Performance Measurement Challenges in Switzerland: Lessons from Implementation

This article assesses recent reforms to implement performance budgeting at the national level in Switzerland with emphasis on the necessity for integrating the political dimension. The political context is Switzerland is described as a regulation-driven with fairly liberal but still detailed private and public law, and where the legal basis is the major subject of political influence. In practice, the law is the result of long-term politics while the budget reflects the short-term, actual value of tasks is determined by the legislators. Thereby, a systematic link between legal obligations and financial resources – such as is the case in U.S. programs – does not exist in the traditional form of political steering. In times of financial pressure, this can lead to laws that are not enacted due to a lack of resources. The article analyzes traditional budgeting and contrasts it with results-oriented public management and performance budgeting as manifest in the Swiss model

3. Bericht zum Stand von E-Government in der Schweiz

Mit diesem Bericht wird eine erste Phase des E-Government Barometers abgeschlossen. Erstmals wurde in der Schweiz flächendeckend, d.h. über alle Verwaltungseinheiten aller Staatsebenen hinweg, ein Modernisierungsansatz über mehrere Jahre beobachtet. Dank der finanziellen Unterstützung des Bundes, dreier Kantone und dreier Unternehmen liegen nun nicht nur unschätzbare Datengrundlagen für die Forschung, sondern vor allem Erkenntnisse über die Entwicklung des E-Government in der Praxis vor. Dies ist umso wichtiger, als die Schweiz im internationalen Vergleich eine eher zurückhaltende Entwicklung auszuweisen hat. Wie sieht das Bild nun aus der Sicht der Verwaltungen aus

Digitales Aktenmanagement : Konzeptionelle Grundlagen, Entwicklungsstand auf kantonaler Verwaltungsebene in der Schweiz und internationale Initiativen

Die Verbreitung des digitalen Aktenmanagements ist in der Schweizer öffentlichen Verwaltung noch nicht sehr weit fortgeschritten. Etliche Kantone haben zwar Projekte am Laufen, verfügen aber nicht über konkrete Vorstellungen, wie das DAM zu lösen ist. Viel bleibt noch zu tun. Letztlich liegt die Verantwortung bei den Führungskräften in der Verwaltung

Managing Crowd Innovation in Public Administration

Governments all over the world have discovered the world of social media, for better or for worse. Whereas some of them are making every effort to prevent the unhierarchical and therefore uncontrollable (dissident) opinion-forming process in Web 2.0, others are looking for ways of putting the potentialities of this new opening-up of communication to use. One approach that is increasingly being tried out is opening up innovation processes in government. However, this opening-up of innovation processes is anything but trivial. It requires a thoroughly thought-out strategy and thus confronts government systems with extensive challenges if it is not to suffer the same fate as other unsuccessful attempts at reform in the past. In our essay, we reflect on the consequences of these challenges for public managers

Managing the E-Government Organization

This article examines the internal and external administrative factors conducive and inhibitive of the development of e-government. It develops a conceptual framework on the basis of existing experiences drawn from administrative reforms. Using data from a large survey of public managers in the German federal government to test guidelines and prescriptions provided in the article, this study indicates that the elements and guidelines developed in our research have had a direct or indirect influence on the development of e-government. Finally, the article indicates further research requirements, as well as consequences for practical project design

Comment from the Editors

This is the first issue of the third volume of the International Public Management Network e-publication The International Public Management Review (IPMR). IPMR is published twice per year on the IPMR website at www.ipmr.net. Volume 1, Number 1 appeared in December 2000 as a double issue to inaugurate the series. Volume 2, Issues 1 was published in March 2001 and Issues 2 appeared in November 2001. Back issues are available at www.ipmr.net

Managerial Challenges and Tasks in Multirational Public Organizations

This paper explores multirationality of public organizations from the perspective of systems theory. In the tradition of this theoretical approach, it focuses on how communication may be used in explaining and understanding the hybridity of these organizations. It argues that faced with a variety of different rationalities of function systems in their environment, public organizations are responding, inter alia, by becoming more complex internally. In other words, they import different rationalities from their environment into their own house. Classifying public organizations as being comprised of highly autonomous subsystems, where each subsystem uses a specific type of specialized communication to process a subsystem specific rationality, this paper sheds light on associated tensions and conflicts within public organizations. It discusses managerial challenges and tasks deriving from multirationality within public organizations. The paper finally concludes that proper communication requires greater theoretical and practical consideration when explaining and dealing with conflicts stemming from the hybridity of public organizations

Politiker und Verwaltungsmanager in der Reform - Konflikt oder Symbiose? Eine Analyse anhand von Reformen in der Schweiz

Seit den neunziger Jahren wird die öffentliche Verwaltung reformiert. Nicht selten sind davon auch politische Gremien betroffen, in der Schweiz gleichzeitig die Parlamente und die Regierungen. Da sich alle drei Partner - wenn möglich harmonisch - verändern sollen, ist anzunehmen, dass die Beziehung zwischen Politikern und Verwaltungsmanagern eine besondere Bedeutung für die Reform hat. Dieser Artikel geht der Frage nach, wie Exekutivpolitiker ihre eigene Rolle in der Reform erlebten, wie sie die Beziehung zu relevanten Referenzgruppen schildern, und wie die Beziehung zu Verwaltungsmanagern erlebt wurde. Er untersucht spezifischen Kontext der Schweiz die Schilderungen von zehn Exekutivpolitikern, die sich in ihren Kantonen besonders augenfällig für die Reformen stark gemacht haben. Er kommt zur Erkenntnis, dass "Issue Networks" bestehend aus Reformeliten der drei Gruppen, die Reform stark voran getrieben haben. Damit kann für diese Netzwerke durchaus ein symbiotisches Verhältnis erkannt werden.Since the nineties, public administration has been undergoing significant reforms. In many cases, political bodies have been included, for Switzerland these were both the parliaments and the cabinets. As all three actor groups should - if possible harmonically - change, it can be expected that the relation between politicians and public managers has a high relevance for the reforms. This paper is focussing on the way ministers perceived their roles within the reform, how they narrate their relation to relevant reference groups, and how the relation to public managers was experienced. In the specific context of Switzerland, it analyses the narratives of ten ministers who agitated visibly for the reforms in their cantons. It is argued that 'issue networks' consisting of the reformist elites within the three groups of actors did drive the reforms. Consequently, one can recognise a symbiotic relation between politicians and public managers for these networks