Janine O’flynn
Biographic Data
| ID | 3427716 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Janine O’flynn |
| GIVEN NAMES | Janine |
| FAMILY NAME | O’flynn |
| SIGNATURE | O’FLYNN J |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Melbourne |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5565-5923 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 283 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 21 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Human(e) government
In an environment of turbulence and an era of intensifying hostility to public servants, how can we chart a more positive pathway for the field of public administration and management? In the 2025 Donald C. Stone Lecture at the American Society for Public Administration, new foundations to inform a more human(e) approach were explored as a way of addressing this question. Important dynamics in the current environment are sketched out, followed by…
Foundations for a more human(e) government
In an era of growing hostility towards government in many parts of the world, how might we chart a more positive future direction? This article sets out foundations for a new approach to public administration. It sets these in contrast to the extreme hostility and turbulence that erupted followed the inauguration of the Trump Administration in January 2025 and seeks to chart a future for our field that is more human(e). Points for practitioners I…
The future of public administration research
Research in the field of public administration has changed and advanced significantly in recent years. These advancements concern both how we engage in research—such as the methods we apply, the interdisciplinary nature of the theories we use, and the research questions we ask. Increasingly, we are witnessing a shift in public‐sector values away from efficiency and effectiveness and toward a paradigm that highlights equity. In this article, we re…
Confronting the big challenges of our time
This article explores key challenges emanating from COVID-19 and how public management and administration research can contribute to addressing them. To do this I discuss the ‘big questions’ debate and then sketch two big thematic challenges. In articulating these, I point to interconnections across various levels of analysis and argue we need to work across a range of boundaries and get more comfortable with complexity. My key argument being tha…
Where to for Public Value? Taking Stock and Moving On
Public value has become an important, but contested, idea in public administration and management. It has developed considerably since its genesis in the 1980s and more formal articulation in the 1990s. Public value attracted plenty of attention through the 2000s, being adapted, extended, and debated by a range of scholars and practitioners. This article reflects on the development, debate, and future prospects for public value, arguing that whil…
Back to the future
The Promises and Pitfalls of Prime Provider Models in Service Delivery
At a time of fiscal restraint and reductions in the size of the public sector, governments in Australia are exploring new approaches to delivering public services. One model receiving attention is the prime provider approach. This is an approach where government contracts a lead or prime provider who in turn organizes and manages a group of sub‐contractors. In prime provider approaches, non‐government organizations take on a quasi‐government role…
Public Sector Reform
Reform is never far from the centre of public administration practice and scholarship. In this article Doug McTaggart, the chairman of the Queensland Public Service Commission, and Janine O'Flynn, from the University of Melbourne, explore the challenges of reform and the state of play. McTaggart, who was a commissioner on the Queensland Commission of Audit, sets out the case that business as usual will no longer suffice given the range of challen…
Looking to the Past and the Future of the Australian Journal of Public Administration
The first issue of the Australian Journal of Public Administration (AJPA) was published in December 1937 and contained just two articles. The first was by Sir Herbert Gepp K.B.E.,1 a metallurgist and manager, who joined the public service in 1926. One of his roles in the Australian Public Service was as the chairman of the Development and Migration Commission that was created to ‘apply scientific methods to economic and politics problems in the i…
Effective Practitioner–Scholar Relationships
This article presents a continuum of possible coproduction arrangements between scholars and practitioners and suggests that greater engagement is necessary to bridge the commonly cited problems that create the gap between research and practice. Reflections on an Australian case of a major public sector coproduction partnership, the highest degree of interaction on the continuum, are used to argue that successful engagement between practitioners …
Accountability
Rethinking Public Service Delivery
Winner of the 2014 Academy of Management Public-Nonprofit (PNP) Division Best Book Award Many public services today are delivered by external service providers such as private firms and voluntary orga
Perspectives on the Capacity of the Australian Public Service and Effective Policy Development and Implementation
It is a long held tradition of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) to invite speakers to address the Fellow's Colloquium as part of the annual symposium, with an aim to spark discussion and debate on a controversial and contemporary topic. In 2010 the debate was focused on the question of whether there had been a degradation of the professional capacity of the Australian Public Service (APS) with regard to effective policy deve…
