Public Organizations as Complex and Opaque Systems: Hard Indicators for Transparency

This work presents a methodology for the analysis of public institutions based on the theory of complex systems which allows to build, through a series of data very simple to obtain in the field, a reliable description of the target institution in order to increase institutional transparency. The key concepts of the theoretical framework on which the methodology is sustained are developed and it is also illustrated through a case study of a typical public institution: a municipality. After applying the methodology, it is shown that a series of problems related to institutional functioning, which were a priori hidden, are revealed in such a way as to achieve a sufficiently complete diagnosis to serve as an input for decision-makers regarding the policies that can be implemented to solve them, for public servants as actors involved and for citizens as recipients.