ALBERT

Notizen: The twentieth century has seen a sea change in the concentration of ownership of U.S. corporations. Early in the century Berle and Means identified the divorce of ownership from control as the central corporate governance problem, but since the 1970’s ownership has been re’rating into the hands of fiduciary institutions – most notably pension funds and mutual funds. By the 1990s fiduciaries collectively owned over 50% of the outstanding equity of the 1,000 largest corporations. This new pattern of ownership, fiduciary capitalism, has begun to raise important policy questions including: How can agents (fiduciaries) effectively monitor other agents (boards of directors)? What are the social implications of universal ownership where fiduciaries own substantial stakes in virtually all of the corporations in a country, and, finally, What does it mean to maximize shareholder wealth when fiduciaries are universal owners?

Notizen: This paper outlines the conceptual, cultural, contextual and disciplinary scope of the rapidly evolving topic of corporate governance. As a basis for improving the rigour of research and analysis, some definitions are suggested. Reasons for the diversity of view-points and concerns are considered. To provide an orientation for new scholars and those from specialised disciplines, recent surveys of corporate governance are reviewed from their ethnocentric, contextual, and intellectual contingencies. The prospects of developing the topic as a “science of organization” are considered along with areas for future research.

Notizen: The publication in the UK of the Cadbury Report and its associated Code of Best Practice focused attention on the conduct and structure of boards in large companies. The Code suggested that greater financial accountability would be facilitated by increasing the number of non-executive directors, creating new sub-committees and ensuring that the power of the chair is limited. Surveys amongst FT100 companies show that their compliance with the Cadbury Code has been rapid and virtually complete (Bostock [1995], Cadbury [1995]); less attention has been paid to the compliance of small and medium-sized companies. The approach that is taken in this survey is to investigate the board structures chosen by these enterprises as they prepare for stock market listing. Companies are prepared for market with the advice of professional advisors who it is assumed have a reputational interest in the success of the issue; therefore, they advance corporate governance structures that satisfy potential investors’ expectations. Such companies are making their boards anew and should represent best-practice. This paper examines whether current practice in small and medium-sized companies conforms to the prescribed model for UK boards. It is concluded that the Cadbury Code is not the only model for emergent small to medium sized companies and that the market does not value its adoption in all cases.

Notizen: This Australian study utilises disclosure requirements in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards AASB 1017: Related Party Disclosures, to provide a richer description of non-executive director characteristics. Consistent with the findings of Baysinger and Butler (1985) we find a three scale classification system for directors (insider, grey area, outsider) to better reflect board composition.The results indicate that 35% of non-executive directors were involved in transactions with their companies which potentially threaten their independence (i.e. grey area directors). On average, our findings reveal that the combination of insider and ‘grey’ area directors would constitute a majority of the board. This could lead to companies appearing to comply with current Australian recommendations through possessing a non-executive majority on the board, whilst in fact being controlled by internal management. This finding similarly applied to the composition of the audit committee.

Notizen: Corporate Governance – responsibilities, risks and remuneration by Kevin Keasey and Mikie Wright

Notizen: A considerable amount of attention has recently been given to the lack of equality for women in the economic arena. Women are systematically disadvantaged in many ways in terms of pay for the same job, promotion prospects and access to the most important top jobs in the United Kingdom. In this paper we present new evidence on women participation rates in UK boardrooms. In particular, our objectives are to (i) examine the proportion of executive and non-executive directors who are women (ii) to document the degree to which women are deployed to key boardroom committees.

Notizen: Board activists continue to suggest – even demand – that the CEO and board chairperson positions be held separately, to ensure governance independence at board level. A regression analysis of large corporations provides no evidence of differences in independence across a range of dimensions. Even when the positions are held separately, the chairperson is often the former CEO, holds substantial equity in the firm and, in many cases, has familial ties to current executives.

Notizen: This study examined views of women directors on criteria for their being selected, reasons for serving and benefits derived from their directorships. Data were collected from 280 women serving on Canadian corporate boards of directors using anonymous questionnaires. A successful career in traditional business organizations emerged as the major selection criteria. Personal contacts and visibility to male board members was essential. Company/industry interest and broadening skills and knowledge motivated women’s board service. Finally women board members reported considerable benefits from serving. Efforts to broaden the selection and nomination process to include more qualified women may benefit women, men and organizations.

Notizen: This paper is based on a large and comprehensive survey of the investor relations process in large UK companies. The survey was primarily designed to investigate investor relations, secondarily to explore links between investor relations procedures and improvements in corporate governance. Of the independent variables, the size of company has the greatest association with measures of well organised and controlled investor relations. The use of a non–executive chairman also has a positive association. The proportion of non–executive directors does not appear to influence whether investor relations are well organised and successful.

Notizen: This paper describes a process for the evaluation of the Chairperson by his or her fellow board members. It has been developed in close co-operation between academics and practitioners and has been successfully tested in different companies. Frequently, there is a fairly high threshold to be overcome before companies agree to such a step. They fear a dismantling of the authority of the Chairman or a “Götterdämmerung” in the board room. These fears are unfounded if the process is handled with care and embedded in a culture of learning; learning even at the level of the board. In such cases, all parties involved (and, in particular, the Chairman) found the process very helpful, and satisfaction was widespread despite considerable initial hesitation and uneasiness.

