Abstract

Preparing public organizations for the future requires an attitude that goes beyond what is usually recognized, reinforced and rewarded in these organizational environments, typically characterized as productive, predictable and professional (Cinar, Trott, & Simms, 2019; Pittaway & Montazemi, 2020). It takes people that are capable and feel comfortable enough to explore new pathways in public service delivery without knowing if these eventually will materialize in actual policy measures and public services (Meijer, 2014). These innovators encounter obstacles, gather context-specific knowhow and connect actors across organizational boundaries. These useful processes and insights however, often remain at the tacit level.

In our anthropological study, for several months we followed a group of these ‘out-of-the-box’ professionals, working in a digital innovation center (i-lab) of one of the largest cities in The Netherlands (Tõnurist, Kattel & Lember, 2017). Through participatory observation (e.g. by joining them in work, project, meeting, and network), interviews and coworking activities we tried to discover what their way of conduct was, in fulfilling their exploratory roles, tasks and initiatives (Duijn, 2009; Hoholm & Araujo, 2011). We tried to make explicit and coin their professional behavior in transferring, managing and securing their expert and ‘futuristic’ knowledge and experiences with new digital technologies that will – inevitably, in one way or the other – change the landscape of public service delivery by local governments.

In our paper we will describe the professional context in which these public innovators work, as to better understand the specific challenges they face. Next, we describe, analyze and interpret their professional behavior in taking on these challenges. Lastly, we will draw some conclusions on what it takes to perform in the described public environment, when taking on exploratory, innovative and uncertainty-riddled tasks and how to productively share these practice-based inisghts both within and outside public organizations. Also, we will reflect on our research method, rooted in anthropology and ethnography, and discuss its value for 1) in-depth understanding of complex professional behavior, 2) for drafting interventionist actions to support change management and 3) for advancing public administration as a whole.

Bibliography

Cinar, E., Trott, P., & Simms, C. (2019). A systematic review of barriers to public sector innovation process. Public Management Review, 21(2), 264–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2018.1473477

Duijn, M. (2009). Embedded reflection on public policy innovation. Eburon Uitgeverij.

Hoholm, T., & Araujo, L. (2011). Studying innovation processes in real-time: The promises and challenges of ethnography. Industrial Marketing Management, 40(6), 933–939. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2011.06.036

Meijer, A. J. (2014). From Hero-Innovators to Distributed Heroism: An in-depth analysis of the role of individuals in public sector innovation. Public Management Review, 16(2), 199–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2013.806575

Tõnurist, P., Kattel, R., & Lember, V. (2017). Innovation labs in the public sector: What they are and what they do?. Public Management Review, 19(10), 1455-1479.

Pittaway, J. J., & Montazemi, A. R. (2020). Know-how to lead digital transformation: The case of local governments. Government Information Quarterly, 37(4), 101474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2020.101474

The term “poly-crisis” is first used in the European context (Zeitlin et al., 2019) to refer to the acute and creeping cleavage that emerges more frequently and causes multiple interacting crises. Government response to such a poly-crisis involves newer forms of politic-administrative interactions that leverage emerging technologies to address them with enhanced scope, scale, and speed (Ansell et al., 2023). School education is one such policy area where the public sector in developing countries faces the challenge of ensuring social equity (in terms of education access to low-income groups) and frontline accountability (preventing schoolteacher absence and ensuring effective implementation of education-related policies at the school level). The Department of School Education in Andhra Pradesh in India has introduced a bouquet of mobile apps (one of which uses facial recognition technology for schoolteacher attendance) to address these new cleavage forms.

In the above context, this research engages with how future-looking and uncertainty-embracing approaches are implemented in the context of traditional bureaucracies. Through 30 qualitative face-to-face interviews with schoolteachers, officials of the Department of school education, and other experts, this research explores the extent to which government schools are made future-proof and resilient through top-down decisions or formal arrangements and how hybrid organizational styles interact with frontline identities and motivational factors. This research is one of the earliest projects to explore the implications of the shift from e-governance largely reliant on computers to governance through mobile apps.

This research will build upon the work on the dark side of public innovations (Meijer & Thaens, 2021) and frontline accountability (Lieberherr et al., 2019), besides scholarship on digitalization. It uses the qualitative-interpretive method and is based on fieldwork based on a travel grant. It discusses the unintended consequences of these new tools and practices for educational systems in the developing world, focusing on frontline experiences.

References

Ansell, C., Sørensen, E., & Torfing, J. (2023). Public administration and politics meet turbulence: The search for robust governance responses. Public Administration, 101(1), 3-22. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12874

Lieberherr, E., Thomann, E., & Hupe, P. (2019). Street-level bureaucracy research and accountability beyond hierarchy. In P. Hupe (Ed.), Research Handbook on Street-Level Bureaucracy. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786437631.00025

Meijer, A., & Thaens, M. (2021). The Dark Side of Public Innovation. Public Performance & Management Review, 44(1), 136-154. https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2020.1782954

Zeitlin, J., Nicoli, F., & Laffan, B. (2019). Introduction: the European Union beyond the polycrisis? Integration and politicization in an age of shifting cleavages. Journal of European Public Policy, 26(7), 963-976. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2019.1619803

Public transportation is considered as an essential human right and local authorities are now asked to guarantee the residents with its access. However, urban sprawl and hollowing out, followed by gentrification and shrinking population in suburban areas, and ageing society are making it difficult to guarantee the continuity of public transportation, especially in rural and mountain areas, where the elderly population lives often in isolation and without personal transportation means.

In order to solve this problem, many local governments are introducing innovative digital solutions. The paper first reconstructs the recent transformation in understanding the public transportation as an essential human right through literature review and public debates. Then the paper examines five empirical cases recently implemented in Japan to understand the rationales behind them. All cases supported by various government fundings and have different backgrounds as well as objects: using MaaS (Mobility as a Service) for vast rural area to improve transportation services; introducing on-demand public transportation using mobile app to guarantee transportation in rural area; introducing self-driving car in smart city context with citizen participation; introducing cashless payment for the locals as well as tourists to improve transportation services; and introducing mobile app to improve ticketing service of public transportation. The paper analyses the cases from technological, financial, and theoretical points of views, trying to identify the contribution of these digital transformations to the discussion of public transportation as human right.

These cases have to prove financial sustainability and accessibility to all, while contributing to the theoretical discussion. The paper concludes with findings and identification of remaining issues.

References:

Kafui Ablode Attoh (2019), Rights in Transit: Public Transportation and the Right to the City in California's East Bay, University of Georgia Press.

Thomas Coggin and Marius Pieterse (2015), “A Right to Transport? Moving Towards a Rights-Based Approach to Mobility in the City”, South African Journal on Human Rights, 31(2): 294-314.

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2022), Cases of Digitalisation in Local Communities, https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/000835175.pdf

In the paper we present our findings on what has determined the longevity of changes made in two types of Czech central authorities - ministries and agencies - due to the COVID-19 crisis. We do it by surveying 2 groups of factors: 1) those that negatively impacted preparedness of public authorities for the COVID-19 crisis, and 2) those that have determined whether the changes made in public administration due to the pandemic will sustain it (have sustained till the present and will potentially endure). We obtained data mainly through semi-structured interviews with employees of 3 ministries (22 interviews were made) and 2 national agencies (11 interviews were conducted). From the interviews it seems that regardless the starting conditions and preparedness-related issues (i.e., those that determined whether public authorities could quickly maintain their functionality in the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis), the main (intraorganizational) factors driving the changes and determining their duration and longevity are related to PEOPLE and CULTURE which shape other organizational elements (like processes, structure and technologies).