From bureaucratic performance to the common good: The challenge of Public Value in Italy
IN BRIEF
- For decades, both global and Italian bureaucracies have dragged businesses and citizens through a complex labyrinth of public projects focused on quantitative outputs — too focused on how efficiently public funding was utilized, how much was accomplished and how quickly, and what public benefit was delivered.
- Public Value should be observed through the eyes of citizens and businesses, it should be communicated in their own words, but most importantly, it should be enabled, protected, and co-created with them.
- Embracing Public Value isn’t merely about adopting new methodologies; it's about changing perspectives — viewing policies through citizens' eyes and measuring success not just by efficiency or output but by tangible improvements in people's lives.
The soccer field fable: A lesson in misaligned priorities
Once upon a time, there was a mayor of a town with some 5,000 residents who prided himself on making the most of public funding. One key goal of his administration was to build five soccer fields in five years, with the ultimate goal of increasing the level of sports participation and health of the town’s citizens. That well-meaning mayor, thanks to a well-functioning organization and efficient and motivated employees, was able to fulfill the political goal. As a result, the 5,000 residents, who happened to average 80 years of age, had five beautiful new soccer fields, delivered on time and budget, Unfortunately, running and playing soccer was not the way the elderly residents of the town were looking to get their exercise. From their perspective, soccer fields were a well-intentioned, but ultimately faulty endeavor.
Breaking free from empty indicators
For decades, both global and Italian bureaucracies have dragged businesses and citizens through a complex labyrinth of public projects focused on quantitative outputs—too focused on how efficiently public funding was utilized (the input), how much was accomplished and how quickly (output), and what public benefit was delivered (social and health benefit, in the case of the soccer fields).
These indicators for success (‘done/not done’ and ‘how much was done and in how much time’) have given rise to a new kind of bureaucracy where “performance for performance’s sake” is the norm and where the true impacts on citizen well-being are often overlooked or, at best, incidental. In fact, research published in 2020 and 2021 in the Italian journals RIREA and Management Control show that just 13% of the 3,798 indicators used by the Italian ministries were impact indicators. Exceedingly rare were the cases of co-planning and co-reporting of impacts; research published in 2020 in the Italian journal Azienda Pubblica shows a "heat map" with few cases of co-planning between ministries concerning the same topic.
In this bleak scenario, among the small amount of existing research on the impacts created, we cite CERVAP's research on the Public Value created by the 14 Italian metropolitan cities. The study ranked the Public Value created by those cities through a Public Value Index ranging from 0 to 100.
Milan (between 68 and 70 on the Public Value Index) and Bologna (between 66 and 68) were the cities that generated the most well-being, with Milan's leadership being focused on economic impact, while Bologna’s leadership was keyed into social impacts.
Unfortunately, the southern cities didn’t fare so well, highlighting the fact that Public Value creation in the region is still a cultural and civic battle. These cities include Catania (30 and 32 on the index) and Naples, Palermo, Reggio Calabria and Messina, all between 32 and 39.
This context was also enabled by disjointed planning tools and programmatic fragmentation. In Italy, before 2021, public administrations (PAs) typically operated in silos with as many as ten different planning instruments per administration, resulting in overlapping projects and redundant efforts.
It wasn't until 2022 that Italian PAs began adopting integrated planning methods. For example, the Integrated Plan of Activities and Organization (PIAO) was created by an infusion of funds from the European Union as part of a public administration reform spurred by post-COVID-19 recovery efforts. In springing to life, the PIAO created the first legislative definition of Public Value: the multidimensional (social, economic, environmental) level of well-being created by a public administration in relationship to its citizens and businesses.
As a single planning tool, PIAO aligns resources with performance management and risk mitigation, but more importantly, it creates measurable Public Value by focusing on the comprehensive impact of public projects from the public’s perspective, rather than isolated outputs from the PA’s perspective.
The Public Value pyramid: A new framework for success
But the PIAO also raises some practical questions where the proverbial rubber hits the road: how do PAs systematically and consistently combine resourcing, risk management, performance, and other administrative factors to achieve a measurable impact on wellbeing? The methodological framework of the "Public Value Pyramid" answers these questions. It integrates various administrative functions—from resource management at its base up through performance and risk management—allowing policymakers and managers to govern the enabling, protecting, and creating of Public Value holistically.
The Pyramid operates on a principle of progressive value generation and measurement, beginning at the base level and moving upwards through intermediate programming levels that either create or protect Public Value.
Milan and Bologna were the cities that generated the most well-being, with Milan's leadership being focused on economic impact, while Bologna’s leadership was keyed into social impacts.
The Pyramid operates on a principle of progressive value generation and measurement, beginning at the base level and moving upwards through intermediate programming levels that either create or protect Public Value.
- The basis of the pyramid addresses how to enable Public Value. Public Value creation and protection are enabled by the planning of actions that are preparatory and functional to improve the quantity and quality of diverse types of PA resources.
- The intermediate levels of the pyramid address the issues of how to create Public Value and how to protect Public Value. The intermediate levels should be planned and measured in an integrated way so that the specific performance objectives, such as a funding call for businesses, are protected with specific risk measures.
- At the top of the pyramid, we find impacts and Public Value, which serves as the horizon of the entire programmatic architecture and addresses the question of “what and how many impacts?” and, finally, “how much Public Value?” Precisely, at the top level of the pyramid, we find the analytical or one-dimensional impacts, the average external impact and, ultimately, the average value between impacts, performance and health.
The pyramid also emphasizes the crucial role of public managers whose individual performances are measured based on their contribution to organizational success and risk management. This methodological framework enables PAs to plan by aligning administrative health, risk reduction, and performance improvements promoting holistic Public Value aimed at enhancing citizen well-being.
Engaging the next generation for the “Public Value generation”
The soccer field fable told at the opening of the article warns us against the risk of self-referentiality in defining what is Public Value. Public Value should be observed through the eyes of citizens and businesses, it should be communicated in their own words, but most importantly, it should be enabled, protected, and co-created with them.
The concept of Public Value must be extended to distinct categories of stakeholders, and it must preserve the possibility of improving the well-being of future generations. It is therefore important to engage with the new generations to create awareness and proper appreciation of Public Value. This is a particularly vital move as Italy prepares for nearly a third of its civil service workforce to retire by 2032. Compounding this demographic problem is the fact that young people overwhelmingly gravitate to the private sector as they enter the workforce.
Research conducted at Italian universities is trying to understand what would motivate young people to enter the public sector. When asked: “What would incentivize you to go and work in PA?” university students ranked “contribution to the creation of Public Value,” “clear career prospects” and “higher salaries” as their top three choices. Clearly, young people are looking for meaning in the work they will do and the sense of the common good that is embedded in the concept of Public Value. This is great news! Public Value is key to building a better future in Italy, as well as other countries around the world.
Every country walks at the speed of its public administrations. To encourage PAs to walk faster, we need to attract the best resources Italy has—young people—and actively involve them in innovative and shared Public Value projects.
Embracing Public Value isn’t merely about adopting new methodologies; it’s about changing perspectives—viewing policies through citizens’ eyes and measuring success not just by efficiency or output but by tangible improvements in people’s lives. As other countries observe Italy’s journey from bureaucratic chaos to a systematic approach highlighting Public Value, they too might find inspiration to pursue similar paths for building better futures for their citizens.
When asked: “What would incentivize you to go and work in PA?” university students ranked “contribution to the creation of Public Value,” “clear career prospects” and “higher salaries” as their top three choices.
