This thesis examines how the process of outsourcing of public construction (OPC) projects is influenced by institutions and why. Extant literature focuses on explaining how outsourcing through competition improves efficiency with limited treatment of how institutions actually influence the OPC projects. The thesis develops an analytical framework for process-tracing that integrates institutional and social capital (SC) theories to examine what have hitherto been disparately employed to study their influence in policy reform implementation. By deploying this integrated framework, actors’ decision making in outsourcing process is analysed based on plural rationality at central (CG) and local government (LG) contexts. The thesis argues that actors in OPC simultaneously pursue material gains and SC investments while trying to minimise their transaction costs, in the process engaging in ‘forum shopping’ between formal and informal institutions. Depending on degree of social embeddedness, the process of outsourcing will incline to formality or informality. In the case of Uganda, findings indicate that the informal institutional regime dominates and no major difference in informal practices for both CG and LG levels exist although at CG level it may appear like formal institutions dominate in decision making. The thesis proposes that public policies should take cognisance of informal institutions as well as social structure in their design.

There are an increasing number of opportunities for community leaders to be involved in governing processes. However, the community leader literature fails sufficiently to distinguish the interaction of structure and agency. The thesis establishes a theoretical approach which places community leaders as ‘situated agents’. The thesis establishes a ‘reading-acting-effect’ model to examine how the readings of actors are translated into action and how they interpret the difference this makes. Case studies of two neighbourhoods in Sheffield reveal the changing influence of the community and of the state upon community leaders’ behaviour. In the early stages of development community leaders concentrate on the substantive difference their actions have in their community. The state plays a more significant role as community leaders begin to operate in governance arenas, making compromises to access state resources. State actors play important roles as rule makers and interpreters that affect how community leaders behave. Community leaders face a central dilemma between: modifying their behaviour to work with the state thereby increasing their opportunities to receive funding; and the freedom of working at a distance from the state without such support. Conflict can arise between community leaders as they adopt different positions in relation to the state based on their distinct interpretations of this dilemma.

The creation of eleven directly elected mayors in England between 2002 and 2005, as part of the Labour Government's wider local government reform, altered local governance in those localities. The 1998 White Paper Modern Local Government identified three key weaknesses in the previous local government system: a lack of leadership, legitimacy and accountability. The main question the thesis sought to answer was: what was the political difference made by the introduction of executive mayors in England.? The key issue in this study was to assess if executive mayors have improved the efficiency, the transparency or the accountability of local government. The investigation of the executive mayoral option employed an analytical framework to measure change on three dimensions of efficiency, transparency and accountability. To aid the investigation seven hypotheses were constructed from the government’s White Papers to explore various aspects of executive mayors and assist in providing generalisable conclusions about the introduction of directly elected mayors. Leadership and representation theories were used to operationalise the concepts of leadership, legitimacy and accountability. Models were developed which mapped the locus of power in the council's political space. Given the population of executive mayors was eleven local authorities for the period of the field research, a qualitative approach was adopted relying primarily on interviews augmented with documentary sources and observations. Election results were also analysed using conventional quantitative methods. With regard to elections, the study demonstrates that voters differentiate the office of executive mayor from other political posts. Other findings in this study indicate that one of the main political differences made by the introduction of executive mayors is the creation of a new balance between politicians and officials with the former being more dominant when determining policy matters while the senior officials taking the lead in administration and management. In addition, executive mayors have developed a better capability to challenge professional officers. The strength of executive mayors as leaders within their local authorities over the policy making process demonstrates a change from the operation of the previous system in England. The key person driving policy is now is the directly, clearly identifiable and more accountable executive mayor. This research has shown that directly elected mayors have made positive political differences which can be measured against the core goals of effective, transparent and accountable local government. Executive mayors demonstrate a continuity of governance in local government and have made a difference in the way local councils are run.

This research study intended to evaluate the impact of Local Government Performance Management System (PMS) on service delivery using Tshwane’s Roads and Stormwater division. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / (M.B.A.)

