CC BY
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DOI 10.22394/1726-1139-2020-7-124-140
Integrated Governance of Scenarized Space and Community — Reform of Beijing Qianggen Community Service Station and Enlightenment
з Wang Xuemei*, Zhou Jianyang
о Beijing Administration Institute, Beijing, People's Republic of China; *[email protected]
Ван Сюэмэй, Чжоу Цзяньян
^ Пекинский институт управления, Пекин, Китайская Народная Республика; *wangxuemei@bac.
0 gov.cn
>g ABSTRACT
zn Community governance is significant for the grass-roots governance in China. Micro-governance
and micro-reform starting from community service station is a meaningful measure to explore the ^ improvement of grass-roots governance. Focusing on the reform of community service stations in
^ Beijing, this paper, in consideration to the background of service station reform, describes the his-
§ tory, content and characteristics of the reform of comprehensive setting of Qianggen Community
>x on G Subdistrict of Xicheng District, Beijing, in details, and conducts in-depth analysis based on
"The Theory of Scenes" and "The Theory of Governance". The author holds that community service
1 stations, with new roles taken, new scenarios created and new mechanisms shaped after transforms mation and upgrading, are turned into governance centers that connect multiple parties, respond ^ to needs of residents better and improve the effectiveness of community governance. The reform m practice is committed to the generatingof scenarized social space, promoting the manifestation of § the integrated governance pattern. The author is inspired to consider the issues related to grassroots з governance further and to put forward several suggestions for deepening reform.
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Keywords: community service stations; transformation and upgrading; scenarized space; gen-
cz eral social workers; integrated governance
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m For citing: Wang Xuemei, Zhou Jianyang. Integrated Governance of Scenarized Space and
2 Community — Reform of Beijing Qianggen Community Service Station and Enlightenment // □= Administrative consulting. 2020. No. 7. P. 124-140.
< Для цитирования: Wang Xuemei, Zhou Jianyang. Integrated Governance of Scenarized Space and Community — Reform of Beijing Qianggen Community Service Station and En-
< lightenment // Управленческое консультирование. 2020. № 7. С. 124-140.
i. Background of Community Service Stations Reform
Since 2000, community building has been carried out nationwide and has achieved remarkable achievements. However, in the context of accelerated urbanization and social transformation, grassroots social conflicts are prominent and urban residents' demands for community are increasingly diverse and complicated, imposing new requirements and challenges to community building and governance. In 2008, the Social Work Committee and the Social Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee conducted an in-depth research accordingly. The research, from the perspective of community governance, indicates ranges of issues such as single management subject, administrative management mechanism, superficial community autonomy, low-level community participation, weak support system and low-proficient social work force in community building [6, p. 7-104]. Generally speaking, a grassroots community governance structure in line with the governance system of megacity and modernized governance capacity is yet to be formed. According to the research, the crux lies in the confusing functions of residents'
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committee and community service station, and the determination and establishment of a practical community service platform setting pattern with accurate positioning and efficient operation is essential. On this basis, Beijing determines the role of boosting standardized community building, especially regulation and construction of new-type community service stations as the sally port and core section to improve the commu- < nity governance structure. The specific measure is to establish community service plat- ™ form and community residents' committee in parallel and to build a new-type commu- ^ nity governance structure with "one core of leadership (community party organization) u_ and two service systems (self-governing community service system based on residents' m committee and capable & efficient public community service based on community service ^ station)". A number of policies have been issued since then, intending to basically achieve yd the standardized construction of urban communities throughout the city within three years £ (2009-2011). To be specific, "seven standardized" (including the construction of stand- x ardized community service stations) and "seven based" (including the platform based ^ construction of community service stations) of demonstration sites of standardized com- ^ munity construction are required. In 2011, the Beijing Municipal Party Committee issued o the "Opinions of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China on _j Strengthening and Innovating Social Management to Promote Social Construction in an ^ All-round Way", pointing out clearly that community service stations, as professional o institutes to undertake public service for the government, play an important role in form- z ing the "three-in-one" working pattern of community party construction, community £ self-governance and community services. More importantly, community service stations g are fundamental for building a comprehensive community service management platform. s In 2012, Beijing promulgated the "Beijing Community Management Measures (Trial)" and o "Beijing Community Workers Management Measures (Trial)", determining to build a mod- ™ ern community governance structure, in which community units cooperate closely and ^ residents participate extensively, based on community self-governing organization and ™ replied on community service stations, with the community party organization serving as < the core of leadership, supplemented by community social organizations; moreover, the general reform concept of "one separation, three fixed and two targets" in community construction is formed, requiring to set up community service stations1 with functions separated from residents' committee. As a grassroots self-governing organization, the community residents' committee performs its duties in accordance with the residents' committee Organization Law; while the community service station serves as a work station set up by the Subdistrict office in the community to handle various public services. The two organizations performs their own functions in cooperation under the leadership of the party organization.
Since then, standardized construction has been implemented by various districts, streets and communities in Beijing, with the new community governance system put into operation gradually. In practice, although community service stations undertake
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1 Community service station, a public service platform established by the government at the community level, works under the leadership of the subdistrict office and the guidance of the government functional departments, as well as the leadership of the community party organization and the supervision of the community residents' committee. Responsibilities of Community Service Station include: 1. Acting as an agent for the government to provide public services in the community. 2. Assisting community (village) residents' committees in organizing community volunteer assistance services. 3. Assisting community (village) residents' committees in organizing conven-ience-and-benefit-for-people services. 4. Assisting community (village) residents' committees in cultivating and developing community social organizations actively. 5. Keeping abreast of and reporting social conditions and public opinions. 6. Reporting to the community (village) party organization and community (village) residents' committees regularly, accepting the supervision and evaluation of the community residents.
