Personnel Flexibility and Red Tape in Public and Nonprofit Organizations
Distinctions Due to Institutional and Political Accountability
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6294639 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Megan Feeney (0000-0001-6850-1985, University of Illinois Chicago), M K Feeney, Hal G Rainey (University of Georgia) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 801-826 |
| Publication date | 2010-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1053-1858 • E-ISSN: 1477-9803 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jopart/mup027 |
| OpenAlex | W2316500937 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 45 |
| References cited | 44 |
Academics and journalists have depicted government bureaucracies as particularly subject to administrative constraints, including the infamous red tape and personnel rules that sharply constrain pay, promotion, and dismissal and weaken their relations to performance. Research on these topics has often focused on public organizations alone or on comparisons of public and private organizations. The analysis reported here extends this research to include nonprofit organizations. Certain theoretical perspectives would predict sharp differences between public and nonprofit organizations, whereas others would predict no differences. Using survey data from managerial-level respondents in state government and nonprofit organizations in Georgia and Illinois, this analysis compares perceptions of red tape and personnel rule constraints in public and nonprofit organizations. We investigate whether or not public and nonprofit respondents differ in their perceptions about levels of organizational red tape and about whether formal rules enable or constrain managers in promoting and rewarding good employees and removing poor performers. The results indicate sharp public and nonprofit differences, with public managers reporting higher perceived organizational red tape and lower levels of personnel flexibility. In addition to public and nonprofit comparisons, the analysis takes into account other factors that might influence public and nonprofit managers' perceptions of red tape and personnel flexibility in their organizations, including individual motivations to choose the job, the respondent's state (Georgia or Illinois), and others
Accountability · Bureaucracy · Business · Dismissal · Economics · Flexibility (engineering · Government (linguistics · Management · Perception · Political science · Politics · Promotion (chess · Public relations · Respondent · Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Psychology · Public Policy and Administration Research · Public Administration
Procedural environment of public engagement
Nonprofit sector ambidexterity
Ongoing strategizing in practice
Boundary-Spanning Front-Line Workers Going the Extra Mile
Employee Performance Management
Does Performance Rating Discrepancy Mediate the Relationship Between Perceptions of Organizational Politics and Job Satisfaction? A Comparative Study of Public and Private Sectors
NGO Accountability
The ontology, origin, and impact of divisive public sector rules
Effects of red tape in public sector organizations
The Dynamic Impact of Nonprofit Organizations
Achieving Resilience in Disaster Management
Toward an Understanding of the Role of Human Resources in Cultivating a Climate for Innovation in Nonprofit and Public Organizations
Managing for Results Differently
Management Impact on Performance in Public, Nonprofit, and For-Profit Organizations
Determinants of Information and Communication Technology Adoption in Municipalities
Adoption of Electronic Technologies in Local U.S. Governments
Who Values Diversity? Comparing the Effect of Manager Gender Across the Public, Private, and Nonprofit Sectors
Explaining the Difference of Work Attitudes Between Public and Nonprofit Managers
Constrained by Red Tape
Sector Bias and the Credibility of Performance Information
From Red Tape to Which Performance Results? Exploring the Relationship Between Red Tape and Various Dimensions of Performance in Healthcare Work Units
Merit recruitment, tenure protections and public service motivation
Who Is Accountable? How Citizens Attribute Success and Failure in Cross‐Sector Collaborations
Burdens, Sludge, Ordeals, Red tape, Oh My
Job Switching Motives and Employer Attractiveness
International Comparison of Public and Private Employees’ Work Motives, Attitudes, and Perceived Rewards
Is There a Nonprofit Advantage? Examining the Impact of Institutional Context on Individual–Organizational Value Congruence
Personnel Constraints in Public Organizations
The expansion of the public sector in federalism
I’m paid to do other things
Market Competition, Political Constraint, and Managerial Practice in Public, Nonprofit, and Private American Hospitals
Conceptualizing and Explaining Flexibility in Administrative Crisis Management
Voices from the Frontline
Impact of Performance Management in Public and Private Organizations
Understanding the Meaning of Concepts Across Domains Through Collocation Analysis
Children of a Lesser God
Managing Diversity Differently
Altruism by Job Sector
Effects of Managers' Work Motivation and Networking Activity on Their Reported Levels of External Red Tape
Sampling Designs for Analyzing Publicness
Organizational Confidence
Goals, Trust, Participation, and Feedback
Latent Hybridity in Administrative Crisis Management
Organizational Red Tape
Organizations, Politics, and Public Purposes
Building Theory and Empirical Evidence about Public Service Motivation
Red Tape and Public Service Motivation
The People Make the Place
Worker Motivations, Job Satisfaction, and Loyalty in Public and Nonprofit Social Services
Red Tape
Bureaucratic Red Tape and Formalization
Perceptions of Public versus Private Sector Personnel and Informal Red Tape
Public Agencies and Private Firms
Beyond Stereotypes
Sector Context and Performance
Acquiring New Technology
Red-Tape and the Service Ethic
On Value Differences Experienced by Sector Switchers
A Comparison of the Values and Commitment of Private Sector, Public Sector, and Parapublic Sector Employees
Research Note
Men, Women, and Attitudinal Commitment
Workaholism
Of Pigs in Pokes and Policy Diffusion
The Unbureaucratic Personality
The Role of Organizations in Fostering Public Service Motivation
Management Information Systems in Public and Private Organizations
Risk Culture in Public and Private Organizations
The “Publicness Puzzle” in Organization Theory
Goals, Rules, and Effectiveness in Public, Private, and Hybrid Organizations
Red Tape and Public Employees
The Impact of Red Tape on Governmental Performance
E-Government and Bureaucracy
Ethical Work Climates
Does the Perception of Red Tape Constrain IT Innovativeness in Organizations? Unexpected Results from a Simultaneous Equation Model and Implications
Sector Perceptions among State-Level Public Managers
Beyond Profit? Sectoral Differences in High-Performance Work Practices
Employment Sector and Volunteering
| Unique citing works | 45 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2026 (16) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 45 |