International Dictionary of Public Management and Governance

Gambhir Bhatta

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317467564
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Publicidad

This authoritative, up-to-date resource will become the standard reference on the theory and practice of public management around the world. Public management addresses strategy, policy processes, and governance as well as the bureaucratic concerns of public administration. Reflecting this diversity, the Dictionary incorporates concepts from various other fields including economics, political science, management, sociology, and psychology. The reference draws from an extensive literature base including books, journals, websites, research reports, government proceedings, legal documents, and international and organizational reports. As the primary source of ready information for students, researchers, scholars, and practitioners, it defines all the fundamental concepts of public management, their applications, and all relevant theories, complete with sources and references.

P

Package of policies: When government introduces several—but related—policies at the same time to address a particular problem. The government may wish to introduce a package of policies for various reasons, including ensuring that any negative side effects from any one policy are minimized (or at least absorbed and hidden from the public eye). Also, by introducing a package of policies, governments hope that some of the policies in the package will have a certain impact, which may not be the case if policies were formulated singly. See also Policy bundling.

Paired-comparison system: A method of employee evaluation where supervisors simultaneously compare two employees on several criteria, such as behavior, performance attributes, and other traits. The purpose is to be able to gain a relative perspective of employee performance as measured at the same point in time.

Parallel career ladder: See Dual-career ladder.

Parallel case review: A technique used in multisectoral project planning that includes a roundtable meeting of line staff from various agencies involved in a case that cuts across different sectors. A key product of the meeting is a plan (derived consensually rather than by majority vote) on how to proceed as regards a particular multisectoral problem/task (including who will lead the project and how reporting to various stakeholders will be done). For an example of the application of a parallel case review, see E. Bardach, Getting Agencies to Work Together: The Practice and Theory of Managerial Craftsmanship, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998, pp. 69–70.

Parallel financing: When two or more funding agencies jointly provide resources to a common program in which the resources are separately administered (i.e., the resources are managed by the respective agencies). This allows agencies more control over resource utilization and degree of compliance with any financial regulations they themselves may have in place. See also Cost sharing.

Parallel organization: Refers to the flat/hierarchical and matrix-type organization that is linked vertically as well as horizontally with others. A parallel organization is an alternative to the traditionally hierarchical structure of organization. For an example, see A. Shani and B. Eberhardt, “Parallel Organization in a Health Care Institution,” Group and Organization Studies, 1987, 12(2), pp. 147–73.

Parallel processing capacity: The ability of individuals and organizations to process (or focus on) more than one issue at a time. This capacity enhances the organization’s grasp of complex environments and the ability to come up with policies that more accurately reflect the actual situation on the ground. Cf. Serial processing capacity.

Parastatal institutions: Agencies that are not subject to direct governmental control but are still considered to be in the public sector. Parastatal institutions could be involved in any number of sectors. For example, the World Bank seeks to address problems of urban poverty often through the use of municipal development funds, which are parastatal institutions that lend to local governments for major investment projects. Other examples of parastatal institutions include the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Pareto efficiency: Comes from the work of the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto that refers to a situation wherein one more person cannot be made better off without someone else being worse off. If someone is indeed made better off at the expense of another, then the loss in welfare is known as deadweight welfare loss (or is a measure of allocative inefficiency). See J. Stiglitz, “Information and the Change in the Paradigm in Economics,” American Economic Review, 2002, 92(3), pp. 460–501, on why Pareto efficiency cannot be attained in a situation of information asymmetry. See also Allocative efficiency; Pareto optimality.

Pareto’s principle: A principle that states that a small percentage of events and variables causes the most change. The Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto made this assertion in 1906 in relation to the unequal distribution of wealth in Italy (20 percent of the population owned 80 percent of the country’s wealth). As applied in management, however, it was the quality-management guru Joseph Juran who, in the late 1940s, talked of the “vital few and trivial many” and asserted that 20 percent of the defects are responsible for 80 percent of the damage (implying that managers need to concentrate on the few things that are problematic since they would cause the most damage). See also Eighty percent rule.

Parity: In generic terms, this means equivalency. The term is applied in various settings. For example, employment parity is reached when the constituent parts of a population are proportionally reflected in an organization. Other examples of parity include occupational parity (i.e., when the proportion of protected groups in an organization in all occupations mirrors the proportion in labor-market composition), and wage parity (i.e., when the salary level of one group of employees in the same employment classification is equal to that of employees in other classifications). As applied in a management context, the parity principle states that the power given to any leaders of organizations should be commensurate with their responsibilities. This balance between power and responsibilities is important as it ensures that managers are able to fulfill their roles and functions with adequate power to enable them to deliver what is expected of them. Public-management reform centered on the accountability of public-sector leaders is based on such a parity principle.

Parkinson’s law: An assertion originally made by the historian Cyril Parkinson that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” In recent times, however, the assertion has been applied in other settings as well (for example, that generally as organizations increase in size, the number of staff needed for administrative support increases more than proportionately). As originally described by Parkinson, this occurs due to two forces: an inherent tendency of bureaucrats to multiply subordinates rather than competitors for their roles; and bureaucrats make work for each other. See C. Parkinson, Parkinson’s Laws and Other Studies in Administration, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1957. For an interesting application of the law, see, e.g., L. O’Toole and K. Meier, “Parkinson’s Law and the New Public Management? Contracting Determinants and Service-Quality Consequences in Public Education,” Public Administration Review, 2004, 64(3), pp. 342–52.

