3: What makes public orgs distinct Flashcards
State owned enterprise
Hybrid organization that carries out public tasks but has businesslike characteristics.
They have more autonomy .
20% of the worlds stock market value
Common in China.
Generic Tradition
Emphasizes commonalities among public and private organizations.
Theorists who believed in generic tradition
Weber Frederick Taylor, Scientific management McGregor’s Theory Y Hawthorne experiment Kurt Lewin James Thompson
Herbert Simon
Described political context of public organizations, but argued that they’re more similar to private than different.
Haas, Hall, Johnson (1966)
An org’s tasks and functions have more influence on characteristics than whether they are public or private.
Pugh, Hickson, Hinings
Classified 58 organizations, but found no major differences. Public orgs had more external control over personnel.
Gray Sector Org
Hybrid-partially public, partially private
Van Thiel and van de Wal (2010)
Call hybrid orgs Parapublic
Hybrid orgs
Significant numbers in developed and emerging economies.
Examples are financing mortgages in student loans
Agencies
Organizations that carry out public tasks and an arms length of the government in a relatively autonomous way
Hybrid org definition
An entity created by government to address a specific public policy purpose it is owned in whole or in part by private individuals or corporations and generates revenue to cover operating costs
Origin of hybrid organizations
Many Nordic countries have used hybrid agencies to carry out public tasks for centuries.
New public management reforms popularized them.
United States Postal Service
Example of a hybrid organization. Has revenue, but must also provide universal service.
Intellectual dangers
Rainey 2014
oversimplify
confuse
mislead
impede theory & research
Max Weber
Did an analysis of bureaucratic organizations in public and private sectors
Who applied scientific management to public organizations
Frederic Taylor
Three examples of researchers who focused on social and psychological factors
Hawthorne studies
McGregor’s Theory Y
Kurt Lewin
James Thompson believed that
Public and private orgs have more similarities than differences
Herbert Simon assigned relative unimportance to
distinctiveness of public orgs
Organizations become bureaucratic due to
Size–not whether they are public or private
What influences an organization’s characteristics more than whether they are public or private?
Tasks and functions
What influences employee satisfaction & motivation in all sectors?
Leadership practices
An example of where governments depict higher degrees of control than private organizations
Personnel procedures
Pugh, Hickson and Hinings (1969)
Who used the term parapublic sector?
Van Thiel and van de Wal
Examples of hybrid orgs
USPS
National Park Service
Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac
Agencies are autonomous organizations that…
Carry out public tasks
Hybrids have
Same tasks Less political influence Greater autonomy Are at arms length Less permanent
Two ways to control political economies
- political hierarchies
- economic markets
Dahl & Lindblom, 1953
Polyarchy
Politically established hierarchy that controls economic activities
Invisible Hand
Well functioning market that is at equilibrium
Market failures
Markets allocation resources inefficiently and government intervention is required to improve social welfare.
Monopsony
Dominant buyer in an exchange market that controls the market
What is nonrival and nonexcludable
Public good
Information asymmetry
lack of education, information to make individual choices
Externalities can cause market inefficiency because
price of good or service does not reflect total societal costs or benefits
Government seeks to correct these types of issues in the markets
monopolies
income redistribution
market fluctuations
functions too risky or expensive for private competitors
Political rationales for government
law, justice, social organization
individual rights and freedoms
national security and stability
general prosperity
direction for nation and communities
Political rationales for government
law, justice, social organization
individual rights and freedoms
national security and stability
general prosperity
direction for nation and communities
Public organizations provide service based on
social values
public interest
political demands
Public value
Mark Moore (1995)
public managers create public value when they produce outputs based on citizen desire
Public Value Scorecard
adaptation of balanced scorecard
assessment tool to gauge efficiency and effectiveness
Public value failure
Gap between citizen preferences and public policy
Public value emerges from
production of outcomes and governmental activities
Accenture public sector value model, 2004
Public value management
balancing democracy and effeciency
