Abstract
This chapter was developed out of a scoping review undertaken by Moon, Dickinson, and Blackman (Not another review about Implementation? Reframing the research agenda. Public Service Research Group. University of New South Wales, Canberra, 2017), which mapped the literature to reveal limitations and gaps in the way that implementation is understood and researched. The review suggested that implementation fails because of flawed decision-making, which arise because elements of the implementation system are either missing or not considered. We first present an overview of how implementation decisions are made, arguing that effective implementation needs a more nuanced consideration in the areas of: politics and administration, social processes, and actors. Second, we identify aspects that are either missing or underrepresented when considering how to affect better implementation decisions and plans; these are context, behavior, and assumptions. The chapter concludes by suggesting the current state of implementation research unduly focuses on explaining failure and does not do enough to identify what new system elements will enable public servants to have greater success with implementation in the future. An overview of how ideas presented in this chapter might fit together in a tentative representation of more considered implementation system elements is offered to provide a start for new implementers to develop new ways of working.
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Moon, K., Blackman, D., Dickinson, H. (2021). Mapping “Implementation System” Elements. In: Sullivan, H., Dickinson, H., Henderson, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29980-4_21
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