Parliament: Refers to a legislative body comprising members usually chosen by an electorate. A national parliament is sovereign—and, therefore, supreme—and makes binding laws (i.e., laws that are applicable to all). In some parliamentary systems, there are two chambers (a bicameral legislature, for example, the House of Commons and House of Lords in the United Kingdom), and in others, such as in New Zealand, there is only one (a unicameral legislature). The business of parliament is conducted through various parliamentary committees and public management is channeled through the appropriate committees. A parliamentary system refers to a system of government where there is a fusion of legislative (i.e., the legislature) and executive (i.e., the government) relations, also known as the Westminster system. In a parliamentary system of government, the leader of the government usually holds that position by virtue of his or her party’s majority in parliament. As such, when a government loses the confidence of the parliament (i.e., in a vote), it is obliged to resign from power.

Parliamentary question: A question that is put to governmental ministers by a member of parliament that requires a written or verbal reply. Usually it is the opposition (i.e., nongovernmental) members of parliament who pose questions. A parliamentary question is an important way for the opposition to scrutinize the work of the government. However, rules for parliamentary questions can be quite rigid. Generally, they can be asked only of ministers and must pertain to matters within the minister’s portfolio. Of the total allotted number of parliamentary questions that can be asked in any parliamentary session (twelve in the case of New Zealand, for example), individual parties are assigned a share depending upon their level of representation in the legislature. See also Question time.

Parliamentary scrutiny: Refers to any review that parliaments conduct on any matter that pertains to the public sector. Such scrutiny is publicly announced and opinions and views are sought from various sources. The scrutiny could take place in public forums (such as committees and public hearings) as well as outside the public eye (such as informal consultations between specialists and parliamentarians). Upon completion of the review, a report is also prepared, which, however, may or may not be made public in its entirety, depending upon the nature of the subject matter under investigation.

Parochial civic culture: See Civic culture.

Parochialism: Having a narrow view (for example, restricted to the local environment) of any public-policy issue. Parochialism results from cultural distinctions between—and exclusionary practices of—insiders and outsiders in any public-policy setting. Since like-minded individuals tend to come together more than those with differing views, this “likes-attract” feature leads to rather homogenous networks and a rather restricted view of the policy under consideration. See, e.g., S. Bowles and H. Gintis, “Optimal Parochialism: The Dynamics of Trust and Exclusion in Networks,” SFI Working Paper No. 00–03-017, Santa Fe, NM: Santa Fe Institute, 2000.

Participant civic culture: See Civic culture.

Participation constraint: A clause in a contract that prevents breaching by the principal. This provides a measure of certainty to the agent that the contract will be enduring.

Participative leadership: One that allows employees to participate in organizational matters, including decision-making processes. This type of leadership is considered to be empowering as employees are given the opportunity to express and to act on ideas that help fulfill organizational mandates. Participative leadership is reflected in participative management, which is a style of management that enables employees to be involved in day-to-day organizational administration. See, e.g., E. Lawler, “Participative Management Strategies,” in J. Jones, B. Steffy, and N. Bray (eds.), Applying Psychology in Business: The Handbook for Managers and Human Resource Professionals, Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1991, pp. 578–86.

Participatory evaluation: A form of evaluation where representatives of the stakeholders and other parties are brought together to conduct or to be included in an evaluation. This enhances the credibility of the evaluation since the stakeholders themselves will have been able to assess a project’s or program’s success. On the other hand, a significant disadvantage of a participatory evaluation is that the stakeholders could bring their biases with them to the evaluation process and skew the results. See, e.g., M. Themessl-Huber and M. Grutsch, “The Shifting Locus of Control in Participatory Evaluations,” Evaluation, 2003, 9(1), pp. 92–111.

Participatory policy analysis: A method of enhancing citizen participation in decision making that ultimately has the effect of better informing the policy process. In stakeholder-participatory policy analysis, individuals who have vested interests in a policy issue are empowered to participate by providing advice to policy makers on the issue at hand. For case studies of participatory policy analysis, see, e.g., D. Haight and C. Ginger, “Trust and Understanding in Participatory Policy Analysis: The Case of the Vermont Forest Resources Advisory Council,” Policy Studies Journal, 2000, 28(4), pp. 739–59; and D. Durning, “Participatory Policy Analysis in a Social Service Agency: A Case Study,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 1993, 12(2), pp. 297–322.

Participatory research: Research conducted where the researcher commits to fully being involved in the lives of the subjects being studied. The main advantage of this research method is that it allows the researcher to see the underlying complexities and dynamism of the subjects being observed. The disadvantage is that the researcher may be affected by the subjects and suffer a loss of the impartiality that is required for objective research.

Particularism: The general tendency to apply a specific policy in a specific situation to a limited nu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• X
• Y
• Z
• About the Author