Notizen: Over the past eleven years, activists – particularly public pension funds such as the California Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) – are credited with prompting boards to roust underperforming management at some of the largest US corporations, and they have pushed for reforms in areas ranging from compensation to corporate strategy. Evidence for shareholders’ increased interest in corporate governance is clear. In the 1984–5 proxy season, shareholder resolutions totaled 275, and the average vote was 5.74%; by 1991–2, resolutions and the average vote on them had climbed to 487 and 24.06%, respectively. In 1992, shareholders were also successful in pushing through regulatory changes that gave them the right to communicate with each other outside the management–dominated proxy system.After 11 years of shareholder activism, where does the movement stand today? Understanding the development of the shareholder–rights movement, the prospects for governance reform, and the future evolution of the movement requires a sophisticated understanding of how the politics of corporate control is accomplished and, in particular, the important role that social structure plays. In this article, we suggest that social movement theory, which sociologists have used to explain collective action by groups ranging from the Civil Rights movement to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, provides a useful tool for analysing owner–management conflicts, and in particular, the recent rise of the shareholder–rights movement in the United States. After briefly discussing the traditional economic view of corporate governance and its shortcomings, we argue that more–or–less organized politics is an essential ingredient of the American system of corporate governance. We then present a social movement framework to explain the rise in investor activism. We conclude by continuing our application of this framework to examine the maturation of this movement and to assess its future, in part by comparing it to other contemporary, confrontational movements.

Notizen: It is widely acknowledged that the impetus for the setting up of the CadburyCommittee on corporate governance was the series of scandals that became public in the late 1980's. And whilst hard cases do not always help in making good laws, they can sometimes prompt us into reflective action to consider what arrangements might prevent these problems from occurring in the future. This paper seeks to describe and examine a hard case that poses corporate governance questions regarding distributive justice and the appropriate form of procedure that might satisfy its demands. The hard case in question is that of Turner and Newall (T&N) and its handling of its asbestos liabilities. This case raises many ethical issues (secrecy, duties of care, distributive justice, informed consent, corporate responsibility) which can only be touched upon in this brief examination which is mainly focused upon the issue of corporate responsibility arising from this firm’s predicament.The case will be discussed as follows: first, the facts as they are known will be described concerning the asbestos risks and damage liabilities of T&; secondly, the policy and practice of T&N in dealing with this issue will be outlined; thirdly, the moral inadequacies of their response will be highlighted; then a contrast will be drawn with the strategy adopted in the USA by the Johns-Manville Corporation; and finally, one possible alternative solution will be proposed and its wider lessons for corporate governance considered.

Notizen: This précis is from Research Paper #1/96, by Jennifer Hill, and published by the Australian Investment Managers’ Association, 1996. It supplements, as a matter of record, the conclusions of the UK report of a study group chaired by Sir Richard Greenbury, and published in Corporate Governance – an international review.

Notizen: In 1993 the Executive Board of the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) in Hong Kong approved the implementation of a corporate wide manpower and succession planning process. Succession at executive director level was identified as a priority. It was recognised that it would be necessary to identify and assess skills appropriate to company ‘direction’ as distinct from ‘management’ in order to proceed with succession planning at director level and to identify director training and development needs.Two crucial questions emerged: was it possible to identify the core competencies that are required by executive directors? If so, could those competencies be measured and assessed objectively? The experiences of the MTRC in identifying director competencies and in designing, validating and implementing the assessment process during 1994 and 1995 suggests that they can. Their experience forms the basis of this paper.The relatively sparse literature on the identification of director-level competencies is discussed. The competencies identified by the MTRC are outlined. The development of assessment centres, which are widely used to assess core competencies in managerial and professional roles, is then explained. Finally, the experience of the MTRC in extending the use of assessment centres to appraise board-level governance rather than managerial competencies is described and conclusions drawn.

Notizen: This article considers notions of accountability and governance in the charitable sector. It suggests a model of accountability based on a case study of a well known, but anonymous charity. The opportunities for voluntary bodies are increasing and more state funds are becoming available; but with them comes a demand for more public accountability. A definition of accountability is proposed and the extent of the charity’s compliance discussed. From this inventory of compliance, conclusions are drawn as to reforms needed in the charity’s structure and management if it is to become more in tune with its environment.

Notizen: Stakeholder theory has been widely offered as a corrective to perceived defects of business and business ethics, and as an alternative model of corporate governance. Indeed, it is now advocated so commonly as to have become a new orthodoxy. Far from being a source of improvements, however, stakeholder theory is fundamentally misguided, incapable of providing better corporate governance, business performance or business conduct. Stakeholder theory is indeed intrinsically incompatible with all substantive objectives, and undermines both private property and accountability.

Notizen: A cybernetic perspective is used to evaluate firms with or without stakeholder participation in their information and control architecture. This approach also provides a basis for evaluating firms with more than one board or control centre as found in Japan, Europe, and labour-managed firms. Empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that multi control centres with stakeholder participation can provide competitive advantages. This hypothesis is supported by the Law of Requisite Variety and the Williamson analysis of why Multi-divisional firms provide advantages over Unitary Form firms. The opportunity to support stakeholder governance with stakeholder ownership is identified from an analysis of how corporate rights of perpetual succession permits investors to be overpaid. The public policy implications of investor overpayments are considered. Also considered is the use of cybernetic principles to introduce self-regulation as proposed by the US Vice President. Policy initiatives are identified to build a ‘stakeholder economy’ as proposed by the Leader of the Labour Party in Britain. The paper concludes that appropriate stakeholder governance could improve equity and self-governance in the private sector, the quality of democracy in the public sector, and the efficiency of both sectors.