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more administrative affairs and alleviate pressure on residents' committee to some extents, the institutional and deep-seated problems of community remain to be resolved thoroughly and challenges on community governance linger on. In the new community governance system, community service stations serve as the most immediate window for citizens to interact with the government and appreciate public services provided by the government. However, the performance of community service stations in quickly responding to demands from residents and improving the efficiency of community governance is not satisfactory in the following aspects: On the one hand, the orientation of the service station to routine work contributes a lot to the administerization of community works with the service function weakened — service stations, whose principal duty is single government affairs service, are incapable of meeting diversified needs for convenience such as maintenance of utilities and delivery of meals to the elderly; on the other hand, the traditional line-style working approach causes much inconvenience to residents to handle affairs — since social workers have specialized duties, residents have to wait for specific persons to handle affairs and even have to visit the stations for several times. It is also difficult for social workers to provide service door by door if they stay at the counter all the time. In addition, the layout of community service stations is more like an "administrative space" — conventional L-shaped counters are distributed on the side of the hall in nine areas, separating the community from the residents indifferently. These challenges are common for traditional community service stations. The long-term existence of such problems results in slow response to service demands, low service efficiency, dissatisfaction of residents and increase in hotline complaints, making further continuation of reform of community service stations imperative.
As a result of the administerized mechanism of operation, the vitality in community governance is still insufficient even after the establishment of community service stations. As a comprehensive and multi-functional service organization, the community service station not only undertakes various administrative affairs in the community derived from the residents' committee, but also assists the government in providing residents in the community with public services and public welfare services. Essentially speaking, the establishment of community service station, however, is an extended form of bureaucracy in community, as it can only provide residents with monotonous government services while giving priority to administrative affairs. In the face of diverse and enormous needs of the residents, community service station, whose operation approach is restricted by red tape, can barely meet in a timely and flexible manner. It proves that though the establishment of community service station makes effective governance of community possible in the institutional aspect, its service is unsatisfactory for residents in actual operation, leaving the "last mile" of governance to be opened up.
In 2019, Xicheng District, Beijing carried out a comprehensive reform of the setting of community service stations on G Street. In March, the reform of G Subdistrict was officially launched, with Qianggen and Hetaoyuan communities chosen as pilot sites, and the former was chosen as the first target; in November, the Qiangen community service station renovated comprehensively was officially put into use with pilot operation launched. In January 2020, G Subdistrict held a reform advancement conference, on which it was proposed to carry out a comprehensive reform of the setting of 18 community service stations by groups and categories in 2 to 3 years. Subsequently, Xicheng District held a district-wide start-up deployment conference, on which it was announced that transformation and upgrading and reform of comprehensive setting of 30% community service stations in communities of 15 streets would be launched in 2020. As a practically significant exploration and attempt worthy study, the measure intends to follow the trend, respond to demands, improve the grassroots governance system, innovate the governance pattern and win through the challenges of community governance.
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ii. Characteristics of Reform of Qianggen Community Service Station — New Changes in Transformation and upgrading
In response to the new requirements and tasks assigned by Beijing, the capital of China, for the new era, the reform of community service station is carried out as a sig- < nificant measure to deepen reform of "Immediate Response" in aspects of the leadership ™ of party building, community governance, meeting needs of citizens and solving problems ^ encountered by the masses. The reform accords with emergency mechanism to improve u_ grass-roots governance, the response mechanism to serve the masses and the working m mechanism to open up "the last mile".
The leadership of CPC and government and democratic consultation at the commu- dd nity level are given priority to in the advancement of reform. The Party Working Com- £ mittee and Office of G Subdistrict attach great importance to and supports the reform x vigorously. In March 2019, G Subdistrict set up a special working group to launch the ^ reform officially. The group organized six seminars in the Subdistrict and communities ^ and held democratic consultation at the community level for several times, with great o priority given to opinions of residents. In order to understand the needs of residents, _j the Subdistrict distributed questionnaires to residents and collected opinions via Shequ- ^ tong App online; it held resident forums for several times to discuss with the residents o on reform matters, and so on. z
Top-level design and meticulous implementation are given priority to in scheming the £ reform. The reform working group invited Party Committee Reform Office of Xicheng g District, Beijing Municipal Party School to instruct and conduct scientific design, espe- s cially to clarify the reform concepts and objectives. Specifically, under the guidance of o "Seven Guarantees" and "Five Bases" index system, focusing on the pain point of slow ™ response to providing the masses with life services, a mechanism of rapid awareness g and dispose of residents' needs based on the starting point; according to the most ™ urgent and realistic service demands of residents, functions of the service station are ^ defined accurately. The group strives to turn the community service station into an integrated service platform available to all residents, as well as a "public lobby" and a "neighborhood park" for leisure and cultural enjoyment. In the specific implementation, reform deduction meeting is held to analyze and improve the work flow and implementation plan repeatedly; professional design companies are also hired to modify the design drawings seriously to work out the best service scenario.
After eight months of renovation, Qianggen Community Service Station has taken on an entirely new look. On November 21, 2019, the on-the-spot meeting of reform pilot operation of G Subdistrict was held here, marking the official opening of the renewed service station. The main content, features of the reform of Qianggen Community Service Station and changes after the transformation and upgrading are summarized as follows.
1. New Role: A "Multi-functional Socket" that Connects Multiple Parties and Serve Comprehensively
In response to residents' demands, the transformed community service station provides unprecedented "one-stop" comprehensive services as a platform that integrates service resources from the government, social organizations, surrounding enterprises and communities in connection with relevant subjects. The new service content includes four categories: party-masses services, government services, life services and public services.
