Research note on Austria prepared for Second Meeting of COST Action IS0601 “Comparative Research into Current Trends in Public Sector Organization – CRIPO” 18-19 September 2007 ENAP, Madrid Spain
contact: Gerhard Hammerschmid Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien tel.:++43 313364240
[email protected] skype: gerhardhammerschmid
1. Short overview of general and sector specific reforms in Austria Public sector reform has been an integral part of most federal government programs over the last decades with different labels such as ‘administrative simplification’ in the 60ies, ‘democratisation’ in the 70ies, ‘austerity’ in the 80ies, ‘Verwaltungsmanagement’ in the early 90ies and “Administrative Innovation” since the mid 90s. Since the mid 90ies also the notion of a ‘New Public Management (NPM)’ has reached Austria and found access to both reform rhetoric and initiatives and reforms in practice. A strongly increasing dynamic of public sector reforms could be observed after a fundamental political change in federal government in 2000. In June 2003, a new initiative with highest-level representatives of political actors from all government levels – the AustriaConvention – was launched with the goal of a ‘fundamental state and public sector reform’ along a general constitutional reform, but remained largely unsuccessful. Some main public sector reforms over the last decade: • the main focus of debate has been the (still mostly unresolved) distribution of tasks within the multi-level system • structural reforms: reorganisations of the ministries themselves and their subordinate areas legal courts, tax offices and police stations – led to a significant reduction of the number of organisational units • establishment of shared service units (mostly corporatised) in areas such as procurement, bookkeeping or libraries • a comprehensive e-government initiative focusing both on legal framework and specific projects such as e-finance, citizen platforms, electronic filing system and the introduction of SAP for all federal government • a large number of corporatisations/agencifications: since 1990 approximately 80 new corporatisations in all areas of federal government have been established on basis of legal acts with a strong impact on public sector employment: there was a decrease of federal government employees from 300.000 in 1990 to less than 130.000 today; The main reason for this popularity is the intention to escape from the chains of a highly rigid and centralised budget and civil service law in Austria COST Action IS0601 – Research Note Austria
page 1
These corporatisations have also been a central topic for discussions at the abovementioned “Austria-Convention” but without practical implications due to lack of consensus; central points of debate have been constitutional barriers of corporatisations (eg. core-functions which must not be corporatised), the need for more uniform legal solutions, implications on employment status of civil servants, problems of fragmentation as well as the need for a white book on corporatisations • pilot projects on ensuring budgetary autonomy for specific organisational units (Flexiklauseleinheiten) • the gradual introduction of performance management concepts and instruments such as cost accounting, performance indicators, CAF mostly on a pilot project base In overall public management reforms in Austria are strongly dominated by the government's pressure on austerity and savings especially in form of decreasing public sector employees. The main focus lies on the distribution of tasks within the multi-level system, structural reorganizations, a redesign of processes and procedures, corporatizations and IT-projects whereas deregulation, market mechanisms or a stronger integration of the private sector are only of minor relevance.
2. Country features Austrian public sector is characterised by the following features: • a federal system with a complex interrelationship between federal government (Bund), the nine Laender governments and more than 2.200 local governments with constitutionally guaranteed autonomy • policy-making: a strong corporatism rooted in an unusual stable two party hegemony on the one hand and the overriding principle of ‘Social Partnership’ as a strong social and political factor on the other; this specific Austrian form of corporatism is manifested in a dense network consisting of four organised interest groups of employers and employees strongly represented in all major decision making processes and legistic activities • political culture: a so called ‘Proporzsystem’, which denotes a distribution of major political, administrative and economic functions according to the political strengths of the parties in the parliamentary elections • an overriding legalistic approach (‘Rechtsstaat’) with constitutional protection both for tiers of government and civil servants and an important role of jurisdictionary bodies in defining administrative practice; the constitutional foundations of the organisation of state functions are not restricted to general and global principles, but regulate the functions in considerable detail. Eg. a Weisungsprinzip (principle of directives) that establishes a strong hierarchical system with directives as the principle governance mechanism as well as a rigidly interpreted Legalitätsprinzip (principle of legality) that permits administrative activity exclusively on basis of laws are anchored in the constitution • a bureaucratic governance: the administrative system is characterised by intense statutory regulation leading to a strong preoccupation with processes and far less emphasis on output and outcomes, by a high degree of both horizontal and vertical division of labour, a strong status hierarchy, and rigid and centralist personnel and budgetary regulations. • a principle of tenured civil servants with lifetime occupation, only little workplace mobility, and promotion mainly based on seniority • public sector with about 490.000 public sector employees (39% federal government, 30% state government, 14% Vienna and 16.4% local government)
COST Action IS0601 – Research Note Austria
page 2
In earlier international comparisons Austrian public sector has been described as the “home of legalistic administration” (Naschold 1996, 43) and was ranked first on a scale of neocorporatism in all European countries (Lehmbruch 1982: 16). During the last years, this system has undergone a fundamental change. Austria's decision to join the European Union (1.1.1995) had a significant influence on the political and economic context although it did not result in essential changes in the organisational structure of the government system. However, it put considerable pressure on the government to initiate several budget consolidation programs and structural adjustments.
