Modelli concettuali e strumenti operativi per la valutazione e il miglioramento della «performance» nell’erogazione dei servizi pubblici in una prospettiva di soddisfazione dell’utenza

La qualità dei servizi è stata riconosciuta come un rilevante aspetto caratterizzante la performance dell’azienda pubblica, analogamente alla capacità di operare secondo criteri di efficienza e nel rispetto dei vincoli di bilancio. Sebbene sia possibile riscontrare alcuni casi di customer satisfaction nelle amministrazioni pubbliche italiane, a tutt’oggi il tema presenta significative criticità, specialmente in ordine agli aspetti metodologici e agli strumenti operativi che consentano di integrare tali valutazioni nel sistema di programmazione e controllo e nel più ampio sistema di controllo organizzativo delle aziende che erogano tali servizi. Il presente lavoro adotta una diversa prospettiva di analisi del miglioramento della performance in ottica di “customer satisfaction”, rispetto a quella tradizionalmente utilizzata, specie con riferimento al settore pubblico. Piuttosto che focalizzare soltanto l’interazione tra “cliente/utente” esterno all’amministrazione pubblica e unità direttamente preposte all’erogazione dei servizi, in questa sede si propone di una chiave di lettura di tipo interistituzionale. Tale prospettiva è volta a comprendere le criticità e i generatori di prestazione connessi allo svolgimento dei processi gestionali da cui deriva il conseguimento di “prodotti” dell’attività amministrativa a beneficio dei “clienti/utenti” interni ed esterni, rispetto all’amministrazione pubblica. La rappresentazione della “catena del valore” alla luce della quale sia possibile esplicitare le responsabilità e i connessi indicatori di performance volti a collegare in sequenza diverse unità di “back-office” nel settore pubblico, ai fini del miglioramento del servizio all’utenza finale, costituisce un momento fondamentale per internalizzare nella pubblica amministrazione gli stimoli provenienti dalle tradizionali indagini di “customer satisfaction” e tradurli in concreti miglioramenti ai processi gestionali e ai connessi “prodotti” dell’attività amministrativa

Looking at the impact of collaborative policies on intangibles and outcomes through dynamic performance governance

The Etorkizuna Eraikiz (EE) case study provides thought-provoking insights on the role of intangibles as driving forces for a collaborative network governance primarily lead by the civil society. Among such factors are: 1) social cohesion around core values rooted in cultural traditions (e.g. language and gastronomy); 2) natural and historical assets; 3) human and social capital; and 4) policy innovation. All of them are at the same time framed in an ideal continuity with history, and consistently transposed into the future (Bianchi et al., 2019, p. 104). The fast and intensive growth in both the collaborative network and the achieved outcomes experienced since the inception of the EE ‘model’ suggests how intangibles (e.g. leadership, active citizenship and stakeholders’ aptitude to leverage natural and historical assets) can make a difference for generating community value. In the EE case, the intangibles profiling the civil society have been the main trigger for successfully deploying the endowment of available shared strategic resources (most of which are intangible too) to generate community outcomes

Teaching Public Administration Abroad through the Fulbright Specialist Program

The purpose of this article is to promote the benefits of the Fulbright Specialist Program—which was created in 2001 as a short-term complement to the Fulbright Scholar Program—and to encourage more public administration scholars to consider teaching abroad. After providing an overview of the Fulbright Specialist Program and the collaborative teaching approach we used for the preparation and delivery of instructional materials, it presents a number of lessons learned from the perspective of the Fulbright Specialist and the host institution for maximizing the experience of teaching abroad. This article also is dedicated to the work of Fulbright, which has pursued its mission to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries for 65 years.The purpose of this article is to promote the benefits of the Fulbright Specialist Program—which was created in 2001 as a short-term complement to the Fulbright Scholar Program—and to encourage more public administration scholars to consider teaching abroad. After providing an overview of the Fulbright Specialist Program and the collaborative teaching approach we used for the preparation and delivery of instructional materials, it presents a number of lessons learned from the perspective of the Fulbright Specialist and the host institution for maximizing the experience of teaching abroad. This article also is dedicated to the work of Fulbright, which has pursued its mission to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries for 65 years

