Efficiency, Performance and Productivity of Services Rendered by the Australian Public Sector - Essay Example

Title Page Title: Efficiency, performance and productivity of services rendered by the Australian public sector Course Number: Course Name: Lecturer: Assignment number: Date due: Student name: Student number: Introduction At this time of the economy, in which private firms are threatened by the profound effects of global crunch, the public sector will be really important to Australia. Elementary market properties have failed and hence public services are being heavily relied on. However, the Australian public sector has had major problems in ensuring that efficiency of its services is not compromised. Public sector performance has also been way below the target levels and service delivery has been inadequate. These problems are totally injurious to Australia in terms of accountability and accounting of the public sector and measures need to be taken to curb them or mitigate their effects. In the current world, the public sector or the government’s role cannot be undermined and it is in fact at certain stages the most vital; this has been seen in the USA where poor government strategies and services have greatly been tied to accounting or economic failures. The government is the main service provider and in highly developed economies, quality public services are very important. The Australian Government is also an effective controller that protects public interest, ensures that it does so cost effectively and is liable for ensuring that intermediaries get their rights of infrastructure. The government is also a tactical leader, coordinator and launch pad geared at assembling resources and corporations in areas where the private sector would not handle due to biased interests. The situation at hand in the Australian public sector calls for application of approaches, projects and achievement teams that will see Australia improve productivity of the public segment1. Expected strategies should furnish the government with the elements of high performance. Teams established should also walk the talk via realising proposals by converting them into projects which they deliver and steer themselves. Aims, performance channels and time schedules of the projects should also be clear. Accountability and accounting effects of poor performance and productivity Poor performance and low productivity causes dissatisfaction in the very roles that the public service is meant for. One of the roles that the public sector covers is assisting Australians in safeguarding their monetary, societal and ecological welfare. Although a small number of Australians get the service they deserve, the performance of the public sector can be said to be optimal only if there is no segregation in service delivery. Poor public performance leads to poor private venture policies and hence few investors are willing to invest in that particular place. Less capital is pumped and for this reason, infrastructure needed to attract investors is poor too. This cost is catered for by investors directly and indirectly by means of investing the capital themselves consequently converting their money into less helpful capital. Without an improvement in public performance, Australia is going to loose or be incapable of retaining its private investors2. The prospects of the country are also on the hands of the public sector; if it fails to perform financially and responsibility wise, the country fails too. If the public sector fails, Australia is going to have problems with keenness in the way they respond to modern transformations. In such an incurrence, there will be poor coordination among societal, ecological and economic groups; these groups are supposed to work together. Australia’s public sector is wanting and it has tricky population figures. For example, the midpoint age class is 40 to 50 years. As a result, most important projects do not tally with the number of employees who are available. Demand for public services is on the increase yet the resources available are controlled. Even with these ramifications, the public sector is still reluctant to adopt new tactics and hence modern problems are getting even more difficult to solve. Moreover, monetary contact between Australia and the Commonwealth is changing to the disfavour of Australia. Performance, management and output are needed more than ever but if the right strategies are put in place, the situation can be contained. Inadequacy of the public sector has resulted into failure with regard to manufacturing and commerce areas since it has been unable to come up with effective ways of offsetting business recession. Improved productivity and efficiency of the public sector Fundamental approaches Several issues need to be tackled to improve the way the public sector operates. Australians need public service heads that are not only of highly competent but also leaders who are able to see into the future. The public heads should be flexible and ready to acclimatize to varying state of affairs; these are the right people who can transform and change Australia’s future for the better. Australia also needs a public sector with permeable boundaries; more trade, communal and academic affiliations should be realised so as to bring together knowledge and power. Australia will need a public sector system that pays more attention to service delivery and a government which recognizes its citizens more by listening to the calls of the society. More results will also be expected out of the minimal resources that Australian public sector has if productivity is to be made better. To realise such a system, Australia must assume strategies that drive higher performance, accountability and hence save Australia’s resources. Firstly, major transformations on the headship and tactical capacity of the current public sector need to occur. The transformations should see Australia come up with focussed leaders who recognize where exactly where the country is supposed to be and how to realise it in the near future. This should include a clear understanding of the resources needed to get there. Far above the ground performance requires presentable leaders with the faculty, skilfulness and compulsion to tackle intricate hitches and difficulties. Such leaders should also be people who can make the most of any oncoming chance. The Australian administrative service should also be refined by warranting a strong centre of attention on headship aptitude, prearranged growth tracks and a lucid contour of view to key aims and yardsticks. New competencies structures should be tried and further joint venture developments should be considered by identifying potential or talented people who can handle executive positions3. Australian government should team with schooling and instruction providers so as to build up a strong set of learning and development chances. An exhaustive leadership improvement program should be jumpstarted and targets set for the program. Executive groups should also be incorporated in the public sector. Productivity can also be increased by use of inventive faculty. This process involves acquiring information and utilizing it to perform activities in an enhanced manner. High performance can be realised by the Australian public sector if attained knowledge is used to devise new methods of doing things. Information is supposed to come from past incidences in the Australian public sector and other non-Australian examples. Captured information should be used to propagate a revolution in the sector. On this regard, the Australian public sector should be devoted to unsurpassed exercise and flexibility. The sector should be able to perform prototypes to determine what works best and how the real project should be done during the implementation stage. Intelligent teams should also be brought together and incorporated; the teams should help in the brainstorming process and project implementation. To have information that is well represented, fair, reliable, rich in variety and free from bias, it is intelligent that the teams be composed of businessmen, government representatives and the community as well. Alliances and partnerships can also very important in increasing