3. Research and data General focus of research: reception, adoption and translation of management concepts and ideas in a legalistic Rechtsstaat public administration and its consequences on the social identity of public sector employees Main theoretical focus on sociological neoinstitutionalism Research Focus 1: Public sector reform dynamics in Austria In this research project we analyse the dynamics and forms of current public management reforms. We focus on contents and labels of the reform initiatives and practices, on the reform processes and actors involved, and ask whether these reforms imply a "paradigm change" together with a transformation of sector logics and public servants' identities. The empirical focus is on the federal government in Austria. No specific focus regarding policy field. Method and data: mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, executive survey, content analysis of media and reform documents Research Focus 2: Changing governance structures as a means to public sector reforms This project focuses on changing governance structures in the course of public sector reform programmes. We especially analyse the various forms (e.g. corporatisations, agencification, privatizations, contracting out, public private partnerships etc.), the motives/objectives, and the dynamics of the corresponding developments of specific policy fields within their sociopolitical contexts and the reflection of these processes in the public agenda and debate. A comparative perspective is chosen in order to highlight specific national characteristics. There are currently two specific foci of this research program: 1) public private partnerships (PPPs): our main interest is the question what kind of factors (institutional, individual-rationality) impact the diffusion and success of public private partnerships in Austria; a specific project funded by the City of Vienna focused on the spread of the idea and concept of PPPs within the specific Viennese public administration context; based on a PPP-profile of Vienna the dynamics, experiences and potentials/difficulties of PPPs in Vienna were analysed. Method: content analysis, comparative case study research, mix of quantitative and qualitative methods 2) Decentralisation and Accountability as Focus of Public Administration Modernisation: The research is based on a study within the work of the European Public Administration network under coordination of the Austrian EU-presidency; the focus lies on the practical relevance and experiences throughout Europe in the area of HRM regarding two major themes of public administration modernisation over the last two decades (research also covering agencies): 1) decentralisation of competencies to increase management autonomy 2) efforts to strengthen accountability We are especially interested in the relationship and alignment of these two major reforms and similarities respective differences between the central administrations in COST Action IS0601 – Research Note Austria
page 3
Europe. Method: questionnaire-based survey (answers from 25 EU member states; 2 accession states; European Commission); additional workshops with EPAN HR working group Agencies/corporatisations: No specific research focus up till now Nevertheless a broad range of data and information from Austrian federal government. Current situation (year 2006): • 96 corporatisations based both on public and private law (all 100% owned by federal government) • 17 public sector organisations with specific budgetary autonomy based on legal acts (pilot-project for an envisaged government-wide budgetary reform) (so-called Flexibilisierungseinheiten) • 40 agencies with a legal statut (nachgeordnete Dienststellen, Bundesämter und Anstalten) • 43 statutory bodies (Fonds, Stiftungen) • 29 public enterprises with federal government ownership >25% In total 225 “agencies”, most of them established throughout the last two decades. Some first observations regarding agencification/autonomisation in Austria • considerable trend towards increasing autonomy within all areas of federal government • overriding idea of corporatisations (both based on private and public law) without a common/uniform model of corporatisations Æ very diverse spectrum of agencies • strong focus on legal-formal aspects/questions of corporatisations • lack of empirical research regarding effects/impact of corporatisations • main controlling/steering mechanisms: formal controlling arrangements based on a specific legal act plus traditional audit reports • formal legal arrangements for