Innovation in Public Service Delivery in Terms of Shared Services Centres in Local Governments: A Case Study of the City of Toruń (Poland)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15678/ZP.2019.50.4.04Keywords:
public management, innovation in public management, shared services centres, collaborative governance, reforming public administrationAbstract
Objectives: The public sector has been subjected to financial pressure. One of the tools to improve the environment of the public sector entities and introduce greater management flexibility in governance is establishing Shared Services Centres (SSCs).
Research: The article presents a case study regarding the implementation process and the effectiveness assessment of this solution based on the example of the city of Toruń.
Research Design & Methods: The paper provides a case study of SSC of the city of Toruń.
Findings: Based on the results, it can be concluded that the key barrier to the implementation of SSCs as the innovation tool of public management is the lack of understanding of business management tools among directors of public sector units that were not involved in the issue of management efficiency.
Implications / Recommendations: What appears to be the most challenging is the sociological factor that matters in terms of SSCs implementation. Social capital of the units’ directors, trust, and reciprocity is much more important than institutional arrangements.
Contribution / Value Added: The paper shows the first evaluation of SSC in local government in Poland based on a case study. It is believed that this approach might be very fruitful for further theoretical research and practical implementation.
Article classification: research article
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References
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Peel, D., O’Keeffe, B., Shi, L., Leith, K., & Keaveney, K. (2011). Shared Services Across Local Government. Dublin: Local Government Association.
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Ulbrich, F. (2003). Introducing a research project on shared services in governmental agencies. Paper presented at the 17th Nordic Academy of Management (NFF) Conference, Reykjavik.
Resolution No. 466/16 of the City Council of Toruń of 24 November 2016 on the creation of a local government organisational unit “Toruń Shared Services Centre”, assigning it the status and shared service of organisational units of the Gmina of the City of Toruń. http://bip.torun.pl, accessed on 10.07.2017.
Virtanen, P., & Stenvall, J. (2014). The evolution of public services from co-production to co-creation and beyond: New Public Management’s unfinished trajectory? International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, 10(2), 91–107.
Wagenaar, R.W. (2006). Governance of shared service centers in public administration: Dilemmas and trade-offs. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Electronic Commerce: The New E-Commerce: Innovations for Conquering Current Barriers, Obstacles and Limitations to Conducting Successful Business on the Internet, ACM: 354–363.
Windrum, P., & Koch, P. (Eds.). (2008). Public Sector Services. Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Management. Northampton: Elgar.
Agranoff, R. & McGuire, M. (2003). Collaborative Public Management. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Ansell, Ch., & Gash, A. (2007). Collaborative governance in Theory and Practise. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 18(4), 543–571.
Becker, J., Niehaves, B., & Krause, A. (2009). Shared service center vs shared service network: A multiple case study analysis of factors impacting on shared service configuration. Paper presented at the 8th International EGOV Conference 2009, Linz, August 30 – September 3.
Bergeron, B. (2003). Essentials of Shared Services. New Jersey: Wiley.
Blomgren, L. & Bingham, L. (2009). Collaborative Governance: Emerging Practices and the Incomplete Legal Framework for Public and Stakeholder Voice. Journal of Dispute Resolution, 2009(2). https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/jdr/vol2009/iss2/2.
Bovaird, T., & Loeffler, E. (2006). Public Management and Governance. London: Routledge.
Braun, C., & Winter, R. (2005). Classification of outsourcing phenomena in financial services. Paper presented at the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), Regensburg, Germany.
Dunleavy, P., Margetts, H., Bastow, S., & Tinkler, J. (2006). New public management is dead: Long live digital-era governance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 16(3), 467–494.
Emerson, K., Nabathchi, T., & Balogh, S. (2011). An Integrative Framework for Collaborative Governance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 22/2011, 1–29.
Forst, L. (1997). Fulfilling the strategic promise of shared services. Strategy & Leadership, 25(1), 30–34.
Grant, G.G., & Ulbrich, F. (2010). Governance of ITshared services: Moving between hierarchical and networked service provision. Paper presented at the International Conference on Information Resources Management, Montego Bay.
Henderson, A. (Ed.). (2015). Shared Services and Consolidation: A Public Solutions Handbook. New York: Routledge.
Hesketh, A. (2008). Should it stay or should it go? Examining the shared services or outsourcing decision. Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal, 1(2), 154–172.
