Topic 1: Context of Public Organizations

Question 1

WHAT ARE THE MAIN CHALLENGES FACING PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS?

Answer 1

 Wicked problems, e.g., climate change
 More involved and demanding citizenry
 Globalization
 Digitization
 Corruption and inefficiency
 Accountability
 Skills gap

Question 2

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT WE ARE NOT DOING WELL?

Answer 2

 Do we observe scores on global indices, such as World Governance Indicators or
Corruption indicators?
 Or should we rely on indicators of quality of public services (e.g., access
sanitation, government services, internet, etc.)?
 Who decides?

Question 3

what is Politicization?

Answer 3

substitution of technical and neutral criteria with political
or even personal biases”, or “partisan control over the bureaucracy”
(Fuenzalida & Riccucci, 2019).

Question 4

THE IMPORTANCE OF HRM?

Answer 4

“A more professional civil service, in and of itself, will not lead to the more efficient and effective government–it is a means to an end rather than an end in itself.” (Janenova & Knox, 2019, p. 433). Emphases added

“…the capacity and capability of the civil service workforce is fundamental to the success of all public policy and reform.” (OECD, 2017, p. 10)

“Linking a civil service reform agenda that includes restructuring, objective selection and recruitment, ethical standards, anti-corruption measures, and performance appraisal to an outcomes-based accountability framework is more likely to improve the well-being of Kazakhstan’s citizens and, as a result, positively contribute to government effectiveness and its place among the top 30 most developed countries.”(Janenova & Knox, 2019, p. 433)

Question 5

Janenova, S. & Knox, C. (2019). Civil Service Reform in Kazakhstan: Trajectory to the 30 Most Developed Countries?

What this paper discusses?

Answer 5

The paper discusses whether civil service reforms offer a trajectory to Kazakhstan to become one of the top 30 developed countries. It was stated that the focus of the reforms was on institutional, structural and legal changes and the actual impact was neglected.

Question 6

According to various researches, the civil service reform in Kazakhstan brought (what kind of) results? Why?

Answer 6

According to various researches, the civil service reform in Kazakhstan brought disappointing results. Despite the efforts to foster meritocratic, professional civil service, these weren’t significant changes in the quality of governance. This is an example of institutional isomorphism or imitation, when a country adopts visible attributes of reform, without actual implementation and core changes.

Question 7

Janenova, S. & Knox, C. (2019)

The authors identified four stages of reforming the public sector in Kazakhstan. Describe them.

Answer 7

1991–1998
Although there were attempts to introduce meritocratic system in 1995, Kazakhstan’s public administration remained essentially Soviet

1999–2004
The emphasis was put on developing a strong legislative basis for civil service. Also, number of state bodies were reorganized to achieve greater transparency and responsiveness.

2005–2015
Introduction of one-stop shops (public service centres) and e-government policies increased the quality of public services and reduced petty corruption.

Since 2015
In light of a new focus on the professionalization of civil service, improving government–citizen relations and enhancing public accountability, the government introduced a package of laws in 2015: Law on Civil Service, Law on Fighting Corruption and the Code of Ethics for Civil Servants.

Question 8

Why was it important for Kazakhstan to introduce civil service reforms?

Answer 8

Although old habits of nepotism and tribal connections die hard, the measures taken resulted in an emergence of the demand for accountability and good governance from inside the system.

Question 9

How he results of civil service in KZ can be characterized?

Answer 9

Overall, the reforms brought mixed success. The e-government policy and introduction of public service centres considered successful, because of reduced bureaucracy and improved access of citizens to over 500 public services. At the same time the progress in handling corruption is far from certain. Despite various activities taken, including the introduction of laws to fight corruption, the problem remains acute.

To conclude, it is impossible to significantly enhance the government effectiveness while focusing only on institutional or structural changes to the civil service. It is necessary to place emphasis on fostering ‘results-oriented governance system and treat a more professional civil service as a means to the improved well-being of the citizens of Kazakhstan.

Question 10

OECD (2017). Skills for a High Performing Civil Service (Executive summary and Chapter 1)
What did executive summary stated?

Answer 10

“the capacity and capability of the civil service workforce is fundamental to the success of all public policy and reform.” Summing up, Chapter 1 describes an enormous amount of skills that will be needed in the public sector today and in the future but without recommendations on how to develop such skills. Last but not least, civil servants should not be masters in all mentioned skill sets but need to have the right mix of skills depending on responsibilities, requirements, and timing.

