For the NIG Conference of 2022 I am organizing a panel on public management: bridging internal and external management.
Chairs
- Jolien Grandia. Erasmus University Rotterdam. Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences. Department of Public Administration and Sociology. The Netherlands. Grandia@essb.eur.nl
- Koen Migchelbrink. Erasmus University Rotterdam. Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences. Department of Public Administration and Sociology. The Netherlands. Migchelbrink@essb.eur.nl
- Sandra van Thiel. Erasmus University Rotterdam. Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences. Department of Public Administration and Sociology. The Netherlands. vanthiel@essb.eur.nl
- Bert George. Universiteit Gent. Vakgroep Bestuurskunde en Publiek Management. Belgium. George@UGent.be
Description
Public management stands at the center of the organization of the public sector. Research into the management of public organizations is in flux and constantly evolving. In this panel we discuss these developments in public management research and practice.
Traditionally, public management is divided into internal and external management. Internal management focuses on the internal structuring of public organizations, strategies, and instruments that contribute to the optimization of organizational performance (Ho et al., 2019; Van Thiel & Leeuw, 2002). External management focuses on the collaboration of public organizations with other stakeholders, such as private organizations, citizens and societal organizations, and the strategies and instruments to improve the collaboration (Ansell & Gash, 2008; Jurian Edelenbos & Van Meerkerk, 2016). With the emergence of New Public Governance and Public Value Governance, new ways of working, instruments and tools have been introduced and the internal and external management of public sector organizations need to be more attuned to each other (Bryson et al., 2014; Moore, 1995; O’Flynn, 2007).
Public sector organizations are in charge of policy making and implementation. Policies are aimed to ensure the security, safety, and well-being of citizens, for example in fields like education, immigration, animal welfare and climate change. Implementation then concerns the activities to carry out such policies and reach the desired objectives, often in collaboration with external stakeholders. Making sure that the implementation of one policy does not negatively impact the objectives of another policy requires a careful balancing of internal and external management. For example, government procurement of goods and services can also contribute to achieving sustainability goals (Grandia & Meehan, 2017) whereas HR strategies can enable organizations to become inclusive role models and reduce the distance of long-term employed citizens to the labor market. Moreover, public leadership can promote and co-create public value by engaging, inspiring and mobilizing actors with relevant governance assets (Sørensen et al., 2021). Or the other way round, governments can use citizen-state contacts during implementation to improve public policy and services decisions (Osborne, 2020).
Against this background, we invite contributions on public management, either internal or external, but most importantly on the connection between internal and external management. The panel is committed to theoretical and methodological pluralism, and we welcome contributions using diverse theoretical frameworks, analytical approaches, and research designs to further our understanding of the role and relationship between internal and external management in a public sector context. The panel invites both experienced and junior researchers to submit theory-based and methodologically sound contributions.
Submissions
We invite authors to submit empirical and theoretical research manuscripts that discuss or link internal and external management in a public sector context. We also invite authors to submit manuscripts containing their research design (introduction, theory, and methodology) on one of these topics. Examples of topics are:
- Use of public procurement to diminish the negative consequences of production and consumption (sustainability), improve labor and safety standards throughout the international supply chain or enable long-term unemployed citizens to re-enter the
- Collaborative HRM strategies
- Disaggregation of public sector organizations and the creation of executive agencies
- Management of public service satisfaction and trust in government among citizens and other stakeholders
- The design and use of e-government and digital technologies in public organizations
- Strategies for collaborative governance, citizen participation and stakeholder
More information about the NIG Conference or on how you can submit an abstract can be found here: https://www.nigovernance.nl/conference-2022