Party-masses services are carried out around party-building activities and partymasses services, such as the transfer of membership credentials and "registration at community and residence" of party members. The Party-masses service station is em-
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bedded in the traditional service station, embodying that party fits in the masses and creating an atmosphere of serving the people. Government service is dominated by the undertakings of public service for the government and assistance to the functional government departments in handling related public service affairs. In line with the Government Affairs Service Center of Subdistrict, community service station adheres to the principle of "Handling affairs within the reach" and "Handling affairs as required", ensuring that the government can respond to the demands at hand on people. In terms of life services, with resources such as enterprises, individual business households and social organizations integrated, community service station serves as a service resource platform at both the level of Subdistrict and community, advocating paid consumption and market-oriented operation.At present, the community service station has integrated more than 80 social enterprises within the community jurisdiction, which are sufficient to meet residents' life needs such as maintenance of utilities and housekeeping services and needs for specialized services such as legal service, psychological consultation and health services, etc.. Public services include volunteer service such as cultural and sports, safety and stability, garbage classification, environmental protection and social welfare, open to residents to participate in voluntarily. These services not only enrich the daily lives of residents, but also encourage residents to participate in community governance actively.
At present, among the 149 on-site affairs undertaken by Qianggen Community Service Station, there are party 8 affairs, 116 government affairs and 25 handy service for the public in seven categories; among the cooperated organizations, there are 54 service agencies, 22 handy help outlets, 11 institutes under the jurisdiction and 12 voluntary organizations. Among the affairs, 48 can be handled directly and 68 need document collection, table filling and submitting.
After transformation, the upgraded community service station plays the role of "multi-function socket", namely, a comprehensive service platform with a great variety of functions rather than a monotonous provider of government services. Being demand-oriented, the station connects with various subjects including the government, enterprises, social organizations, volunteers and community party members, with governance resources integrated to ensure that residents' demands are fully accepted and met, so as to promote the formation of a social governance pattern of so-construction, co-governance and sharing.
2. New Scene: A Pro-people, Warm Service-oriented Space with Optimized Layout The layout and settings of community service stations are innovated. According to the principles of "easy to manage service, easy to perform autonomy for residents and easy to give play to community functions", the whole area is divided into five functional areas: reception area, waiting area, service area, party-masses workstation, heartwarming station and convenience-for-people tool cabinet. In the setting of functional areas, the "counter" service pattern of traditional community service stations is abandoned, and the office environment is turned into living and service environment with open space prevailing. Scene creation and service experience are given priority to in the service station, as officer would take the initiative to greet, answer questions patiently, guide to enjoy the service actively and provide the butler-style thorough quality service. In every space here, residents will feel as warm as at home, with experience and sense of gain improved greatly. The new service station strives to meet the diverse needs of different people with social and leisure space integrated, as residents can also take a break, play with their children and chat in such a "neighborhood park" with seats, function of leisure and cultural enjoyment in addition to handling affairs. Furthermore, the community service station also prepares a complete emergency kit for unexpected needs.
The community service station, from the administrative hall to the reception hall that "gathers information, wisdom from the people and benefits the people", is committed to offer a service-oriented space to people with image changed and concepts updated.
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3. New Mechanism: "General Social Worker and Full Response" with Reformed
Process and Upgraded Service Efficiency ro
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With unnecessary staff reduced and the process optimized, the service adopts general ^ social workers instead of single-function officers to accept all kinds of service affairs. u_ With various services handled in a centralized manner, the station is divided into various 2 functional areas reasonably according the content of service and its personnel allocation ^ is adjusted properly. 2-3 "general social workers" are allocated to accept affairs com- dd prehensively in a "general-acceptance, multi-post of single person and multi-function £ of single post" manner. The number of staff is "cut off" from 7 to 4. A chief stationmas- x ter which is selected from outstanding backbone party members is allocated to receive ^ residents together with other two officers, and the deputy stationmaster is responsible ^ for the background transfer and coordination of affairs. The service process is simple o and efficient with "door-to-door, one-visit and one window" achieved, namely, one win- _j dow for acceptance, door-to-door handling and residents only visit once. The affair ^ management system is improved in aspects including service appointment, complete o commission, service commitment and deadline for completion, etc., making sure that z tasks are clear and the division of labor is definite. £
Full-response mechanism based on "Immediate Handling-Transfer" and "Immediate g Response". The station applies the mechanism of online appointment for full-response s service and offline handling of affairs, with residents' demands accepted by the station o classified into "ready-to-handle affair" to handle immediately and "to-be-transfer af- ™ fair" to verify by home-visit. To be specific, affairs will be handled immediately upon ^ being reported by residents, and affairs that cannot be handled immediately will be ™ saved to handle by means such as "Immediate Response" (Subdistrict Initiates the < Process and Departments Check in) and "hand-off". For example, at the end of November, upon receiving demands from a resident for dredging the manhole, the service station started the emergency process for "to-be-transfer affair", with the situation reported to the area-director to visit the resident, and then the community secretary initiated the on-site work to be responded by several departments. The manhole was dredged that day.
Active response system based on "Divide the work on the household basis" and "In-ternet+". All staff members other than those receiving at the station are arranged and assigned with tasks by the party committee and the residents' committee in a mechanism of "Area-fixed for groups of households". They need to visit the residences to gain information of residents' needs and solve their problems, changing from passive to active. Moreover, by means of "Internet +" technology, they seek needs from residents actively to identify problems and form a complete chain of problem collection, identification and solution, with problems identified and solved in the community, so that "problems are solved before being reported and immediately upon accepting".
OTO integrated general response system. With the help of "My Community" section of the "Xicheng Home App" community governance platform, the demands and deliberations of residents posted on the App are transformed into the service content of the community service station after information transfer and transformation of process as an autonomy project for residents; moreover, a general OTO affair-handling platform of the community is built to combine online deliberations and offline negotiation seamlessly.
