Measuring the Dynamics of Organisations and Work in Public services Nathalie Greenan Centre d’Etudes de l’Emploi and TEPP-CNRS Brainstorming on measuring innovation in Education 11 June 2009

Two experiences: COI and Meadow  French: The 2006 COI survey → COI: “Changements Organisationnels et Informatisation” → Developped and coordinated by Centre d’Etudes de l’Emploi → Produced by the French national statistical system → Linked employer-employee survey → First Private sector, then extended to Central administration & Hospitals  International: the Meadow project → coordination action funded by the European Commission in the sixth RTD framework program (FP6), March 2007 – February 2010 → aim: setting out Guidelines for collecting and interpreting harmonised data at the European level on organisational changes and work restructuring and their economic and social impacts → 14 partners in 9 EU member nations: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweeden, United Kingdom

Why extend the COI survey to central administration and hospitals?  Deep ongoing changes → Central administration: decentralisation, budget reform, e-governement etc. → Hospitals: governance reform, activity based financing system, health IT etc.  Public organisations experience high restructuring pressures:  similar to the ones experienced in the private sector: ICT diffusion, aging of the workforce, changing needs of citizens  specific to the public sector: regulatory control, changing standards of service provision, accountability, public service modernisation agenda and budget constraints  Organisational responses to the transformation pressures can be expressed  in similar terms in the public and in the private sector: diffusion of management techniques and practices, diffusion of ICTs, changes in work organisation  specificities are to be taken into account with probably some important heterogeneity across Europe : organisational structure, employment relationship, employees’ attitudes  Scope for comparative public/private analysis  in the assessment of changes themselves  in the assessment of their outcomes  A success in terms of implementation:  400 Central administration employers and 2000 employees  600 hospitals (public and private) and 2000 employees

Meadow Basic analytical framework and measurement frame External drivers Policy of the organisation Management techniques and practices (ICTs) Work system Economic performance Social performance Work organisationOrganisational structure Dynamic capabilities

Main lines of the general survey framework  A survey linking interviews directed to an employer with interviews directed to his/her employees  Measures of states and changes of the organisation through retrospective questions and a panel survey structure  Interview with a general manager at the establishment or workplace level and of samples employees representative of all employees at the workplace  Coverage of the private and public sectors  A flexible approach to questionnaire design and data collection to secure harmonisation and to master costs

Changes through retrospective questions and a panel ER wave1ER wave Retrospective information EE wave 1 EE wave 2 EE wave 2 ER wave3 EE wave 1 EE wave 2 EE wave 1 Retrospective information Employee survey (EE) SSU Employer survey (ER) PSU

Employer and employee level information  Employer: state and change of the organisation / flexibility - Drivers - Strategy or policy of the organisation - Use of management practices and ICTs - Structure of the organisation - Employer outcomes  Employee: work experience / quality of work - work organisation - working conditions - employee outcomes

Applicability to Education  Primary sampling units: central services of the Ministry of education, schools, universities, training centers  Employer questionnaire for a school: Drivers: changes in legislation, in the population of pupils, competition with establishments in the neighbourhood… Strategy: develop specific options, invest in new equipment… Use of management practices and ICTs: Knowledge management for curriculum development, portal for pupil services, tutoring … structure: number of classes, number of pupils, relationship with local governement, relationship with parents… School outcomes…  Employee questionnaire: Work organisation: collective work, social support, use of ICTs, learning new things at work, supporting new ideas… Working conditions: work rhythm, repetitiveness, class size, working in noise… Outcomes: satisfaction, well being, accidents, wages…