Urban Geography, Sociology

and Governance
Urban Governance
Reinventing Government How the
entrepreneurial spirit is transforming
the public sector
written by David Osbourne and Ted Gaebler
Timo Euteneuer Kristina Herwig

Reinventing Government
Agenda

1. Introduction

The Authors

Classification of important terms

2. Presentation of the book

The main statement of the book

Chapter 1 to 11

3. Critical reflection

Example 1 - National Partnership for Reinventing Government

Example 2 - Realisation of Public Private Partnership in Germany

Example 3 - Effect on employement Germany

Opinions of the book

Reinventing Government
Agenda

1. Introduction

The Authors

Classification of important terms

2. Presentation of the book

The main statement of the book

Chapter 1 to 11

3. Critical reflection

Example 1 - National Partnership for Reinventing Government

Example 2 - Realisation of Public Private Partnership in Germany

Example 3 Effect on employement Germany

Opinions of the book

Reinventing Government
The authors

DAVID OSBORNE

TED GAEBLER

Author of five books and

contributor to The Washington Post,
Governing and other publications

Former city manager of four cities in the USA

Consultant to prominent government leaders

and candidates

Senior partner of The Public Strategies Group

Worked with governments large and small,
from cities and counties to states, federal
agencies, forgein governments and taught at
Yale University
4

1. Introduction

County Executive Officer for Nevada County,

California

Currently City manager of Rancho Cordova,
California

President of the Gaebler Group

Publisher of the book: Positive Outcomes:
Raising the Bar on Government Reinvention

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Classification of import terms
Entrepreneurship

Public Administration

Capacity and willingness to undertake

Part of the executive power

conception, organization, and management of a

(no legislative/judiciary)

productive venture (...) In economics,

entrepreneurship is regarded as a factor of

Function: enforcement of law, plan and arrange

the community-live

resources, and capital.

- welfare

Entrepreneurial spirit is characterized by

- health

innovation and risk-taking, and an essential

- public transport

component of a nation's ability to succeed in an

- defense

ever changing and more competitive global

...

marketplace.

Source: Detterbeck, Steffen: ffentliches Recht. 85f.

5

production together with land, labor, natural

1. Introduction

Source: www.businessdictionary.com
2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Agenda

1. Introduction

The Authors

Classification of important terms

2. Presentation of the book

The main statement of the book

Chapter 1 to 11

3. Critical reflection

Opinions of the book

Example 1 - National Partnership for Reinventing Government

Example 2 - Realisation of Public Private Partnership in Germany

Reinventing Government
The main statement of the book

The current public administration is dramatically

slow, inefficient and expensive. To deal with the
challenges of modern times, the public sector has to
be renewed.
The authors call for a Perestroika, carried by
entrepreneurial spirit.

1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Chapter 1 Catalytic Government: Steering Rather Than Rowing

The job of government is to steer, not to row the boat. Delivering services is
rowing, and government is not very good at rowing.
E.S. Savas

Ressources wasted by implementing laws and allocation of services

 Decision-making (Management) and operational business should be seperated
Public Administration

Business/ Third sector

- supply of capabilities

- efficient, cheap, flexible

organisation of products and
services

- definition of priorities

Public Administration smaller but stronger

1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Chapter 2 Community-Owned Government: Empowering Rather
Than Serving
The older I get, the more convinced I am that to really work programs
have to beowned by the people they`re serving.
Geroge Latimer, Former Mayor of St. Paul

Beside the business, also the communities can provide better services.

Community care vs. professional services:
- more commitment to their members
- better understanding to their problems
- communities solve problems and offer care
- communities are more flexible and cheaper

1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Chapter 3 Competitive Government: Injecting Competition into
Service Delivery

Monopolies avoid innovations.

-public and private services are more expensive and have worse quality under
monopoly circumstances than in competitive environment
public administration should open the service markets
-National Comission for Employement Policy, Survey (1989)
- positive 82%, negative 18%. Savings: 15-30%

Privatisation has to be obsorved and regulated by public administration

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1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Chapter 4 Mission-Driven Government: Transforming Rule-Driven
Organizations

Assumption: Rules/regulations and the surveillance if they are followed causes more
damages/costs than they prevent.

Rule-Driven = Following rules within strict budget regulations

Mission-Driven = Definition of task. Flexible development of rules and budget
according to the mission.
- change in budget planning
- change in human resource management
- reduction of needless regulations

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1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Chapter 5 Results-Oriented Government: Funding Outcomes,
Not Inputs
The bureaucratic programs keep very little track of what actually happens to the
people they are serving.
Tom Fulton, President of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Family Housing Fund

Funding Inputs leads to wrong and poor incentives. Funding the Outcomes
strengthen the perfomance!

To evaluate the outcome, measurement is needed.
- Example: Illinois Department of Public Aid

12

1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Chapter 6 Customer-Driven Government: Meeting the Needs of
the Customer, Not the Bureaucracy
Quality is determined only by customers
David Couper, Chief of Police, Madison, Wisconsin

The chapter shows different ways to listen to the voice of the customer, e.g. surveys,
interviews, suggestion boxes

Putting customers in the drivers seat is important as customer-driven systems
stimulate more innovation
give people choices between different kinds of services
waste less, because they match supply to demand
empower customers to choices, and empowered customers are more
committed customers

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1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Chapter 7 Enterprising Government: Earning Rather Than
Spending

The word profit is anathema to traditional governments.