The effect of the transformation and upgrading of Qianggen Community Service Station is directly reflected in the improvement of service efficiency and rapid rise
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of residents' satisfaction. During the formal operation of the station, 356 affairs appealed by residents in four categories were accepted, covering party affairs such as transfer of party membership credentials and party members' "registration at community and residence"; life problems such as utilities issues; government affairs consultation and handling services; public volunteer services such as "Winter Clothes Collection for Welfare"; helping the elderly with disabilities in the community to handle social security, etc... The people-oriented measures of the community service station have been recognized by the community residents. Residents poured their appreciation for the comfortable, relived and happy life in Qianggen Community.For example, a woman often visits the station and chat with others in the community. She feels warm and relieved for the warm reception and considerate service here. The station helps her report failure of switch and answer questions about medical insurance; she thumbed up to the station for this reform when it managed the subsidy for disabled elderly issued in new policies for the trouble and efforts saved. Residents witness the changes in the community, appreciates the concentrated attention to services, as well as the park-like space full of warm and harmony without the indifference caused by the setting of counter. The section for message on information platforms such as "Mobile G" is also full of messages left by residents to express gratitude and praise. A resident of screen name "Blue Sky and White Cloud" in the community wrote: "People are lucky to have such a community to handle affairs and solve problems for them. We feel extremely happy and warm in such a community". A resident of screen name "Xuannan Hanshi" wrote a poem Xi Jiang Yue-Praise to Qianggen Community Service Station: "Residents appreciate the warm words in the community, as it helps them in emergency and solve problems for them, making the society harmonious. The public lobby with cultural atmosphere does good deeds for people. It enables people to enjoy a happy life without forgetting the original aspiration. November 22, 2019"
The success in the transformation and upgrading of Qianggen Community Service Station as a pilot sets a good example for and triggers a number of reform in a wider range. At the beginning of 2020, G Subdistrict published the "Plan to Implement the Reform in Setting of Comprehensive Community Service Stations at G Subdistrict in An All-round Manner", and held a reform boosting conference in Qianggen Community, on which it was proposed to carry out a comprehensive reform of the setting of 18 community service stations by groups and categories in 2 to 3 years. The new-type service stations of communities in G Subdistrict take the role of "Urban Home" with open and comprehensive services provided. "Four Service in One" has been realized preliminarily. A service resource platform at both the level of Subdistrict and community and a community governance pattern based on "Six Systems" are built, so as to reach the target of improving the grassroots governance system and strengthening service and capabilities.Subsequently, Xicheng District Community Social Work Community and Civil Affairs Bureau held a district-wide start-up deployment conference, on which the "Program of Promotion of Transformation and Upgrading of Community Service Stations in Xicheng District" was issued. According to the "Program", the reform of comprehensive setting of 30% community service stations in communities of 15 streets would be launched in 2020, with a tertiary working system of "District-Block-Community" built in Xicheng District. "Full Response Service of Community" would be launched throughout the 259 communities in the district. Subdistricts are encouraged to adapt to local conditions, highlight regional and community characteristics and provide several special extensive services in addition to the four types of basic services; to reinvent the service process and improve the intelligence level of community services, so as to turn the service station into a warm home and community governance center.
iii. Enlightenment of Reform of the Comprehensive Setting of Community Service Stations
1. Generating of Scenarized Social Space
(1) Creating Comfortable Public Space with Philosophy of Scene Building In the context of knowledge economy, cultural environment and atmosphere are more important for cities, and urban development is also turning to local aesthetics and consumption that highlights quality of space and life. Cultural scenes composed of various comfort objects can provide urban residents with comfort and pleasure. The purpose of scene creation is for creating a more livable living environment [5, p. 92]. In advanced philosophy of scene building integrated in the transformation of space, Qianggen Community Service Station pays much attention to both improvement of soft power of service and artistic design and creation of comfortable public space. The community service stations are of warm and bright color and equipped with complete facilities. The open functional area in the station shows maximum inclusiveness. In addition to the butler-style thorough quality chief-reception service, this series of measures enable residents to feel warm, pleasant and comfortable immediately upon entering the community service station.
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(2) Building Cultural Landscape in Public Space and Conveying Value Idea According to theory of scenes, public space is not only a physical building and concrete facility, but also a space of culture and society, with social relations and cultural practices embodied, full of symbols, meaning and ideology. Urban leisure and entertainment facilities and civic organizations in different combinations form various "scenes", which are externalized symbols of different cultural values. The scenarized space of the transformed community service station conveys specific values and cultural connotations, such as service, humanity, equality and efficiency, etc., which can be summarized as a philosophy of "socialization" that " everyone can equally enjoy humanized public ser- < vices". First, for the comprehensive service content and audience, the community service station provides comprehensive services covering demands of all residents within the jurisdiction of the community service station. Second, for the equal service, without pursuing profits, community service stations provide services for all residents in the community equally rather than provide differentiated services for different people. Third, for people-oriented services, the transformed service station communicates are people-oriented in communication, as the open reception space eliminates the barrier between the staff and the residents, and the officers provide butler-style service with a friendly attitude, greet and guide residents actively in an amiable manner.
(3) Scenarized Space Reconstitutes Social Practice and benefits the Production of Social Capital
The scenarized space influences the behavior of individuals involved while attracting various groups to social practice. The space of community service station is multifunctional. For example, the Party-Masses Activity Center covers G Subdistrict Branch of Xicheng District Committee Party School and G Subdistrict Famous Secretary Studio; the center conference room serves as a multi-functional venue for surrounding units and communities to carry out activities such as the themed party day... In flexible use, the venues in service stations motivate residents to communicate with each other, promote mutual assistance and encourage participation in community construction and governance, so as to cultivate community social organizations. Obviously, the public space of service station is scenarized according to the concept of scene building. The new community service station is not only a place to provide public services, but also a "public lobby" for residents to entertain and improve relationship. What's more, resi-
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dents are also motivated to participate in community building and to form community social organizations here. It reconstitutes social practices in the space and reproduces community social capital.