Notizen: In this paper we first describe recent developments which have seen the emergence of a stronger regulatory structure for United Kingdom charities. Secondly, we outline the radical proposal to change the financial accounting practices of charities. These proposals are designed to provide the financial criteria for monitoring and ensuring greater accountability of charities. Finally we question what effect will these changes have had on the rest of the European charitable sector? How different is the ‘British Model’ from other European countries? Will other European States follow the ‘British Model’? Or has the ‘British Model’ lessons it could learn from its partner states? To effect an answer we illustrate from our recent survey the current audit, accounting and supervision practices in the other European Union States with the exception of Greece.

Notizen: Institutional shareholders are increasingly being urged to take a more active role in the governance of the companies in which they invest. In particular, attention has focused on the level of voting by institutions at annual general meetings, which has historically been rather low, and many commentators argue that institutions (particularly the pension funds) should have a legal duty to exercise their voting rights on behalf of their beneficiaries. This paper examines the issues regarding institutional voting and considers whether mandatory institutional voting is likely to lead to more active institutional involvement in corporate governnance at the individual firm level. In particular, it is argued that the imposition of mandatory voting is unlikely to result in informed voting, which is essential if the objective of increasing effective institutional involvement in corporate governance is to be met. This paper concludes that the imposition of mandatory voting is unlikely to result in a change in the investment and ownership ethos of the institutions.

Notizen: The period between 1957 and 1964 was one of immense yet underestimated political and administrative change. It culminated in what many have seen as a golden age in Whitehall. This is reflected by the wealth of records now available for the study of government and policy networks. The period is thus an ideal one for collaboration between historians and political scientists.The decisional case study examined in this article focuses on the early years of the Public Expenditure Survey Committee, as viewed from the perspective of welfare policy. The drive to ‘modernize’ government started with attempts to ‘roll back the state’ and to hive off the implementation of policy to executive agencies, very similar to those pursued in the 1980s by Mrs Thatcher and Next Steps. The reasoned rejection of such a policy was symbolized by the creation of PESC, a centralized attempt to allocate resources rationally. PESC itself, however, was initially a failure. External circumstances, such as the breakdown of political and administrative networks within the core executive, and internal tensions, including the Treasury’s covert attempt to impose its own departmental interest, led the Cabinet Secretary to conclude that the prioritization and strict control of forward expenditure commitments was ‘not possible’. This case study demonstrates how future studies of the core executive might be broadened and deepened.

Notizen: The article discusses (1) the uses, advantages and drawbacks of the biographical approach in the study of public administration and (2) the application of theories of leadership to senior British civil servants. The argument is advanced that biographical case studies - looking at the personal qualities, careers and achievements of top mandarins - can illuminate the exercise of leadership in Whitehall and the changing role and culture of the civil service.

Notizen: The period since 1979 has witnessed more radical change in the civil service than in any other peacetime era in its history. Such has been the order of change that Lord Bancroft, the former Head of the Home Civil Service, has suggested that the civil service was in danger of being ‘demolished’ and of there being a return to the ills of the ‘unreformed’ service before the 1850s. This would be to take the ‘two steps back’ of the article’s title before the Northcote-Trevelyan report and the Warren Fisher era. Against the background of this possible outcome, this article evaluates the Next Steps programme and the other initiatives promoted by recent Conservative governments, before concluding that the requirements of the work and a markedly unified career civil service need not be compatible, and that there is at least the possibility that the various changes when fully implemented could represent ‘one step forward’.

Notizen: Using a transaction cost perspective, this article explores the administrative costs involved in quasi-market systems of public service delivery. Employing the historical example of the interwar National Health Insurance scheme, it revives Beveridge’s early criticisms of the duplication and expense incurred by the utilization of approved societies for benefit administration purposes. To this we should add the costs incurred by central audit and actuarial evaluation, the main mechanisms through which the societies were centrally regulated. The article concludes that, thanks to regulatory requirements, this poly-centric system of public administration was more expensive than a state-run equivalent – and that this message has significance for recent reforms. In the course of the analysis, the narrowness of a ‘pure’ transaction cost perspective is demonstrated and common assumptions concerning distinctions between ‘the state and the market’ in administrative structures are drawn into question. The division of public administration into these two typologies is arguably based on a false dichotomy.

Notizen: This article deals with developing relationships between local authorities and local non–elected public service agencies in England and Wales. It classifies local authority responses to the growth of the non–elected state. Account is taken of varying agency characteristics and the constraints and dilemmas they face. From the local authority vantage point what is at stake is organizational (re)positioning in a changing institutional environment. Insights derived from strategic management are therefore utilized. But resource dependencies and exchanges also manifest themselves in these emerging relationships. Moreover, account must be taken of the scope for local authorities to be ‘network managers’ given the structural reconfiguration of the local state. The analysis therefore takes on board organizational networking theoretical frameworks. Although central government remains best placed to manipulate the ‘rules of the [new and uncertain] game’, interesting possibilities present themselves if local authorities can show more strategic skill than in the recent past.

Notizen: There has been substantial growth in the number of non-elected public bodies – or quangos – operating at the local level. This development presents a marked change from the model of elected local authorities as the main focus for the governance and delivery of local public services. Four interpretations of this change are examined: agency-type, ideological control, managerial restructuring and regulationist explanations. Agency-type explanations recognize a plurality of factors, but lack theoretical or predictive rigour. Ideological and managerial explanations have a stronger theoretical basis but fail to recognize the wider structural context. Regulationist explanations offer, but also suffer from the problems of, structuralist analysis. An integrating framework is developed. Three phases in the development of local quangos are presented as a process by which government has resolved tensions in the British state. A consequence, however, has been to raise questions about the state's longer term legitimacy.

