Adapting public sector organisations to devolution: Innovation and collaboration in the Italian region of Lombardy (1998-2002).

Abstract

The devolution of authority from central to regional and local governments is a widespread trend in many countries. Differences in the outcomes of devolution reforms are often significant, between countries as well as within a country. The work assumes that an important part of the explanation of such differentiation derives from the dynamics of the implementation process; the first research question is addressed to explaining the substantial differentiation of outcomes that in many instances can be observed at the local level in the implementation of the same institutional design of devolution (what is the process dynamics of the organisational transformations occurring in public entities in the implementation phase of a cycle of a devolution policy.). Italy has gone through a deep transformation of a strongly centralised state into a "regional" one, occurred in subsequent waves of devolution. Alternative courses of events seem to have characterised the implementation of devolution in different localities and policy sectors: in this scenario, the case of devolution in agriculture in Lombardy over the period 1998-2002 is striking for the magnitude and rapidity of change, as well as for the way the reallocation of workforce to the lower levels of government occurred. The study of the Lombardy experience provides the basis for some tentative theorisations about the dynamics of devolution processes. Drawing on these results, the question of how top executives should lead an intervention of devolution is addressed (second research question). Practices for the management of devolution processes are designed on the basis of the study of the Lombardy experience. The protocol of organisational analysis for the design of practices is drawn from the literature on "smart practices analysis", a stream of literature in public policy and public management quite critical about current research conventions as regards the identification of "best" practices to be used for managing public sector organisations. Lessons for public managers about how to lead an intervention of devolution are proposed