2. Primary Presentation of the Integrated Community Governance Pattern
(1) Oriented to Residents' Needs and Based on Service Station, the Community
Organizations are Reconstructed in Aspects of Function-Space-Process to Provide
Seamless Community Services
First, the service content and functions of party organizations, residents' committees, and service stations are integrated to the community service station, which provide multiple services such as party-masses services, government affairs services, life services and public services to meet increasingly diverse needs of residents; the "door-to-door, one-visit and one window" efficient work process is formed by setting up the post of general social workers to enhance the efficiency of serving residents; scenarized spaces are created to provide residents with a public lobby for entertainment and communication.
The purpose of the reform is to meet the needs of residents and serve them better, so as to provide various subjects of community with comprehensive and OTO community services.
(2) Integration, Diversification and Socialization of Service and Governance Subjects of Community
The diversity of community subjects represents the complexity and diversification of social life. The complexity of community subjects was used to be regarded as a key o source of the difficulty in community governance, but it also means the richness of potential resources of community the other way around. If the diversified subjects can be integrated into a joint force to be used by the community, it would be quite precious for the community. In the integrated governance pattern, subjects such as government (subdistrict) departments, enterprises, professional social organizations, volunteers and party members are connected by the community service station to get engaged in community governance, and the role of social forces other than the government is highlighted in governance. For example, advantageous resources such as enterprises and professional social organizations can be used to provide professional and colorful life services and public services [3, p. 21].
(3) Operation of the Integrated Governance Machanism
"Integration" is reflected in two aspects. On the one hand, organizational relationships are integrated, focusing on the definition of responsibilities of governance subjects and the reconciliation of cultural concepts. To be specific, based on public interests and community identification, community subject such as party organizations, residents' committees, service stations, community social organizations, residents and jurisdiction units join hands and do their best to provide community services to maximize the contribution to the public interest. On the other hand, service processes are reconstructed and integrated, focusing on the rational allocation of governance resources and ordered service processes.With multiple governance resources integrated, community service station, as a "transit dispatcher", responds to residents' demands in an all-round way. Upon receiving demands from residents, the station handle affairs within the reach with accurate allocation of resources or initiate mechanisms such as "Subdistrict Initiates the Process and Departments Check in" to transfer tasks "one-to-one" or "one-to-many" and urge relevant subjects to provide services for residents accurately in a timely manner. Various service processes are sorted out in the process: party affairs service — leadership process of the party, government service — administrative process of the government, life
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service — service process of the market, public service — negotiation and cooperation process of the participants, etc., making public service provision in order [2, p. 54].
(4) Primary Construction of Flat Network-type Structure of Governance
The integrated governance pattern reconstructs the arrangement and combination of <
governance resources, changes the pyramid-type community governance system of ™
vertical bureaucracy, integrates all governance resources to apply to the community and ^
brings together governance subjects by virtue of community service stations to carry u_
out governance undertakings, showing a flat network-stype governance structure. This 2
structure has the following characteristics: First, the subjects are not separated by their ^
specific functions, but integrated to solve specific problems. The vertical bureaucracy dd
emphasizes vertical hierarchy and horizontal functional differentiation, subjecting to £
supremacy of interests and conflicts between subjects. In the integrated governance x
pattern, subjects are included into the problem-solving system with barriers of interest ^
eliminated. With full play to the advantages in resources, different governance subjects, ^
based on public interest and community identification, work together to solve problems. o
Second, equality and trust are fundamental, and authority ranking is not used as a tool _j
for control. Different from the "top to the bottom" power operation of the bureaucracy, ^
integrated governance represents equality in status of various governance subjects, o
which work together to govern based on trust with a certain power. It lays a network- z
type organizational foundation. The community service station, as a "nodule", runs £
through the network, connects inside and outside and responds to residents' demands g
in a timely manner. This organic organizational structure is conducive to maximizing the s
overall benefits of governance [9, p. 55-56]. o
(5) Unique Feature: Consideration to Both External Input g
of Community Service and Effective Cultivation of Endogenous Force g
in Community Governance
Although external input of high-quality community services enhances the efficiency of community governance greatly, cultivating the endogenous force of community governance is vital to maintain the vitality of community governance. As a carrier of governance, community service station is not only a physical space for providing comprehensive community services, but also a scenarized social space for reconstructing social practices and producing social capital. At the service station, residents can communicate with each other, get informed of community events and participate in community activities, which is conducive to promoting mutual help among residents, increasing interaction among residents, encouraging residents to discuss about and put forward suggestions for community construction, so that residents can participate in community construction and governance and form community social organizations.
It reflects the role of the reform practice of Qianggen Community Service Station in promoting the manifestation of the integrated governance pattern. For the connotation of integrated governance, the core leadership role of the party continues to act as the foundation within community jurisdiction, the government's function of social management and public service acts as the pioneer, the community self-governing organizations acts as the base, the community service station acts as the principal platform under the support of government (subdistrict) departments, enterprises, professional social organizations, volunteers, party organization members and communities to reshape efficient grassroots government-affair service processes, to integrate multiple governance resources and to provide comprehensive and one-stop services such as party-masses services, government services, life services and public services. Moreover, the regulatory role of the government, society and market mechanisms is given full play to, with the government regulation mechanism and the social coordination mechanism con-
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nected, the administrative functions of the government and social autonomy coordinated for complementation and multiple governance forces integrated in order, so as to respond to residents' demands rapidly, improve the level of community service management and service efficiency and promote the formation of a social governance pattern and operation mechanism of so-construction, co-governance and sharing.
