Sharing services, saving money? Five risks to cost-saving when organizations share services

Abstract

Shared services are a popular reform for governments under financial pressure. The hope is to reduce overheads and increase efficiency by providing support services like HR, finance and procurement once to multiple agencies. The authors identify five risks that shared services won’t live up to expectations. Each is illustrated with international evidence, before the conclusion discusses ways to manage these risks.

Keywords:

• Centralization
• cost-saving
• efficiency gains
• organization theory
• shared services

Acknowledgements

Part of this research was funded by the University of Nottingham and a grant from the Leverhulme Trust. We thank interviewees for participating.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Thomas Elston

Thomas Elston is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, UK.

Muiris MacCarthaigh

Muiris MacCarthaigh is Lecturer in Politics and Public Administration at the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast, UK.