Few empirical studies have examined the relationship between learning organization dimensions and public sector performance. While others have argued that public organizations are important contexts to for the study of organizational learning, learning in public sector and government organizations has not been given the empirical attention that private sector learning has. The goal of this study is to assess to what degree a government bureaucracy can learn and to examine whether a relationship exists between learning (predictor variables) and performance (criterion variables) in a government organization. To evaluate this, the government department of Family Services and Consumer Affairs within the province of Manitoba, Canada was used as a case study. All non-political staff in the Department were invited to complete an online version of an adapted version of the Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ). The current study addresses several gaps in the literature. This study found that a relationship indeed exists between organizational learning and performance in a Canadian public sector context. Second, a fourth variable of performance (goal performance) was added to assess the relationship between organizational learning and an organization’s stated goals. Dimensions of the learning organization were found to be predictive of goal performance. Third and finally, this study offers recommendations on if and how a public sector organization can move from a bureaucracy, with its hierarchical authority and rules and order, to a learnaucracy, based on individual empowerment and a culture of reflexivity.

Sammanfattning Offentliga organisationer är ofta komplexa vilket innebär utmaningar i utformning och genomförande av styrning. Ett flertal internationella studier har publicerats om styrning inom den offentliga sektorn.  Dock behövs ytterligare empiriska studier och teoretisk utveckling för att ge stöd till chefer inom offentlig sektor för att de ska kunna utnyttja resursstyrningens potential. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur styrning praktiskt tillämpas vid valda förvaltningar inom Region Gotland, samt vilken kongruens som finns mellan de olika styrmodeller som används. Region Gotland är en av många offentliga organisationer i Sverige som har tillämpat NPM-principer. Kundorientering, decentralisering och användning av styrmodeller utvecklade för det privata näringslivet genomsyrar organisationen. Det är flera olika former för styrning och ett antal olika styrmodeller tillämpas samtidigt. En kombination av olika former av styrning och styrmodeller utgör en styrmix inom organisationen. Empiriska data samlades genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer samt genom analys av Region Gotlands skriftliga styrdokument. Ett brett urval av chefer eftersträvades, verksamma inom olika förvaltningar, och slutligen har tio personer vid fyra förvaltningar intervjuats. Resultaten av studien visar att balanserade styrkort har en central plats i  Region Gotlands styrmix. Organisationens komplexitet leder till svårigheter med anpassning av modellen till verksamhetens kontext. Balanserade styrkort används mest för uppsättning av mål och dessas uppföljning. Praktisk implementering och genomförande av balanserade styrkort på verksamhetsnivå finns bara hos en förvaltning av fyra undersökta. Implementering av balanserade styrkort inom en verksamhet med stark kulturstyrning kräver engagemang av chefer på alla nivåer, stöd från toppen och tid för kulturförändring. Balanserade styrkort kräver ständigt arbete för att utveckla dem. Från denna studie framgår det inte att det finns några större problem med motsättningar mellan olika modeller. Dessa förekommer dock inom administrativ styrning, till exempel vid införande av ny policy eller nya riktlinjer. Det kan också uppstå motsättningar mellan budgeten och balanserade styrkort. Dock står det tydligt i Region Gotlands styrdokument att vid konflikter är det ekonomin som styr. Resultaten av studien bekräftar i stora drag den bild som ges i tidigare forskning. Studien ger kompletterande perspektiv genom belysningen av problematiken i en verksamhet med både kommunal och statlig styrning, samt genom den geografiska tillhörigheten (tidigare större studier på området har gjorts i andra länder). Vidare forskning om styrning i offentliga verksamheter, framför allt på verksamhetschefsnivå, är angelägen. / Abstract The purpose of this research is to analyze how management is applied practically within selected public sector administrations of Gotland Region and determine what congruence is applied between different management models. Empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews and together with analysis of Gotland Region governing documents. Firstly the aim was to interview a wide selection of different public sector managers. However, ten representatives from four different administrations were finally interviewed. The results of the study show that a balanced management takes a central place in Gotland Region Management Control Systems Package. The complexity of the organization causes difficulties in applying the model to the whole organization. Balanced scorecard is mostly used for goal setting and monitoring. Only in one of four administrations practical application and implementation of balanced scorecard on management level taking place. Implementation of balanced scorecards within organizations with strong cultural governance requires committed managers at all levels, support from the top managers and time for cultural transformation. This study reviled did not find major contradiction between different models of management. However, contradictions may occur within administrative control. Should a conflict between economic aspects and balanced scorecard occur, economy takes control. This rule is clearly stated in the governing documents.