Local authorities have experienced significant cuts in income whilst grappling with increased demand, an aging population and welfare reform. This pressing imperative has driven local authorities to challenge their sense of self and in doing so consider the participative role that customers can and do play. This study sought to examine practitioner perspectives of customers, their role, impact and constraining and enabling factors within the design and delivery of local government contact centre services. There is limited empirical research on practitioner perspectives of the role of customers within a local government environment. There are multiple terms used to describe the concept of customer but an absence of established approaches to examine the role that customers play within socially constructed phenomenon within local government demonstrating a gap in current academic thought. Whilst the rationale for involving customers in local governance is debated, the application of theory in to practice is limited thereby further constraining the opportunity for local authorities to leverage potential benefits afforded through participative approaches to the design and delivery of contact centre services. An interpretivist stance was adopted with qualitative techniques employed within the research. Using a priori codes developed through the review of extant literature, thematic analysis of forty-four customer service strategies spanning single tier, upper tier and metropolitan local authorities was undertaken. Themes were further developed through analysis of transcripts from seventeen semistructured interviews with managers responsible for the design and delivery of local government contact centre services. This research highlighted the differing and often contradictory practitioner perceptions of the concept of customer and the role that customers play in the design and delivery of local government services. Whilst organisations espoused a desire to progress participative principles due to the potential benefits afforded through such approaches, the extent to which these were operationalised by practitioners was limited and this coupled with a perceived sense of passivity on the part of customers resulted in little or no positive impact on current service performance. As extant literature and research is limited on the role of customers within local government, this study expands current academic thought providing particular insight on the practitioner perspective. The research findings provide a robust foundation on which theorists and practitioners in particular can formulate participative strategies and associated policies thereby providing meaningful opportunities for customers to co-design and co-deliver local government services and through which potential benefits, financial and non-financial, can be realised.

Purpose – To investigate performance measurement in Local Government Authorities and to find out if a tool such as Kaplan & Norton’s (1996) Balanced Scorecard can be effectively used. There is a pressing need for the public sector to be efficient and effective in these times of austerity and thus to find out what they do with regards to performance measurement. To find any themes within the public sector and to see if there is a pattern and a framework that can be created. Design/Methodology/Approach – The current literature is first analysed both in the private sector and in the public sector. A deficiency of literature was found for the public sector and especially that of LGAs. The author is currently an elected member of a district council and an action research approach was taken within this case study. The data collected was then reviewed and followed up by semi structured interviews in all three councils. The data was analysed with a thematic approach. The councils chosen were all in the Midlands and are of a similar size and demographics. Findings – The findings indicate that the balanced scorecard is a tool that the LGAs can use and they do use a version of it but that there are complications to using it. Several themes appear such as: Stakeholders, Communication, Strategy, Leadership, Transparency, Business-Like, Resilience, Austerity and the Use of Balanced Measures. The main finding was that although the councils had good intentions they are not clear about what their citizens and stakeholders want. Therefore the future discussion needs to take a step back and start at the stakeholders rather than starting with the scorecard and the measures. Practical Implications – All LGAs are going through a period of austerity which is imposed by central government. They need to deliver the same quality of services for a reduced fee which means they need to work in an effective manner. By developing a framework that can show how the staff on the ground can influence and achieve the stakeholders’ expectations will enable the organisations to focus on what really matters. Once the council is focussed it can then let go of all the non-value adding activities in order to use their resources to satisfy their stakeholder needs. Originality/Value – There is a gap in the literature for this type of study as all previous studies have been for a singular LGA and from a non-action research viewpoint. A multiple LGA study would give more scope to expand the good practice. Also there is a gap in the literature for action research studies where more depth of insights can be revealed. For the LGAs a framework that can help them decipher the stakeholder needs and translate them into objectives for their staff in all levels of the organisation would vastly help them achieve their targets within the constraints of their ever decreasing stream of funding.

This PhD research focuses on rural governance in the context of Mainland China. It focuses on three aspects of the changing rural governance: 1) internalization of the state-sponsored reforms for rural democratization, 2) external intervention and mediation of the human agents for policy implementation, and 3) dispute settlement. Drawing upon the three above-mentioned aspects, this study aims to dissect the interactive processes of China’s rural governance over the ongoing urbanisation of small-to-medium-sized cities. The fieldwork utilizes iterative-inductive ethnography as the research methodology. It additionally adopts the theoretical framework of social constructionism and actor-oriented perspectives to interpret the changing rural governance and employs interface analysis to examine the ethnographic data. It finds that the outcome of rural governance in the selected villages is greatly influenced by the interaction of the human agents’ capabilities and the (emerging) structural forces. In particular, various actors not only construct the emerging power structure but make use of their own knowledge, power relations, discursive practices, and innovate strategies to accommodate, negotiate and compromise with the external forces to solve problems emerging out of rural governance. Simultaneously, structural factors limit the scope of the actors’ choices, and the opportunities for strategies concerning rural governance. In terms of the representativeness of the selected samples, it firstly could reflect on the possible trajectories of rural governance over the next decade for the urbanisation of small-to-medium-sized cities, which is promoted by both the central and local governments. Secondly, the selected samples represent the changing rural governance in villages that feature Hakka culture and history. Further research should be taken on villages consisting of different cultural contexts and political-economic conditions in order to expand on this research as the representativeness of the samples is limited to the specific contexts under study.