The integrated governance pattern mainly responds to three questions: How to provide government services quickly and satisfactorily and handle affairs in single-visit? How to take advantage of the scenarized space to attract residents to participate in community services in an organized manner? What mechanism can be used by multiple subjects to get united organically, govern together based on negotiation? This pattern indicates that communities are always at the forefront of grassroots governance, innovates fine governance at grassroots level, responds to the challenge of community fragmentation and explores the way of good governance in communities according to the logic of practice.
iV. Thinking and Suggestions on Deepening Reform
1. Thoughts Inspired by the Reform:
(1) Whether the Reform of the Comprehensive Setting of Community Service Stations Can Overcome the "Administrative and Marginalization Dilemma" of Resident's committees and "Community Dilemma" of Community Governance?
The administrative dilemma refers to fact that community resident's committee, a self-governing organization of residents, is too busy with the excessive administrative affairs assigned by the subdistrict to perform the functions properly. The marginalization crisis means that the status of resident's committee in the community falls enormously and even be "marginalized" by the establishment of community service stations, which deprived administrative functions of resident's committees. The goal of community building is to turn community into a "social life community". However, at present, community is largely a physical geographic area. Residents have low participation and poor sense of belonging in community building, which relies highly on the government as the "only player". It is called "community dilemma" [8, p. 23].
The administrative dilemma and marginalization crisis of resident's committees are one of the driving forces for the reform of community service stations. The reform of service station promotes the integration of party organizations, resident's committees and service stations, with party-masses services, government affairs services, life services and public services integrated, relocates resident's committees to the center of community affairs and reduces the burden for administrative affairs. However, the dilemma of resident's committees in community governance remains to be solved thoroughly owing to the insufficient transformation of government functions and inadequate self-governance competence of resident's committees.
The participation of multiple governance subjects during the reform is highly concerned. In particular, the community service stations reformed comprehensively are turned into scenarized social spaces to facilitate communication among residents and community recognition, making breaking through the "community dilemma" possible to some extents. However, whether the commendable concept can be continued and realized effictively by creating a reasonable mechanism has yet to be tested by practice.
(2) What is the institutional basis of community service stations as an integration platform and governance center and the legal basis of its governance power?
Community service stations are service organizations established by the government at the grass-roots level. With limited power, they are not law enforcement entities. In the
2. Suggestions for Deepening and Improving the Reform
(1) Government function transformation and community burden reduction are the
institutional basis for the effective operation of the integrated governance pattern Community is a platform for interaction of the state and society. The main target of urban community development reveals that community construction is a major change to the urban grassroots management system and an adjustment to the relationship between the state and society [7, p. 37]. To realize the transformation from administration-oriented community to self-governance and service-oriented community to maximize self-governance and service functions of communities, the government needs to transform its functions and turn from unlimited liability government to limited liability government, from management-oriented government to service-oriented government, so as to strengthen the function of democratic self-governance of communities, weaken the government's function of social affairs management and enhance the endogenous vitality of community construction and governance [4, p. 8].
In recent years, although the central government has been emphasizing community burden reduction, the challenges in community governance has not been solved fundamentally. On the one hand, the community still has a long way to go to reduce the burden. On the other hand, the community is still accustomed to the instructional approach without fully optimizing the services based on residents' needs and problems. Although the burden on the community has been alleviated, the existing burden of community in administrative affairs still distract much attention from community workers. Communities have to go all out to deal with short-term tasks such as economic statistic, population census and activities to promote cultural and ethical progress, as well
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face of requests from residents that beyond the scope of its capabilities, service stations need to hand over them to different governance entities to handle. It means that service stations have to seek governance resources for superiors in the administrative system while seeking extensive help from social forces outside the administrative system. However, without official authorization, only moral constraints such as the sense of sibility and consciousness of each governance subject how to ensure that they can ™ respond positively? How to achieve the effectiveness of integrated governance? The g institutional basis and power legality of community service stations as an integration platform and governance center need to be clarified.
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(3) What is the impact of process reconstruction and setting reform of community lu
service stations on the transformation of community workers into "general social ^
workers"? %
General social workers have a general mastery of various administrative skills. The ^
details in the specific setting of service stations include: only 2-3 persons perform ^
general practice in a "multi-post of single person and multi-function of single post" o
manner to fully respond to residents' demands. In the initial consultation system, they _j
handle affairs in manners such as immediate-handling, time-limited completion, door- ^
to-door handling and complete commission — with fewer people to handle more affairs, o
the setting of general social workers will undoubtedly improve the efficiency of admin- z
istrative services and conserve service resources. Community workers are necessarily £
required to gain a general mastery of administrative skills. However, it must be noticed g
that social workers who only have administrative skills can only provide limited services, s
serve superficially and are lack of proficiency in social work. Faced with the increas- o
ingly complex and diverse needs of residents, it is necessary to think deeply about the ™
connotation of "general social workers" and the future development orientation of com- ^
munity social workers [10, p. 44]. ™
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as daily tasks such as civil affairs & assistance to the disabled, family planning & sanitation and labor security. Out of this reason, community services can only take needs of residents into consideration. Therefore, burden reduction is the top priority of community governance, especially in administrative affairs, so as to leave more room for community self-governance. In the general social worker model, the administrative affairs undertaken by communities are allocated to a few mainstay officers. In addition to the reshaped work process, administrative affairs can be handled more efficiently with fewer personnel; more community workers are free up to collect public opinions door by door. On the premise of improving the efficiency of convenience-to-people services, reduction of burden of administrative affairs is emphasized to spare more focus on serving residents.