Question 11

OECD (2017).

the report noted that public governance mainly focuses on … rather than the …

Answer 11

the report noted that public governance mainly focuses on organizational processes and system-level conditions rather than the development of human resources in the public sector.

Question 12

OECD (2017).

How globalization affects the public sector?

Answer 12

VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world influences the operation of the public sector. In addition to that, technological change, complex societies with pluralistic views and expectations, and digital and open government change boundaries of public sector operation and challenge civil servants competences. Moreover, the scope and increasing number of multidimensional problems require communication, consultation, coordination among departments/ agencies, and networked governance.

Question 13

OECD (2017).

Chapter 1 focuses on four main areas of civil service through which public values could be created. Which are those?

Answer 13

1. Policy development and analysis
2. Service delivery and citizen engagement
3. Commissioning and contracting
4. Managing networks.

Each area of civil service is described and analyzed, particularly how these skills are changing and why the government should invest in these skills.

Question 14

Summarize the key recommended skills that should be developed in each area of civil services (4)

Answer 14

· Developing policy: diagnosis, exploration of data, scenario development, foresight techniques, advisory expertise, multidisciplinary background, timing, networking.

· Citizen engagement and service delivery: service skill, communication, consultation, facilitation, marketing, managing social media, conflict resolution, crowdsourcing.

· Commissioning and contracting services: commercial, legal and regulatory skills, contract design and management skill, procurement.

· Managing in and through networks: high-level interpersonal skill, trust-building, systems thinking, project management, risk analysis, building consensus, negotiation, collaborative leadership.

Question 15

OECD (2017).

Describe Three important take-aways from the report?

Answer 15

· “Digitalisation is reducing demand for routine and manual tasks while increasing demand for low- and high-skilled tasks and for problem-solving and interpersonal skills.” (p.18)

· Managing in networks is the least studied and developed among four areas of civil service.

· Future skills that are required for civil servants depend on the model of governance – traditional Public Administration, New Public Management, New Public Governance, or Public Value.

Question 16

Welch, E., & Wong, W. (1998). Public Administration in a Global Context: Bridging the Gaps of Theory and Practice between Western and Non-Western Nations.

There are two trajectories that appeared in the public administration domain. What are they, shortly describe characteristics of each?

Answer 16

There are two trajectories that appeared in the public administration domain: one is traditionalists, another one is revisionists. Former one asserts that bureaucracies are within political, economic, and social contexts. So, the main goal is to give a description and an answer to the question of why bureaucracies position themselves as they are and what is the reason for such kind of actions that they perform. Major characteristics of the latter theory are that common features identified in bureaucracies are examined to decide existing distinctions; then the context is established from the studies meanwhile a remedy is targeted in the long-run.

Question 17

Welch, E., & Wong, W. (1998). Public Administration in a Global Context: Bridging the Gaps of Theory and Practice between Western and Non-Western Nations.

The main criticism of traditionalists and revisionists?

Answer 17

The main criticism of them is that there is a deficiency of scientific inquiry in a traditionalist approach, however, the latter argues that revisionists’ weaknesses lie in considering Western bureaucracies exclusively, only broader comparisons are taken in the related contexts. So, the problem is that comparisons of bureaucracies relate to several western countries, and the US, which makes them useful to parliamentarian or presidential democracies while remaining non-applicable to other political regimes that exist. Hence, there is no existing theory that can be relevant to countries other than the Western part of the world, creating a gap in the literature. A question that arises from this point is how to direct and manage public bureaucracies in the Asian context with the political regimes relevant there? What approaches can be derived in this regard?

Question 18

Welch, E., & Wong, W. (1998).

To overpass the gap in public administration, there is a framework which depicts impact of the world-wide pressures on bureaucracies. Describe his framework?

