countries to enhance the competitiveness of their economies in the context of the framework of the use of functional versus selective government interventions. In the course of the study, however, it was discovered that rather than focus exclusively on the distinction between functional and selective interventions as if they represent competing models for public policy intervention, it was useful to examine, pragmatically, the range of policy options open to these governments, and then consider the scope and merits of intervention in the context of these policy options. In so doing, it becomes apparent that functional and selective government interventions, to the extent that they are always distinguishable, become points along a continuum, rather than orthogonal lines incapable of being joined. The lesson of these Caribbean economies and, it is argued, of the East Asian experience, is that there is no simple choice between selective and functional interventions for the developing economy seeking to enhance its international competitiveness. Governments of these countries, and others seeking to enhance the international competitiveness of their economies, may well have to be capable ofmanaging the process of selecting functional interventions, and of reducing the risks andimproving the functioning of selective interventions.
Varieties of administrative convergence
Authors: Maor Moshe , Jones G.W.
Published: July 2002

The aim of this paper is to explore the possible varieties of convergence in the public administrations of members of the European Union, as well as the framework for analysing aspects of convergence. It assists students of comparative public administration who attempt to understand “puzzles” triggered by NPM and EU pressures. These pressures seem to push national systems in opposite directions, and not to be united as a single force for a particular model. At the same time, however, both involve assertive action by government to achieve reform in the face of inertia or hostility of public bureaucracies anxious to preserve their traditional arrangements. The paper suggests that the answer to the question “Are West European administrative systems becoming more alike?” cannot be simply “yes” or “no”. With the impact of NPM the answer must be “more than they used to”, but as a trend toward a common destination, “no”. With the impact of the EU the answer must be “yes” and “no” depending on which aspect of an administrative system is being examined.
Implementing decentralised reform in local government
Authors: Jones Robert
Published: July 2002

This article presents a longitudinal case study of the methods employed by the general managers of two leading Australian local authorities in an attempt to introduce decentralised reform into their organisations. The article commences by detailing the nature of the respective general managers’ criticisms of the traditional divisional approach to local government strategic planning and provision of services as forming the driving motivations behind their reform direction. Their respective reform approaches are then charted, concentrating on the nature of the relationships the general managers consciously cultivated with key stakeholders in order to overcome resistance to change and remove obstacles to their visions. The article then outlines the mistakes made and the lessons to be learned in attempting to successfully implement decentralised change in local government.
Integrated local service systems: Part 2
Authors: Bacon Chris
Published: July 2002

Computer systems can support the delivery of services to many separate organizations and the provision of direct citizen access to local services. Discusses the options available for supplying the systems necessary to fulfill these functions. Adopting a middleware approach, allows for relevant information to be extracted from separate systems for display at the front end or enables information entered at the front end to be transferred to one or more of the back‐end applications. The advantages and disadvantages are outlined. An ILSS provides a strategy for using IT to support an operation such as the administration of benefits.
Benchmarking and performance measurement in public sectors
Authors: Kouzmin Alexander , Löffler Elke , Klages Helmut , Korac‐Kakabadse Nada
Published: July 2002

Given the prevailing emphasis on agency performance, customer focus, stakeholder’s interests and other methods of assessment under new public administration and prevailing managerialism in many public sectors around the world, administrative practitioners have taken to benchmarking as an instrument for assessing organizational performance and for facilitating management transfer and learning from other benchmarked organizations. The introduction of benchmarking into the public sector is still in its early stages. Technical problems, scepticism about usefulness and the appropriateness of transferring putative private sector competencies into public administration and the resistance in accepting organizational change as a necessary consequence of benchmarking exercises in the public sector, prevent the widespread acceptance and use of benchmarking in public sectors, arguably “punch‐drunk” with systemic change. Nevertheless, there are some encouraging examples of benchmarking within the public sector. This paper critically analyzes these examples in order to establish the vulnerability points of such measurement instruments which, possibly, need more research in order to establish the specific learning dimensions to benchmarking and to illustrate the importance of such benchmarking and learning within the highly risky, information technology (IT)‐driven experiences of systems development and failure.
Policy contradictions and collaboration in community mental health services in Britain
Authors: Ledwith Frank
Published: July 2002

The paper summarises some of the main results of a study of inter‐agency collaboration in the provision of community mental health services in one city in Britain. The research was based on interviews with service purchasers and providers in health, social services and the voluntary sector. The results suggest that, in spite of cordial working relationships and a historically stable organisational structure, collaboration between agencies in the provision of mental health services was being seriously damaged by contradictory central government policies of tight operational control yet fostering internal markets in purchasing and providing. It is recommended that research is urgently needed to assess the impact on vulnerable clients’ quality of life and level of functioning of changes in inter‐agency collaboration forced by the introduction of internal market mechanisms.
A History of the Early Japanese Theorists’ Development of the “Capital Circulation” Approach
Authors: Tanaka Akiyoshi
Published: July 2002

The contributions to critical accounting theory in Japan made by
prominent academics in the 1930s and 1940s are examined. The
characteristics of the archetype of critical accounting theory as they
were seen in that period are discussed, in particular the development of
the “capital circulation” approach. These characteristics
are seen to have been very significant for the methodology of accounting
theory in Japan. This methodology regards the mode of accounting as an
organ that moves according to the unity of opposites, which are the
reflections of the contradictions within capital. This methodology
provides keys for recognising and analysing various aspects,
developments and conflicts within accounting, ranging from the
concealment of profit by firms to the flexibility of accounting
standards.
Auditing and Environmental Expertise: Between Protest and Professionalisation
Authors: Power Michael
Published: July 2002

