Managing racial diversity: matching internal strategies to environmental needs

Although demographic diversity has been of paramount concern to researchers and practitioners in public management, studies exploring managerial strategies to capitalize on and respond to the needs of diverse client populations are scarce. This article examines strategies for managing diversity as a way to buffer environmental challenges in service delivery and performance resulting from heterogeneous client demands. Findings suggest that administrators prioritize diversity efforts when faced with higher levels of regulatory violations (a performance measure). A higher percentage of black residents is associated with lower service quality. However, the effect of managerial strategies for diversity on performance is conditioned by the racial composition of the clients: as the percentage of black nursing home residents increases, diversity management efforts are associated with a lower number of regulatory violations. Similarly, at higher levels of racial heterogeneity, diversity management efforts are associated with fewer regulatory violations

The Performance Puzzle: Understanding the Factors Influencing Alternative Dimensions and Views of Performance

There is a large literature on the determinants of organizational performance, and its multidimensional nature is well recognized. However, little research has examined how different organizational and environmental factors influence different stakeholders’ performance assessments of the same service. We address this gap by comparing the factors influencing performance evaluations by different constituencies of child care centers in Ohio. We operationalize performance using (1) regulatory violations documented during state licensing inspections, (2) satisfaction with the center’s quality reported by center directors, (3) satisfaction with the center’s quality reported by teachers, and (4) satisfaction with care quality reported by parents. Our findings suggest that different organizational and environmental factors are associated with the performance assessments of different constituencies. In addition, some of these constituency assessments appear to influence each other

Barber Shops, Salons, and Spas: The Complexity – and Simplicity – Of Implementing Outreach and Enrollment Contracts Under The Affordable Care Act

This article examines the implementation of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) with a particular focus on the states’ contracted outreach and enrollment services. Having collected administrative and perceptual data from key informants, we examined outreach and enrollment contracts in six states that have reduced the uninsured rate by at least 20% of ACA-eligible population. Our findings suggest that the complexity of the law and its structure, as well as the characteristics of contracting were, in effect, “drowned out” by clear patterns of highly collaborative implementation that involved extensive chains of diverse outreach/enrollment actors. These networks – ranging from experienced health advocacy organizations to community members’ recruiting in local churches, schools and barbershops – were able to put into effect comparatively simple systems with clear, shared goals among on-the-ground actors who broke through the implementation complexity, thereby creating new capacity and achieving significant enrollment gains

Do Relationships Matter? Assessing the Association Between Relationship Design and Contractor Performance

Contracting relationships vary in the extent to which they are complete and involve formal contract specification as well as the extent to which they are based on strong relationships and rely on cooperation and trust. Where a contracting arrangement falls on these two continuums constitutes what this paper refers to as relationship design and is likely to impact contractor performance. We use data from a survey of child-care centers and Head Start agencies in Ohio to examine the association between the design of contracting relationships and contractor performance. Contractor performance is assessed in two ways: an objective measure of violations identified by government inspectors and a perceptual self-rated measure of performance reported by the contracted service providers. Measures of relationship design are constructed using multiple survey items and are included in multivariate regression analyses while controlling for a variety of organizational characteristics. Findings suggest that contracts involving stronger relationships are positively associated with child-care center performance, and more complete contracts are negatively associated with performance when performance is measured using contractor self-reports

Putting the Pieces Together: A Comprehensive Framework for Understanding the Decision to Contract Out and Contractor Performance

Contracting out is currently one of the most prevalent mechanisms of the privatization movement. Understanding its trends and rigorously analyzing its implications is an increasingly salient issue for public management research. This article builds a multi-stage theoretical framework addressing two broad research questions. The first is to identify the array of economic, political, organizational, and institutional factors that may impact a government agency\u27s decision to contract out. The second is to detail the various organizational and environmental factors influencing contractor performance. Particular attention is paid to effective contract monitoring and its relationship to contractor performance

Faith-Based Assumptions About Performance: Does Church Affiliation Matter for Service Quality and Access?

