Organizational reputation in executive politics: Citizen-oriented units in the German federal bureaucracy
By: Fleischer, Julia and Pruin, Andree
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Material type: 
BookPublisher: International Review of Administrative Sciences Description: 90(1), Mar, 2024: p.100-115.Subject(s): Citizen-Orientation, Policy Design, Temporary Arenas, Permanent Units, Machinery Of Government, Policy Formulation, Laboratorization, Organizational Reputation, Executive Politics, Comparative Case Study, German Federal Bureaucracy, Ambiguous Expectations, Professional Reputation, Procedural Reputation, Performative Reputation, Moral Reputation, External Audience, Citizen Engagement, Internal Audience, Government Organization
In:
International Review of Administrative SciencesSummary: In recent years, governments have increased their efforts to strengthen the citizen-orientation in policy design. They have established temporary arenas as well as permanent units inside the machinery of government to integrate citizens into policy formulation, leading to a “laboratorization” of central government organizations. We argue that the evolution and role of these units herald new dynamics in the importance of organizational reputation for executive politics. These actors deviate from the classic palette of organizational units inside the machinery of government and thus require their own reputation vis-à-vis various audiences within and outside their parent organization. Based on a comparative case study of two of these units inside the German federal bureaucracy, we show how ambiguous expectations of their audiences challenge their organizational reputation. Both units resolve these tensions by balancing their weaker professional and procedural reputation with a stronger performative and moral reputation. We conclude that government units aiming to improve citizen orientation in policy design may benefit from engaging with citizens as their external audience to compensate for a weaker reputation in the eyes of their audiences inside the government organization.- Reproduced
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00208523221132228
| Item type | Current location | Call number | Vol info | Status | Date due | Barcode |
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Articles
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Indian Institute of Public Administration | 90(1), Mar, 2024: p.100-115 | Available | AR131966 |
In recent years, governments have increased their efforts to strengthen the citizen-orientation in policy design. They have established temporary arenas as well as permanent units inside the machinery of government to integrate citizens into policy formulation, leading to a “laboratorization” of central government organizations. We argue that the evolution and role of these units herald new dynamics in the importance of organizational reputation for executive politics. These actors deviate from the classic palette of organizational units inside the machinery of government and thus require their own reputation vis-à-vis various audiences within and outside their parent organization. Based on a comparative case study of two of these units inside the German federal bureaucracy, we show how ambiguous expectations of their audiences challenge their organizational reputation. Both units resolve these tensions by balancing their weaker professional and procedural reputation with a stronger performative and moral reputation. We conclude that government units aiming to improve citizen orientation in policy design may benefit from engaging with citizens as their external audience to compensate for a weaker reputation in the eyes of their audiences inside the government organization.- Reproduced
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00208523221132228
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