The COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on Dutch public organizations, and on society as a whole. This study aims to explore the leadership preferences among public servants during times of...Show moreThe COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on Dutch public organizations, and on society as a whole. This study aims to explore the leadership preferences among public servants during times of crisis, and to make concrete recommendations for further research into the underdeveloped knowledge on public leadership preferences in times of crisis. To do so, semistructured interviews were conducted with employees from the municipalities of The Hague and Gouda, during which they were asked to report their needs in terms of three leadership styles: laissez-faire, transactional and transformational. The study found that transformational leadership was preferred during the pandemic and encourages fellow researchers to verify this using quantitative means. Further recommendations include the reexamination of the usefulness of laissez-faire leadership and the usage of different leadership frameworks to touch upon other behaviors.Show less
The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) is changing the service of the public sector. Previously, the government and public sector acted as street-level...Show moreThe rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) is changing the service of the public sector. Previously, the government and public sector acted as street-level bureaucrats on an individual and physical level, according to the street-level bureaucracy theory. In the meantime, many sectors have replaced physical contact with system analysts and software developers and have become influenced by system-level bureaucracies. This article examines the implementation of this transformation in the Dutch mental healthcare. More specifically, this study compares the opinions of street-level bureaucrats (i.e., psychologists) and system-level bureaucrats (i.e., data experts) concerning the levels of satisfaction of digital services (i.e., digital therapy forms). In total, eight participants (four psychologists and four data experts) were interviewed. In accordance with the hypothesis, data experts were slightly more positive toward digital therapy forms as compared to psychologists. Interesting was the fact that the data experts were aware of the disadvantages experienced by the psychologists. Larger sample sizes are needed to draw valid and more generalizable conclusions. As research on the level of satisfaction of both psychologists and data experts against online therapy forms from a street- and system-level bureaucracy perspective is scarce, more research is required to investigate which factors contribute to the difference in opinions between street- and system-level bureaucrats. By identifying such factors, our basic understanding of digital services in the public services increases, and digital innovations can be more effective to match the street-level bureaucrats’ needs.Show less
Steeds meer gemeenten maken gebruik van datadashboards en dat brengt naast veel voordelen ook uitdagingen met zich mee. Fundamenteel aan deze uitdagingen is het verantwoordingsvraagstuk omtrent het...Show moreSteeds meer gemeenten maken gebruik van datadashboards en dat brengt naast veel voordelen ook uitdagingen met zich mee. Fundamenteel aan deze uitdagingen is het verantwoordingsvraagstuk omtrent het beheer van de data. Het doel van dit onderzoek is daarom om meer inzicht te krijgen in de gevolgen die het beheren van de dashboards heeft op het verantwoordelijk handelen van de beheerders uit de ambtelijke organisatie. Deze studie beantwoordt daarmee de centrale vraag: Hoe en in hoeverre beïnvloedt dataficatie de verantwoordelijkheidspraktijken van Haagse gemeentelijke professionals? In deze kwalitatieve casestudie studie van het dashboard Den Haag in Cijfers worden de dimensies van verantwoordelijkheid volgens het Global Accountability Framework (Blagescu et al., 2005) gecombineerd met de principes van Neff et al. (2017) om de concrete zorgen helder te stellen omtrent de verantwoordelijkheid van het databeheer. Er is met drie beheerders van het datadashboard gesproken en er is daarnaast een documentanalyse gedaan van onder andere de visie op digitalisering van de gemeente. Actieve communicatie over alle bewerkingen op de data ontbreekt bij het dashboard Den Haag in Cijfers, waardoor transparantie van alle data tekortschiet. Daarnaast bestaat er een betrekkelijk grote focus op het eindproduct van de dataverzameling, waardoor van externe participatie weinig sprake is en ook goede procesevaluatie lastig is. Dit wordt echter in zekere mate gecompenseerd door een verantwoordelijke cultuur van feedback en leren. De documentanalyse toont aan dat de eerste stappen wel al zijn gezet om de problemen omtrent transparantie, participatie en evaluatie op te lossen. Datatoepassingen hebben een weerbarstige praktijk en daarom is een meer verantwoordelijke manier van omgaan met data geboden, dit onderzoek biedt daar aanknopingspunten voor.Show less
The following thesis is a qualitative case study, utilizing Congruence Analysis Approach to study the Transantiago, a public transportation policy implemented in Santiago, Chile on February 2007...Show moreThe following thesis is a qualitative case study, utilizing Congruence Analysis Approach to study the Transantiago, a public transportation policy implemented in Santiago, Chile on February 2007 that is still operating to this day. This policy was implemented in order to ‘fix’ the previous public transportation system, by imitating successful Latin American public transportation policies, the Transmilenio (Colombia) and the BRT (Brazil). The main theoretical puzzle is how this policy continued after its initial policy failure implementation and later evaluation on 2010. Hence, it was studied if the policy was a success by the year 2010 following McConnell’s (2015) conceptualization of successful policy. Also, two theoretical lenses (historical institutionalism approach and rational decision making approaches) were compared in order to establish which theory explains more holistically the structure and the behavior of policymakers since its implementation until the year 2010. It was concluded that the Transantiago continues to be a policy failure and historical institutionalism approach explains more holistically the implementation process rather than rational decision making approach. The findings prove Parsons’ (1995) policy cycle theory is no longer relevant for studying modern policy failures and policies cannot be studied in a vacuum: they are affected by a myriad of factors (actors, history, contingencies, among other factors).Show less