To date, the common rhetoric and assumptions on the performance of faith-based organizations (FBOs), ironically, appear to be faith based rather than empirically supported: There is a paucity of research evaluating the effectiveness of FBOs that uses sufficiently rigorous methods and multiple measures of organizational performance. This study seeks to inform the debate on the relative effectiveness of FBOs by comparing religiously affiliated and secular nonprofit nursing homes using two distinct but complementary measures of organizational performance: service quality and access for impoverished clients. Using nationally representative panel data on 11,877 church-affiliated and secular nonprofit nursing homes, this study examines the effect of ownership with several regression models. Overall, the findings fail to confirm the assumption that FBOs perform better than secular nonprofit organizations in the context of the nursing home industry. Isomorphic pressures and commercialization trends within the nursing home industry are discussed to help explain these findings

Social Integration Practices of Migrants from CIS Countries in Primorsky Region

Primorsky region is among the most developed regions of Russia‘s Far East. However, the region is depopulating as mortality rate exceeds birth rate and due to out-migration of a local population. International labor migration somewhat compensates labor force shortage in the region. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that facilitate international migrants' social integration. In 2018 online survey was conducted among 216 labor migrants from former Soviet countries. Migrants with high education reported they would like to obtain Russian citizenship and move to other regions of Russia, compared to migrants with lower educational levels (8-10 grades) who intend to live in Primorsky Region (p=0,022). During their adaptation and integration, migrants use a variety of social resources. When migrants needed assistance to find job or prepare documents they need, 56,48% (n=122) of respondents reported they turned for help to their compatriot friends with recent migration experience, 22,22% (n=48) migrants turned to members of their ethnic diaspora, 16,67% (n=36) of respondents reported they used commercial agency services, or turned to NGO representatives (7,41%; n=16). There is a need to develop NGOs supporting migrants, to widen their range of services to support migrants. These measures will foster integration of labor migrtants.Приморский край занимает одно из лидирующих позиций в ДФО по уровню социально-экономического развития. Однако происходит убыль населения вследствие превышения уровня смертности над уровнем рождаемости, а также оттока местного населения. Международная миграция отчасти компенсирует нехватку рабочей силы. Цель данной статьи – выявить факторы, которые способствуют и противодействуют социальной интеграции мигрантов. В 2018 был проведен онлайн опрос среди трудовых мигрантов из стран бывшего Советского Союза. В исследовании приняли участие 216 респондентов. Мигранты с высоким уровнем образования сообщили, что хотели бы получить российское гражданство и жить в других регионах России, в отличие от мигрантов, окончивших 8 или 10 классов средней школы, которые хотели бы жить в Приморском крае (р=0,022). В процессе адаптации и интеграции мигранты используют различные социальные ресурсы. В случае, если мигрантам была необходима поддержка в трудоустройстве на работу, в подготовке необходимых документов или другая форма помощи, 56,48% (n=122) мигрантов обращались к своим друзьям-соотечественникам с недавним опытом миграции, 22,22% (n=48) обращались к представителям диаспор, 16,67%, (n=36) опрошенных пользовались услугами агентств, и лишь 7,41% (n=16) обращались в некоммерческие организации, которые оказывают поддержку мигрантам. Необходимо развитие некоммерческих организаций, оказывающих поддержку мигрантам, расширение спектра их возможностей для оказания помощи мигрантам. Эти меры существенно могут улучшить условия адаптации и интеграции трудовых мигрантов в Приморском крае

Managing in the regulatory thicket: regulation legitimacy and expertise

While the influence of government regulation on organizations is undeniable, empirical research in this field is scarce. This study investigates how the understanding of and attitudes towards government regulation among public, nonprofit, and for-profit managers affect organizational performance, using U.S. nursing homes as the empirical setting. Our findings suggest that managers’ perceptions of regulation legitimacy – views of regulation fairness, inspectors’ effectiveness, and internal utility of the mandates – positively affect service quality. Sub-group analysis suggests that the managers’ views of regulation matter in nonprofit and for-profit, but not public organizations. In nonprofit homes, performance declines when managers report higher regulatory expertise – better knowledge of the regulatory standards. In for-profit facilities, frequent communication with regulators lowers quality. These findings suggest that the regulated entities’ views of government regulation are central to their success, which necessitates improvements in the regulatory process