Making Sense of Public Value
It has been two decades since the “public value” framework emerged, articulated initially at the Harvard Kennedy School. In this paper we set out the basics of the original approach, and then consider emerging critiques and meanings. Our aim is firstly to clarify the core concepts of Moore's approach, and secondly to track the new meanings of public value which are developing. This allows us to engage with the growing debate about public value bo…
A Blinding Lack of Progress’
In this study we explore how versions of organizational reality and gender are constructed in management discourse and whether such patterns change over time. Specifically, we examine management explanations and accounts of the gendered nature of their organizations through their commentaries on their affirmative action programmes. In Australia private sector organizations with 100 or more employees are required to report to government on their a…
The Cult of Collaboration in Public Policy
A ‘cult of collaboration’ is emerging in Australian public policy circles. In this article I argue this reflects a misunderstanding of the concept and its distinctive characteristics. Here I reintroduce collaboration vis‐à‐vis other forms of ‘working together’ and question whether we have taken a collaborative turn in public policy. In doing so I hope to contribute to a debate on the relevance of collaboration for public policy
Elusive appeal or aspirational ideal? The rhetoric and reality of the ‘collaborative turn’ in public policy
The rhetoric and reality of the 'collaborative turn' in public policy
The Separation/Specification Dilemma in Contracting
This article draws on evidence from case studies of local government contracting in the Australian state of Victoria. It argues that one of the key elements of competitive tendering – the separation of purchasers from providers – undermines another of its essential mechanisms – the specification of services – at the point where previously in‐house services are exposed to competition. The managers who are to become purchasers lack the requisite kn…
John Howard
This article outlines and analyses the principles that have driven John Howard's privatisation agenda in the context of the broader Australian experience. Howard has articulated a vision for the state in which individual choice has primacy over collective decisions, governments are strategic and the public sector is focused more on enabling or facilitating than on directly delivering public services. In this article we identify Howard's articulat…
From New Public Management to Public Value
Both practitioners and scholars are increasingly interested in the idea of public value as a way of understanding government activity, informing policy-making and constructing service delivery. In part this represents a response to the concerns about 'new public management', but it also provides an interesting way of viewing what public sector organisations and public managers actually do. The purpose of this article is to examine this emerging a…
Australian Capital Territory. July to December 2004
From New Public Management to Public Value
Both practitioners and scholars are increasingly interested in the idea of public value as a way of understanding government activity, informing policy-making and constructing service delivery. In part this represents a response to the concerns about 'new public management', but it also provides an interesting way of viewing what public sector organisations and public managers actually do. The purpose of this article is to examine this emerging a…
The future of public administration research
Research in the field of public administration has changed and advanced significantly in recent years. These advancements concern both how we engage in research—such as the methods we apply, the interdisciplinary nature of the theories we use, and the research questions we ask. Increasingly, we are witnessing a shift in public‐sector values away from efficiency and effectiveness and toward a paradigm that highlights equity. In this article, we re…
Effective Practitioner–Scholar Relationships
This article presents a continuum of possible coproduction arrangements between scholars and practitioners and suggests that greater engagement is necessary to bridge the commonly cited problems that create the gap between research and practice. Reflections on an Australian case of a major public sector coproduction partnership, the highest degree of interaction on the continuum, are used to argue that successful engagement between practitioners …
The Cult of Collaboration in Public Policy
A ‘cult of collaboration’ is emerging in Australian public policy circles. In this article I argue this reflects a misunderstanding of the concept and its distinctive characteristics. Here I reintroduce collaboration vis‐à‐vis other forms of ‘working together’ and question whether we have taken a collaborative turn in public policy. In doing so I hope to contribute to a debate on the relevance of collaboration for public policy
The Separation/Specification Dilemma in Contracting
This article draws on evidence from case studies of local government contracting in the Australian state of Victoria. It argues that one of the key elements of competitive tendering – the separation of purchasers from providers – undermines another of its essential mechanisms – the specification of services – at the point where previously in‐house services are exposed to competition. The managers who are to become purchasers lack the requisite kn…
Public Sector Reform
