Integrated Steering and Coordination of Local Public Services in Germany – Reasons and Restrictions of an Innovative Governance Approach
Abstract
Due to the institutional differentiation of the public sector, which lead to a hardly comprehensible network of organisations from local administration, public economy and the third sector, the critical question of the importance of the integrated steering and coordination (ISC) of public tasks in municipalities arises in local government research and practice. Following an interdisciplinary approach, the aim of this contribution is (1) to examine the idea of the ISC of local public services from the perspective of policy science, New Public Management and public governance and (2) to identify – based on a qualitative empirical study – reasons and restrictions of its implementation. It is discussed why ISC is at the same time a feasible and guiding approach, but in part also a hardly practicable idea. With regard to this crucial controversy, five perspectives for further local public sector reforms are presented. From the perspective of innovative governance, the paper might help us to stimulate critical thinking about alternative approaches to problem solving and decision making in the public sector.References
Askim, J. 2008. “Determinants of performance information utilization in political decision making.” Pp. 125-139 W. van Dooren, S. van de Walle, eds., Performance information in the public sector: How it is used. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Aucoin, P. 1990. “Administrative Reform in Public Management: Paradigms, Principles, Paradoxes and Pendulums.” Governance 3(2): 115-137.
Barlow, J. and Röber, M. 1996. “Steering not rowing. Co-ordination and control in the management of public services in Britain and Germany.” International Journal of Public Sector Management 9(5/6): 73-89.
Barzelay, M. 1999. “How To Argue About The New Public Management.” International Public Management Journal 2(2): 183-216.
Bogumil, J. and Holtkamp, L. 2006. “Kommunalpolitik und Kommunalverwaltung. Eine policyorientierte Einführung.” Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaft.
Bouckaert, G., Peters, B.G. and Verhoest, K. 2010. The Coordination of Public Sector Organizations. Shifting Patterns of Public Management. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Brown, T.L. and Potoski, M. 2005. “Transaction Costs and Contracting: The Practitioner Perspective Author(s).” Public Performance & Management Review 28(3): 326-351.
Brüggemeier, M. and Felsch, A. 1992. „Mikropolitik.“ Die Betriebswirtschaft 52(1): 133-136.
Burns, T. (1961). Micropolitics: “Mechanisms of Institutional Change.” Administrative Science Quarterly 6(3): 257-281.
Christensen, T. and Lægreid, P. 2011. “Complexity and Hybrid Public Administration – Theoretical and Empirical Challenges.” Public Organization Review 11(4): 407-423.
City of Leipzig 2016. Rahmenrichtlinie zur Vergabe von Zuwendungen der Stadt Leipzig an außerhalb der Stadtverwaltung stehende Stellen.
City of Osnabrück 2012. Beteiligungsrichtlinie Stadt Osnabrück.
City of Salzgitter 2003. Optimierung des Beteiligungsmanagements der Stadt Salzgitter. Rahmenrichtlinie für Beteiligungen des Stadt Salzgitter.
DeLeon, P. and Vogenbeck, D.M. 2007. “The Policy Science at the Crossroads.” Pp. 3-14 F. Fischer, G.J. Miller and M.S. Sidney, eds., Handbook of Public Policy Analysis: Theory, Politics, and Methods. Boca Raton.
Easton, D. 1965. A Systems Analysis of Political Life. New York.
Friedländer, B., Röber, M. and Schaefer, C. 2020. „Institutional Differentiation of Public Service Provision in Germany: Corporatization, Privatization and Re-Municipalization” accepted for S. Kuhlmann, I. Proeller, D. Schimanke and J, Ziekow, eds., Handbook of Public Administration in Germany. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Grohs, S. 2014. “Hybrid Organizations in Social Service Delivery in Quasimarkets. The Case of Germany.” American Behavioral Scientist 58(11): 1425-1445.
Grossi, G. and Reichard, C. 2016. “Variance in the institutions of local utility services: Evidence from several European countries.” Pp. 297-312 H. Wollmann, I. Kopric and G. Marcou, eds., Public and social services in Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Heclo, H. 1972. “Policy Analysis.” British Journal of Political Science 2(1): 83-108.
Hood, C. 1991. “A public management for all seasons?” Public Administration 69(1): 3-19.
Jakobsen, M. and Jensen, R. 2015. “Common Method Bias in Public Management Studies.” International Public Management Journal 18(1): 3-30.
Jann, W. and Wegrich, K. 2007. “Theories of the Policy Cycle.” Pp. 43-62 F. Fischer, G.J. Miller and M.S. Sidney, eds., Handbook of Public Policy Analysis: Theory, Politics, and Methods. Boca Raton.
Klenk, T. and Reiter, R. 2019. „Post-New Public Management: reform ideas and their application in the field of social services” International Review of Administrative Sciences 85(1): 3-10.
Klijn, E.H. 2012. “New Public Management and Governance: A Comparison.” Pp. D. Levi-Fauer, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Governance. Oxford.
Krause, T. and van Thiel, S. 2019. “Perceived managerial autonomy in municipally owned corporations: disentangling the impact of output control, process control, and policy-profession conflict.” Public Management Review 21(2): 187-211.
