Strategic Planning in the Malawi Public Sector: Potential Tool for Progress or Regression?

The process of developing strategic plans in the public sector is regarded as one indicator of positive reform in the system. The assumption is that strategic planning ensures that (just like in the private sector) public sector organizations’ operations should cost less but deliver better service. Ultimately the argument is that public sector institutional governance and responsiveness to the citizenry is not only seen but felt. However, strategic planning has to be done in an appropriate manner for it to deliver. For instance an analysis of the underlying motives, the role of leadership in the process as well as the relevance or viability of the guiding strategic planning model significantly affect the nature of expected results. In the early 2000s, the Malawi public sector embarked on a serious drive towards strategic planning process as part of its reform package. In order to ascertain it’s potential to transform the Malawi public service, this paper focuses at critically analyzing the strategic planning process in the Malawi public sector by among other things asking: who initiated and led the process? What approach determined the process? What is the possible potentiality of the adopted strategic planning approach in enhancing the reform agenda in Malawi? Based on interviews with senior officers in key Malawi public sector institutions, the paper concludes that the strategic planning process is ‘transitional and fluid’ hence lacks the clout to effectively enhance reforms in this sector. Another finding is that lack of effective leadership has largely contributed to the status quo.     

Programme budgeting in the health sector

The growth of the public sector has been accompanied by an increased interest in this sector among economists and non-economists alike. Much of this interest has been directed towards the overall size of the public sector, and the efficient allocation of resources within the public sector has remained comparatively neglected. This paper outlines some of the problems of resource allocation facing decision-makers in the public sector, and reviews the actual and potential uses of one decision-making tool—programme budgeting—in improving resource allocation. The health care sector is chosen to illustrate the technique of programme budgeting, the practical and conceptual problems of implementation, and the limitations as well as the possibilities offered by this approach.     

Cutting back bureaucracy in a public service

The British public service is respected for its efficiency and objectivity. But it has a music hall reputation for bureaucracy and lack of initiative. As with many long-acquired reputations, nothing nowadays could be further from the truth. A revolution has swept through the corridors of Whitehall and the many other places throughout the UK where the public service is alive and well. This revolution has been described in Morley,¹ and other articles² have shown how strategic planning and management have been adopted by individual parts of the public sector. Having set the scene in ‘Building a New Organization for Nature Conservation’,² the author now describes how English Nature moved on to reflect its new strategic approach in a different organization structure which broke many of the traditional mores of the public sector.     

The pros and cons of drug testing in the business sector

The public policy issues of whether society should permit the business sector to test for the presence of illegal drug use by the employees is one in which seemingly convincing arguments can be advanced to support self-policing in this area as well as equally cogent arguments erected against the concept of empowering the corporate sector, to investigate the presumably enact sanctions against employee illegal drug usage.In this paper the authors will attempt to explore the controversy from several different scholarly perspectives, analyzing the most important arguments both for and against permitting the corporate sector to engage in employee drug testing. In criticizing each argument we will attempt to explicate the salient public policy implications, business effects and unique ethical issues that will have profound ramifications upon the larger society. In addition, we will analyze the current legal status of this controversy, citing the applicable controlling cases at the Federal level. Finally, the authors will give their policy recommendations based upon their analysis of the discussion in this paper.The authors believe it would be most advantageous to facilitate this discussion by first considering the arguments for permitting the corporate sector to engage in drug-testing employees for illegal substances, and then consider the arguments against permitting corporate drug-testing.     

Public-Private Wage Differentials in French-Speaking Africa: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract. In the framework of structural adjustment programs implemented in Africa, the idea that wages in the public sector are too high compared to those of the private sector is partly based on wage policies with regard to the public sector. But the existence of public-wage differentials, inducing a labour market segmentation within the modern sector, has rarely been the object of attentive examination. With the help of earnings functions, based on homogeneous cross-section and logitudinal data of seven capitals of French-speaking Africa, the author plans to verify this hypothesis. The main conclusion of this research is that distortions on the modern labour market of many African countries are less important than one may think. In most of the countries considered, public-private wage gaps are essentially attributable to characteristics of individuals. This suggests that policies aiming to reduce wages of the public sector are no longer justifiable, economically and socially.     

Planning for a professional association

Strategic planning for non-profit organizations presents special problems, both in concept and in application. The problems are particularly acute when the organization is a voluntary one, with highly heterogenous membership. This paper describes a multi-year effort to develop a member-needs based strategic long-range planning system for National Association of Realtors in the U.S.—a complex organization of 700,000 members, which combines the traditional functions of a trade association, an educational system, and of several professional societies. Problems, approach, and special techniques are described and discussed, with implications for senior managers and planners in both the public and private sector.     

