Mapping Public Sector Organizations: An Agenda for Future Research

Abstract

This article summarizes the key findings from the five mapping case studies presented in this special issue and relates them back to the conceptual, definitional, and theoretical issues presented in the opening article (MacCarthaigh & Roness, 2012). In so doing, the article considers the alternative ways in which organizational change can best be captured, mapped, and explained and the key issues to be considered when conducting such exercises. As well as identifying how the case studies have advanced the possibilities for mapping public sector organizational change over time in a cross-national context and the benefits this offers for other aspects of public administration research, the article identifies some impediments to future research and collaboration in the field and suggests ways to overcome them.

Are public organizations suffering from repetitive change injury? A panel study of the damaging effect of intense reform sequences

“…The BSAD includes for all Flemish public sector organizations all changes in formal organizational structure since the founding of an organization until its termination. These changes are coined structural reforms and are defined as those reforms that change the organizational boundaries in terms of units included, change the tasks attributed to the organization, and/or change the structural embeddedness of the organization in a wider public sector (i.e., its legal form and ministerial portfolio; see, e.g., Laegreid, Roness, & Verhoest, 2011;MacCarthaigh & Roness, 2012). The database is constructed using an analysis of laws, decrees, and decisions of the Flemish government available through legal repositories, supplemented by annual reports, parliamentary documents, (annual) reports produced by governmental organizations, and organizational websites to confirm the effects of legal documentation.…”

“…Politicians and public managers moved to develop comprehensive reform programs to modernize their government structures, supported by reform rhetoric that emphasized the positive effects reorganizations would have (Pollitt, ). Due to these reform programs, public sector organizations have and still are experiencing a multitude of reforms that directly affect their structure, such as the absorption of (parts of) other organizations, the secession of units to other organizations, the adoption of new tasks, or a change in legal status (MacCarthaigh, Roness & Sarapuu, ). Nevertheless, these reform programs have often yielded disappointing results, and so new rounds of structural reforms were deemed necessary.…”

Party Government and Administrative Reform: Evidence From the German Länder

“…A growing number of studies deal with this issue (Boin, Kuipers, & Steenbergen, 2010;Carpenter & Lewis, 2004;Lewis, 2004), resuming a classic approach exploring the "mortality" of government organizations (Kaufman, 1976).Despite valuable findings, this literature still displays some imbalances and gaps (cf. Adam et al, 2007;MacCarthaigh, Roness, & Sarapuu, 2012). First, most studies have focused on U.S. agencies.…”

Frå stabilitet til turbulens. 70 år med organisasjonsendringar i departementa – politisk design eller institusjonell tilpasning?

“…Denne databasen har no blitt utbygd til ein omfattande databank om formelle organisasjonsendringar i det norske sentrale statsapparatet sidan den andre verdskrigen. Det er i internasjonal samanheng ein unik database som har inspirert til oppbygging av tilsvarande databankar i andre europeiske land som Belgia, Tyskland, Frankrike, Irland, Storbritannia, Sverige, Nederland, Estland og Latvia (MacCarthaigh, Roness and Sarapuu 2012), og eit større internasjonalt europeisk komparativt prosjekt pågår på dette temaet 1 .…”