Huxham, C. (1993). Pursuing collaborative advantage. The Journal of the Operational Research Society, 44(6), 599–611.
Janssen, M., & Joha, A. (2006). Governance of shared services in public administration. Paper presented at the 12th Americas Conference on Information Systems, Acapulco.
Kamal, M. (2012). Shared services: Lessons from private sector for public sector domain. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 25(5), 431–440.
Kettl, D.F. (2000). Public administration at the millennium: The state of the field. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 10(1), 7–34
Lacity, M.C., & Fox, J. (2008). Creating global shared services: Lessons from Reuters. Management Information Systems Quarterly Executive, 7(1),17–32.
Modrzyński, P., Gawłowski, R., & Modrzyńska, J. (2018). Samorządowe centra usług wspólnych. Założenia i praktyka. Warszawa: C.H. Beck.
McIvor, R., McCracken, M,. & McHugh, M. (2011). Creating outsourced shared services arrangements: Lessons from the public sector. European Management Journal, 29(6), 448–461.
Miskon, S., Bandara, W., Fielt, E., & Gable, G. (2010). Understanding shared services: An exploration of the IS literature. International Journal of E-Services & Mobile Applications, 2(4), 373–384.
McLaughlin, K., Osborne, S.P., & Ferlie, E. (2002). New Public Management: Current Trends and Future Prospects. New York: Routledge.
National Audit Office. (2016). Shared Services Centres. Report by the Controller and Audit General. London: National Audit Office.
The Ministry of Administration and Digitalisation. (2012). The Assessment of the Situation of Local Governments. Warsaw: Ministerstwo Administracji i Cyfryzacji.
O’Leary, R., Gerrard, C., & Bingham, L.B. (Eds.). (2006). Symposium on collaborative public management. Public Administration Review, 66(S1), 1–170.
Osborne, S., & Brown, K. (2005). Managing Change and Innovation in Public Administration in Public Service Organizations. London: Routledge.
Peel, D., O’Keeffe, B., Shi, L., Leith, K., & Keaveney, K. (2011). Shared Services Across Local Government. Dublin: Local Government Association.
Quinn, B., Cooke, R., & Kris, A. (2000). Shared Services: Mining for Corporate Gold. Harlow: Prentice-Hall.
Ringen, S. (1987). The Possibility of Politics: A Study in the Political Economy of the Welfare State. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sandford, M. (2015). Local Government: New Models of Service Delivery. London: House of Commons Library.
Thomson, A.M., Perry, J. (2006). Collaboration process: Inside the black box. Public Administration Review, 66(1), 20–32.
Thomson, A.M., Perry, J., & Miller, T.K. (2007). Conceptualizing and measuring collaboration. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 19, 23–56.
Tomkinson, R. (2007). Shared Services in Local Government: Improving Service Delivery. London: Gower.
Ulbrich, F. (2003). Introducing a research project on shared services in governmental agencies. Paper presented at the 17th Nordic Academy of Management (NFF) Conference, Reykjavik.
Resolution No. 466/16 of the City Council of Toruń of 24 November 2016 on the creation of a local government organisational unit “Toruń Shared Services Centre”, assigning it the status and shared service of organisational units of the Gmina of the City of Toruń. http://bip.torun.pl, accessed on 10.07.2017.
Virtanen, P., & Stenvall, J. (2014). The evolution of public services from co-production to co-creation and beyond: New Public Management’s unfinished trajectory? International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, 10(2), 91–107.
Wagenaar, R.W. (2006). Governance of shared service centers in public administration: Dilemmas and trade-offs. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Electronic Commerce: The New E-Commerce: Innovations for Conquering Current Barriers, Obstacles and Limitations to Conducting Successful Business on the Internet, ACM: 354–363.
Windrum, P., & Koch, P. (Eds.). (2008). Public Sector Services. Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Management. Northampton: Elgar.
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Published
2020-02-28
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Articles
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Open Access, licence: CC-BY 4.0
How to Cite
Gawłowski, R., & Modrzyński, P. (2020). Innovation in Public Service Delivery in Terms of Shared Services Centres in Local Governments: A Case Study of the City of Toruń (Poland). Journal of Public Governance, 50(4), 39-53. https://doi.org/10.15678/ZP.2019.50.4.04