Zero-base budgeting—Dealing with conflicting objectives

While Zero-Base Budgeting (ZBB) has received considerable attention in the public sector, virtually all the studies dealing with the system have neglected or given cursory attention to the problem of multiple conflicting objectives. This paper presents a goal programming approach as a systematic means to develop the ZBB process for multiple objectives. This approach allows the administrators to more realistically portray the decision environment as well as their judgment in their budgetary planning models, thus making the budgeting an effective and pragmatic way to implement the planning and decision making process. This study demonstrates a goal programming based ZBB system in the public sector based on real-world data.     

Models for decision-making in the public sector

The public sector is composed of a heterogeneous selection of undertakings which, for a variety of economic, political and historic reasons, are under direct government control. The considerable differences between these undertakings, combined with a paucity of common characteristics, has resulted in a variety of decision-making techniques being employed. In many cases there is an affinity with private sector firms, and techniques technically akin to the profit maximisation model are adopted although social welfare considerations supplant notions of financial returns. As with the private sector, textbook models are frequently abandoned to make way for more pragmatic criteria when informational or computational problems become severe. Additional to these undertakings using techniques parallel to those of the private sector, there are others for which specific decision-making models have been developed. These are mainly in areas where effective demand is considered inappropriate as a method of allocation and appraisal. Finally, there is some evidence that, as the multi-dimensional nature of public sector decisions becomes more widely accepted, the notion of satisficing is gradually gaining acceptance replacing that of maximising.     

Strategic Management in the Public Sector: Reflections on It’s Applicability to Iranian Public Organizations

Strategic management is a managerial story of private sector that has been transferred to the public sector. Many authors have challenged its applicability in public organizations. This paper discusses some important barriers to implementation of strategic management in the public sector empirically. After presenting a conceptual model, we examine several important factors that influence the failure or shortcomings of public sector strategic management. The last section of paper offers implications for theory and practice.     

The dynamics of policy change

This paper is concerned with policy adaptation and policy design in the public sector. The author commences with examples from UK experience relating to policy, initially using the local authority structure plans as an illustration. He then develops three assertions: that (1) turbulence undermines policy; (2) complexity undermines policy and (3) responsiveness undermines policy. Subsequently he discusses ways in which policy development may make a positive contribution to public planning, taking account of these realities.     

Macroeconomic Effects of Public‐Sector Unions

Motivated by the highly unionized public sectors, the high public shares in total employment, and the public‐sector wage premia observed in Europe, this paper examines the importance of public‐sector unions for macroeconomic theory. The model generates cyclical behavior in hours and wages that is consistent with data behavior in an economy with highly unionized public sector, namely Germany during the period 1970–2007. The union model is an improvement over a model with exogenous public employment. In addition, endogenously determined public wage and hours add to the distortionary effect of contractionary tax reforms by generating greater tax rate changes, thus producing higher welfare losses.     

‘Strong Personalities’ and ‘Strong Institutions’ Mediated by a ‘Strong Third Force’: Thinking ‘Systems’ in Corruption Control

Corruption in public sector is a complex, ‘messy’ and ‘fuzzy’ phenomenon which involves calculus machinations between actors and constantly growing in sophistication. Consequently, an attempt to prevent, control or fight it requires systems thinking that ranges from public officials with integrity and personal ethics [strong personalities]; administrative rules and procedures as well as governments adopting, enforcing and monitoring appropriate systems [strong institutions]. This paper provides a systems approach to enhancing public sector ethics through ‘a corruption control tripod’ in preventing, controlling and combating corruption in all its forms. This framework discusses three overarching pillars and argues that adopting a reductionist approach in corruption control would yield futility; there is a need for synthesis so that each one would reinforce the other.     

Making planning relevant to public agency management

The special considerations of planning in the public area have exercised many minds during the last decade. In this article the author reports on the particular experience of the (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from the initiation of a new planning system in 1972 to 1975. The lessons learned and the conclusions drawn from this experience are described in the article, many of which will have relevance to public sector planning in other environments.     

Public planning and political strategy

Planning theory and practice derived from corporate experience, management science and rational decision theory have had little influence on decision-making in the public sector. The political environment and organizational complexity of public decision making render conventional approaches to objective, rational, comprehensive planning of limited value in government agencies and in private corporations involved in public policy making. A more effective approach to strategic planning and management must be based on an understanding of the political dynamics through which policies are made. It must adopt a variety of styles directly related to major functions in the policy making process and use a variety of political intervention and influence techniques that facilitate the implementation of plans and policies.     

