Orientation to Public Management Theory PDF

Orientation to Public Management Table of Contents Section 1: Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 1 Section 2: Separation of power........................................................................................................................ 1 Exercise: Discuss, based on practical examples affecting your area of responsibility:............................... 1 Section 3: The nature of public services.......................................................................................................... 2 3.1. Public needs and choices...................................................................................................................... 2 3.2. The unique characteristics and categories of public services............................................................... 3 Exercise: Discuss, based on practical examples affecting your area of responsibility:............................... 5 Section 4: The peculiarities of public administration...................................................................................... 5 4.1. Unavoidability of public administration................................................................................................ 6 4.2. Obedience is expected.......................................................................................................................... 6 4.3. Priority is given...................................................................................................................................... 6 4.4. Exceptional size..................................................................................................................................... 6 4.5. Political top management..................................................................................................................... 6 4.6. Difficulty in measuring performance.................................................................................................... 6 4.7. Ever-increasing expectation for more.................................................................................................. 7 Exercise: Discuss, based on practical examples affecting your area of responsibility:............................... 7 5. Administrative directives from political supremacy............................................................................. 7 5.1. The authority of the legislature............................................................................................................ 8 5.2. Implications of public accountability.................................................................................................... 9 5.3. Democratic codes................................................................................................................................ 10 Section 6: Administrative directives from public values and prescription.................................................... 11 Section 7: The public manager....................................................................................................................... 13 7.1. The unique characteristics of Public Management............................................................................. 14 7.2. The public management environment............................................................................................... 15 7.3. Means for deliberate action by the public manager.......................................................................... 18 7.4. The evolution of management theory................................................................................................ 19 Section 8: Policy management....................................................................................................................... 23 8.1. The systems approach to public policy-making.................................................................................. 24 8.2. The stage model of policy-making...................................................................................................... 25 8.3. The origins of bureaucratic policy-making.......................................................................................... 27 Section 9: Planning as management function............................................................................................... 28 9.1. The planning process.......................................................................................................................... 28 9.1. The planning process....................................................................................................................... 26 9.2. Aids for planning.............................................................................................................................. 30 Section 10: Organising: A political, technical and human resource problem............................................. 33 Section 11: Leadership and motivation as management function............................................................. 44 11.1. Leadership theories........................................................................................................................ 44 11.2. Motivation theory.......................................................................................................................... 49 Section 12: Control and evaluation as management functions.................................................................. 53 12.1. Control........................................................................................................................................... 53 12.2. Evaluation...................................................................................................................................... 55 Section 1: Introduction Societal realities, legislation and public policy define and demarcate the duties and responsibilities of public managers and also how they engage with stakeholders in their task environment. With the theme of Orientation to Public Management, the objective is to further explore theories and matters relevant for the manager in a public sector setting. This is done by focusing on separation of power, the nature of public services, the peculiarities of public administration, administrative directives from political supremacy, the public manager, policy management, planning as management function, organising as a political, technical and human resource problem, leadership and motivation as management function and control and evaluation as management functions. Section 2: Separation of power The theory of the separation of power was first formulated by Montesquieu in “L’Esprit des Lois” (no separation, no liberty, 1748). His “trias politica” doctrine held that the organs of state should act independently to prevent abuse of power by exercising control over each other. If the legislative authority as highest regulating authority within a state is combined with the executive authority (for example in a monarchy), liberty is compromised, as the same person or same authority could formulate and apply legislation tyrannically. Similarly, the judicial authority must be separated from the legislature and executive to prevent the judge from being the legislator and eventually the tyrant. Thus, the theory of separation of power and the “trias politica” doctrine refers to the separation between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary to prevent tyranny. The separation of power is therefore the greatest guarantee for maintaining civil liberty. This must be seen as one of the cornerstones of public value theory with its emphasis on civil society, rather than dominance of state or the market. Gildenhuys, et al (1991: 4) indicates that although both the laws of eighteenth century England and the drafting of the Constitution of the American states recognized the separation of power, and the establishment of constitutional democracy provides for the contemporary application of the theory, its practical application in the contemporary cabinet system is compromised. The reality is that the strongest party in the legislature elects the executive (from its senior ranks) and the executive appoints the judiciary, resulting in supremacy of the executive and potentially compromising the objectivity of the oversight function of the legislature and judgement by the judiciary. The complexities of society also often results in the executive, rather than the legislature formulating the detail of legislation (for example regulations promulgated in terms of laws). In addition, quasi-judicial powers are delegated to the executive through legislation determining that departments, councils, commissions and tribunals can make policy decisions in sensitive situations affecting the ups and downs of groups or individuals. However, it is also not uncommon for courts to change the meaning and implications of legislation and executive measures. Exercise: Discuss, based on practical examples affecting your area of responsibility: Is it true that the full separation of power will bring government to a standstill? How is separation of power compromised? 