Part I -- Chapter 1. Framing the Institutional Complexity of Public Administration: Coexisting Performance Regimes in Contemporary Governance -- Chapter 2. Dynamic Performance Management: A Methodological Framework to Enhance Public Value-driven Performance Regimes -- Part II -- Chapter 3....

In this paper we present system analysis and design elements for the integrated document management solution at local governing authorities in the rural areas. While specifically dealing with the actual management of the Agricultural Register, an important primary unitary evidence document, we...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the extent to which the perceived usefulness of financial information for internal decision making is affected by the internal control to which that information is subjected. Design/methodology/approach The research is positivist and quantitative,...

Purpose – Local government in Australia has a complex system of accountability, part of which includes the publication of financial comparative performance measures. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how questionable financial figures not only distort the reported “bottom line”...

Focuses on the introduction of strategic management into a UK local authority, based on several years of empirical research. Aims primarily to explore conceptual and practical links between strategic management and scientific management. Demonstrates that clear parallels exist between the two...

This paper is based on interviews with four chief executives of district/borough authorities in a two‐tier local government area. The interviews constitute a snapshot of opinion from a group of people ideally placed to relate to the issue under discussion, namely the importance of strategy and...

Provides evidence to show the budget‐setting process in local authorities is incremental in nature. Planned programmed budgeting systems and zero based budgeting systems do not appear to have a place in local authority decision making largely because the process is a political one and is...

Aims to explore the nature of uncertainty in budgetary decision making in three local authorities in the UK (Staffordshire, Shropshire and Derbyshire). Results show that these authorities have been experiencing great uncertainty during the 1980s. The source of such uncertainty is traceable to...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse how local governments implement non‐mandatory performance measures (PM), the types of PM employed, the degree of their usefulness in decision making and/or accountability, and their outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – The information...

Considers the various roles that public relations practitioners play and the implications of those roles for the status of public relations within the organisation. Within the context of local authorities in Scotland, considers the organisational constraints within which public relations...