Notizen: An alternative to contractual solutions to agency problems is suggested in the literature on leadership in which leaders are often claimed to be able to steer historical processes in the direction they intend through the distinctive influence they have on the intrinsic motivation of their followers. We evaluate Casson’s (1991) agency–theoretic model of leadership as ‘moral manipulation’ which under certain conditions can be exercised at lower agency cost than monitoring. We then make a case for conceiving leadership as the development of culture of passion to advance the leader’s quest through the engagement of followers in ‘interaction rituals’ in which their passion is either recharged or their lack of passion exposed. The impact the emergence of such cultures can have on the policy–making community is examined using the British and New Zealand experiences and a case is made for the preservation of a counter–culture of ‘public interest’ in the policy advisory ranks of the civil service.

Notizen: The NHS internal market, introduced in an atmosphere of controversy, continues to generate much disagreement. This article examines the evidence on the impact of this policy with regard to a range of criteria, including efficiency, accountability, effective planning and co-ordination, patient choice and service quality, equity, and the culture of the NHS. It explores the different ways in which this evidence is perceived and seeks to make explicit the assumptions and biases of those involved in the debate about the reforms. The article also examines the policy process behind the reforms and the extent to which it has added to the problems of evaluation. By way of conclusion, the implications for future health care reform are considered and a number of procedural changes suggested.

Notizen: This article analyses the diversity of public organizations focusing on variations in their degree of publicness. We define ‘publicness’ as organizational attachment to public sector values: for example, due process, accountability, and welfare provision. Based on a survey of Danish public organizations, we show that organizations with a high degree of publicness differ from organizations with a low degree of publicness. The former are characterized by complex tasks, professional orientation, many external stakeholders, conflicting environmental demands, and low managerial autonomy. The latter are the opposite. We explore in detail both the relationship between the organizations and their parent ministries and their responses to organizational change. Organizations with a high degree of publicness are subject to a tight ministerial control and have formal and distant relations with the ministry. They also have strong vertical links, externally and internally. High internal control is the joint product of ministerial control and the stress on the public sector value of rule compliance. All organizations ranked high on publicness are reluctant to adopt organizational changes stemming from the ‘New Public Management’. Again, organizations with a low degree of publicness are the opposite, keen to adopt new ideas. We show that degree of publicness matters, across both functional types of organizations and policy sectors. Finally, we discuss alternative theoretical explanations of publicness drawn from contingency theory and the new institutionalism.

Notizen: Focuses on the critical role played by professionals in the management of health-care institutions in the UK and Canada. Using empirical data, examines the structural models of clinical management, the roles of clinical managers and their relationships with colleague professionals. Compares the approaches taken in the UK and Canada, and explores issues of context, history and relative power. Questions the extent to which professionals are losing autonomy to other professions and management. In particular examines whether the sharing of power inter-professionally may lead to greater, overall collective professional autonomy. Develops themes of the contextual influences on the process of change, and whether professionals are more effectively managed by internal or external processes of control.

Notizen: Analyses the features, strategies and characteristics of health-care reforms in the People's Republic of China. Since the fourteenth Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party held in 1992, an emphasis has been placed on reform strategies such as cost recovery, profit making, diversification of services, and development of alternative financing strategies in respect of health-care services provided in the public sector. Argues that the reform strategies employed have created new problems before solving the old ones. Inflation of medical cost has been elevated very rapidly. The de-linkage of state finance bureau and health service providers has also contributed to the transfer of tension from the state to the enterprises. There is no sign that quasi-public health-care insurance is able to resolve these problems. Finally, co-operative medicine in the rural areas has been largely dismantled, though this direction is going against the will of the state. Argues that a new balance of responsibility has to be developed as a top social priority between the state, enterprises and service users in China in order to meet the health-care needs of the people.

Notizen: Studies the provision of development co-operation of two UN funding agencies: UNFPA and UNICEF. Their development co-operation is carried out in programmes that can be considered a form of international public service management. Describes the organizational set-up and governance issues that form the context of programme management. Shows that both governments and civil society actors deeply influence the functioning of both funds. Compares the programme procedures, as well as the internal and external management problems, of both funds and indicates some possible remedies for these problems. Discusses the opportunities and limits of a public management approach for UN development co-operation.

Notizen: Presents initial findings from research undertaken in 1996 for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation into the internal governance of further education corporations, housing associations and training and enterprise councils. Discusses the relationship between board members and senior officers in these organizations by focusing on the distinctions drawn between strategy, policy and operations. Argues that the language of policy has increasingly been replaced by the language of strategy and that this corresponds to the evacuation of policy questions from the local public sphere. Advances four hypotheses to explain this rolling back of the frontiers of politics: a reassertion of the power of chief executives/managers linked to a new generation of social entrepreneurs; the emergence of a new generation of élite volunteers who restrict their activities to vision and strategy; a response to a rapidly changing economy, society, politics and environment in which speed of decision is of the essence; and increasing centralization. Concludes that a combination of internal and external pressures has reinforced the move towards the new governance.

Notizen: Reports that marked limitations in the Greek Civil Service, combined with the severe fiscal constraints of the Maastricht Treaty, have raised the issue of public management restructuring. Within this framework, attempts to investigate the extent to which middle managers in the public services are realizing the adjustments to the nature of their managerial work necessary to serve the "new management culture". Underscores the need for greater control over resources in order to meet their responsibilities effectively and act "as managers". States that the empowerment issue that is raised by the survey could be considered of pivotal importance for personnel development in, and the organizational restructuring of, the Greek public services.

