New Publication on the Importance of a Public Service Ecosystem Perspective for Public Service Management

It was written in collaboration with Madeline Powell from the University of York, and Tie Cui and Kirsty Strokosch from the University of Edinburgh.

''Appreciate–Engage–Facilitate’ — the role of public managers in value creation in public service ecosystems' is in the most recent online issue of Public Money & Management. It explores value creation for both public service users and other citizens. Value creation for these key stakeholders occurs within these complex and interactional public service ecosystems.

The paper argues for the need to manage and govern public service delivery across three levels of ecosystem, and where public managers need to enact different roles:

• The institutional level, concerning the impact of societal beliefs, values and rules on public service delivery. This level is not amenable to public managers but does need to be appreciated by them.
• The service level, concerning the impact of service processes, organisational actors, and the local community on value creation—and vice versa. This is the level where public service managers have to, and are most able to, engage with influencing the ecosystem.
• The individual level, concerning the relationship between the individual and public service delivery. Public managers cannot directly affect value creation by individual service users and citizens at this level but they can facilitate it.

The article offers a method of problem solving ('Appreciate–Engage–Facilitate') to understand and support the effective role of public managers in value creation at all levels of public service ecosystems. It is a continuation of the value co-creation and Public Service Logic research within the CenSE.

Read the full article:

• New development: 'Appreciate–Engage–Facilitate' — The role of public managers in value creation in public service ecosystems