Innovation and improvement in governance and public services

1
Innovation and improvement in governance and
public services

• CIPFA ANNUAL CONFERENCE June 2005
• Professor John Benington
• Institute of Governance and Public Management
• Warwick Business School,
• University of Warwick

2
Objectives of this workshop

• What do we mean by innovation?
• Myths, discourses and evidence about innovation
  in the public sector
• Similarities and differences between innovation
  in public and private sectors
• Origins and processes of innovation in public
  service organizations
• Innovation, improvement and public value
• Champions of innovation

3
Research on innovation and improvement

• ESRC AIM Public Service Fellow
• Literature review
• International Visiting Fellows
• Seminar and special issue of Public Money and
  Management
• Book and conference (28 June)
• Innovation, learning and improvement the
  English Beacon Council Scheme
• Warwick engagement in programmes of innovation
  and improvement in public services in local
  government, health, central government e.g. Welsh
  PSMI, Best Value, Better Value, Better Government
  for Older People

4
A sceptical view of innovation

• More than policy chic? (Behn, 1997)
• Pressures for innovation changing and dynamic
  environment
• But over-reliance on literature from the private
  sector
• The need for theoretical and empirical
  development of research on innovation and
  improvement

5
Innovation and improvement in your public
service or policy area

• What are the key issues/problems/questions which
  concern you about innovation from the perspective
  of your public service role?

6
What is innovation?

• New ideas which are implemented
• Large enough, general enough and durable enough
  to appreciably affect the character or operations
  of the organization
• Recognised as such by key stakeholders ie
  socially constructed
• Process and outcomes can both be important to
  consider

7
Types of innovation in public services (Hartley,
2005)

• Service innovation
• Product
• Process
• Position
• Strategic
• Governance
• Rhetorical
• Many innovations involve more than one dimension
  of innovation.
• Need to be clear about what elements of
  innovation are involved otherwise danger that
  innovation is just a buzz word

8
3 Nodes of Networked Governance
State
Market
PEOPLE Civil Society
9
Competing Paradigms of Governance and Public
Management (Benington and Hartley, 2001)
10
Innovation and improvement in different
conceptions of governance (Hartley, 2005)
11
Sources of innovation

• Where do innovations arise from in your
  policy/service area?
• What does that tell us about innovation in your
  public service?

12
Private and public sector approaches to
innovation
13
Processes of innovation stages or phases
various typologies

• Bessant (2005)
• Searching
• Selecting
• Implementing
• Learning

14
Zaltman et al (1973)

• Knowledge/awareness
• Attitude formation
• Decision
• Initial implementation
• Sustained implementation

15
A framework for fostering innovation and
improvement (adapted from Mulgan and Albury 2003)
Incubating and prototyping
Replication and scaling up
Generating possibilities
Good practice transfer
16
Innovation processes

• Stage/gate models help to identify key decisions
  at each stage
• Help to identify key barriers at each stage
  (Albury, 2005)
• Help to decide whether to kill off an innovation
  (Kimberley, 1980 exnovation)
• But.

17
Innovation processes

• Stages may be overly rational approach to
  innovation
• Emergent aspects of innovation
• Cyclical aspects of innovation
• The innovation journey van der Ven 1986
  opportunism as well as planning
• In public services, adoption of innovation may
  precede development of the idea (e.g. policy
  announcements)
• Rhetorical innovation by politicians may be used
  to build support for new practices among external
  stakeholders i.e. innovation not just an internal
  organizational process

18
Elements of innovation

• Which element of innovation does your
  organization find easiest, and why?
• Which element of innovation does your
  organization find most difficult, and why?

19
Innovation and Improvement
20
Improvement aspects of innovation

• How does your policy/service area (or the whole
  organization) decide on whether an innovation is
  an improvement?
• How does your organization progress promising
  innovation?
• How does your organization deal with exnovation?

21
KEY DIMENSIONS OF PUBLIC VALUE(John Benington,
2005)

• Highlights what the public values, not just
  what producers value and what adds value to the
  public realm
• Focuses on outcomes, not just outputs
• PV focuses on medium to longer term outcomes
• PV can be created by state, market or civil
  society
• PV takes account of the very different kinds of
  production processes and operations in public
  services (cf sewerage and social work)
• PV is often co-created between producers and
  users of the service (e.g teachers and pupils)
• PV is often co-created by networks of public,
  private, voluntary and informal community
  organisations

22
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY VALUE ? (Benington, 2005)

• Exchange Value Price on the open market
• Labour Value Investment in production
• Use Value Usefulness in meeting social needs
• Political Value adding value by stimulating and
  supporting democratic dialogue and participation
• Economic value adding value to the public realm
  thro the generation of economic activity and
  employment
• Social value strengthening social capital,
  social cohesion, social relationships,

23
Public Value Chain
SATISFACTION
OUTCOMES
USER
ACTIVITIES
INPUTS
OUTPUTS
Partners and Co-Producers
The User can become a means of producing the
outcomes
From Mark Moore, Harvard University
24
Public value

• What is the public value created in your policy
  area or service?
• Where and how is it created?
• What other stakeholders are involved in this
  creation of public value?

25
The diffusion of innovation

• A key source of innovation for public services is
  the spreading of good practice within and between
  organizations
• Diffusion or dissemination?

26
Developing innovation champions

• Innovation is not just about individuals
  organizational design (structures, cultures,
  working practices etc) important too (though we
  still dont know enough about this).
• But some individuals do seem to be adept at
  introducing innovation
• Howell (2005) study of 72 champions of technology
  or product innovations in 38 companies

27
Champions

• Convey confidence and enthusiasm about the
  innovation
• Enlist the support and involvement of key
  stakeholders
• Persist in the face of adversity
• Use networks inside and outside of the
  organization to scout for ideas

28
Howell (2005)
29
Howell (contd)
30
Innovation champions

• What characteristics and behaviours typify those
  in your organization who are adept at developing
  and sustaining innovation?

31
Issues for further development in policy and
practice

• Innovation processes
• Innovations through partnerships
• Innovations in governance arrangements
• Diffusion of innovation
• Innovative capacity in organizations
• Innovation and improvement, including public
  value
• Leadership and innovation
• Innovation and rhetoric

32
ESRC AIM conference 28 June LondonImproving
public services

• Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM)
  conference brings together findings from 11
  senior Public Service Fellows, in universities
  across the UK
• Innovation and improvement is addressed further
  in a day conference in London for policy-makers
  and managers
• Other topics include managing and measuring
  performance, leading change across a range of
  public services
• Small number of places remain invitation to
  attend as a guest of the ESRC. Details on
  handout.

33
Further information and papers

• Jean.Hartley_at_warwick.ac.uk
• John.Benington_at_warwick.ac.uk
• Institute of Governance and Public Management
• Warwick Business School
• University of Warwick