Integrating Public Affairs Information Strategy With Organizational Practices in Healthcare Delivery Organizations

Public affairs professionals are responsible for monitoring the sociopolitical environment and using information strategies to respond to public policy proposals on behalf of firms and organizations. To develop, implement, and legitimize public policy, lawmakers and public administrators rely on the input from external experts and stakeholders. The purpose of this research was to explore how public affairs engage with healthcare intraorganizational stakeholders to leverage their knowledge for information strategies. Knowledge transfer served as a theoretical framework through a qualitative multiple case study of 3 healthcare delivery organizations in the upper Midwest of the United States. Primary data were collected using semistructured interviews from public affairs (n = 11) and healthcare professionals (n = 18). Organizational documents and public records were reviewed to understand the internal interaction of public affairs and the development of information strategies. Patterns and themes emerged through cross case synthesis, presented as a process-based model and theory. Public affairs functions were structured inconsistently in all case sites. Decision-making processes primarily involved nonpublic affairs stakeholders approving information products. Intraorganizational engagement and knowledge transfer was found as ad-hoc and consistent, through a blending of informal and formal methods. Practitioner strategies, tactics, and challenges were identified to facilitate internal interaction. This study provides insight to improving public affairs practice and supports linking the expertise of healthcare stakeholders to policymaking. Improving the healthcare delivery system through public policymaking is fostered through aligning policy with the knowledge of healthcare professional practice

The SERVICE Framework: A Public-service-dominant Approach to Sustainable Public Services

In this paper we argue that the new public management has been a flawed paradigm for public services delivery that has produced very internally efficient but externally ineffective public service organizations. Subsequently we develop the SERVICE framework for sustainable public services and public service organizations. This framework is rooted within the public‐service‐dominant business logic and emphasizes the need for a focus on external value creation rather than internal efficiency alone

Disturbance and Plant Succession in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the American Southwest

Disturbances such as fire, land clearing, and road building remove vegetation and can have major influences on public health through effects on air quality, aesthetics, recreational opportunities, natural resource availability, and economics. Plant recovery and succession following disturbance are poorly understood in arid lands relative to more temperate regions. This study quantitatively reviewed vegetation reestablishment following a variety of disturbances in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of southwestern North America. A total of 47 studies met inclusion criteria for the review. The time estimated by 29 individual studies for full reestablishment of total perennial plant cover was 76 years. Although long, this time was shorter than an estimated 215 years (among 31 individual studies) required for the recovery of species composition typical of undisturbed areas, assuming that recovery remains linear following the longest time since disturbance measurement made by the studies

Co-production of Childcare and Addiction Treatment in Sweden [Elektronisk resurs] : The Same Co-production in Very Different Service Areas?

Co-production is a term that has been used to describe arrangements where receivers of services are also involved in producing them. This type of arrangements can be found in a wide range of services and situations, which has stretched the concept of co-production to a point where its meaning is becoming less clear. This paper presents research on co-production from two very different service areas that will show both commonalities and differences in the interpretation of the concept. What is at the core of the concept and how can co-production be transferred from one service area to another? These are questions addressed in this paper, using existing research on childcare and addiction treatment and in Sweden.   </p

En annan väg till individualisering av välfärdstjänster? [Elektronisk resurs] : Medskapande av barnomsorg i Sverige

Den svenska välfärdsstaten har under senare år reformerats på ett sätt som skapat omfattande valfrihetssystem för tjänster inom vård, skola och omsorg. Motivet till detta har varit att individualisera tjänsterna på ett sätt som ger ökad personlig frihet och konkurrens som leder till högre effektivitet och bättre kvalité. Men är just valfrihet på kvasi-markander det enda sättet att nå detta mål? Denna artikel undersöker hur medskapande (co-production) kan användas för att nå samma eller liknande mål. Med hjälp av resultat från ett forskningsprojekt undersöks möjligheterna med medskapande med hänsyn till dess olika effekter på produktionen av välfärdstjänster och vad Marshall kallade det sociala medborgarskapet. Resultatet visar att både kvasi-markander och medskapande har sina begränsningar i hur de fungerar – särskilt i relation till marginaliserade grupper – men att medskapande har möjlighet att förena individualisering med social sammanhållning om den politiska viljan finns.</p

Governing Welfare [Elektronisk resurs] : the third sector and the challenges to the Swedish Welfare State

The overall issue addressed in this thesis is the challanges to the Swedish welfare state. This topic has been the subject of several different interpretations in the academic as well as political debate in Sweden over the last decade. The first of two questions raised in this thesis is therefore what the main challenges to the Swedish welfare state are. It is concluded that the main challenges are the challanges to the representative democracy that originate in measures to meet the economic challenges to the Swedish welfare state by making it more efficient and rational. The main challenges to the Swedish welfare state are, therefore, a mix of interrelated economic and democratic challenges. A specific factor is tested for its possible impact on these challenges and that factor is third sector provision of welfare services. The second of the two research questions is therefore in what way and to what extent the third sector can influence how the identified challenges affect the welfare state. Childcare is selected as an example of a welfare service where there are a considerable proportion of third sector providers, primarily parent and worker cooperatives. The diversity, level of participation and service quality of different types of childcare is analysed with regard to how they affect the here presented challenges to the welfare state. It is concluded from this analysis that there are democratic benefits in the third sector provision of childcare that can act complementary to the challenged representative democracy. It is also concluded, however, that not all Swedish childcare can be provided by the third sector and that its democratic benefits therefore also should be produced by other types of childcare by imitating the third sectors active participation, small scale and independence. This study shows that Sweden is rapidly moving towards a greater diversity in its delivery of welfare service and that there are no policies or institutions for facilitating a more diverse service provision. An additional conclusion is for this reason that the outcome of the economic and democratic challenges varies with the direction of this diversification, which tells us that such policies and institutions are desirable. The Swedish welfare state will be getting a more diverse provision of welfare services regardless if there is any readiness for it or not and the results from this thesis show that the third sector is the non-public type of welfare provider that best facilitate the values and morals of the welfare state.</p

En annan väg till individualisering av välfärdstjänster? – medskapande av barnomsorg i Sverige

Den svenska välfärdsstaten har under senare år reformerats på ett sätt som skapat omfattande valfrihetssystem för tjänster inom vård, skola och omsorg. Motivet till detta har varit att individualisera tjänsterna på ett sätt som ger ökad personlig frihet samt konkurrens som leder till högre effektivitet och bättre kvalitet. Men är just valfrihet på kvasi-marknader det enda sättet att nå detta mål? Denna artikel undersöker hur medskapande (co-production) kan användas för att nå samma eller liknande mål. Med hjälp av resultat från ett forskningsprojekt undersöks möjligheterna med medskapande med hänsyn till dess olika effekter på produktionen av välfärdstjänster och vad Marshall kallade det sociala medborgarskapet. Resultatet visar att både kvasi-marknader och medskapande har sina begränsningar i hur de fungerar – särskilt i relation till marginaliserade grupper – men att medskapande har möjlighet att förena individualisering med social sammanhållning om den politiska viljan finns. </jats:p