Territorial Governance, E-Government and Sustainable Development Policy: A System Dynamics Approach

The goal of this paper is to demonstrate how system dynamics modelling can be used in e-government policy and systems as an aid to spport territorial ananlysis, planning and governance, sustainable performance in urban areas and the assessment of policy outcomes. Topics such as renewable energy, efficiency, the design and exploitation of urban energy, water and waste management infrastructure and the alignment of different stakeholders provide relevant fields of study for the analysis of this paper. Specifically, we reflect upon the way in which a preliminary dynamic performance management model of an exemplary case study can be used to foster a common shared view among different policy makers as a way to highlight new ways to enable sustainable development in urban areas

The Design and Execution of Performance Management Systems at State Level: a Comparative Analysis of Italy and Malaysia

Performance management is maturing as an effective approach in public organizations around the world in improving public services. However, the existing models, based primarily on best practices of first-world nations, have limitations that must be addressed. One of which is the relative lack of attention to the context of performance management reform. This international comparative case study analyses the experience of Italy and Malaysia in the design and execution of performance management systems at the national level. It seeks to contribute to the comparative literature on performance management across national jurisdictions. Italy and Malaysia also offer a contrasting study given their differing stage of economic development and extent of statism. Both these countries have a long history of reform to offer a good sample on the evolution of performance management at the national level of administration. Based on selected interviews of stakeholders in the reform effort and literature review, this study investigates how performance management systems have changed over the past decades, the motivations behind their metamorphoses, their common elements across the two countries and what accounts for the respective progress in the execution of the two systems. The study also inquires into the role that the institutional framework (formal, budget process, law mandating performance management, and planning and control systems) plays in bolting these systems on the fabric of public administration and in making the performance management systems robust. The study presents policy recommendations and strategies on how governments can create more robust performance management systems for enhanced accountability and transparency in an age of resource constraint. These include the consideration of organizational setting (centralization or decentralization) for performance management, the development of financial and non-financial indicators, especially those that are outcomes-based, planning and control mechanisms, culture, the impact of performance management legislation, the role of administrative and political leadership, and the need for an informational infrastructure that supports performance management

Using a Dynamic Performance Management approach to reinforce the benefits of territorial strategic planning

The purpose of this paper is to present how system dynamics (SD) can be used to enrich performance management in local government and to foster a common shared view of the relevant system’s structure and behavior among stakeholders for territorial strategic planning. We begin by framing how dynamic complexity through SD modeling can support consensus building among different stakeholders within a territory, which moves beyond the traditional view of strategic planning within the context of a single jurisdiction. A Dynamic Performance Management (DPM) approach, as shown by our case-study, may help such players to overcome possible barriers to collaboration because of its support to better detect how pursuing a sustainable development in the territory’s performance impacts on the sustainability of each single institution belonging to the territory. This implies that territorial public agencies, e.g. municipalities, may understand and communicate to their stakeholders that long term performance cannot be only assessed in financial terms or by referring to output measures only, but also in relation to the outcomes that public services will be able to generate as value transferred to the territory. Likewise, the enterprises operating in a given territory should be enabled to detect how their own performance can be sustainable in the long run if they will be able to generate not only financial capital, but also social capital to the benefit of the other players belonging to the territory. Therefore, a key to implement a DPM approach for each of the players is to combine an institutional (single-player) with an inter-institutional (i.e. multi-players or territory) perspective with a view to enhancing performance and pursuing sustainable development. An inter-institutional perspective frames the territory (rather than a single institution) as the relevant system where to comprise and manage the cause and effect relationships between performance factors and strategic resources

MANAGING LEVERS OF ORGANIZATION DESIGN TO ENHANCE SMES’ LONGEVITY: An Agenda for Further Research

