No / The chapter explores the current landscape in the public sector, considering complications and constraints inherent in delivering service and performance improvement. Cost challenges are key factors for all departments, as are wider societal changes, and have led to changes to delivery models. UK government cuts have already been the biggest in the G7 group of major developed economies, and more are planned. Departmental structure, culture and behaviour as well as the scale of service delivery, present operational challenges not just internally but also to the consultants engaged to help. Consideration is also given to commercial constraints which govern the contracting process and how that in turn affects consultant:client interaction and outcomes. Taking into account the salient features which must be overcome, the chapter concludes by suggesting how the constraints and complications can be minimised or mitigated by adopting alternative approaches more attuned to operating within a public service environment.

Research report presented to SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of employees’ perceptions on the effectiveness of the board in the public sector. The units of analysis relevant to this research were the board of directors and the employees in the public sector. Thus, two questionnaires were designed: one for the board members, and the other for employees. The questionnaires were designed around various themes aimed at establishing the following: whether employees in the Public Sector perceive their Board of Directors to be effective, whether the Board of Directors in the Public Sector believe that their effectiveness is impacted by employee perceptions, and to determine what factors need to be in place to promote a positive relationship between employee perceptions and board effectiveness. The survey confirmed that the board members do believe that they are effective in the execution of their functions. The employees do agree that the board plays an important role in organisations, that organisations will be impacted negatively without the direction of the board, and that the board is conducting its roles and responsibilities as effectively as possible. In terms of whether the board of directors in the public sector believe that their effectiveness is impacted by the employees’ perceptions, the results from both the employees and members of the board were inclined towards ‘agree’ on the Likert scale. The survey also revealed that the prevalence of other factors in the organisation, (Transparency and Accountability, Communication, Stakeholder Relations Strategy, Board’s high Ethical Standard, Speedily Resolution of Labour disputes, Commitment to employee development, and Consistency in policy implementation), will have a high impact in their organisations, particularly in promoting a positive relationship between employee perceptions and board effectiveness.

Research report presented to SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of employees’ perceptions on the effectiveness of the board in the public sector. The units of analysis relevant to this research were the board of directors and the employees in the public sector. Thus, two questionnaires were designed: one for the board members, and the other for employees. The questionnaires were designed around various themes aimed at establishing the following: whether employees in the Public Sector perceive their Board of Directors to be effective, whether the Board of Directors in the Public Sector believe that their effectiveness is impacted by employee perceptions, and to determine what factors need to be in place to promote a positive relationship between employee perceptions and board effectiveness. The survey confirmed that the board members do believe that they are effective in the execution of their functions. The employees do agree that the board plays an important role in organisations, that organisations will be impacted negatively without the direction of the board, and that the board is conducting its roles and responsibilities as effectively as possible. In terms of whether the board of directors in the public sector believe that their effectiveness is impacted by the employees’ perceptions, the results from both the employees and members of the board were inclined towards ‘agree’ on the Likert scale. The survey also revealed that the prevalence of other factors in the organisation, (Transparency and Accountability, Communication, Stakeholder Relations Strategy, Board’s high Ethical Standard, Speedily Resolution of Labour disputes, Commitment to employee development, and Consistency in policy implementation), will have a high impact in their organisations, particularly in promoting a positive relationship between employee perceptions and board effectiveness.

