What is TAC
TAC is the Italian acronym for ‘Team per l’analisi dei comportamenti’ and represents the Italy Behavioral Insights Team-IBIT: a new research and consulting group for Public Administrations that aims to use insights from cognitive and behavioral sciences to improve the well-being and job performance of PA employees.
The initiative follows the steps of the many Nudge Units created by governments around the world: since the establishment of the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) by the British government in 2010, others have followed, including the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST) wanted by former US President Obama and the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian government (BETA).
The nudge tool will target the behaviour of PA employees, to help them improve their performance and their individual and organizational well-being. This objective is specific to the TAC compared to other Behavioral Insights Teams around the world, including the one in the UK, which is primarily concerned with public policy.
The TAC project for the Italian PA
TAC’s first initiative supporting the Italian Public Administration takes a Behavioral Public Administration (BPA) approach, focusing in particular on the employees’ performance and wellbeing on the workplace, with the following objectives:
- encourage the implementation of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs), i.e. behaviors and initiatives that go beyond the duties imposed by the contract of employment but that express dedication and sense of belonging to one's organization (e.g., altruism, courtesy, sportsmanship towards colleagues and superiors, interest in the efficiency and the external image of the organization);
- enhance individual and collective decision-making effectiveness of policy maker and public servant, by providing useful strategies to overcome biases and fallacies that hinder human reasoning and choice and to improve public service quality and citizens’ satisfaction;
- improve job satisfaction of PA employees;
- increase job performance at individual and organizational level;
- foster identification with the institutional values of the organization;
- encourage attitudes to critical and innovative thinking.
Staff
- Riccardo Viale (Scientific Head),
- Silvia Felletti, Davide Pietroni, Flavio Urbini (Experts),
- Marco De Giorgi (UVP Director), Rosaria Giannella, Antonio Affuso, Sveva Batani, Gianfranco Becatti (UVP Members)
Our contacts:
Prime Minister Office
Department for public administration
Performance Bureau
Email: tac.italia@governo.it
Tel: +39 06 6899 7584
Behavioral Public Administration and Government: transparency, efficiency and work well being in PA
The blend between the study of public administration and behavioral sciences has led to the birth of the new discipline of Behavioral Public Administration (BPA): the analysis of public administration focuses on the micro-level perspective of individual behavior and attitudes. This is achieved by drawing insights from psychology on the cognitive processes that determine the behavior of individuals and groups.
The focus is on the policy-maker and individual and collective decision-making processes within PA. Some of the covered topics are leadership behavior and group dynamics, “defensive bureaucracy” and drive for innovation, job performance, job satisfaction and motivation, transparency and simplification, organizational identification and sense of civic service.
References:
- Argentero, P., Cortese, C. G., & Ferretti, M. S. (2008). An evaluation of organizational citizenship behavior: Psychometric characteristics of the Italian version of Podsakoff et al.’s scale. TPM–Testing, Psichometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology, 15(2), 61-75
- Grimmelikhuijsen, S., Jilke, S., Olsen, A. L., & Tummers, L. (2017). Behavioral public administration: Combining insights from public administration and psychology. Public Administration Review, 77(1), 45-56
- Hallsworth, M., Egan, M., Rutter, J., & McCrae, J. (2018). Behavioural government. Using behavioural science to improve how governments make decisions. The Behavioural Insights Team
- Viale, R. (2018). Oltre il Nudge. Libertà di scelta, benessere e felicità. Il Mulino