Reform is never far from the centre of public administration practice and scholarship. In this article Doug McTaggart, the chairman of the Queensland Public Service Commission, and Janine O'Flynn, from the University of Melbourne, explore the challenges of reform and the state of play. McTaggart, who was a commissioner on the Queensland Commission of Audit, sets out the case that business as usual will no longer suffice given the range of challen…
Perspectives on the Capacity of the Australian Public Service and Effective Policy Development and Implementation
It is a long held tradition of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) to invite speakers to address the Fellow's Colloquium as part of the annual symposium, with an aim to spark discussion and debate on a controversial and contemporary topic. In 2010 the debate was focused on the question of whether there had been a degradation of the professional capacity of the Australian Public Service (APS) with regard to effective policy deve…
Accountability
A Blinding Lack of Progress’
In this study we explore how versions of organizational reality and gender are constructed in management discourse and whether such patterns change over time. Specifically, we examine management explanations and accounts of the gendered nature of their organizations through their commentaries on their affirmative action programmes. In Australia private sector organizations with 100 or more employees are required to report to government on their a…
John Howard
This article outlines and analyses the principles that have driven John Howard's privatisation agenda in the context of the broader Australian experience. Howard has articulated a vision for the state in which individual choice has primacy over collective decisions, governments are strategic and the public sector is focused more on enabling or facilitating than on directly delivering public services. In this article we identify Howard's articulat…
The Promises and Pitfalls of Prime Provider Models in Service Delivery
At a time of fiscal restraint and reductions in the size of the public sector, governments in Australia are exploring new approaches to delivering public services. One model receiving attention is the prime provider approach. This is an approach where government contracts a lead or prime provider who in turn organizes and manages a group of sub‐contractors. In prime provider approaches, non‐government organizations take on a quasi‐government role…
Looking to the Past and the Future of the Australian Journal of Public Administration
The first issue of the Australian Journal of Public Administration (AJPA) was published in December 1937 and contained just two articles. The first was by Sir Herbert Gepp K.B.E.,1 a metallurgist and manager, who joined the public service in 1926. One of his roles in the Australian Public Service was as the chairman of the Development and Migration Commission that was created to ‘apply scientific methods to economic and politics problems in the i…
Australian Capital Territory. July to December 2004
John Howard
This article outlines and analyses the principles that have driven John Howard's privatisation agenda in the context of the broader Australian experience. Howard has articulated a vision for the state in which individual choice has primacy over collective decisions, governments are strategic and the public sector is focused more on enabling or facilitating than on directly delivering public services. In this article we identify Howard's articulat…
From New Public Management to Public Value
Both practitioners and scholars are increasingly interested in the idea of public value as a way of understanding government activity, informing policy-making and constructing service delivery. In part this represents a response to the concerns about 'new public management', but it also provides an interesting way of viewing what public sector organisations and public managers actually do. The purpose of this article is to examine this emerging a…
Elusive appeal or aspirational ideal? The rhetoric and reality of the ‘collaborative turn’ in public policy
The rhetoric and reality of the 'collaborative turn' in public policy
The Separation/Specification Dilemma in Contracting
This article draws on evidence from case studies of local government contracting in the Australian state of Victoria. It argues that one of the key elements of competitive tendering – the separation of purchasers from providers – undermines another of its essential mechanisms – the specification of services – at the point where previously in‐house services are exposed to competition. The managers who are to become purchasers lack the requisite kn…
Making Sense of Public Value
It has been two decades since the “public value” framework emerged, articulated initially at the Harvard Kennedy School. In this paper we set out the basics of the original approach, and then consider emerging critiques and meanings. Our aim is firstly to clarify the core concepts of Moore's approach, and secondly to track the new meanings of public value which are developing. This allows us to engage with the growing debate about public value bo…
A Blinding Lack of Progress’
In this study we explore how versions of organizational reality and gender are constructed in management discourse and whether such patterns change over time. Specifically, we examine management explanations and accounts of the gendered nature of their organizations through their commentaries on their affirmative action programmes. In Australia private sector organizations with 100 or more employees are required to report to government on their a…
The Cult of Collaboration in Public Policy
A ‘cult of collaboration’ is emerging in Australian public policy circles. In this article I argue this reflects a misunderstanding of the concept and its distinctive characteristics. Here I reintroduce collaboration vis‐à‐vis other forms of ‘working together’ and question whether we have taken a collaborative turn in public policy. In doing so I hope to contribute to a debate on the relevance of collaboration for public policy