Notizen: Explains that the public sector is a major buyer of goods and services. In the mid-1980s discriminatory (buy national) public purchasing was identified as one of the barriers to the completion of the Single European Market. Studies suggested that a more liberal public purchasing regime would bring significant economic benefits with increased competition for contracts reducing public sector procurement costs and facilitating the creation of a more competitive European industrial base. These ideas led to a series of European Union procurement directives designed to prohibit preferential public purchasing. Uses data on contract awards from 1993 to investigate the extent to which public purchasing still discriminates in favour of domestic firms. This evidence casts doubts on the true extent of openness in EU public procurement markets.

Notizen: Provides an overview of the literature on public sector reform, total quality management (TQM) and strategic planning. Traces the change efforts and road to privatization of Asset Services, which is a maintenance contractor with about 2,000 staff and a business unit of a large Australian government department. Describes how, during the period 1989-1996, Asset Services undertook a process which illustrates the integration of customer focus, quality principles and strategic business planning. Introduces the concept of the business improvement leader, and discusses some of the many TQM and business planning activities undertaken to the point of being fully commercialized. Identifies a number of factors influencing the success of this business unit.

Notizen: Argues that user involvement can provide the best basis for reforming the internal and external relationships of local government, supporting both the reinvigoration of public accountability and providing the only secure foundation for improvements in operational effectiveness. Considers and criticizes other models for improving public management. Focuses particularly on the core processes of local government - the democratic, management and service delivery processes - and the primary interactions with politicians and service users, through which managers must function. Examines survey evidence on the extent of quality initiatives in local authorities and goes on to speculate about the organizational arrangements needed to support a user-involvement approach. Concludes that the fundamental problem of public management centres on the alienation of the public and that public managers have a critical responsibility in reconstructing the public through reforms of service delivery.

Notizen: Focusing on one of the "Next Steps" agencies, explores the difficulties which many organizations experience in relation to the process of strategy implementation. States that agentization has created a need for public sector organizations to embark on strategic change. However, adherence to an outmoded set of cultural values and a panic-crazed obsession with efficiency often lead to a series of ill-conceived, disjointed initiatives; these may contribute to a disintegrated approach adopted towards strategy formulation. Argues that, to effect successful strategic change, there is a need for organizations to promote integration between the content and the process of strategic management.

Notizen: The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first part introduces a theoretical argument from Giddens to help explain the way in which accounting systems and systems of accountability have changed abruptly in New Zealand's health care sector. The changes are proceeding, surrounded by controversy and the second part used Habermas's theory of communicative action to assess the benefits or otherwise of reform and restructuring of the public health of New Zealanders. What counts as valid evidence is contentious. The reforms have been socially divisive, and surrounded by ideology and rhetoric. There appears to be little evidence to demonstrate that the reforms have improved or will ever improve access to health care by those without personal wealth.

Notizen: Draws upon detailed empirical work undertaken with elected members and senior officers from a sample of 30 UK local authorities. Its focus is on the ways in which authorities have responded to rapid changes in the economic, social and political contexts and the profound challenges which these present to traditional modes of policy making and public management. Suggests that existing theoretical frameworks give insufficient attention to implications of changing local governance for the roles of elected members and that, in practice, most councillors feel ill-equipped to respond to these changes. Local authorities need therefore to develop training and support for local politicians in fulfilling their rapidly changing and increasingly demanding roles. In particular they should look at ways of supporting elected members in working with external agencies so that they bring the "added value" of locally accountable political leadership to the work of partnerships involving public, private and voluntary sectors agencies. This will require them to embrace new forms of communication and methods of learning which are likely to be one of the key ingredients in attempts to revitalize local democracy.

Notizen: Before the imposition of the NHS internal market, systems of accountability and control were far from adequate and could be criticized on a number of grounds. The market was offered as a panacea to address these inadequacies. However, in practice there have only been partial improvements which could have been achieved without the imposition of the market. The market also creates new problems and a number of crises and scandals seem to be addressed at the political level by pleas to utilize resources more effectively. These pleas mean that more and more the focus is turning back to central planning in the provision of care and further away from so-called market mechanisms. The NHS "managed" market has been imperfect and will continue to be so. Argues that there is no alternative but to return to the planned provision of health care in order to improve on accountability and control in the NHS. Hopefully the adverse impact of the market on clinicians and others will force a more rational reappraisal of the fundamental raison d'être of the NHS and the need for those involved in the delivery of services, at all levels, to be more openly accountable.

Notizen: Managing in the public sector can be characterized as "managing on the edges", between politics and administration and between administration and operations, as well as between external pressures and internal processes. Interestingly, this seems to come out most sharply, not in the upper offices of the capital, but down on the ground, where conflicting parties do direct battle with each other. But as these battles escalate, and enter the abstractions of administration as well as the peculiarities of politics, management gets caught in the middle. Describes three days in succession in the working lives of three managers of Parks Canada who sit in hierarchical order: a regional director, a park superintendent, and a park warden for the front country. Describes and compares their activities, in terms of a comprehensive model of the manager's job, and concludes with a model of managing on the edges.

Notizen: Presents a theoretically based practical example of an organizational development process in the Austrian public administration from 1987 to 1994/95. Discusses a large scale reform endeavour, Verwaltungsmanagement, on a federal level. Comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the overall project goals and the improvement in effectiveness and efficiency of the chosen project steps. The key words of the project were performance accounting and performance responsibility. Suggests that the term Verwaltungsmanagement indicates that the focus of the reform on a management orientation was necessary as well as fashionable. Discusses the contents, organization, methods and procedures, main results and further outcomes of this important and controversial project.

