Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Notes on contributors
- Foreword
- 1 Introduction: knowledge and performance – theory and practice
- 2 Knowledge from inspection: external oversight and information to improve performance
- 3 How is information used to improve performance in the public sector? Exploring the dynamics of performance information
- 4 Citizens, users or consumers: the voice of the public and its influence on improving performance
- 5 Competition and choice: the place of markets in connecting information and performance improvement
- 6 The role of corporate governance and boards in organisational performance
- 7 Change at the top: connecting political and managerial transitions with performance
- 8 The role of leadership in knowledge creation and transfer for organisational learning and improvement
- 9 Process Improvement and Lean Thinking: using knowledge and information to improve performance
- 10 Using evidence: how social research could be better used to improve public service performance
- 11 Absorptive capacity: how organisations assimilate and apply knowledge to improve performance
- 12 Knowing through doing: unleashing latent dynamic capabilities in the public sector
- 13 Conclusions: a puzzle, three pieces, many theories and a problem
- Index
- References
2 - Knowledge from inspection: external oversight and information to improve performance
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
By
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Notes on contributors
- Foreword
- 1 Introduction: knowledge and performance – theory and practice
- 2 Knowledge from inspection: external oversight and information to improve performance
- 3 How is information used to improve performance in the public sector? Exploring the dynamics of performance information
- 4 Citizens, users or consumers: the voice of the public and its influence on improving performance
- 5 Competition and choice: the place of markets in connecting information and performance improvement
- 6 The role of corporate governance and boards in organisational performance
- 7 Change at the top: connecting political and managerial transitions with performance
- 8 The role of leadership in knowledge creation and transfer for organisational learning and improvement
- 9 Process Improvement and Lean Thinking: using knowledge and information to improve performance
- 10 Using evidence: how social research could be better used to improve public service performance
- 11 Absorptive capacity: how organisations assimilate and apply knowledge to improve performance
- 12 Knowing through doing: unleashing latent dynamic capabilities in the public sector
- 13 Conclusions: a puzzle, three pieces, many theories and a problem
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter examines the role that inspection plays in the creation and consumption of knowledge about the performance of public services. It first defines public services inspection. Section two then analyses the increasing importance of inspection in the management of public services. Section three considers theories of inspection. The fourth section explores the different kinds of knowledge generated by inspection and the uses to which this is put by policy-makers, practitioners and the public. The final section identifies some implications for future policy and research.
What is public services inspection?
In most Western democracies local public services are subject to a variety of external oversight mechanisms. They are usually governed by legal duties and constraints and often subject to central government plans and directives. Their performance is usually overseen by local politicians through a range of formal and informal processes. Consumer organisations, the voluntary sector and community groups all scrutinise performance, as do the press and broadcast media, often by highlighting service failures. And the public can express views about the state of public services through the ballot box. The varied nature of these oversight mechanisms is reflected in the academic literature. Terms such as regulation, scrutiny and inspection are defined in different ways by different scholars and they are often used interchangeably in policy debates. So before focusing specifically on the role of inspection it is important to define terms.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Connecting Knowledge and Performance in Public ServicesFrom Knowing to Doing, pp. 16 - 32Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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