Innovating with Integrity: How Local Heroes Are Transforming American Government

Sandford Borins

Georgetown University Press, Aug 1, 1998 - Political Science - 368 pages

Innovating with Integrity presents a comprehensive portrait of the local heroes—front-line public servants and middle managers—who are reinventing state and local government, and it offers practical recommendations for innovating successfully.

Based on a study of more than 200 successful government innovations, this book is the first large-scale, systematic analysis of innovation in American government. Sandford Borins identifies the components of integrity that he finds in successful innovators, including the intellectual discipline to plan rigorously and to establish measurable goals; the ability to collaborate with others and accommodate criticism; and a willingness to mobilize both the private sector and the community. In addition to analyzing the common traits driving new initiatives, Borins shows the distinctive differences among six areas of innovation: information technology, organizational redesign, environmental and energy management, policing and community development, social services, and education. This trenchant analysis of what initiatives actually work and why contributes to both the practice and theory of public management. Its practical advice will be especially valuable for front-line government workers, public managers, union leaders, agency heads, politicians, and all concerned with reforming government.

Contents

• Objectives and Methodology: 7
• PLAN OF THE BOOK: 10
• ADVICE TO THE READER: 11
• RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: 12
• Characteristics of Public Sector Innovations: 19
• AUTHORIDENTIFIED CHARACTERISTICS: 26
• COMPARING THESE CHARACTERISTICS TO OTHER DESCRIPTIONS: 29
• CONCLUSION: 35
• The Who Why and How of Innovation: 37
• FRONTLINE AND MIDDLE MANAGEMENT PUBLIC SERVANTS: 39
• CITIZENS ACTING FROM OUTSIDE THE PUBLIC SECTOR: 40
• WHY INNOVATE?: 41
• THE HOW OF INNOVATION: 49
• CONCLUSION: 63
• Obstacles Overcome Problems Persisting: 66
• RESPONDING TO CRITICS: 79
• THE CRITIC WITHIN: 82
• FACING THE FUTURE: 85
• CONCLUSION: 89
• Financing and Organizing Innovations: 92
• THE CHOICE OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES: 96
• CONCLUSION: 101
• Results Verification and Replication: 103
• VERIFYING THE INNOVATIONS: 111
• DETERMINANTS OF AWARDS AND REPLICATION: 116
• CONCLUSION: 119
• PART 2: 121
• On Being an Innovator: 123
• Life in the Fast Lane Innovation through Information Technology: 131
• A DIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGIES: 132
• THE FUNCTIONS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: 136
• THE SCOPE AND COST OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS: 137
• INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYS LOCAL HEROES: 139
• IMPLEMENTING CHANCE: 143
• ACHIEVING RESULTS: 145
• CONCLUSION: 148
• Revolution from Within Organizational Change: 152
• TURNAROUNDS: 153
• NEW WAYS OF WORKING AND MANAGING: 164
• COMPETITION WITHIN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: 174
• INNOVATIONS IN GOVERNANCE: 177
• LARGE PARTNERSHIPS: 180
• CONCLUSION: 184
• Dances with Business Environmental and Energy Management: 188
• VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE: 190
• CREATING MARKETS: 192
• USING APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY: 193
• ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTS LOCAL HEROES: 195
• OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: 202
• ACHIEVING RESULTS: 204
• CONCLUSION: 206
• We Are Family Community Building: 210
• POLICING: 211
• RECLAIMING THE GHETTO: 221
• OTHER HOUSING INITIATIVES: 230
• CONCLUSION: 232
• Facing the Toughest Challenges Social Services: 236
• TYPES OF SOCIAL SERVICE INNOVATIONS: 237
• CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL SERVICE INNOVATIONS: 243
• THE INFLUENCE OF THEORY: 249
• RESISTANCE TO CHANGE: 252
• ACHIEVING RESULTS: 254
• THE DILEMMA OF SOCIAL SERVICE INNOVATIONS: 256
• CONCLUSION: 259
• Everybodys Business Innovation in Education: 261
• TYPES OF EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION: 262
• TARGET POPULATIONS AND RESOURCEINTENSIVENESS: 265
• PART OF MANY AGENDAS: 267
• THEORYDRIVEN INNOVATION: 270
• OPPOSITION TO EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION: 272
• ACHIEVING RESULTS: 279
• CONCLUSION: 280
• Some Final Words for Practitioners and Academics: 283
• THE RESEARCH AGENDAQUESTIONS WORTH PURSUING: 289
• The Innovations Awards Questionnaire: 295
• Notes: 299
• References: 307
• Index: 333

Popular passages

Page 22 - Second, regardless of the origin of innovations, they inevitably send out ripples and reverberations to other organization units, "whose behavior may be required to change in light of the needs of innovations, or whose cooperation is necessary if an innovation is to be fully developed or exploited. Or there may be the need to generate unexpected...‎

Page 22 - ... on current products, or of the advocates of a competing direction. (Fast, 1979, for example, argues that "political" problems are the primary cause for the failure of corporate New Venture Departments.) 4. The innovation process crosses boundaries. An innovation process is rarely if ever contained solely "within one unit. First, there is evidence that many of the best ideas are interdisciplinary or interfunctional in origin — as connoted by the root meaning of entrepreneurship as the development...‎

Page 9 - This new paradigm is not reducible to a few sentences, let alone a slogan," argues Borins. Nevertheless, he suggests, it contains five "key ideas": — Government should provide high-quality services that citizens value. — The autonomy of public managers, particularly from central agency controls, should be increased. — Organizations and individuals should be evaluated and rewarded on the basis of how well they meet demanding performance targets. — Managers must be assured that the human and...‎

Page 30 - We must endeavor to coordinate these programs — both within the public sector and between the public and private sectors.‎

About the author

Sandford Borins is a professor of public management and chair of the division of management at the University of Toronto at Scarborough. He is a former visiting professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the author of several books, including Political Management in Canada (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1992). His research focuses on international comparisons of public management reform initiatives. He has extensive experience designing training programs and consulting on public management for the Canadian government.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Innovating with Integrity: How Local Heroes Are Transforming American Government
• Author: Sandford Borins
• Publisher: Georgetown University Press, 1998
• ISBN: 1589013476, 9781589013476
• Length: 368 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / Public Affairs & Administration