(2) Malfeasance and omission should be avoided for party and government, which
emphasizes proper performance in empowerment and power adjustment for
a smooth connection of sections and divisions The reform of the comprehensive setting of community service stations covers interaction of multiple governance subjects, during which the subdistrict-community relationship should be reviewed. Governance resources are applied more to communities via community service stations, which serve as a new means of community governance. The mechanism of "Subdistrict Initiates the Process and Departments Check in" should be activated in cases of inextricable problems resulted from incoordinate power-duty. This requires service stations to be empowered to mobilize the relevant functional departments, establishment of mechanisms for connecting service stations with vertical resources of the subdistrict office, for service supervision assessment, for two-way assessment and for residents' satisfaction assessment, etc.. In this way, malfeasance and omission can be avoided and the service quality can be guaranteed.
The connection between community service stations and the subdistrict public service hall will be reinforced with much attention paid to the integration with the construction of subdistrict public service hall. Service items will be included in the service category and processes of the subdistrict public service hall. By means of unified deployment, unified implementation, professional guidance, joint demand acceptance items of subdistrict and communities will be increased from time to time to realize subdistrict-community interaction. The core-handling system of community service stations will be further developed and improved to realize the seamless connection between the subdistrict public service hall and community service stations. In the public service hall service model, operations of community service stations are managed in a unified manner with closed-loop systems covering acceptance, undertaking, distributing, urging, feedback and closing and effective regulation systems established, so as to dock community service stations with the subdistrict public service hall with service items regarded as crucial.
Within the community, the co-governance and responsibility-sharing mechanism for community service stations and resident's committee will be improved. The administrative functions of the government will be integrated with self-governance of residents in communities dynamically with the grassroots foundation of government reinforced, so as to ensure the solid implementation of social management and public service in communities and promote the establishment and improvement of residents' self-governance mechanism. Community resident's committees and community service stations should give play to their respective strengths in cooperation and co-governance to provide services, with information communication and resource sharing strengthened. In cases where organization of residents and activities are needed by community service stations in handling affairs, community resident's committees should bring its superiority in contacting residents into full play to provide support.
(3) Community Resident's committees and Service Stations Work Together Closely to Enhance Contact with Residents to Avoid being "Marginalized"
Regarding community development standard, the question "Where do people go" deserves pondering. The role and value of communities lies in service. The relation < between communities and residents is dominated by administrative purposes due to the prominent orientation to administration, leaving the contact in daily services loose. In order to transform into service-oriented community, interaction with residents should be increased to understand their needs for service. The post of general social workers is set in the reform of community service stations to handle community administrative affairs collectively, with the burden of administrative work for communities relieved, so that the community staff have enough time, energy and labor to re-establish close ties with residents. With reference to the regular door-to-door communication in the 1980s, the service station staff take initiative to visit residents at home to gain knowledge of their needs and solve their problems. In order to avoid "marginalization" and make breakthroughs, community service stations must be worked closely with by dispatching personnel and service station workers to visit residents to understand their situations or cooperate with service stations to organize community activities to get
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closer to residents. o
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(4) The resident's committee focuses on the creation of scene-oriented spaces, cc guiding residents to participate in the multi-party co-governance actively o
The level of community development and the degree of self-governance vitality depend s on the quantity and type of resources owned by the community to a great extent, as o well as the utilization of these resources to provide community residents with diverse ™ and socialized services, so as to turn the rigid administrative community into a vibrant ^ self-governance community. The resident's committee should explore and utilize the ™ diverse resources in the community actively. <
Community service station, a scenarized social space, can be used equally by residents, allowing residents to communicate with each other, learn about the current affairs of the community, provide advice and suggestions in a timely manner and discuss about common needs democratically in such a shared public space. It is conductive to the formation of community social organizations. With the help of service stations, residents' committees can organize community activities actively, cultivate community social organizations such as entertainment organizations and voluntary organizations that meet the needs of residents and continues to expand the scope of service subjects; residents are encouraged to participate in the process of community self-government. The self-governance function of residents' committees should be securedto attract more community residents to get engaged in the co-governance of communities as the "masters of community" and join hands with residents' committees.
(5) Community service stations should give priority to training general social workers with both administrative and professional capabilities, and embedding the individual-case management model to improve service level
Professional community social workers aims at providing residents with more considerate and professional social services, requiring them to have excellent professional skills, namely, "social workers"; to be able to either undertake administrative tasks or perform professional social work, namely, "general". In short, general social workers represent an exploration of the localization of social work, requiring community social workers to have both administrative and professional capabilities. Community service stations should also take this aspect as the basis for training general social workers, update training content and keep pace with the times.
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In terms of administrative capabilities, general social workers need to have a high level of serving skills and be able to handle various affairs undertaken by community service stations and operate office systems proficiently; other capabilities in aspects such as social communication, organizational management and adaptability are also required. Holding exchange meetings, inviting mainstay service officers and technical personnel to instruct, or launching service skill competitions are alternative to train and improve them. In terms of expertise, social workers need not only to be familiar with professional social work theories, methods and skills, but also to be able to combine theory and practice, analyze problems theoretically and solve problems proficiently. Moreover, they need to widen their horizon of knowledge in law, economics, medicine, etc... The training of expertise needs the trainers to have a reliable theoretical foundation. Systematic courses provided by social work teachers in colleges and universities is the best choice, and teachers in other specialties can also be hired for other aspects by means of holding lectures regularly.
General social workers provide one-on-one butler services for residents and solve the complex and diverse needs of residents with resources integrated to service stations. This is consistent with the process model of social work individual-case management, which can be integrated into general social worker service model creatively. In this way, general social workers will act as both administrative experts but also individual-case managers, so as to increase the professionalism of general social worker service model, give full play to the advantages of social work and serve the residents better.
