The Government's Use of External Consultants : an Efficiency Unit Scrutiny PDF Download

Author: Great Britain. Office of Public Service and Science. Efficiency Unit
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780114301040
Category : Civil service
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215555656
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
Spending on consultants and interims by central government departments amounted to over £1 billion in 2009-10. In May 2010, the coalition Government announced immediate plans to save £1.1 billion on discretionary spending. In the first 6 months of 2010-11, the Cabinet Office reports that consultancy spending had fallen by 46% since 2009-10 due in part to new measures it has introduced to control the use of consultants, but due in the main to government stopping certain programmes. The Committee of Public Accounts has set out a number of conclusions, including: that the Committee does not accept the view expressed by the Cabinet Office that it is impossible to assess the value for money of consultancy work; that relying on consultants for commonly required skills is expensive; that the 'stop-go' approach to using consultants is not sustainable and does not deliver value for money. Further, it is unclear why some departments use consultants a great deal more than others, for example, every £100 spent on staff costs at the Department for Transport, £70 is spent on consultants. The Committee also states that the Cabinet Office has not done enough to grow the government's core skills. For the Committee, departments do not control and manage their spending on consultants and the prices paid are often based simply on time spent on a project, rather than being fixed in advance or related to the achievement of specific objectives.

Author: Matthias Kipping
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191628093
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 580

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Management consultants of various kinds play an important role in the world of business, and within other types of organization. The Oxford Handbook on Management Consulting is a comprehensive overview of thinking and research on management consultancy with contributions from leading international scholars. The first section provides an account of the historical developments in management consulting research, and how current thinking has evolved from prior work. The second section focuses on disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, their diversities, areas of synergy, and parallel concerns. The following sections examine consulting as a knowledge business, consultants and management fashion, and the relationship between management consultants and their clients. The Handbook concludes with an assessment of areas of future research and debate. By bringing together a wide range of research and thinking on management consulting across different disciplines, sub-disciplines, and conceptual approaches, the Handbook provides a comprehensive understanding of both current thinking and future directions for research.

Author: Arie Halachmi
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1475728646
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Inter and Intra Governmental Arrangements for Productivity - An Agency Approach focuses on public productivity. It addresses long standing and current questions on government productivity. Its scope and coverage range from theory to very specific applications. First of all it demonstrates the applicability of a theoretical framework to concrete issues in the public sector: the Principal Agent (PA) theory or the Agency theory. Secondly, it demonstrates the different perspectives of this theoretical framework as seen by researchers and practitioners from various countries. The volume is based upon the revised seminar papers from a conference that was held at the University of Twente. Two trends obvious in this world are its increasing global character and the need for increasingly efficient and effective organizations. Inter and intra governmental organizations need to learn to effectively and efficiently work together in complex web like relationships. This study forms a major step in that direction. It consolidates several current economic concepts that are highly visible and specifically applies them to various levels and functions of government. It emphasizes that PA theory is a powerful conceptual framework because of the economic focus on transactions between principals and agents. The issues of information asymmetry, across government constituents, political/diplomatic considerations, and the narrow focus of PA problems will be described. Attention is also given to the issues of citizen demands, internal markets, franchising, competitive procurement and `contracting in'. The study concentrates on academic thinking about the applicability of PA concepts to administrative theory building. As such it makes a current, valid contribution to the knowledge and practice of public administration world-wide.

Author: Antonio E. Weiss
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319998765
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
This book traces the emergence and development of the relationship between management consultancies and the British state. It seeks to answer three questions: why were management consultants brought into the machinery of the state; how has state power been impacted by bringing profit-seeking actors into the machinery of the state; and how has the nature of management consultancy changed over time? The book demonstrates the role consultants played in major developments in the postwar period. Specific case studies interrogate how consultancies influenced the policy fields of health service reform and social security benefits. This book will redefine debates amongst business historians and historians of the postwar British state about the nature of management consultancy and public sector reform.

Author: Geoffrey K. Fry
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317903897
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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A detailed study of the changes which have taken place in the British Civil Service since 1979. It is intended for political and policy scientists, and sociologists.

Author: Ewan Ferlie
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191015199
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
This Handbook provides an authoritative overview of current issues and debates in the field of health care management. It contains over twenty chapters from well-known and eminent academic authors, who were carefully selected for their expertise and asked to provide a broad and critical overview of developments in their particular topic area. The development of an international perspective and body of knowledge is a key feature of the book. The Handbook secondly makes a case for bringing back a social science perspective into the study of the field of health care management. It therefore contains a number of contrasting and theoretically orientated chapters (e.g. on institutionalism; critical management studies). This social science based approach is a refreshing alternative to much existing work in this domain and offers a good way into current academic debates in this field. The Handbook thirdly explores a variety of important policy and organizational developments apparent within the current health care field (e.g. new organizational forms; growth of management consulting in health care organizations). It therefore explores and comments on major contemporary trends apparent in the practice field.

Author: Ewan Ferlie
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019922644X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 805

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Book Description
The public sector continues to play a strategic role across the world and in the last thirty years there have been major shifts in approaches to its management. This text identifies the trends in public management and the effects these have had, as well as providing a broad overview to each topic.

Author: John Mikler
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118326121
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 728

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Book Description
The Handbook of Global Companies brings together original research addressing the latest theories and empirical analysis surrounding the role of global companies in local, national, and international governance. Offers new insights into the role of global companies in relation to policy and governance at local, national, and international levels Brings together newly-commissioned research by a global team of established and up-and-coming scholars from the fields of international relations, political science, public policy, and beyond Considers the environmental and societal responsibilities of global corporations. Covers topics including the spatial locations of global companies; debate about the power they wield and their role as catalysts in new forms of governance; and the ways in which global companies share authority with the state and international organizations to drive policy processes Speculates on the broader potential and limitations of global governance

Author: Marleen Brans
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131733745X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
This Handbook presents the first comprehensive study of policy analytical practices in comparative perspective. It explores emerging developments and innovations in the field and advances knowledge of the nature and quality of policy analysis across different countries and at different levels of government by all relevant actors, both inside and outside government, who contribute to the diagnosis of problems and the search for policy solutions. Handbook chapters examine all aspects of the science, art and craft of policy analysis. They do so both at the often-studied national level, and also at the less well-known level of sub-national and local governments. In addition to studying governments, the Handbook also examines for the first time the practices and policy work of a range of non-governmental actors, including think tanks, interest groups, business actors, labour groups, media, political parties and non-profits. Bringing together a rich collection of cases and a renowned group of scholars, the Handbook constitutes a landmark study in the field.