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Political support is an important environmental factor in public management, and over the past few decades, the implementation of results-oriented reforms has become highly influential as well. However, few studies have examined the impact of these two factors on employee attitudes and behaviors. This article proposes that the extent of results-oriented reforms and political support from elected officials -- as perceived by managers -- has a significant influence on managerial practice and normative commitment to the organization. Using data from a national survey of state-level human service managers, we test and find support for a model positing that managerial perceptions of political support have a direct influence on the implementation of results-oriented reforms, organizational structure, and internal communication. We also find that more extensive results-oriented reform efforts are positively associated with goal clarity, communication adequacy, and flexible structures and that normative commitment is affected positively by goal clarity and negatively by bureaucratic structure. Adapted from the source document.

One obvious aspect of public management decisions and decision making has largely escaped attention—decision content. We examine the effects of decision content by asking the following questions for budget cutback and information technology decisions: How does content affect the time required for decision making? How does content affect who participates? How does content affect the decision criteria employed? How does content affect the information quality used in the decision‐making process and red tape? The results suggest that information technology and budget cutback decisions differ in important ways. For information technology decisions, cost‐effectiveness is not a significant criterion, average decision time is much longer, and decisions are generally viewed as permanent and stable. For cutback decisions, cost‐effectiveness is a significant criterion, decisions are made much more quickly, and they are viewed as unstable and changeable. Surprisingly, decision content does not appear to affect the number of participants.

A number of recent empirical studies have examined red tape in public & private organizations. Consistent with the heavy emphasis in the public administration literature on the distinctive institutional context of public organizations, most of these studies focus on the system rather than the individual. In this study we seek to uncover the blind spot regarding individual differences in extant theoretical models for explaining red tape. We develop & test a social-psychological model for red tape among managers in government agencies & manufacturing organizations in NY using individual differences in alienation. The study's results show that alienation is as strong a predictor of red tape as are sector & size. Based on these results, we conclude that theoretical models for explaining red tape as well as practical strategies to ameliorate red tape will fall short of their goals if the individual is ignored & the focus is exclusively on the system. 8 Exhibits, 1 Appendix, 51 References. Adapted from the source document.

AbstractOver the past 30 years, red tape has emerged as a key concept in public management. Yet, researchers continue to debate the relative merits of system‐centric versus individual‐centric approaches. In this article, we articulate an individual‐centric psychological process theory, a theory that confronts the 'modularity assumption' relegating the subjective individual experience as inconsequential in much red tape research. We theorize that the appraisal mechanism influences the meaning attached to external compliance demands. Our process theory advances the claim that experience, emotion, and expectancy influence one's perceptions of, and behavioral response to, red tape. Thus, compliance expectations in rules are informed by other social demands embedded in roles, identities, and collective interests in ways that influence the perceived legitimacy of rules and the compliance burdens they impose. The psychological process theory offers a holistic perspective on red tape by treating the subjective individual experience as consequential for understanding red tape.