SME success is often primarily linked to the personal traits of entrepreneurs and vice versa. In terms of SME failure, most of the literature, research and popular press, seems focused on individual factors, such as those related to the owner/entrepreneur’s profile and behavior, or contextual factors like those associated with relationships between the firm and its own stakeholders, especially on the competitive and financial systems arenas. That said, some scholars have emphasized the relevance of organizational design for SME longevity, though there seems to be little inter-relating of the two sides. This paper examines the relationships between owner/entrepreneur attributes and organization design and infrastructure in an attempt to gain a clearer understand of SME longevity and failure. It examines critical issues in appropriateness and comprehensiveness of organizational design, control and decision-making flexibility and risk perception. It concludes that these linkages are not well understood and may lead to unhelpful misdiagnoses of small business failure. It consequently suggests a research agenda based on a structural analysis and modeling using the system dynamics approach

Alla ricerca dei fattori rilevanti nell’adozione dei sistemi di gestione della performance nelle amministrazioni pubbliche territoriali. L’analisi di due casi di studio.

La ricerca scientifica ha dimostrato che la gestione della performance nelle amministrazioni pubbliche sta oggi spostando il proprio focus dalla mera attività di raccolta e rendicontazione di dati alla generazione di informazioni atte a supportare la formulazione di decisioni. L’analisi comparativa dei casi di studio analizzati in questo articolo mira ad identificare i fattori critici sottostanti alla progettazione e all’utilizzo dei sistemi di gestione della performance nelle amministrazioni regionali. Da questa analisi emerge che alcune variabili risultano essenziali ai fini di un’efficace adozione dei sistemi di performance management. Tra queste variabili sono annoverabili: il ruolo della legislazione, le doti di leadership degli amministratori, e le caratteristiche degli indicatori di performance adottati. Con questo lavoro ci si auspica di poter suscitare nel management delle amministrazioni regionali la consapevolezza che la leadership e le competenze professionali sono fattori decisivi per supportare una progettazione e adozione dei sistemi di gestione della performance, che vada oltre la ricerca dell’adempimento formale di prescrizioni normative.The literature has shown that the focus on performance management is shifting from collecting and reporting data to actually using them for decision making. The comparative case-study analysis presented in this article aims to identify the critical factors for adopting and implementing relevant performance management systems in regional governments. The evidence emerging from this casestudy analysis finds that certain variables are essential to advancing our progress in performance management, including the role of legislation, the need for leadership, and the characteristics of performance indicators. The hope of this research is to encourage regional administrators to embrace leadership roles in interpreting and applying legal frameworks for realizing the benefits of performance management

Performance Management in Local Government: The Application of System Dynamics to Promote Data Use

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how system dynamics can be used to enrich performance management in local government, focusing specifically on how the development of conceptual and simulation system dynamic models can foster a shared view of the relevant system among stakeholders to overcome factors that limit data use. Responding to this purpose, we present a normative case study on how key drivers can be used to foster a shared view of the residential refuse collection system for supporting policy and process changes. A major finding from our research, however, is that performance management cannot overlook the broader forces of citizenship outcomes that impact the community

Applying system dynamics modeling to foster a cause-and-effect perspective in dealing with behavioral distortions associated with a city's performance measurement programs

This paper aims to show how applying system dynamics methodology to performance management can provide a powerful modeling perspective enabling public sector organizations to prevent, detect, and counteract behavioral distortions associated with performance measurement. A dynamic performance management approach is able to support performance management system designers in outlining and implementing a consistent set of measures that can allow public sector decision-makers to pursue sustainable organizational learning and development. This perspective implies a major shift from a static to a dynamic picture of organizational processes and results. It means framing delays between causes and effects, feedback loops, and trade-offs in time and space associated with alternative scenarios. It also means understanding how different policy levers impact the accumulation and depletion of strategic resources over time, and determining how performance drivers affect end results. An exemplar application of this perspective is outlined in relation to municipal crime-control policies. Unintended behavioral consequences generated by the implementation of the CompStat program (New York Police Department) on reward and performance management systems are framed through the "lenses" of dynamic performance management