Following on from previous streams we seek to explore theoretical and contextual exploration of outcomes and an outcomes-orientation in public service and movements from the orthodoxy of ‘Rationalist Theory’ (French et al. 2023) and the emergence of complexity theory informed relational approaches. An increasing number of relational approaches to services are emerging which potentially respond to complexity and harness relationships including applied developments in capacity, investments, contracting and procurement. Others approach is to emphasise the plurality of means through which an outcomes-focus can operate. Outcomes can function as motivational tools and sensemaking devices in ‘personal outcomes’ approaches in social care, or in using outcome-based evaluation to drive learning. Additionally, this may involve adopting new modalities of working to market outcomes regimes and influence behaviour in environments where little direct control.
In this theme, we are interested in hosting a range of papers and workshops presentations from policymakers, practitioners, and academics interested invested in a forward-thinking approach to outcome-oriented governance and public service. Contributors can also propose their own thematic session or workshop linking a number of contributions.
Policymakers and public service managers are working in increasingly complex conditions, and now more than ever before need research which is robust, timely and relevant to pressing concerns. The disciplines best placed to inform this, public policy and public management, have however faced mounting criticism for a retreat into detached scholasticism and therefore run the risk of becoming irrelevant. Engaged scholarship and related action-oriented and relational approaches focus on making meaningful connections between research, teaching and learning, and knowledge exchange activities, seem increasingly well-placed to increase research relevance and narrow the academic-policy-practice gap in relational public services.
We invite researchers, policymakers, and practitioners working in this space to present at the conference (case study, workshop, paper presentation). Focus area can include but not limited to:
The pervasive nature of technology in our lives as citizens, workers and members of organisations and communities increasingly poses questions about the governance and management of the tools and associated infrastructure. This has been exacerbated by the monopolistic approaches of e-commerce and social media providers on their part and the over-integration of public services information systems on the other neither of which deliver the emerging requirement of infrastructures necessary for relational public management approaches
Recent debates in the areas of Digital Social Innovation have highlighted the necessity of foregrounding social issues as opposed to technological artefacts sometimes called a ‘social first’ approach where the creation of societal platforms should have primacy over commercial platforms to meet collaborative social aims. Key to the wider scalability of this approach is the notion of ‘techno-ficing’ meaning that the utility and affordances of the technical artefacts for the societal or community issues at hand should be geared to the social purpose not to technological aspirations that some in the wider information systems communities refer to as ‘Digital Civics’, ‘TechforGood’ or ‘DataforGood’ or from the other perspectives challenges of Community Development; Deliberative Democracy and Participative Planning and so on. the methodological approaches draw on interpretative and participatory action research traditions to foster innovation to address issues of sustainable engagement of local assets to facilitate challenging resource scarcity and social norms.
We invite researchers, policymakers, and practitioners working in this space to present at the conference (workshop or paper presentation). Focus areas can include but are not limited to:
· Making sociotechnical or systemic links between digital tools and platforms and engagement with communities including the role of hybrid approaches.
· Examples of the relational approaches to the design and implementation of digital tools with citizens and communities.
· Action-oriented/participatory/novel methods for addressing challenges of business models and sustainability of ‘techforgood’ or ‘dataforgood’ style activities
Contemporary Public Management to service reform predicated on the use outcomes as targets for performance management and/or the basis of supporting evaluative judgements on the success/failure of discrete innovation programmes aimed at the improvement of an aspect of services for citizens and communities.
The material complexity of the system and the lives of those it seeks to support means that evaluating in the established ways can render innovation programmes unable to provide the outcomes that provide the platform of future investment and scalability. Drawing on learning from Participatory and Development Evaluation approaches there is an emerging sense that a relational approach to the framing of interactions between stakeholders and the interpretation of data might be key to improving measurement and evaluation processes which emphasise active learning and the innovation of relationships as opposed to the current orthodoxy.
We are interested in a range of papers and workshops presentations from policymakers, practitioners, and academics from theoretical frames and applied contexts who have been exploring the use of innovative methods and approaches to the use of data and evaluation processes which have adopted a relational approach public services.