The notion of leisure is subjective and contradictory, therefore attempts to organise, manage and measure leisure experiences may be described as paradoxical. The evaluation of recreation and leisure services has been focused on performance indicators associated with specific programmes and facilities. At a macro level, evaluation from the broader perspectives of organisational effectiveness and leisure theory is a neglected area of research. This study examines a model of organisational effectiveness criteria as a way of exploring the "leisure management paradox" in local government recreation services. The focus of the research was local government recreation services in Western Australia.This study had two major purposes. The first purpose was to identify a range of criteria that are appropriate for evaluating organisational effectiveness in local government recreation services. Secondly, the study investigated the perceptions of these criteria held by recreation staff in different local government recreation services in Western Australia.The specific research objectives focused on the issues of effectiveness in local government recreation services, namely:1. To identify criteria for organisational effectiveness relevant to local government recreation services in Westem Australia.2. To develop a conceptual model of organisational effectiveness criteria.3. To test the developed model to confirm the appropriateness of the selected criteria for assessing local government recreation services.4. To determine if there are differences in the perceptions of organisational effectiveness held by different groups of recreation workers in different types of local government settings.The findings revealed that perceptions of the importance of organisational effectiveness criteria held by recreation workers in local government in Western Australia are relatively homogeneous. ++ / Differences appeared to be associated with geographic location, availability of resources, and the perceived organisational culture of the local government authority. These findings offer a practical framework for managers of recreation services and provide a benchmark for further research in local government and recreation services generally.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how senior accounting staff in Victorian local councils are recording and reporting infrastructure assets (IAs) with their relevant depreciation in General Purpose Financial Reports (GPFRs). Infrastructure assets are long-lived assets such as roads, drains and bridges. Historically, the purpose of public sector accounting in Western countries has been to demonstrate that funds have been raised and expended strictly within the authority of the annual budget. This short-term charge/discharge objective, involving the use of a cash-based system of accounting, has effectively prevented the provision of information for long-term decision making and the assessment of those decisions. The major disadvantage for management purposes is the loss of information relating to the longterm benefits of expenditures with one of the major issues being the failure to record IAs and their relevant depreciation. The introduction of Australian Accounting Standard No. 27 Financial Reporting by Local Governments (AAS27), which applies to all Australian local authorities and the Statements of Accounting Concepts (SACs) require IAs to be reported in the Statement of Financial Position and depreciation to be charged in the Statement of Financial Performance in order to reflect the loss of service potential in the operating period concerned. It is anticipated that the study will report the implications for the accountability of the implementation of IA accounting and the utility and relevance of IA information and depreciation for decision-making by both internal and external users. Conclusions on the consequences of current practices and recommendations for change will be developed to assist local government authorities and accounting bodies.

This research is about planning and governance relating to people in place and the challenges for local government in reconciling differing community interests in contests over land use. Victorian state government policy imperatives require local government to encourage community participation and cohesion and to promote urban consolidation by supporting medium density and affordable housing. Paradoxically, resident backlash to the urban consolidation agenda is increasing community division. The research explores these themes through a case study of the governance processes in a collaborative effort to develop Woodstock community housing in Balaclava, a gentrifying neighbourhood in inner-urban Melbourne, Australia. The development is typical of projects which ignite community opposition and challenge local government’s role in dealing with contested land uses. The analysis of the governance process was undertaken using qualitative research methods which included in depth interviews with project proponents and objectors and the analysis of secondary data including council and local media reports and policy documents. The collaborative planning theory of Patsy Healey provided an assessment framework for the Woodstock governance process focussing on the stakeholders, planning discourses and planning practices. / The research demonstrates the limitations of governance theories in addressing competing interests by providing insights into the nature and dynamics of community conflict and NIMBY reactions around planning issues. The research findings show that the regulatory governance processes adopted for the development of Woodstock were not conducive to reconciling conflicting interests. The fixed rules for engagement mandated by state legislation left no room for genuine dialogue and mutual learning. The processes assumed that objectors would respond in a rational way to issues about which they felt passionate such as irrational threats to their homes and neighbourhood. In conclusion other means of engaging with objectors and their issues are elaborated. It is also shown that deliberative and inclusive governance processes will not necessarily produce outcomes compatible with the principles of social justice.