The process can be divided into six steps: application and acceptance, investigation and diagnosis, plan development, plan execution, supervision and coordination, case closure and evaluation. In the first step, residents visit community service stations for help with complex and diverse problems. General social workers evaluate their claims and consider whether they are within the service scope of the community service station. Claims within the service scope are accepted by general social workers, and the residents should fill out the relevant documents to form a professional relationship with general social workers; claims beyond the scope will be transferred by general social workers to other agencies or persons to resolve. In the second step, after accepting the case, general social worker needs to understand and collect information on the various conditions of the service object, and make judgment on the causes, status quo of the problems and social resources owned by the individual according to materials submitted by the residents and conversation with them, so as to pave the way for subsequent work.In the third step, after assessing the needs and problems of the residents, general social workers make a service plan customized for the residents. In the fourth step, general social workers will work according to the plan. This section is critical in case management, as smooth execution of plan is the premise for breakthrough in serving residents. Sufficient service resources are fundamental for the smooth implementation of plans, requiring general social workers to connect the service object with the service resources. In the fifth step, when residents' demands are beyond the service scope of the service station, general social workers will help the residents to connect with the resources outside. To ensure the realization of plans, general social workers need to monitor and coordinate with the service providers. In the sixth step, after the residents 'claims are met, general social workers will issue relevant certificates to finish the professional service and evaluate the service goals and plans, the performance of both parties and the service effectiveness and efficiency. Residents will also conduct satisfaction assessment against the services provided by general social workers.
After the process is clarified, it is also necessary to clarify the basic skills needed for general social workers in the service process: communication, coordination, recording and evaluation. Good communication is the basis for smooth progress of service, and gaining more useful information through communication is conductive to the improve-
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ment of service effectiveness and efficiency. Therefore, general social workers need to strengthen the training of communication skills, so as to be able to express ideas via language and body symbols and environmental symbols; others should be respected as the service objects are dignified and valuable individuals, so they should be accepted unconditionally, the empathy ability of general social workers should also be improved < to make guests feel relieved for the perception of empathy. Coordination means that ™ general social worker should negotiate and mediate between service objects, service 3 resources and various service entities to reduce cooperation costs and ensure the smooth progress of service plans. Record means that general social workers should keep written records of information about interactions with the service objects based on professional judgment as evidences for work undertaking. Specific information about the service objects should be kept confidential according to the principle of confidentiality. Evaluation means that general social workers should evaluate service process and service effect to reflect and summarize the advantages and disadvantages of their work. Professional questionnaires are optional for evaluation, and questionnaires should be designed based on the relevant indicators of specific services. They should be filled out separately by the service objects and general social workers. Alternatively, general social workers can regularly conduct large-scale service satisfaction surveys among residents based on the knowledge of the actual situation [1, p. 37]. o
(6) Community service stations should strengthen the bond with various subjects,
get access to more resources, gain power in practice and act as the real center of a
governance §
With multiple governance subjects connected and governance resources integrated, o
community service stations provide residents with comprehensive community services. ™
With the continuous refinement of social division of labor and the increasing diversifica- 3
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tion of residents' demands, community service stations need to get access to and in- ™ tegrate more service resources and expand the service range continuously, so as to < keep up with the growing demands of residents and respond to residents' demands effectively, comprehensively and rapidly.
Transformed community service stations can be likened to a "multi-function socket" that interact with all subjects. As mentioned above, for the part of the author, the source of power of community service stations to integrate and dispatch resources lies in the practice of interaction. At community service stations, each subject can gain "benefits" here: for residents' demands, service stations can match the service unit accurately according to the content; for the government's requirements, service stations can help to implement; for needs from enterprises, social organizations, service stations can help them connect with the government and residents. Community service stations need these subjects to provide related community services. Under such "interest exchanges", each subject and the community service station will form a close relation with mutual reliance and help. As the center of interaction, community service stations can also obtain power over other subjects to allocate various governance resources. In order to become the true governance center, community service stations must constantly strengthen interaction with all subjects and plays an indispensable role at the center.
(7) In the reform of comprehensive setting of community service stations, conditions and needs of residents should be concerned, and the implementation should be in line with features of the community
The reform of the comprehensive setting of community service stations in Qianggen Community is worthy being learned from by other areas, but the specific measures and successful experiences cannot be simply "copied and pasted". All explorations of community governance are people oriented and performed to meet increasingly diverse
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needs of residents and solve the problems of residents' better and faster. Therefore, features of communities should be considered in the reform and construction of community service stations with opinions and requirements of residents in the community accepted extensively. Reform of service content and reconstruction of spaces should be based on conditions and requirements of residents to provide them with exclusive "menu of special services" and "residents' home". It is also necessary to identify all the governance resources available within the community, to take party organizations as the center, to communicate and collaborate actively and to summarize the experience of "integrated governance" with local characteristics.
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References
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7. Yang Rong. Community Power and Grassro ots Governance: An Empirical Study Based on L Subdistrict in Beijing. Beijing : Social Sciences Academic Press, 2019. 3. (In Chin.)
8. Zheng Hangsheng, Huang Jialiang. On the Dual Predicament and Innovation Dimension of China's Community Governance — an Analysis Based on the Reform Practice of Community Management System in Beijing // Dongyue Tribune. 2012. No. 1. P. 23-29. (In Chin.)
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About the authors:
Wang xuemei, Doctor of Law, Beijing Administration Institute (Beijing, People's Republic of China),
Associate Professor; [email protected] Zhou Jianyang, Bachelor of Law, Beijing Administration Institute (Beijing, People's Republic of China), postgraduate student (reading); [email protected]
Об авторах:
Ван Сюэмэй. Пекинский институт управления (Пекин, Китайская Народная Республика),
доцент, доктор юридических наук; [email protected] Чжоу Цзяньян, Пекинский институт управления (Пекин, Китайская Народная Республика), бакалавр права, аспирант; [email protected]