Notizen: Reveals that the public sector in Africa is increasingly coming under pressure to justify its very existence through calls for financial accountability, operational efficiency, improvements in product and service quality, and so forth. Takes the view that any attempt to achieve meaningful reform in public sector management will have to consider seriously the question of skill development and the management of expertise. Ultimately, the effectiveness of the public sector product and service delivery will depend not only on economic and financial parameters but also on the availability of sufficiently skilled personnel. Focuses, therefore, on skill management in the public sector and, in particular, on the creation of competences which are based on the organization's core strategic activities. Introduces recent developments in the management of organizations to the public sector debate.

Notizen: Reports that the increased calls for transparency and accountability in government organizations underscores the need for a market orientation even among government departments. Considers the degree of market orientation and its effect on the organizational commitment in government departments in the Australian public sector. Results provide empirical support for a relationship between market orientation in the public sector and organizational commitment. Draws implications from and discusses directions for future research.

Notizen: Public managers throughout the world work in an unforgiving environment in which to take risks. Managers face varying pressures from a range of informed publics to ensure that risks to them are minimized or eliminated; while many are simultaneously subject to criticism, via private practice models, that they are too risk-averse. Concurrently, leadership from public managers is sought in drives to ensure quality in public services. Risk and quality appear strongly inter-linked, although managerial discussion of their interrelationship seems relatively rare, at least within the public domain. Links these two concepts, as they are experienced by public managers, through two pilot case studies of managerial practice in the UK, based in probation and health services. Gives consideration in each study to the contribution of understanding and managing risk as a core element in improving public services quality. The theoretical underpinnings of the research are drawn primarily from the literature on strategic management and risk-taking in public services.

Notizen: The planning and implementation of electronic information systems and technology (IS/IT) following the National Health Service (NHS) reforms in the UK are both widespread and significant. Considers these new organizational arrangements, for primary care general practitioners (GPs), to aid decisions for the referral of patients to hospital specialists. The proposals, through an analyses of the concept of markets and hierarchies, may result in an alternative and better referral experience for those patients who express a preference. Presents an overview of the reforms and notes the subsequent impact of IS/IT as a facilitator for changing the structure of primary care within the NHS. Argues that, if primary care physicians adopt a more appropriate management of IS/IT and are proactive in its application, then the outcome will produce more patient choice, less non-attendance and consequently improved health care provision.

Notizen: Argues that strategy formulation across sectors is different. Often the use of normative approaches to strategic management that have sprung from research and experience within the private sector do not pay sufficient cognizance to the subtle differences that drive non-profit and human-service-oriented public sector organizations. Analyses the interplay of variables such as environment, values and leadership to ascertain their significance in strategy formulation. Includes four case organizations from these two sectors in order to develop theoretical insights. Uses Ellen Chaffee's models of linear, adaptive and interpretive strategy to analyse these variables across the sectors. Unlike other theories of strategy, Chaffee's models are hierarchical and accommodate distinctive characteristics that motivate human service organizations. Identifies patterns of proactivity in strategy formulation, and concludes that transformational leadership enjoys a necessary relationship with value consensus, and together these form a sufficient condition to describe two case organizations from different sectors as interpretive in their strategy formulation.

Notizen: The Hong Kong government emphasizes very much the importance of achieving the "financial stability" objective, and has been very successful in controlling expenditure growth and in accumulating fiscal reserves. This remarkable performance is attributed to adhering consistently to budgetary guidelines. Managing the financial budgets through budgetary guidelines is a unique feature of the Hong Kong fiscal system. Discusses the role of budgetary guidelines in the Hong Kong fiscal system, and reviews the evolution of these budgetary guidelines since the early 1970s. It turns out that the guideline on expenditure growth is the most important budgetary guideline. Fiscal performance is assessed against these budgetary guidelines. With the financial stability objective having long been achieved, strict adherence to these budgetary guidelines would unduly constrain social and economic developments in Hong Kong. Recommends comprehensive review of the role and function of these budgetary guidelines.

Notizen: Local government is the second or third tier of government deliberately created to bring government to the grassroots population, as well as give its members a sense of involvement in the political process that controls their daily lives. Decentralization is a natural indispensable counterpart to pluralistic democracy, i.e. it extends the work of democracy and fulfils democratic aspirations. Consequently, any political reform aimed at democratizing institutions, will only be effective if it is accompanied by far-reaching administrative reforms which effectively redistribute power. In South Africa's political circumstances as a country of almost 40 million, constituted of heterogeneous cultural and political groups, the need for effective decentralized democratic local government as a vehicle for development and national integration is imperative. The current interim constitution reflects a certain degree of decentralization. It exhibits a highly visible effort and a bold move towards full autonomy. The country currently has nine provinces and approximately 700 transitional non-racial local authorities. The November 1995 and May/June 1996 local government elections was a watershed in political history and was the last chapter in the democratization of the South African State. The relationship between central, provisional and local authorities has been debated and the view is that elected officials must wield real power and the State wishes to protect local government. Details powers, functions and structures of local government will be defined in terms of provincial legislation. However, although local governments are creatures of provincial legislation and provisional government will exercise control over them, they will still have a reasonable amount of autonomy. The process has therefore been underway to determine the constitutional and legal position of local government in relation to central and provincial government. An important issue was the possible devolution of powers and functions to local government. The State is nurturing a co-operative system where measures to harmonize relations between central, provincial and local governments are encouraged and promoted. The new South African State as defined by the new Constitution will be highly centralized as provincial power over local government is limited. Central government's legislative competence over local government is strengthened as the former must determine the appropriate fiscal powers and functions of each category of local government. However, the final analysis, the purpose of the Constitution should not be forgotten. It is intended to define the basic rules in terms of which the country should be governed. The Constitution proposes the idea of recognizing distinct "spheres" of government as opposed to "levels" of government. The implication of this is that one tier of government is not inferior to the other. Each sphere of government is given definite responsibilities on which the other spheres are not allowed to encroach.