(Page 198)

But governments should try to turn the profit motive to public use by
raising money by charging fees
spending money to save money
turning managers into entrepreneurs
identifiying the true cost of service

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1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Chapter 8 Anticipatory Government: Prevention Rather Than Cure
We must love our grandchildren more than we love ourselves.
Jim Dator, Univercity of Hawaii futurist

Prevention: Solving problems rather than delivering services with

Fire prevention
Health care
Environmental protection

Governing with foresight: Anticipating the future with
Future commissions
Strategic planning

Changing the incentives

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1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Chapter 9 Decentralized Government: From Hierarchy to
Participation and Teamwork
There is nothing that can replace the special intelligence that a worker has
about the workplace. No matter how smart a boss is or how great a leader,
he/she will fails miserably in tapping the potential of employees by working
against employees instead of with them.
Ronald Contino, former deputy commissioner, NYC Sanitation Department

Advantages of decentralized institutions:

more flexible, effecitve, innovative and generate higher morale, more
commitment, and greater productivity

Decentralizing public organizations through participatory management by different
techniques like e.g. employee evaluation of managers or reward programms

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1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Chapter 10 Market-Oriented Government: Leveraging Change
Through the Market

How governments are restructuring the marketplace:

Setting rules of the marketplace

Providing information to customers

Creating or augmenting demand

Catalyzing private sector supplies

Creating market institutions to fill gaps in the market

Sharing the risk of expanding supply with the private sector

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1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Chapter 11 Putting It All Together

To build entrepreneurial management into the existing public-service institution

may be the foremost political task of this generation.
Peter Drucker

Vision and central challenge of our age:

We will not suffer the future. We will shape it.
We will not simply grow. We will manage our growth.
We will not passively experience change. We will make change.
 But to shape our future, we need a new vision of government.

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1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Agenda
1. Introduction

The Authors

Classification of important terms

2. Presentation of the book

The main statement of the book

Chapter 1 to 11

3. Critical reflection

Example 1 - National Partnership for Reinventing Government

Example 2 - Realisation of Public Private Partnership in Germany

Example 3 Effect on employement Germany

Opinions of the book

19

Reinventing Government
Example 1 - National Partnership for Reinventing Government

20

1. Introduction

President Clinton and his vice president Al Gore created the

National Partnership for Reinventing Government to reform the
way the federal government works

Their mission was to create a government that works better,

costs less, and gets results Americans care about by putting
customers first, empowering employees to allow them to put
customers first, cutting the red tape that held back employees,
and cutting back to basics.

David Osborne and Ted Gaebler served the programme as key

advisors

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Example 1 - National Partnership for Reinventing Government
The Hammer Award

Presented to teams of federal employees who have made

significant contributions in support of reinventing government
principles

Al Gore answer to yesterdays government

From 1993 to 1999 more than 1.200 Hammer Awards have been presented to teams
comprised of ferderal employees, state and local employees, and citizens who are
working to build a better government

Savings of $ 37 billion

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1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Example 2 - Realisation of Public Private Partnership in Germany

PPP is a part of the functional privatisation

Producing public goods and services

PPP vs. Outsourcing: Allocation of the whole net production chain instead of a partial transfer

Transfering of risks from the public sector to more efficient private enterprises blurring of boundaries
and responsibilities

The public sector can save costs and time through PPP-Projects

In GB: Private Finance Initiative (PFI) since 1992

In case of real estate and structural engineering: Planing, building, financing, management and
refurnishment of public buildings (e.g. schools, administration buildings, prisions or army buildings)

Currently 208 PPP projects in Germany / 6 in Saxony

Change from contested concepts to prevalent practice

Compared to other real estate projects the risks of PPP-Projects are more complex due to the long-term
contracts and particular structures

22

1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Example 2 - Realisation of Public Private Partnership in Germany

PPP are currently enjoying policy popularity on the global political stage, as well
as commercial attractiveness in the business sector. It is an attractive policy to
third way governments eager to please markets. But transaction costs are high,
competition is weak and value for money is debateable, despite being more
reliable in terms of on-time delivery of major projects.
Hodge, Graeme / Greve, Carsten: The Challenge o Public-Private Partnerships. Learning from Unternational Experience, 2005, page 344.)

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1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Example 2 - Realisation of Public Private Partnership in Germany

Contra PPP-Projects:

High financial costs

Not every project is suitable for PPP, actually PPP is only suitable for huge projects

Long-termed and confusing contracts

The public sector is often inexperiencend and unskilled

Private company can become insolvent

Small opportunities for the public sector to navigate and controll the private company

The constructing time is shorter, but the time for preparation, planning and building permission is
longer

Due to profit maximinization the architectural quality is being neglected

(Source: Bundesverband PPP, Pro und Conra PP, 2009)

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1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Example 3 - Effect on employement - Germany

Effect on employement by rationalisation and privatisation in the public administration

 negative effect on employement (-600 000) in the analysed sectors (Energy,

Telecommunication, Transport, Health, Mail)
Source: Brandt, Torsten, Thorsten Schulten, 2007: Auswirkungen von Privatisierung und Liberalisierung auf die Tarifpolitik in Deutschland
Ein vergleichender berblick. Quelle: www.boeckler.de

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1. Introduction

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government
Opinions of the book
What do others say about the book:

Our own opinion:

Should be read by every elected official in

America. This book gives us the blueprint. Bill
Clinton
Offers both a vision and a road map how
entrepreneurial government can work ... A lively,
creative, and important book it will intrigue and
enlighten anyone interested in government.
The New York Times Book Review

26

1. Introduction

Visionary (in its time)

Built on case studies of officials experiences

Written in an american prosa, not in an

acadamically style

No negative examples

Relatively old (1992)

Poor german translation

2. Presentation of the book 3. Critical reflection

Reinventing Government

Thank you
for your attention!

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