Interested in the use of public value as a process for getting better outcomes in public services? My book Public Value in Practice: restoring the ethos of public service (written with Chris Woolard, now at Ofcom) has been published by the BBC Trust. It's an every-day tool for the Trust, so I hope others working to improve public services will find this interesting.
We look at the theoretical underpinnings of the concept of public value, from political science and economics and describe some other examples of its use, as well as explaining in some detail how we've implemented public value in BBC Trust decisions. The decision-making is inevitably judgmental but the framework ensures that relevant evidence is brought to bear on them, making for accountability and transparency without the rigidity which undermines decisions based on target-setting or on output measures. (Some of the relevant evidence in our case comes from audience research – that's now all gathered together on the Trust website.)
Anyway, I know some other organisations are now looking at using the public value framework. I'd be very interested in hearing of other experiences or feedback on this.
Diane and Cristopher, first of all congratulations for the innovative, rigorous approach to defining public outcomes and quantifying results-to help readers understand and improve public service. I think any public service manager – whether in a government, nonprofit, or for-profit organization will find in-depth insight and expert advice,that will arm them with a practical framework that can be used to manage trade-offs in public service delivery. Aaron DelSignore