The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Organizational Citizenship Behaviours: The Contingent Role of Public Service Motivation

In this paper we examine whether the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) is contingent on public service motivation (PSM). We propose that PSM may reduce the motivational influences of transformational leaders’ behaviours on followers’ OCBs in public sector organizations. Using a sample of Mexican employees we tested this proposition with structural equation modelling. Our results show that the motivational effects of transformational leadership were less for public sector followers higher in PSM than for those lower in PSM. A follow‐up study in private sector organizations did not reveal a similar interaction effect. These findings appear consistent with previous research demonstrating that PSM is more aligned to the goals and values of public rather than private sector organizations. Nevertheless, the direct effects of PSM on OCBs remained in the private sector.     

Moving HRD from the periphery to the centre for transformation of an Indian public sector bank: Keynote address, 4th Asian conference of the academy of HRD

The transformation of Bank of Baroda, one of the largest commercial banks in the public sector in India, into a highly customer centric, technology driven and an innovative entity in retail and SME (small and medium enterprises) segments represents one of India's most remarkable success stories and one of the quickest turnarounds ever in public sector banking.

Known as an important player in commercial banking with international operations for several decades, the bank was gradually declining in recent years. In an environment of competition within the public sector as also due to entry of private banks with latest technology and young staff, the bank plunged into an unprecedented spiral of failing to innovate and adopt new technology.

Drastic action was required to regain its leadership position in the public sector space. Over the next one and a half years, the bank was back in reckoning and was firing on all cylinders. It retained its core business on track with a bang, restored its image as the most vibrant player among public sector banks (PSBs) through wide-ranging initiatives such as a logo change, hiring a cricketing icon as brand ambassador, heightened credit growth, improving the work culture, initiating many customer-centric initiatives and restoring the customer base, derisking the treasury portfolio, and winning several accolades and awards.

Today, Bank of Baroda has embarked upon more wide-ranging changes and a new vision to change the bank from a ‘vanilla banking’ entity to a ‘multi-specialist bank’. The author, who joined the bank as a HR specialist and eventually rose to become CEO of the bank, extensively used his HRD knowledge and academic background to initiate changes to harness energy in the bank's 40,000 staff to drive organization change.

Achieving a successful outcome seems to be far more difficult for a public sector bank with a legacy culture, high degree of unionization, poor compensation and aging staff. In spite of these constraining factors, the paper argues that it is through mobilizing the passion of people that leadership can transform organizations and put them on high growth trajectory.     

Learning in Public Sector Organizations: A Theory of Action Approach

The importance of learning has since long been acknowledged for both business and public sector organizations. However, learning theory and research have tended to neglect the differences between these organizations, and to develop in separate and unrelated directions. To address these developments, this paper purports, first, to develop a theoretical framework that integrates various concepts from the fields of public policy learning and organizational learning, and that is specifically directed at public sector organizations. Second, the paper purports to illustrate the utility of this framework by applying it to policy-making in a Dutch municipality, the Pegasustown prostitution case.     

Towards Measurable and Auditable Efficiency Gains in the Flemish Public Sector

This article supports the Flemish Government’s efforts to improve the efficiency in the public sector, but points out that efficiency has to be considered in the broader context of a well-performing and well-functioning public sector. After describing the main motives for efficiency improvement, the article provides some insights into the concept of public sector efficiency gains. Within the discussion of their required characteristics, we focus mainly on the measurability and auditability conditions. We employ a phased approach for the measurement process of efficiency gains, going from the identification of potential savings to the reporting of the actual achieved results.     

Planning for banking—The Indian experience

Long Range Planning (LRP) as an integrated total planning system had been accepted by two major public sector banks in India. The system through its maiden cycle was confronted by many difficulties, particularly regarding the application of the model. The paucity of adequate environmental data, lack of appreciation of the purpose of internal appraisal, avoidance of sophisticated quantitative techniques were some of the major problems faced by the Corporate Planning Team. The author explains his experiences as the co-ordinator of Corporate Planning Team for implementation in one of these banks. Despite the hurdles, the system has taken roots in his bank.     

Why Do People from Southern Italy Seek Jobs in the Public Sector?

This paper analyses the choice open to a worker seeking a job in the public and private sectors of the labour market. The private sector is identified by a steeper wage profile and by lower job security than the public sector. The reservation wage for the two sectors is calculated in the first part of the paper. The results reveal that the reservation wage for the public sector is higher than that for the private sector. The effect of career prospects, job riskiness and labour demand on optimal time allocation between the search in the two sectors is then analysed. Finally, an empirical analysis is made in order to study Italian workers’ search strategies. It highlights relevant geographical differences which can be interpreted through the theoretical results obtained in the paper.