How to Measure the Autonomy of Managerial Levels in the Public Administration Effects estimation of the recent Italian public administration reform: a case study

This paper deals with the issue of the relationship between politics and public administrations adopting new public management criteria, or rather between political and managerial level , in order to identify the real capacity of public managers to carry out independent choices regarding operations felt as the more appropriate to reach strategic goals designed by political authority. Therefore, when the political level ask to the managerial level to have responsibility of in policy implementation and its results, what are the drivers that allow to a public manager to reach assigned goals in a certain political context? How politics permit public managers at one's own discretion in operate? By definition and measurement of the concept of managerial autonomy (as capacity to organize activities in an independent way) in public contexts, the paper give some answers at these questions and it estimates the effects of National Laws designing role and responsibility of public manager in Italy, assumed as a case study. Based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the effects produced by reforms of public management, the research verifies the correspondence between the finality of the Law (autonomy of public manager) and the real result as consequence of its design and implementation. For this purpose Organization analysis and Legal analysis are integrated with System Dynamics methodology, understanding complexity that requires a multidisciplinary approach. public administrations adopting new public management criteria, or rather between political and managerial level , in order to identify the real capacity of public managers to carry out independent choices regarding operations felt as the more appropriate to reach strategic goals designed by political authority. Therefore, when the political level ask to the managerial level to have responsibility of in policy implementation and its results, what are the drivers that allow to a public manager to reach assigned goals in a certain political context? How politics permit public managers at one's own discretion in operate? By definition and measurement of the concept of managerial autonomy (as capacity to organize activities in an independent way) in public contexts, the paper give some answers at these questions and it estimates the effects of National Laws designing role and responsibility of public manager in Italy, assumed as a case study. 2 Based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the effects produced by reforms of public management, the research verifies the correspondence between the finality of the Law (autonomy of public manager) and the real result as consequence of its design and implementation. For this purpose Organization analysis and Legal analysis are integrated with System Dynamics methodology, understanding complexity that requires a multidisciplinary approach.