Notizen: Examines the process of change in hospitals that has emerged following the introduction of the health quasi-market in 1991. Blends empirical evidence with Greenwood and Hinings' archetype and tracks of change concepts to analyse the process which is labelled quasi-market transformation (QMT). Argues that, before 1991, hospitals tended to operate within structures and systems underpinned by an interpretive scheme. Represents these similarities of configuration as the directly-managed (DM) hospital archetype. When change initiatives challenged this configuration, the outcomes were negotiated and resulted in "adjustmental" change. In contrast, shows the introduction of the quasi-market to have involved the first transformation of the DM archetype's interpretive scheme, systems and structures. Analyses four years of transition to reveal that QMT has been interpreted differently within hospitals. However, presents data to suggest that many hospitals now display significant similarities in terms of configuration. Represents these similarities within the emerging Trust hospital archetype.

Notizen: Recent health reform in New Zealand has transformed public hospitals and related health services into Crown Health Enterprises (CHEs), which have a statutory objective to operate as successful and efficient businesses. Examines managerialist interpretations of a proposed executive information system (EIS) at one CHE. Arguably, the use of computerized information systems signals managerial competence and rationality, and there was an implicit assumption among senior CHE managers that "business-like" and "efficient" management required the use of information technology. In the end, in the context of continuing organizational restructuring, the EIS was never implemented.

Notizen: Performance measurement and programme evaluation have been promoted as a central mechanism of recent Australian public sector (APS) reform. Outlines recent reforms in the APS and identifies links between evaluation and performance information. Identifies the major issue of credibility, when performance information is produced internally and not verified externally. A lack of performance systems and standards can create difficulties for both internal and external programme evaluations. Concludes that: reforms introduced to evaluate performance in the APS were promoted with high expectations which have only partially been fulfilled; the present system is internally focused with a narrow role for evaluation and a lack of credibility because of the independence issue; the present systems associated with the performance approach and its evaluation are not providing enough information to deal with the tough questions of the effectiveness of government programmes. Proposes that a middle ground between internal and external programme evaluation strategies be adopted. This allows the strengths of internal evaluation to be retained. At the same time, it allows the possibility of improving programme evaluation by adding external independent verification and an extended effectiveness role.

Notizen: States that it appears that all civil service reform programmes in developing countries are predicated on the idea of cost savings which is an acid test of project success. Notes that yet a wider notion of reform is also prevalent, concerning governance, which involves the ability of citizens to influence government's provision of infrastructure and services. As if to give credence to the importance of service provision, the concept of institutional economics has come to the fore. This requires an explicit quantification of the range of public goods and services being generated by the institutions being reformed. All three perspectives are underpinned by the institutional development model. This focuses in range from value and sustainability to exploration and functional analysis, as an organizational starting point. Suggests that the institutional development base is the normative anchor for all substantive interventions in government reform.

Notizen: The issue of corruption has come to centre stage. The economic consequences of pervasive corruption, and the recent trends towards democratization, have increased the pressure for accountability and transparency from those in office. Acknowledges that there are no easy solutions or models that can be applied in the fight against corruption. Argues that, while each country is unique in its own history and culture, its political and administrative systems, and its stage of development, similarities do exist, and experience and lessons are often transferable. Building on the notion of a national integrity system as a comprehensive approach to fighting corruption, examines two of the eight pillars of such a system, namely public sector anti-corruption strategies and watchdog agencies.

Notizen: The changing processes and practices of governing have led to the emergence of an increasingly complex environment in which a plethora of organizations and agencies can be involved in the governance of local communities. The successful forging of these systems of community governance depends on the capacity of the actors within the system to develop and manage complex and flexible networks of relationships. Telematics - the integrated use of information and communication technologies - are increasingly recognized as fundamental to the development and maintenance of these systems and networks. Approaching the subject from a local authority perspective, explores how the formation, maintenance and management of the organizational and political networks involved in community governance can be facilitated by telematics. Discusses some of the most important policy issues which emerge.

Notizen: Argues that the debate concerning the growth of public employment has remained largely uninformed in a conceptual sense beyond the economic variables. Suggests that the time is now pertinent to identify the additional parameters affecting the situation if an enriched understanding is to evolve on the future role and management of the public sector in the developing state. Reviews the literature contributions that are significant in this respect, not only with the aim of putting the public sector developments of the last ten years in perspective but also to contribute to the current debate on the emergence of new administrative paradigms for developing States that provide a more balanced view of political, economic and social development.

Notizen: Competition is now widely used as the means of choosing the providers of essential public services in the USA and the UK. Many different approaches are found in the USA and there are useful lessons for the UK. With particular reference to mental health and substance abuse services, describes the effects of using competitive tendering on users, providers, purchasers and citizens and examines the problems of specification, transaction costs, the use of consultants, supply, the level playing field, trust, innovation, local accessibility and accountability. Ends with discussion of co-operation and collaboration and the emergence of monopolies and integrated delivery systems in the USA and concludes by finding politics and political decision making of overriding importance.

Notizen: Reviews the past role of regional health authorities in the the British NHS and gives details of the recent changes to regions associated with the functions and responsibilities paper. Goes on to give details of the research project in which we are currently involved and reports on our interim findings (as of April 1996). In a final discussion section, reflects on those findings in terms of the evolving problems of influence and control in a national service operating in a devolved quasi-market.