steering and control playing only minor role in practice • high relevance of informal personal contacts between corporatisation and ministry often strongly related to the general corporatist context with high relevance of party political networks • unclear relationship between ministries and corporatisations and diminishing steering capacity for Ministries in flux • diminishing political/democratic control over corporatisations • strong lack of transparency regarding activities, results and resources of corporatisations (eg. no employment data available) • few reports and evaluations on corporatisations both from the Audit Office as well as the public sector itself indicate the effects of autonomisation varies considerably between different agencies and show a general tendency of rising personnel costs selected publications: Demmke, Christoph / Gerhard Hammerschmid / Renate Meyer. 2006. Decentralisation and Accountability as a Focus of Public Administration Modernisation: Challenges and Consequences for Human Resource Management. EIPA: Maastricht/Brussels Meyer, Renate E. / Gerhard Hammerschmid. 2006. Changing institutional logics and executive identities. A managerial challenge to Public Administration in Austria. American Behavioral Scientist, 49/7, 1000-1014 Meyer, Renate / Gerhard Hammerschmid. 2006. Public Management Reform: An Identity Project. Public Policy and Administration, 21/1, 99-115 Hammerschmid, Gerhard. 2006. Status der Verwaltungsreform in Österreich: eine „unendliche“ Geschichte von Stabilität und Veränderung in: Albert Hofmeister (ed.), Verwaltung wohin? Der öffentliche Sektor zwischen Stabilität und Veränderung. Rufenacht: SGVW-Schriftenreihe, Band 46, 76-94
COST Action IS0601 – Research Note Austria
page 4
Hammerschmid, Gerhard / Renate Meyer. 2005.: New Public Management in Austria – Local variations of a global theme? Public Administration, 83/3, 709-733 Hammerschmid, Gerhard / Renate Meyer, 2005. Public management dynamics in a federal Rechtsstaat system. International Journal of Public Sector Management 18/7, 629-640 Hammerschmid, Gerhard / Renate Meyer. 2005. Public Management Reform and Staff Participation and Involvement. The Austrian Experiences. In: Annie Hondeghem / David Farnham / Sylvia Horton (eds.): Public Management Reform and Staff Participation and Involvement in the Public Services: International Comparisons. Houndmills: PalgraveMcMillan, 83-99
4. Research done by other researchers There is only very limited research on agencies/corporatisations in Austria in spite of the topic´s large practical relevance and political debates. Contributions mostly come from law with a mainly conceptual focus, quite critical attitude towards autonomisation (critique on fragmentation; emphasis on the constitutional barriers of corporatisations) and without empirical research. Currently there is one research project of the University of Innsbruck on the management consequences of budgetary autonomisation (Flexieinheiten); no results yet
5. Activities in domestic/international research networks • Membership and paper presentations at: EGOS, EGPA, IRSPM, IPMN, German Association of University Professors and Lecturers (scientific commission on public management) and the Austrian Society for Administrative Sciences (ÖVG) • Founding member of CEMS Interfaculty Group “Public Management and Governance” together with 8 other European Business Schools • 2007 organizer of the 23rd EGOS (European Group of Organisation Studies) Colloquium in Vienna with 1.280 participant • Well established contacts with various federal government organisations (Federal Chancellery, Federal Ministry of Finance, various agencies)
6. Expectations and contributions to COST-Action Main goal of participation in the current COST-Action is the intention to better connect our research activities on public sector reform dynamics and new governance structures with the COST-Action Network and put an explicit research emphasis on corporatisations and other forms of autonomisation in Austria (a field where we see clear research deficits for Austria). Currently a Master thesis is done with the goal to detect the number and forms of agencies in Austria (for the years 1970, 1990 and today) as well as all research/reports/documents on this topic. For next year the plan is to submit a PhD-research proposal for a Central Bank research funding. The approach of this research will be designed in strong accordance with the COSTAction program both regarding method and theoretical approach.
COST Action IS0601 – Research Note Austria
page 5