Public Management: Innovative Konzepte zur Führung im öffentlichen Sektor (uniscope. Die SGO-Stiftung für praxisnahe Managementforschung) [Gebundene Ausgabe]

Genau an dieser Stelle setzt das Buch von Thom und Ritz ein. Es wendet sich an Führungskräfte im öffentlichen Bereich mit dem Anspruch, sie anhand des IOP-Konzeptes (Innovation, Organisation, Personal) massgeblich beim Bewältigen der neuen Herausforderung zu unterstützen.

Unter dem Stichwort Innovation werden sowohl Konzepte des strategischen Wandels vorgestellt als auch innovationsfördernde Rahmenbedingungen für die Mitarbeitenden beschrieben. Damit werden Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der strategischen Führung beleuchtet. Um dem eigenen Anspruch gerecht zu werden, wird oft die Perspektive gewechselt: Von der Politik über die Verwaltungsführung zu den Mitarbeitenden und wieder zurück. So gelingt es den Autoren, weder einen reinen Top-Down- oder Bottom-Up-Ansatz zu unterstützen, noch in ein unverbindliches "Alles ist mit allem vernetzt" abzugleiten. Anhand des Begriffs "strategische Innovation" kommt zum Ausdruck, dass zwar Politik wie Ver-waltungsführung je ihre strategischen Entscheide zu treffen haben, aber ein strategischer Wandel gerade dann besondere Erfolgschancen hat, wenn er beide Ebenen mit einbezieht. Damit wird die im NPM vorgeschlagene Trennung von Politik und Verwaltung nicht verworfen, aber in Bezug auf die praktische Anwendung relativiert.
Unter dem Stichwort Organisation wird die Holding als Rahmenmodell präsentiert, innerhalb derer die einzelnen Verwaltungseinheiten sich wiederum relativ frei organisieren können. Gemäss einer Umfra-ge der Autoren findet in diesem Freiraum eine klare Bewegung weg von der funktionalen zu divisionalen und prozessorientierten Strukturen statt. An einem Fallbeispiel wird gezeigt, dass Produkteverantwortung nicht einfach durch die Ernennung bestimmter Personen zu erreichen ist, sondern Strukturen benötigt, welche das Wahrnehmen der Produkteverantwortung unterstützen.
Unter dem Stichwort Personal wird differenziert aufgezeigt, wie eine Modernisierung Personalwesen aussehen könnte. Auf strategischer Ebene empfehlen die Autoren, die Personalstrategie nicht einfach aus der Gesamtstrategie abzuleiten, sondern interaktiv in wechselseitiger Abstimmung zu entwickeln, weil dies die strategische Kompetenz der Verwaltungseinheit insgesamt verbessert. Gut begründet wenden sie sich gegen den heutigen Trend zum individuellen Leistungslohn, welchen sie nur teilweise und im Kontext anderer Lohnbestandteile empfehlen.

Das Buch fällt durch seine hohe Praxistauglichkeit auf. Diese wird durch eine stimmige Gesamtkon-zeption erreicht und eine systematisch Durchleuchtung der zentralen Fragen des Verwaltungsmana-gement. Unterstützend wirken zusätzlich die Resultate der eigenen Befragungen bei Führungskräften und Mitarbeitenden in Reformprojekten und die treffend illustrierenden Fallbeispiele. Die Autoren unterlassen es, in eine theoretielastige NPM-Euphorie zu verfallen oder betriebswirtschaftliche Schlag-worte unreflektiert für den öffentlichen Bereich zu "missbrauchen" sondern bleiben erfrischend diffe-renziert und realistisch.

Dr. Alexander Hunziker, Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Verwaltung Bern

· The management of innovation (I)
· The structuring of organizations (O)
· The guidance of people (P)

Based on this focus of Innovation, Organization and People, the authors have coined the acronym "IOP-concept" and use it throughout the book.

The authors mention that their motivating factor for writing the book was the fragmented progress in public management during the final years of the twentieth century. What is needed now, they contend, is an internally consistent, integrated public administration that persuades through its ability to meet existing and potential problem situations with innovative solutions.

Innovation

"Without openness for innovation," the text tells us, "strategic leadership is ultimately not possible." This emphasis on the need for innovation reflects the authors' awareness of the cultures of control and compliance that have a long tradition in public organizations. Even people who join a bureaucracy as innovators, the reader is told, are regularly suppressing this trait because of rule-bound imperatives that demand fidelity to established procedures.

Innovation itself is defined as "the complex process of generating, accepting and implementing novel ideas." The authors are careful, however, not to simply advocate the re-awakening or developing of individual innovative abilities. Rather, they suggest that the management of innovation is the process of creating an organizational environment and framework within which innovation can thrive. More specifically, they suggest that managing innovation means changing the level of innovation that occurs in an organization.

In public sector agencies, attempts at innovation typically lead to tensions. Politicians as well as the public do expect innovative services that match the standards of private sector firms. However, they also expect adherence to "due process" - principles of fairness, universality and equal treatment. Furthermore, they expect that operations be carried out economically, frugally and error-free.

Managing innovation, then, means increasing the level of organizational innovativeness through resolving tensions between the need for due process, error-avoidance and frugality on the one hand, and the need for performing productively in a swiftly-changing environment on the other. This includes declaring "innovation space," recruiting a diversity of people, supporting them in being innovative, and being open to novel ideas from anywhere.

Organizational structure

Organizations can be structured according to a "vertical logic" under which all members listen to the top, responding to policies, directives and regulations. Organizations can also be structured according to a "horizontal logic" that focusses on interaction with citizens, and on responding promptly to their changing needs and expectations.

The authors suggest that this dichotomy can be managed productively through establishing what they call a network-type organization structure. The basis of the network is that different units of the organization would be structured differently, depending on the type of work being done. A function similar to law enforcement, for example, would be structured along an authoritarian control and compliance model. In contrast, a function similar to promoting tourism would be structured along a much more discretionary and flexible model. A network structure would also include contracting out those functions that can be well defined and readily monitored. Using such a network structure would, according to the authors, ensure that performance is high across all functions of the organization.

Guidance of people

According to the authors, the strategic goal of the "people" pillar should be the continued guidance of people in the direction of their willing and effective self-development on an ongoing basis. Such an approach means a departure from two long-standing practices: from the practice of first learning, then working; and from the practice of merely learning to carry out orders and to comply with rules and regulations. In a revitalized public service, personnel development now means ensuring learning not only before taking a job, but also on the job (e.g. through mentoring), near the job (e.g. innovation circles), along the job (i.e. in parallel with working), off the job (e.g. conferences, seminars, courses) and even out-of-the-job (i.e. in preparation for retirement or separation).

Part of people management is the evaluation of employees. The goal of such an evaluation is to reach a conclusion about three factors: the person's competence; the person's commitment; and the surrounding work environment's supportiveness. In other words, an evaluation tests for the person's ability and motivation on one hand, and for constraints to performance on the other, all of which impact on the quality of work results. Again, the authors offer diagrams and checklists that guide readers through the detailed steps of an evaluation process. In concluding this section, they also remind readers that, no matter how professionally an evaluation is carried out, it will be of little value unless the resulting needs for changes - for example in development, benefits or incentives - are implemented.

Summary

The book presents a framework for rationalizing and integrating the many isolated advances that have occurred in the field during the past decade or two. The book is easy to read, supported by many diagrams, illustrations and case studies. One of its important contributions is its emphasis on the need for an environment that is supportive of innovativeness, and that advocates continuous learning, both organizationally and individually at all levels within the organization. The book will appeal to practitioners, researchers and students of public management.