Perspectives on the Capacity of the Australian Public Service and Effective Policy Development and Implementation
It is a long held tradition of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) to invite speakers to address the Fellow's Colloquium as part of the annual symposium, with an aim to spark discussion and debate on a controversial and contemporary topic. In 2010 the debate was focused on the question of whether there had been a degradation of the professional capacity of the Australian Public Service (APS) with regard to effective policy deve…
Rethinking Public Service Delivery
Winner of the 2014 Academy of Management Public-Nonprofit (PNP) Division Best Book Award Many public services today are delivered by external service providers such as private firms and voluntary orga
Accountability
The Promises and Pitfalls of Prime Provider Models in Service Delivery
At a time of fiscal restraint and reductions in the size of the public sector, governments in Australia are exploring new approaches to delivering public services. One model receiving attention is the prime provider approach. This is an approach where government contracts a lead or prime provider who in turn organizes and manages a group of sub‐contractors. In prime provider approaches, non‐government organizations take on a quasi‐government role…
Public Sector Reform
Reform is never far from the centre of public administration practice and scholarship. In this article Doug McTaggart, the chairman of the Queensland Public Service Commission, and Janine O'Flynn, from the University of Melbourne, explore the challenges of reform and the state of play. McTaggart, who was a commissioner on the Queensland Commission of Audit, sets out the case that business as usual will no longer suffice given the range of challen…
Looking to the Past and the Future of the Australian Journal of Public Administration
The first issue of the Australian Journal of Public Administration (AJPA) was published in December 1937 and contained just two articles. The first was by Sir Herbert Gepp K.B.E.,1 a metallurgist and manager, who joined the public service in 1926. One of his roles in the Australian Public Service was as the chairman of the Development and Migration Commission that was created to ‘apply scientific methods to economic and politics problems in the i…
Effective Practitioner–Scholar Relationships
This article presents a continuum of possible coproduction arrangements between scholars and practitioners and suggests that greater engagement is necessary to bridge the commonly cited problems that create the gap between research and practice. Reflections on an Australian case of a major public sector coproduction partnership, the highest degree of interaction on the continuum, are used to argue that successful engagement between practitioners …
Confronting the big challenges of our time
This article explores key challenges emanating from COVID-19 and how public management and administration research can contribute to addressing them. To do this I discuss the ‘big questions’ debate and then sketch two big thematic challenges. In articulating these, I point to interconnections across various levels of analysis and argue we need to work across a range of boundaries and get more comfortable with complexity. My key argument being tha…
Where to for Public Value? Taking Stock and Moving On
Public value has become an important, but contested, idea in public administration and management. It has developed considerably since its genesis in the 1980s and more formal articulation in the 1990s. Public value attracted plenty of attention through the 2000s, being adapted, extended, and debated by a range of scholars and practitioners. This article reflects on the development, debate, and future prospects for public value, arguing that whil…
Back to the future
The future of public administration research
Research in the field of public administration has changed and advanced significantly in recent years. These advancements concern both how we engage in research—such as the methods we apply, the interdisciplinary nature of the theories we use, and the research questions we ask. Increasingly, we are witnessing a shift in public‐sector values away from efficiency and effectiveness and toward a paradigm that highlights equity. In this article, we re…
Human(e) government
In an environment of turbulence and an era of intensifying hostility to public servants, how can we chart a more positive pathway for the field of public administration and management? In the 2025 Donald C. Stone Lecture at the American Society for Public Administration, new foundations to inform a more human(e) approach were explored as a way of addressing this question. Important dynamics in the current environment are sketched out, followed by…
Foundations for a more human(e) government
In an era of growing hostility towards government in many parts of the world, how might we chart a more positive future direction? This article sets out foundations for a new approach to public administration. It sets these in contrast to the extreme hostility and turbulence that erupted followed the inauguration of the Trump Administration in January 2025 and seeks to chart a future for our field that is more human(e). Points for practitioners I…
Political science (20 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (15 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Public relations (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Government (linguistics (7 works) · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering (6 works)