In an age of austerity, specifying how governance and innovation interact is an important issue on the agenda of policymakers and scholars when discussing the role of government in dealing with 'wicked problems'. This trend of public sector spending cuts continues unabated in G20 countries, such as the US, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, and is driven by the concurrence of austerity measures and increasing citizen demands for quality public services. As a way to tackle this dilemma, governments have specifically sought, explicitly or implicitly, to urge public sector organisations to become more effective, which calls for innovation in public organisations, which is inextricably linked to performance. For example, Saudi Arabia launched an unprecedented major economic transformation, Vision 2030, which is considered a huge challenge to the public sector, which employs over two-thirds of Saudi nationals, to be innovative. Although several scholars have tried to prescribe ways to make the public sector more innovative, the theoretical frameworks used explained the effects of governance in unexpectedly parochial terms, and also neglected human capital dynamics, offering scarce insights into why some organisations thrive through innovativeness while others struggle. This study, which extends beyond the traditional high-performance models, examines whether the emphasis on the complementarities between a holistic approach of governance (rather than HRMP) and human capital can drive up human capital's value to produce a relative advantage; in this case, innovativeness. This study breaks from the traditional, agency conflict between stakeholders and managers and uses a combination of theories (social capital theory, stakeholder theory and institutional theory) to describe where and how organisations' governance drives human capital value creation towards innovativeness. This study suggests that different governance mechanisms may work together in a complementary manner, rather than as substitutes, towards higher organisation performance. The conceptual framework uncovers previously overlooked circumstances, such as underestimating the strategic value of the public organisations' human capital, and offers a new approach to the conceptualisation of governance by developing a cooperation (rather than conflict) model, whereby multi governance mechanisms are intertwined. This research adopts a quantitative methodology, along with the positivist philosophical approach, to investigate the hypothetical relationships within the conceptual framework. To analyse and validate the data, this study applies the structure equation model by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) AMOS V. 23. Based on data gathered from 713 public employees in Saudi Arabia, the findings indicate that public employees' innovativeness is driven by an organisation's complementarities between governance and human capital. In particular, the findings show that the amount of damage caused to trust within public organisations by a poor ethical work climate is greater, whereas good ethical work climate contributes to employees' trust which in turn positively facilitates the effect of psychological ownership on subsequent innovativeness. The findings also suggest that satisfied internal needs are key capabilities that organisations must possess in order to increase the capacity for innovation. Moreover, this study finds a variety of networks modes which provide opportunities for public employees to innovate. These research outcomes yield several theoretical and practical implications. As a preliminary study, designed to address a complicated phenomenon in the public sector, the results of this study should be considered in the light of some limitations.

Public sector reforms of recent decades in Europe have promoted managerialism and aimed at introducing private sector thinking and practices. However, with regard to public sector executives' self-understanding, managerial role identities have not replaced bureaucratic ones; rather, components from both paradigms have combined. In this article, we introduce a bi-dimensional approach (attitudes and practices) that allows for different combinations and forms of hybridity. Empirically, we explore the role identities of public sector executives across Europe, building on survey data from over 7,000 top public officials in 19 countries (COCOPS survey). We identify country-level profiles, as well as patterns across countries, and find that administrative traditions can account for these profiles and patterns only to a limited extent. Rather, they have to be complemented by factors such as stability of the institutional environment (indicating lower shares of hybrid combinations) or extent of reform pressures (indicating higher shares of hybrid combinations).

An increasing pressure is found on public sector organisations both to be efficient and innovative. Recently ambidexterity has found its ground in the public sector showing significant impact on firm performance. Combined with the increasing pressure from society for conducting sustainable business, we aimed at investigating how structural ambidexterity in regard to sustainability relates to sustainability performance, and how this relationship is moderated by centralisation and connectedness. A quantitative method has been used where the Swedish municipal housing organisations were surveyed. 141 different municipal housing organisations participated in the survey. A content analysis was also done with the help of the TBL to measure the organisations sustainability performance. The results from the dissertation showed that ambidextrous sustainability leads to sustainability performance. No moderating effect from centralisation and connectedness was found on the relationship between ambidextrous sustainability and sustainability performance. This dissertation sets the ground for a new concept of ambidextrous sustainability. Furthermore, contributing to strategic public management as well as further expanding on the stakeholder approach and the moderating effect of stakeholders. The dissertation also contributes methodologically by measuring sustainability performance with the TBL through a content analysis as well as how to measure ambidextrous sustainability.

