1st Edition

Transforming Public Services by Design Re-Orienting Policies, Organizations and Services around People

By Sabine Junginger Copyright 2017
    200 Pages 18 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    For policy makers and policy implementers, design challenges abound. Every design challenge presents an opportunity for change and transformation. To get from policy intent to policy outcome, however, is not a straightforward journey. It involves people and services as much as it involves policies and organizations. Of all organizations, perhaps government agencies are perceived to be the least likely to change. They are embedded in enormous bureaucratic structures that have grown over decades, if not centuries. In effect, many people have given up hope that such an institution can ever change its ways of doing business. And yet, from a human-centered design perspective, they present a fabulous challenge. Designed by people for people, they have a mandate to be citizen-centered, but they often fall short of this goal. If human-centered design can make a difference in this organizational context, it is likely to have an equal or greater impact on an organization that shows more flexibility; for example, one that is smaller in size and less entangled in legal or political frameworks.

    Transforming Public Services by Design offers a human-centered design perspective on policies, organizations and services. Three design projects by large-scale government agencies illustrate the implications for organizations and the people involved in designing public services: the Tax Forms Simplification Project by the Internal Revenue Service (1978-1983), the Domestic Mail Manual Transformation Project by the United States Postal Service (2001-2005) and the Integrated Tax Design Project by the Australian Tax Office. These case studies offer a unique demonstration of the role of human-centered design in policy context.

    This book aims to support designers and managers of all backgrounds who want to know more about reorienting policies, organizations and services around people.

    CONTENTS

    List of Figures

    Preface

    Acknowledgements

    Abbreviations

     

    Section and Chapter titles

    SECTION I

    Re-Orienting Public Services, Organizations and Policies Around People

    Chapter 1: Design and Transformation as a Problem for the Public Sector

    Chapter 2: Design Foundations for Transforming Services, Organizations
    and Policies around People

    Chapter 3: New Approaches to Policy Design

    Chapter 4: Services as Key to Effective Government

    Chapter 5: Organizational Design Practices

    SECTION II

    Three Examples of Transforming Public Services to Re-Orient Government Around People

    Example 1: The USPS Domestic Mail Manual Transformation Project
    Chapter 6:
    How it began: Project Background and Introduction

    Chapter 7: Preparing the Ground: Project Phase I

    Chapter 8: The Organizational Dimension: Project Phase II

    Chapter 9: Completing the Transformation: Project Phase III

    Example 2: The US IRS Tax Simplification Project
    Chapter 10:
    The Project from Start to Finish

    Example 3: Australian Tax Office Integrated Tax Design Project
    Chapter 11:
    Background, Project Phases and Outcomes

    Chapter 10: An Expanding Discourse and Practice of Design in the Public Sector

    Bibliography/references

    Appendices

    Index

    Biography

    Sabine Junginger, PhD heads the Competency Center for Research into Design and Management at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. She is a Fellow of the Hertie School of Governance. She is Visiting Professor at Jiangnan University, China and the Macromedia University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Germany.