Recent initiatives in environmental audit prompt questions about
the nature of the technical expertise upon which such practices may
depend. At the heart of these practices lie expert constructions of
environmental risk. It is suggested, on the basis of a deconstructed
principal‐agent framework, that accounting‐based environmental audits
have the potential to constrain social perceptions of corporate
accountability and environmentally‐relevant action.
M[othering] View on “Notes towards Feminist Theories of Accounting: A View from Literary Studies”
Authors: Hoskin Keith
Published: July 2002

Feminism offers new ways of seeing accounting both as practice and
theory. However, just as accounting has increasingly recognized that its
theoretical base and its everyday practice are problematic, so has
feminism discovered new levels of questionability about feminist
projects. Both fields are simultaneously discovering how power‐knowledge
relations are deeply embedded within them.
Incentive Structure and Group Performance Expectations in a
Budgeting Setting: A Descriptive Study
Authors: Abul‐Ezz Mohamed E. , Dickhaut John W.
Published: July 2002

Examines, in a laboratory experiment, the effect of reward
interdependence and budget difficulty, as components of incentive
structure, on characteristics of group performance expectations.
Demonstrates that differential reward interdependence allows groups
potentially to apply differential normative power in order to regulate
their members′ performance behaviour. Also, shows that the shape of the
group approval function is altered by differential reward
inter‐dependence and that the degree of group supportiveness is a
function of budget difficulty. The results suggest that to understand
the role of budget standards and incentive schemes in group settings may
ultimately require the incorporation of their intermediate effect on
group performance expectations.
Accountability and Accounting: Using Naturalistic Methodology to Enhance
Organizational Control – A Case Study
Authors: Goddard Andrew , Powell Jackie
Published: July 2002

Reports a case study investigating the use of naturalistic methodology
to enhance the accountability of strategic decision making in a
community health service. Discovers the possibilities and problems of
stakeholders′ evaluation to improve accounting information. The study
involved a district health psychogeriatric service in southern England
over the period 1988‐1992.
The Influence of External Pressure Groups on Corporate Social
Disclosure
Authors: Tilt Carol Ann
Published: July 2002

Many social accounting researchers refer to environmental pressure
groups as being a major influence on companies′ decisions to disclose
social information. Such a claim is, however, to date unsubstantiated.
Virtually no empirical evidence has been produced which confirms or
refutes this proposition. Similarly there is no literature on pressure
groups′ interest in, or reaction to, corporate social disclosure (CSD).
Provides the first, albeit exploratory, investigation of such pressure
groups and their potential influence on the production of CSD. Results
show that pressure groups are users of CSD and do attempt to influence
companies′ disclosure practices. The environmental movement considers
current CSD to be insufficient and low in credibility. The preferred
corporate social report (for pressure groups) would include narratives
and quantified terms, would be in the annual report and would be
prepared by, certified by, and/or held by a body external to the
company.
Discourse and rhetoric
Authors: Hooper Keith , Pratt Michael
Published: July 2002

Considers rhetoric and discourse in financial accounting and how
rhetoric/discourse was employed by the directors of a New Zealand
property company. The particular case cited is that of the New Zealand
Land Company 1882‐1890. Shows how land may be transferred from
indigenous owners and redistributed by means of various discursive and
accounting techniques. The sources used include archival records,
parliamentary reports and articles from contemporary colonial
newspapers. Concludes that the accounting information available provided
a legitimizing discourse, which enabled some to benefit at the expense
of others. Many of these observations are believed to be timeless.
Ethics of teaching critical
Authors: Day Mary M.
Published: July 2002

Identifies critical accounting researchers′ apparent indifference
to the transformatory needs, wants and entitlements of accounting
students. After expressing a lack of understanding about this
phenomenon, reconstructs a variety of responses from researchers, as
well as possible subtexts, to tease out a feminist ethical perspective.
Believes this perspective to be useful in exposing some of the silences,
inconsistencies and contradictions that need to be addressed in
accounting education and research. Offers an explanation for accounting
researchers′ reticence in transferring their critical research skills to
their teaching – the superficial adoption of the tenets of
critical practice, which in turn reproduces phallocratic models of moral
philosophy. Students are seen as “generalized others”, and
“an ethic of care” necessarily regarding students as fully
sensate human beings as “concrete others” is silenced.
Concludes that this is consistent with the silencing of emotion exposed
by feminist theorists, and serves to perpetuate and reproduce
patriarchal and phallocentric discourses in university and accounting
education.
Empirical research in accounting: alternative approaches and a case
for “middle‐range” thinking
Authors: Laughlin Richard
Published: July 2002

Empirical research in accounting is of considerable importance to
the academic community yet it is surprising to note that it is only
since the early 1970s that this concern has gained centre stage. Since
this time multiple studies have been undertaken from a variety of
different theoretical and methodological perspectives. The literature is
now replete with empirical studies from perspectives as far apart as the
“positivism” of the Rochester School to the expanding
Foucauldian studies of accounting practice. While this eclecticism is
commendable at one level it is also confusing at another. Reduces some
of this confusion by bringing an overview and much needed order into
this variety highlighting the underlying features of these multiple
approaches to accounting research. Points out the need for choices to be
made on the perspective to be adopted along three continuums concerning
“theory”, “methodology” and
“change”. Presents a case for “middle‐range”
thinking for empirical research in accounting. While the reader may not
necessarily agree with the logic that leads to this perspective it is
hoped that the article will demonstrate that no one perspective can
provide a complete picture of accounting reality, that choices on
perspective have to be, and can be, made and that these choices are, and
should be, contestable.