Management by Groping along

Behn, Robert D.

doi:10.2307/3323485

Cited by 130 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(5 reference statements)

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“…To be sure, there are approaches in the literature on public management and governance where a process perspective has been highlighted previously-think, for example, about "management by groping along" (Behn 1988), and the original incremental model of decision making proposed by Lindblom (1959), Simon (1947) and others. We do not feel that we are saying something completely different here, but rather that we re-focus the public sector strategy debate on some of the essential actions that emphasize step-by-step process-based aspects of decision-making and implementation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategy in the Public and Private Sectors: Similarities, Differences and Changes

Alford

Greve

2017

Administrative Sciences

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Strategic concepts and practices first evolved in the private sector, so they evoked much controversy when they migrated to the public sector from the late 1970s onwards. Partly this was about their (in)applicability to the distinctive features of government organizations, in particular their focus on public as well as private value, their situation in a political rather than a market environment, their almost exclusive capacity to use legal authority to achieve purposes, and the extent to which they often need to share power over personnel and resources with other public sector agencies. These and other factors complicated efforts to apply New Public Management and similar frameworks in strategy concepts in a governmental context. Partly also the traditional private-sector focus on single organizations did not resonate with the growth of network governance from the 1990s. The authors argue for an alternative model based primarily on the public value framework as a means of incorporating and going beyond traditional strategy thinking.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategy in the Public and Private Sectors: Similarities, Differences and Changes

Alford

Greve

2017

Administrative Sciences

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“…Forbes 2007) emphasize a comprehensive environmental assessment -such as a SWOT analysis (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats) that gives an organization more information about alternative activities and their consequences, which is then used for prospective choices about goals, or about broad kinds of activities in support of those goals. By contrast, Behn (1988) emphasizes, in discussing strategic planning, advance planning about choice of specific activities to reach goals.…”

Section: Strategy Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Successfully Executing Ambitious Strategies in Government: An Empirical Analysis

Kelman

Myers

2009

SSRN Journal

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How are senior government executives who attempt to execute an ambitious vision requiring significant strategic change in their organizations able to succeed? How do they go about formulating a strategy in the first place? What managerial and leadership techniques do they use to execute their strategy? In this paper, these questions are examined by comparing (so as to avoid the pitfalls of "best practices" research) management and leadership behaviors of a group of agency leaders from the Clinton and Bush administrations identified by independent experts as having been successful at executing an ambitious strategy with a control group consisting of those the experts identified as having tried but failed at significant strategic change, along with counterparts to the successes, who had the same position as they in a different administration. We find a number of differentiators (such as using strategic planning, monitoring performance metrics, reorganizing, and having a smaller number of goals), while other techniques either were not commonly used or failed to differentiate (such as establishing accountability systems or appeals to public service motivation). We find that agencies that the successes led had significantly lower percentages of political appointees than the average agency in the government. One important finding is that failures seem to have used techniques recommended specifically for managing transformation or change as frequently as successes did, so use of such techniques does not differentiate successes from failures. However, failures (and counterparts) used techniques associated with improving general organizational performance less than successes.How are senior government executives who attempt to execute an ambitious vision requiring significant change in their organizations able to succeed? How do they go about formulating a strategy in the first place? What managerial and leadership techniques do they use to execute their strategy? In this paper, these questions are examined by comparing management and leadership behaviors of a group of agency leaders from the Clinton and Bush administrations (1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007) identified by independent experts as having been successful at executing a strategy involving an ambitious vision and significant organizational change with a control group consisting of those identified as having tried but failed at significant strategic change, along with counterparts to the successes, who had the same position as they in a different administration. This paper uses the term "strategy" as it is used in Moore (1995) to include both a set of goals (vision) for where an executive wishes to take an organization, and a plan for how to achieve those goals.1 Such a plan involves both successfully receiving authorization and funds from the organization's external political environment, and improving internal operating capacity inside the organization.The shorthand "success" will be used through...

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“…Another focuses on the different kinds of knowledge possessed by central planners and front-line practitioners (Berlin 2013;Hayek 1945;Scott 1998). Others emphasize the CONTACT Gary L. Sturgess g.sturgess@ANZSOG.edu.au The Australia and New Zealand School of Government, Sydney, NSW, Australia different concepts of management deployed by those involved in policy formulation and those who are primarily concerned with day-to-day delivery (Behn 1988). Finally, a small but important literature approaches the policy-delivery interface from the perspective of "street-level bureaucrats" working directly with service beneficiaries (Lipsky 1980).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public service commissioning: origins, influences, and characteristics

Sturgess

2018

Policy Design and Practice

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Management by Groping along

Cited by 130 publications

References 9 publications

Strategy in the Public and Private Sectors: Similarities, Differences and Changes

Strategy in the Public and Private Sectors: Similarities, Differences and Changes

Successfully Executing Ambitious Strategies in Government: An Empirical Analysis

Public service commissioning: origins, influences, and characteristics

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