New development: Responding to complexity in public services—the human learning systems approach

Lowe, Toby, French, Max, Hawkins, Melissa, Hesselgreaves, Hannah and Wilson, Rob (2021) New development: Responding to complexity in public services—the human learning systems approach. Public Money & Management, 41 (7). pp. 573-576. ISSN 0954-0962

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2020.1832738

Abstract

The challenges facing public services and non-profit organizations are complex and multi-faceted, confounding the orthodoxies of bureaucratic public administration and New Public Management approaches. This article discusses the merits and potential of the emerging ‘Human Learning Systems’ (HLS) approach to the funding, commissioning and management of public services as an alternative management logic. Building on prior introductory work, the authors analyse the current state of development, content and operation of HLS and its collaborative process, involving more than 300 organizations. Drawing on the experience of public and non-profit service professionals in adopting and experimenting with this approach, the authors found that HLS can provide a helpful and innovative conceptual frame to promote constructive engagement with complexity in public management theory and practice.

IMPACT:
Current approaches to public management based on principles of marketization, management and measurement are increasingly being seen to fail when faced with the complex world of public services. The Human Learning Systems (HLS) concept represents an alternative approach which embraces the complexity of the real world of organizations working to deliver services. Produced in collaboration with an emerging community of funders, managers and commissioners of services, HLS offers a framework which bridges academic complexity theory and the diverse contexts of practice. This article introduces HLS as a means to enable organizations, practitioners and service users to work together more effectively.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Collaboration, complexity, learning, non-profit, performance management, public management, public services, systems
Subjects: L900 Others in Social studies
N100 Business studies
N200 Management studies
Department: Faculties > Business and Law > Newcastle Business School
Depositing User: Elena Carlaw
Date Deposited: 30 Sep 2020 11:14
Last Modified: 12 Oct 2021 10:00
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/44355

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