This thesis is an exploratory study that measured the alignment of corporate risk management practices in six organizations in the Government of Canada with best practices described in the 2009 ISO 31000, as well as five independent variables believed to influence risk management practices in an organization. The objective was to determine if risk management practices vary from one organization to another in a single government, and if so why, as well as building a number of testable hypotheses for future research. The thesis found that risk management practices do vary significantly from one organization to another. It also found that there is a strong correlation between an organization’s budget, total workforce and the policy instruments it uses, and the alignment of its corporate risk management practices with ISO 31000:2009. This study furthers our understanding of how risk management is implemented in public sector organizations.

Government of Canada communications professionals work in an increasingly challenging environment, characterized by an intrusive 24/7 media cycle, a frenetic pace of evolving communication technologies, layered accountability requirements, political tension, and waning public trust. Scholars call on professional communicators to help rebuild public trust, which is intrinsic to a healthy democratic government. The Three-dimensional Model for Transparency in Government Communication developed by Fairbanks, Plowman and Rawlins (2007) serves as the theoretical framework for investigating the Government of Canada’s approach to transparent citizen-focused communications from the perspective of communications professionals. The model’s adaptability to the Government of Canada context is tested through 23 qualitative semi-structured interviews with Government of Canada senior communications advisors, managers and executives. The data is analysed using constant comparative thematic analysis. The findings demonstrate that Government of Canada communicators strongly value transparency. Furthermore, the key components of the transparency model – communications practices, organizational support and provision of resources – encapsulate the factors that influence the practice of transparent citizen-focused communications by the Government of Canada. The study concludes by offering recommendations for future research and practical applications.

In 2007, Uganda had one of the lowest levels of access to electricity in the world. Given the influence of multilateral and bilateral agencies in Uganda; the strong international reputation and domestic influence of its President; the country’s historic achievements in public sector and economic reform; and the intimate connection between economic performance, social well-being and access to electricity, the problems with Uganda’s electricity sector have proven deeply frustrating and, indeed, puzzling. Following increased scholarly attention to the relationship between political change, policymaking, and public sector reform in sub-Saharan Africa and the developing world generally, this thesis examines the multilevel politics of Uganda’s electricity sector reform process. This study contends that explanations for Uganda’s electricity sector reform problems generally, and hydroelectric dam construction efforts specifically, must move beyond technical and financial factors. Problems in this sector have also been the result of a model of reform (promoted by the World Bank) that failed adequately to account for the character of political change. Indeed, the model of reform that was promoted and implemented was risky and it was deeply antagonistic to domestic and international civil society organizations. In addition, it was presented as a linear, technical, apolitical exercise. Finally the model was inconsistent with key principles the Bank itself, and public policy literature generally, suggest are needed for success. Based on this analysis, the thesis contends that policymaking and reform must be understood as deeply political processes, which not only define access to services, but also participation in, and exclusion from, national debates. Future approaches to reform and policymaking must anticipate the complex, multilevel, non-linear character of ‘second-generation’ policy issues like electricity, and the political and institutional capacity needed to increase the potential for success. At the heart of this approach is a need to carefully consider how the character of state-society relations in the country – “governance” – will influence reform processes and outcomes.