efficiency of services and hence the performance of the Australian public sector4. In the present days, problems are intricate and inclusive of all parties. If a solution is being reached, all the parties have to be involved otherwise the problem remains half solved. Alliances between the government, businessmen and community members are paramount to realisation of a productive sector. High efficiency comes about when a public sector is able to strap up collective information and assemble forces of all the aforementioned groups together with the education sector. More efforts can also be made to develop partnership skills and recompense or acknowledge the vital roles that collaboration plays. High performance in terms of accounting and accountability also calls for presence of a government that is centred on its citizens. This basically involves the Australian government taking on the centre of population in some roles and accepting to hear their point of view other than assuming that they do not exist. Efficient public sectors or governments incorporate citizens in their decision-making activities. Members of public are allowed to undertake arranged prototypes and through this method, they are able to express their ideas. Winning replicas from other places are also looked at. This procedure is also helpful to the government as it prepares citizens to be autonomous; they no longer have to rely on the government entirely when they need solutions to their problems. The public sector should also be aware of the ways that they are supposed to use to achieve productivity of high standards and how it should meet what is expected of it by members of the public. Meeting public expectations should not be affected by the fact that the resources available are controlled. To better its performance, practice, accounting and accountability, the public sector in Australia should be able to gauge its performance. Moreover, it should not only use local findings but also, performance enhancement or unbeaten productivity examples from other parts of the world. Australian public sector should also design methods of combating the impediments it comes across by employing strategies and use of measuring procedures that are relevant to the topical issues at hand. Another procedure that can see Australian public sector increase effectiveness of its services is planning and developing the public labour force. The Australian public sector should clearly know the kind of labour force that it needs and the rationale of realising it. Data on good labour force should be obtained and employment reforms put into practice. Employment of trainees and alumni should be improved and all recruitments should be based on worth and not bias. The public sector should appreciate the changing world and venture more into online recruitment5. It should also be able to target and draw more applicants so as to have a pool of options to select from; online advertising should be preferred more than local methods as they reach big numbers of people, provide diverse talent and they are easy, cheap, less time consuming and affordable. Withholding strategies should also be implemented in cases where elder employees are resourceful to the public sector. Existing customs should also be challenged and critically analysed in terms of the gain they bring and the costs the public sector incurs so as to have them operational. These employment strategies should see the sector come up with a robust worker scheduling and expansion strategy. Accomplishment teams and other input projects Accomplishment teams should help the public sector in working on issues that require partnership-oriented and intended resolutions. These teams are used as a tool of developing the right headship. These teams require support from sponsoring organisations and most importantly, the government business leader, the cabinet members and the minister in charge of the public service docket. Members of theses teams should be intelligent, great at brainstorming and good at doing everything that they resolve. The teams should also contain influential members who can easily form alliances among them, the society and the private docket6. Accomplishment teams should assist the public sector in coming up with brand new answers to major threats and chances7. The answers would be applied in cases where: former solutions have become obsolete and they no longer apply; where a breakthrough is needed and eventually where partnership and targeted approaches are the way to go. Moreover, the accomplishment groups would assists to develop heads in the public sector by selecting the best intellectuals and go-getters. Through the art of working together, a fact that is evident in accomplishment teams, new ways of working together can be found8. These teams are also able to do factual projects within the limits of time and other resources while maintaining strong project running ethics. Accomplishment teams work through various stages. The first step involves establishment of factual projects and appointing of an external supervisor who comes from the sponsoring group. The proposed project is critically looked into before being approved by the minister and other appointed agencies. The accomplishment team is then assembled and the job starts. Provisional reports are sent to the sponsoring group, the public service officials and the government. An ultimate report is then drafted which comes up with the real performance scheme. After that, the accomplishment team ceases to be functional. Other input projects are also applicable in performance improvement. For example, baselines, techniques and structures of surveying the performance of the public sector could be used to detect performance problems. Engaging the community, the academic world and leaving the recruitment to chosen administrators are also other avenues. Conclusion In Australia, the public sector faces a deficiency in the services it offers in terms of performance, productivity and efficiency. These factors have a direct negative impact on accounting and accountability of Australian public sector. As a result, inadequate capital is pumped by the public sector and so investors continue to invest in uncontrolled unproductive capital to fill this gap. Implementation of several approaches, projects and accomplishment teams can see the situation in Australia contained. Strategies that drive higher performance need to be assumed and the public sector has to warrant a strong centre of attention on headship aptitude, prearranged growth tracks and a lucid contour of view to key aims and yardsticks. Adequate use of inventive faculty would also go a long way to improve the performance and productivity of the Australian public sector. In addition to that, the sector should form more alliances with third parties, be aware of what exactly the public expects and have a government that is concerned with its citizens. Lastly, the public sector should plan and develop the public labour force. Bibliography ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission). Local Government and the Trade Practices Act. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 1996. Echambadi , Raj, Benjamin Campbell & Rajshree Agarwal. "Encouraging Best Practice in Quantitative Management Research: An Incomplete List of Opportunities." Journal of Management Studies, Blackwell Publishing, 43, no. 8 (2006): 1810-1820. Fox, Kevin J. Efficiency in the public sector Volume 1 of Studies in productivity and efficiency. Springer, 2002. Funnell, Warwick and Kathie Cooper. Public sector accounting and accountability in Australia. UNSW Press, 1999. Gardner, Margaret. Human resource management and industrial relations in the public sector CAPSM serie.s Macmillan, 1993. Halligan, John. Australian handbook of public sector management. Allen & Unwin, 2001) Hartmann, Frank. "The effects of tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty on the appropriateness of accounting performance measures." Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, 41, no. 3(2005): 241-250. National Library of Australia. APAIS, Australian public affairs information service: a subject index to current literature. National Library Australia, 1985. Read More