A Clientelistic Perspective of Managing Municipal Solid Waste System: An Analysis of the Social Impact of clientelism on the Municipality of Palermo

This thesis aims to analyse the impact that clientelistic political pressures produces on the performance of Amia S.p.A., namely the public utility responsible of managing the solid waste management system of the municipality of Palermo, by making particular reference to the phenomenon of overstaffing. Synthetically, clientelism consists in a series of reciprocal convenience-based relationships between politicians and citizens, commanding unequal resources and involving mutually beneficial transactions in terms of economic, social and political consequences. The motivation of this research arise from the conviction that a deep analysis of this phenomenon, on one hand, could offer a greater contribution to improve the quality of electoral strategies and the consequential public policies and, on the other hand, to facilitate public managers in managing the performance of public organizations according to a perspective of sustainability. Therefore, the major issues of this research can be synthesized into three key questions: which are the main causes that led to the failure of the company Amia SpA? Which are the most remarkable managerial and organizational consequences that clientelistic political interferences have produced in respect of the performance of Amia S.p.A? Which policies could be implemented in order to mitigate the negative effects of clientelism thus maintaining a satisfying standard in the provision of the public service considered herein? Is clientelism a sustainable mechanism to expand significantly the electoral base of a given political party? Due to the high level of dynamic complexity that characterizes the system under observation the author believe that the combination between a dynamic performance management approach based on the so-called instrumental view and the system dynamic methodology may represent a powerful instrument in the hand of policy makers to frame a complex system and understand its development over time. Therefore in order to answer the above questions, firstly, a qualitative model showing which are the key variables of the system and the dynamic produced from their interactions will be elaborated and, secondly, will be identified the performance drivers on which public managers can leverage in order to drive the performance of Amia S.p.A. according to a perspective of sustainability. To conclude, the innovative aspect of this work is the attempt to apply the dynamic performance management approach, combined with the System Dynamics methodology, to assess the impact that clientelistic political interferences produces on the performance of a public utility. Therefore, the usefulness of this study is precisely to provide decision makers with a conceptual map that can enable them to promptly perceive and evaluate the causes and consequences of this phenomenon and, in addition, which policies can be implemented to mitigate the distortive effects that clientelistic political interferences may produces on the performance of a given public utility.