IMPROVEMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICE RELATIONSHIPS: CULTURAL THEORY AND INSTITUTIONAL WORK

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Simmons, Richard
• 署名单位: University of Stirling
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3298
• DOI: 10.1111/padm.12257
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 933-952
• 关键词: street-level bureaucracy; motivation; PARTICIPATION; management; INNOVATION; delivery; sector; ideas

摘要

This article examines the influence of cultural-institutional factors on user-provider relationships in public services. Using Grid-Group Cultural Theory (CT) as a way to structure the complexity of public service relationships, the article considers the extent to which public services are attuned to users' relational concerns. This analysis shows particular tensions between how users think the service 'should be' compared with how they think the service 'actually is'. Additional study evidence is used to assess these findings; in particular, the effects of different patterns of compatibility on both the perceived quality of public service relationships and the value added by this. Finally, relationships between 'good opportunities' for user voice and the above results are discussed. In response, opportunities for improvement are identified (within the institutional work done by public service organizations), and the implications for the relative value of CT analysis are discussed.