Answer 18

This comprises information technology, international institutions, and efficiency coupled with productivity. The first one influences the way that it allows enhancing efficiency of organizations, and provides more information available for controlling and accessing by general public. This identifies the role and conduct of a particular bureaucracy. The global tension technology creates is it cannot be directed by governments, public bureaucracies may have different reactions, gaining legitimacy, competitiveness usually sought by governments as well. Furthermore, relating to institutions’ impact, it is seen as shaping policies of national governments, gaining power and authority. Next is reformulating governments’ significance, more strains may arise between democracies and public administration, and its legitimacy may become debatable. Worldwide pressure has an influence on the scope, autonomy, structure of bureaucracy. Hence, currently there is a need for managers to manage and rely on not only domestic administration but skillfully manage and utilize global environment. So, new skills, system of programs to act in this domain are critically vital for educating public managers.

Question 19

Welch, E., & Wong, W. (1998).

Due to the changing nature of public management what recommendation can be given to HR system in public sector?

Answer 19

Due to the changing nature of public management, we can infer for human resource management that management in the public service also needs to adjust to the new developments to be up-to-date as there is global impact through various means irrespectively circumstances and those tools that are applicable in the private sphere management should be adapted for managers to act locally, but to think globally as authors indicate.

Question 20

Context and Causal Mechanisms in Political Research (Falleti, Tulia and Julia Lynch; 2009)

What is the main argument of this article:?

Answer 20

“credible causal social scientific explanation can occur if and only if researchers are attentive to the interaction between causal mechanism and the context in which they operate.” (Falleti, 2009)

Question 21

(Falleti, Tulia and Julia Lynch; 2009)

Define Causation mechanisms (explanations) ?

Answer 21

Causation mechanisms (explanations) are most often defined as links between inputs (independent variable) and outputs (dependent variables). Another definition of the causal mechanism is “relatively abstract concepts or patterns of action that can travel from one specific instance, or an episode of causation to another and that explains how a hypothesized cause creates a particular outcome in a given context.” (Tilly, 2001) e.g “If I then O” can be written as I → O

Question 22

(Falleti, Tulia and Julia Lynch; 2009)

Define Context?

Answer 22

causal mechanism’s “partner concept” (Pawson, 2000) E.g Gunpowder will explode given a spark, right amount of humidity in the air, the right amount of gunpowder. Therefore, Pawson portrays the context as the set of preconditions. Another, example “to appreciate the importance of context for causal arguments is to think about context as a problem of unit homogeneity” (Falleti, 2009)

Question 23

(Falleti, Tulia and Julia Lynch; 2009)

Define argument?

Answer 23

mechanisms alone cannot cause outcomes, because causation resides in the interaction between the mechanism and the context within which it operates” (Falleti, 2009)
E.g. Copy-pasting good policies from one country to another does not automatically mean successful outcomes (Pawson, 2001). “Contextual conditions are often essential parts of causation; that is, it is only interaction with these factors that the cause can have its effect” (Mackie, 1965)
• Causation in time. A researcher needs to pay attention to the temporal context of the mechanism otherwise, the outcomes may be false.
• Causation in multilayered contexts. There might be multiple layers like political, economic, and demographic that might affect the outcome.
So causal explanations (mechanisms) must be contextually bounded to provide justifiable outcomes. Moreover, there is no much research on the relationship between context and mechanism.

Question 24

(Falleti, Tulia and Julia Lynch; 2009)

What could be the conclusive remarks on this paper?

Answer 24

Alan:
This article is an attempt to formalize a general understanding of the causation mechanism and associated context within it in Political Analysis. However, it lacks a more formal understanding of inputs and outputs.
For instance, let us consider the following argument: Democracy implies economic welfare.
In the above argument, different political scientists might use unlike definitions of democracy. Hence, given everything else (apart from Democracy) constant, we might get different results.
So in Political science, inputs and outputs need to be properly defined to avoid ambiguity and wrong results.
I see a recent surge in mechanistic explanation in Political Analysis as a trend of analytical philosophy that became dominant in the Western world at the beginning of the 20th century. Bertrand Russel, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and other analytical philosophers applied principles of mathematical logic in philosophy. That brought mathematically rigorous argumentation into natural science.
In my opinion, argumentation and claims in political science are very vague and disorienting. Although political science is a social science, still science community needs to develop a solution that will lead to more mathematically sound and complete reasoning.
A great philosophical question (in a Political Analysis context) would be “given we know that A implies B is true. Can we find a mechanism that makes this causation?” Godel’s Incompleteness theorem proves that in mathematics there are solutions that cannot be found even for propositions that are true (also known as undecidable problems). Therefore, I would argue that in Political Analysis there might be some true arguments with no causal mechanisms found.