In this study, it is aimed to derive strategies and develop a Balanced Scorecard in General Directorate of Environmental Impact Assessment and Planning in Ministry of Environment and Forestry. Firstly, the objectives of the General Directorate defined in the law are reassessed and strategies to realize the objectives are derived by making use of feedback received by conducting surveys to 4 main stakeholder groups which are the staff of the General Directorate, Provincial Directorates, companies preparing EIA reports, other public institutions, and interviews with managers. Following the determination of strategies, performance measures for each strategy are specified, replaced into internal business perspective, stakeholder perspective and learning and growth perspective in the Balanced Scorecard and and finally deployed to head of departments and branch offices.

With the scope of this study, certain tasks of the finance inspectors have been restructured by means of information technology in an effective way. The new structure has been integrated to the Internet technology and thus can eliminate the problems of time and place. The Documentation and Personnel Departments of FIB have been chosen for piloting and performance assesment has been performed after the restructuring with new technology. The result of the assesment suggest that, when compared to the old system, the new system has ensured approximately 70% more efficiency.

Over the last two decades the public sector has been the target of significant change driven primarily by advocates of public choice theory who argue that the public sector is too large and inefficient. Changes, grouped under the banner of New Public Management, have therefore been aimed at achieving greater financial accountability through the adoption of private sector management techniques and the opening up to competition of monopolistic government supplied services. Recent reappraisals of these changes have suggested that they have failed to adequately address issues of social justice. It has therefore been proposed that public sector organisations now need to consider more egalitarian methods of service delivery through greater public consultation and involvement in decision making processes. Studies over the last 20 years in the public sector have tended to concentrate on change aimed at achieving New Public Management outcomes. This study adds to theory of culture and culture change in public sector organisations through exploring a change purposefully enacted to enable an organisation to meet both economic rationalist and egalitarian objectives. The primary aim of this thesis is to explore a planned process of cultural change within a technically oriented, public sector organisation to determine the processes used to undertake such change, the resulting outcomes and why these outcomes occur. A case study was used to investigate these areas. The study was longitudinal and used a combination of methods including focus groups, interviews, non-participant observation and document analysis. Historical data was first obtained to form a base from which to examine the process of planned change over a two year period. This method allowed consideration of the impact of contextual changes on the planned process that resulted in some unintended consequences in regard to how change was being driven. The findings conclude that models of planned change that include mechanisms through which diversity is encouraged may provide arenas through which conflict can act as a positive dynamic for change. The outcome of the planned change evidences how a purposefully created hybrid organisational form may be capable of addressing the sometimes conflicting goals of economic rationalism and citizenship participation.

The significance of a link between organisational culture and organisational performance has long been recognised in both mainstream management literature as well as in the construction management literature. Within the construction research domain, the impact of culture and organisation on project performance is becoming an increasingly important topic for the establishment of sound partnering or alliancing, or to what has been referred to increasingly in recent years as relational contracting, in the overall approach to project management. However, studies of the efficacy of alliancing or partnering have so far produced mixed results. The present study concerns two public sector organisations in Australia, where the interrelationships between organisational culture and structure, commitment and national culture were investigated. The methodology was triangulated; with a detailed questionnaire survey undertaken with both organisations, and with subsequent interviews and case studies carried out for validation. Multivariate statistical techniques were utilised to investigate complex relationships between variables. The research reports the perceptions of professional personnel in the public sector organisations, and some mismatches found between organisational structuring and organisational culture. Key issues affecting project performance, and the set of project team characteristics enhancing the development of a collaborative project culture, were found to include continuous commitment from all levels, right mix of people, formal and informal communication, continuous facilitation, education and training in the universities, institutions and industry. The combined outcomes of the research provided a framework of fundamental elements for successful relational contracting.

Exploration of Australian public sector executive leadership roles using the competing values framework, and analysis of skills corresponding to each of the four roles: vision setter, motivator, analyzer and task master. / PhD Doctorate