Notizen: While the state dependency thesis seems widely accepted among students of the German non-profit sector, there is surprisingly little research that has systematically explored its empirical base and conceptual validity. Attempts to remedy this situation and offers an initial empirical examination of this thesis. Examines the extent and pattern of state funding of the German non-profit sector and develops three propositions, each adopting a different explanatory focus, which are then analysed with the help of data taken from a sample survey of West German non-profit organizations.

Notizen: A need exists to find alternatives to the universalized model of administration required by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and bilateral donors. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are an attractive and feasible alternative which should be pursued from the "ground up" and accepted by the international lending community. Reviews the literature on NGOs and other associational forms; explores the possibilities for intermediary organizations; and suggests revised relationships with indigenous government administrators. Discusses the associational revolution, politicizing and depoliticizing the NGOs, and indigenous government administrators as facilitators.

Notizen: Reports the beginning of a process for identifying significant skills in the recruitment, development and retention of high calibre public sector executives. Focuses on the qualities which will be of significance in the public sector in the year 2000 and beyond. Compares the research available on both public and private sector executive qualities. Argues that there are differences in the qualities required of public and private sector executives. Suggests that a set of qualities specific to the public sector should be the basis of executive recruitment and development to ensure high level public sector executive performance.

Notizen: Explores the links between processes of globalization and new public management (NPM), and examines their effects on the management of the police in particular. Assesses whether managerial unity or managerial disunity will characterize the future of police management. Looks at the effects of globalization on academic disciplines; the role of the State in an era of globalization; the rise of NPM; the effects of NPM on the management of the British police; the implications of police management reform for the police; and future scenarios of police management.

Notizen: Pressure for reform and change in the public services will continue irrespective of the political composition of governments. There are many interrelated pressures for change, some of the key ones being the need to contain public spending (to under 40 per cent GNP?) in the face of ever increasing global competition, changing demographic and employment patterns, increasing need and demand for services, and the need to find innovative solutions to obdurate problems of local levels - health, housing, community safety, unemployment and so on. Above all, this will require greater productivity; changing skill boundaries, demarcations and mixes; far greater applications of technology and innovative community-based multi-agency working - beyond rhetoric. Unfortunately, much current research, scholarship and commentary is "locked into" individual public sectors - health, education, public administration and so on. This means that it is likely to be informed by existing frames of reference which already lie within these sectors. A wider flow of ideas, theory and critical analysis across private and all public sectors could lead to the development of new paradigms of insight, understanding and practice. This would prove a further impetus for a bottom-up social movement with a communitarianist agenda. Unfortunately this is most unlikely to be promoted top- down because most politicians are also "locked into" the binary thinking of Fordist modernism.

Notizen: Niccolo Machiavelli and Frantz Fanon are in the tradition of political philosophy. Do they not address themselves to the notion of freedom, the concept of legitimacy, and the moral basis of political action? This article will further argue that there exists a notable correspondence of thought between them.The political thought of Machiavelli enjoys ubiquitous fame. Its pristine vigour is attested to by the fact that, through the past four and a half centuries, dictators and democrats have embraced its values.1 Yet there is no patent contradiction in this if one realises that Machiavelli deals compellingly with what is while not rejecting what ultimately ought to be; his prince is a sort of political Everyman concerned with realising the kingdom of earth.

Notizen: Following the useful distinction made by Marc J. Swartz this is a study in ‘local-level’ rather than ‘local’ politics, because of the fundamental fact that ‘actors and groups outside the range of the local multiplex relationships are vitally and directly involved in the political processes of the local group’.1 The political process is therefore not discrete. My focus is on the interrelationships existing between political forces within and outside the Kgatleng District of Botswana, and my analysis deals with the situation as it existed during the early 1970s; changes in certain key variables – most crucially the attitude of the Chief to the Government – could radically alter the configuration of alliances, as may be seen from my postscript.

Notizen: The ultimate reality in culture change... hinges on the fact that corresponding institutions in two cultures satisfy analogous needs in different ways and with different techniques; but in the process they have to use the same human and natural resources: land, capital, labor, politically organized force, the impulses of human reproduction, and also the standardized emotions, values and loyalties specific to each culture. – Bronislaw Malinowski, Dynamics of Culture Change (New Haven, 1945), p. 71.

Notizen: This short article analyses the demand for and the use of educational indicators with reference to Swaziland. The data requirements are considered as well as the policy implications of establishing a fixed series, and an educational input-output table is constructed in an attempt to derive an all-embracing set of indicators. The Markov model presented here was initially created in order to help forecast what might happen to the Swaziland education system rather than to describe it. As the discussion of the data requirements below suggests, however, this can be considered a fortunate birth.

Notizen: It has become increasingly apparent over the last decade that rural development is one of the most significant, complex, and intractable problems facing the newly-independent states of Africa. Colonialism left a legacy of unbalanced and vulnerable economies in which the impoverishment of the rural areas made rational planning for growth and self-sufficiency difficult if not impossible. Rural poverty also exacerbated the problems of urban migration and political hostility between the privileged towns and the deprived rural areas. Many African leaders recognised the seriousness of these problems, and most governments announced a commitment to rural development soon after achieving independence.

Notizen: There are various explanatory analyses of the instability and persistent underdevelopment in Africa. The general presumption points to a case of arrested development to begin with – the product of slavery and colonialism – a retardation that constitutes the inauspicious legacy on which newly independent African states have to build. It is argued that this ill-augury of colonial inheritance exerts a momentum of its own, intensifying in the post-independence era the cancerous growth of ethnic fissures, constitutional disequilibrations, economic disasters, and fresh dominations.