Kruijf, J.A.M. de and van Thiel, S. 2018. “Political Control of Arm’s-Length Agencies: One Standard Does Not Fit All” International Public Management Journal 21(3): 461-476.
Kuhlmann, S., Bogumil, J. and Grohs, S. 2008. “Evaluating administrative modernization in German local governments: success or failure of the ‘New Steering Model’” Public Administration Review 68(5): 851-863.
Kuhlmann, S. and Wollmann, H. 2019: Introduction to Comparative Public Administration. Administrative Systems and Reforms in Europe, 2. ed. Cheltenham/Northampton: Edward Elgar.
Lasar, A., Buchholz, G. and Hellenbrand, A. 2011. “Integrierte Konzernsteuerung in der Kommunalverwaltung.” dms – der moderne staat – Zeitschrift für Public Policy, Recht und Management, 1/2011: 225-247.
Lindblom, C.E. 1959. “The Science of ‘Muddling Through.’” Public Administration Review 19(2): 79-88.
McNabb, D.E. 2010. Case Research in Public Management. New York.
Newman J. 2005. “Enter the transformational leader: network governance, and the micro-politics of public service reform.” Sociology 39(4): 717-734.
Osborne, S.P. 2010. The New Public Governance? Emerging Perspectives on the Theory and Practice of Public Governance. London.
Peters, B.G. 2011. “Steering, rowing, drifting, or sinking? Changing patterns of governance.” Urban Research & Practice 4(1): 5-12.
Picot, A. and Wolff, B. 1994. “Institutional Economics of Public Firms and Administrations.” Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 150(1): 211-232.
Pollitt, C. and Bouckaert, G. 2004. Public Management Reform. A Comparative Analysis, 2. ed. Oxford.
Rhodes, R.A.W. 2007. “Understanding Governance: ten years on.” Organization Studies 28: 1243-1264.
Rhodes, R.A.W. 2012. “Waves of Governance.” Pp. 22-48 D. Levi-Fauer, ed., Handbook of Governance. Oxford.
Ritchie, J. and Lewis, J. 2003. Qualitative Research Practice. A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers. London.
Röber, M. 2008. “Die Sphäre des Politischen – ein blinder Fleck in der Public Corporate Governance?” Zeitschrift für öffentliche und gemeinwirtschaftliche Unternehmen/Journal of Public and Nonprofit Services, 36: 57-68.
Schedler, K. 2003. “And Politics? Public Management developments in the light of two ration.” Public Management Review 5: 533-550.
Schröter, E. and Röber, M. 2017. “Public Managers in Germany: Between Patronage and Professionalism” Annual Conference of the International Research Society on Public Management 2017. Budapest.
State Court of Audits of Lower Saxony 2017. Praxishilfe. Pflichtaufgabe oder freiwillige Leistung? Abgrenzung und Handlungsoptionen. Hildesheim.
Stoker, G. 2004. Transforming Local Governance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Stötzer, S. and Greiling, D. 2016. “Auswirkungen von Leistungsverträgen und Rechenschaftspflichten auf die Beziehungen von NPO und öffentlichen Mittelgebern.“ Zeitschrift für öffentliche und gemeinwirtschaftliche Unternehmen/Journal of Public and Nonprofit Services 39(4): 367-384.
Thomas, R. and Davies, A. 2005. “Theorizing the Micro-politics of Resistance: New Public Management and Managerial Identities in the UK Public Services.” Organization Studies 26(5): 683-706.
Van de Walle, S. and Groeneveld, S.M. 2011. “New steering instruments: Trends in public sector practice and scholarship.” Pp. 205-214 S. Groeneveld and S. Van de Walle, ed., New steering concepts in public management. Bingley.
Van Genugten, M.L. 2010. “Comparing impacts of modes of governance” Pp. 177-194 P. Lægreid, P. and K. Verhoest, eds., Governance of Public Sector Organizations: Autonomy, Control and Performance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Van Thiel, S. 2014. Research Methods in Public Administration and Public Management - An Introduction. New York.
Voets, J., Verhoest, K. and Molenveld, A. 2015. “Coordinating for Integrated Youth Care: The Need for Smart Metagovernance.” Public Management Review 17(7): 981-1001.
Williamson, O.E. 1985. The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. New York.
Willner, J.O. 2001. “Ownership, Efficiency, and Political Interferences.” European Journal of Political Economy 17(4): 723-748.
Wollmann, H. 2001. “Germany´s Trajectory of Public Sector Modernization: Continuities and Discontinuities.” Policy and Politics 29(2): 151-169.
Wollmann, H. 2016. “Provision of Public and Social Services in European Countries: From Public Sector to Marketization and Reverse or –, What Next?” Pp. 187-204 S. Kuhlmann and G. Bouckaert, eds., Local Public Sector Reforms in Times of Crisis: National Trajectories and International Comparisons. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wollmann, H. 2018. “Public and Personal Social Services in European Countries from Public/Municipal to Private – and Back to Municipal and “Third Sector” Provision.” International Public Management Journal 21(3): 413-431.
Wollmann, H., Kopric, I. and Marcou, G. 2016. Public and Social Services in Europe. From Public and Municipal to Private Sector Provision. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License that allows others to share the work for non-commercial use with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors and IPMR are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository, distribute it via EBSCO, or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