This thesis explores the impact of the centralization of bargaining in Ontario’s education sector on the internal democracy of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), the province’s second-largest teacher union and self-described defender of public education. Using multiple theoretical lenses of union democracy, public sector unionism, labour geography and teacher professionalism, this thesis examines OSSTF’s history and the evolution of its internal processes and structures, with a focus on the union’s response to the gradual shift to a centralized bargaining regime. Initially formed in 1919 as a conservative organization committed to raising the professional status of teachers, OSSTF expanded into a union that represents both teachers and support staff, bargaining contracts for members with local employers. Positioned within a public sector context of austerity and neoliberal governments looking to contain the costs of public education, OSSTF found itself subjected to legislation intended to upscale education funding and bargaining, beginning in the late 1990s. This thesis finds that the external context of centralization of bargaining has been the most important factor in shaping the internal democratic life of OSSTF, shifting scales of power from the local to the provincial level of the union, exacerbating tensions between provincial and local actors, increasing the overall bureaucracy of the organization, and reducing democratic participation by the rank-and-file. These findings lead to the greater question of whether these internal changes have enhanced or limited the ability of OSSTF to effectively further their members’ interests and resist the neoliberalization of the school system, with a view to considering the role of teacher unions within the future of public education in Ontario. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This case study explores the impact of the centralization of bargaining in Ontario’s education sector on the internal processes of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), a union representing 60,000 teachers and education workers in Ontario. It includes an examination of the union’s history, its responses to legislative changes in contract negotiations, an analysis of internal union documents, and semi-structured interviews with key informants. The data and analysis reveal a more bureaucratized union, with members having less ability to direct it actions. This study considers whether a more bureaucratized union can be effective in its defense of public education.

The objective of the diploma thesis is to introduce the Conceptual Framework that is accompanying the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). To approach the issue of public sector the thesis describes its nature and key characteristics. It also deals with financial reporting systems from an international perspective; the IPSAS and the US GAAP are presented especially. The main part is focused on particular principles and requirements for preparation of the financial statements that are defined in the Conceptual Framework IPSAS. These are also examined and compared with Czech Accounting Legislation in order to outline essential differences and its possibilities of implementation.

The aim of this work is to introduce the issue of the public sector. Work explains principles and funding of public sector but the main attention is focused on its accounting. Accounting of public sector is viewed from the perspective of czech legislation and International Accounting Public Sector Standards (IPSAS). The last mentioned one is dealing only with the selected standards which shows the specifics of public sector. It includes for example revenue from non-exchange transactions, impairment of non-cash-generating assets and financial statements of public sector entities.

The challenge with traditional and hierarchical leadership models is that rarely are the complex issues present in our society today, resolved by one individual. Knowledge is distributed across multiple domains. Reviewing the alternative perspectives in leadership literature offers additional considerations for the dominant traditional models of leadership in existence today. With increased globalization, technology advancements, and interconnectedness, greater communication and collaboration are needed. The purpose of the study was to explore the role that personal values play in sustaining leadership during challenging times. Narrative inquiry and narrative interviews were used so leaders could share their stories of navigating challenging situations. One group interview was scheduled to share preliminary research findings with the research participants and continue the process of meaning coconstruction. Both narrative analysis and thematic analysis were used to harvest the key themes and wisdom offered during the interviews. Collective values identified included integrity, caring, courage, and commitment. The model for sustainable leadership included the ongoing pursuit of personal mastery, a values-based personal and professional support network, and expertise in leading self and other through the inevitable transitions that occur. These transitions are often due to changes associated with the predictive challenges that come from such situations as the election cycle and changes in mandate. The above recommendations allow for leaders to sustain themselves and others while working in service of the common good. Leaders who adopt the above recommendations will be well positioned to support their leadership and to use values as guiding principles to release the hero in everyone around them, including themselves. / Graduate / 0617 / 0454 / 0514 / mbpage@uvic.ca