1 Does the existence of a Constitution and Constitutional Court serve to bring balance between the three powers? Section 3: The nature of public services In this section, the nature of public service is firstly considered in terms of public needs and choices and how it is responded to in a democracy, and secondly in terms of the unique characteristics and categories of public services. 3.1. Public needs and choices Public services need to be distinguished from private goods and services in terms of needs and choices. Individual needs and choices relating to private goods and services are maximally satisfied as long as the individuals can afford it. Public needs and choices are, however, not so easily satisfied due to the nonappropriability notion (Mikesell, 1982:6). Although it is true that individuals know best what they want, that “the public” is made up of individuals, and that if at least one person is better off as a result of a policy action and nobody is worse off (the so-called Pareto criterion), all policy actions have negative results (costs) that will leave some worse off in terms of added tax burdens and/or some form of social disincentive not previously present. Even if it is argued that there must be a net gain for the public for a policy action to be considered appropriate (the so-called Kaldor criterion) the problem remains that societal benefits and costs may not be as easily quantified as benefits and costs considered by individuals in a business decision. According to Mikesell (1982:9), unanimity is the only way to ensure that the Pareto and Kaldor criteria are adhered to. That means that consensus should be reached by all members of society. If it is possible to reach such consensus, the external cost, i.e. the cost of choices contrary to individual preferences, will be low. However, such a total consensus will only be reached at an extremely high cost in terms of direct time and effort costs. The opposite is also true: Where an individual takes a decision without consultation, the direct costs will be very low, while the external costs will be extremely high. The optimum full cost of taking a decision is reached in a simple majority choice. However, under certain circumstances a simple majority will still have unacceptably high external costs, such as in the case where a jury has to reach a verdict on the innocence or guilt of an accused. For this reason, constitutional revisions have high percentage vote requirements (Mikesell, 1982:10). Mikesell also identifies another problem relating to reaching decisions through voting. It relates to Nobel Prize winner Kenneth Arrow’s impossibility theorem, which holds that it is impossible to aggregate individual choices through majority voting procedures to create a collective decision that will be a single best solution for all, because of the voters’ paradox. As soon as there are at least two individuals that have to choose one from three or more alternatives, cyclical preference is possible. Person one may prefer alternative A to B and B to C, while person 2 may prefer B to C and C to A. Eventually, such a decision may be delegated to one, or a few decision makers, but that in turn violates democratic principles (Dunn, 1994:276). Fox and Miller (1995:15) called representative democracy “incredulous” because it relies on a model whereby elected representatives act for and are accountable to the people, while unelected officials are controlled by means of hierarchy and chain of command. The weakness of the model is caused by the 2 following realities: o The wants and needs of people are manipulated by the news media who aim to entertain and grab attention to sell advertising time and space o Candidates compete on images rather than substance, public relations and style rather than complex policy alternatives o Electoral systems are blunt instruments for registering people’s specific policy preferences on all public issues o Coalitions, lobbyists and interest groups have much bigger influences on politicians than individual voters o Few people really know their political representatives and the positions, policy successes and failures of the political representatives o Re-election often becomes almost automatic, though people are generally dissatisfied with the legislature’s performance. But, as was commented by Sir Winston Churchill in the British House of Commons in 1949, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time” (Hollis and Plokker, 1995:49). This shows that democracy is supported and enhanced if certain fundamentals are adhered to in policy making and management in general, and resource allocation and utilization management in particular. Representative democracy fails if reliant on the so-called orthodox systems of management, was argued above. Orthodoxy entails hierarchical and bureaucratic control and a proliferation of laws and rules. If, however, democracy implies more than just the ability of citizens to cast their votes once in a while, it is indeed the best form of government. Therefore, Hollis and Plokker (1995:49) argue that democracy and good government should be considered synonymous. Good government in turn is based on popular sovereignty (implying conditional authority only for government), separation of powers, the rule of law and representation with active people participation. Good government is about ensuring responsive delivery, social stability and promoting a set of values in the context of diverse interests and concerns (Mahlangu, 2000:29). 3.2. The unique characteristics and categories of public services The nature of public services make them counter-sustainable from a market point of view. It is often argued that a government unit should be “run” like a business. However, by just considering public versus private choice, the oversimplification of such a statement becomes evident. The nature of a public process involves bargaining, compromise, and conflict amongst interest groups such as council, executive departments, regulatory authorities, businesses and organised labour. It is therefore not simply a matter of maximising profits of one producer and welfare of one type of consumer. Due to the collective nature of public goals (especially given the developmental context), the specification of such goals is subject to conflicting criteria ranging from effectiveness, efficiency and adequacy to equity, responsiveness and appropriateness. 3 As illustrated by Figure 1 (derived from Dunn 2012: 205), the nature of services may be divided into three categories, i.e. specific goods, collective goods, and quasi collective goods. Specific goods are exclusive, i.e. the owner has exclusive rights to its use. Allocation of these goods in a private sector environment is determined by market forces of supply and demand and profit can be predicted by subtracting total production cost from total revenue earned from selling the product at equilibrium price and equilibrium quantity, i.e. where demand and supply is equal. Knowing this profit then enables the business person to estimate the opportunity costs, i.e. the cost of investing resources in one product when another profitable investment could have been made. The end result in a business is a decision driven by profit maximisation. Although “net profit” can be exchanged with “net benefit” and opportunity costs can therefore also be determined in a public setting, the fact that multiple legitimate stakeholders are involved and that even so-called trade services such as water and electricity cannot totally be left to market forces to determine price, cause public service environments to be more complex. It is not possible to sell such services in the market, based on ability to pay, because it will automatically exclude the poor from access to such services, or, where demand is high, leading to potentially higher profits, demand must actually be stifled due to high externality costs such as natural resource depletion (water), pollution (waste) and high carbon footprint (electricity). Figure 1: The nature of public services Then again, collective services such as streets, parks, public safety and even clean air are not exclusive and cannot be subjected to allocation on the basis of market prices. Quasi-collective goods or services are specific goods or services whose provision has significant spillover effects for a community which are considered important enough to provide even if people cannot pay. Examples of these are early childhood development facilities, libraries, clinics, firefighting services and cemeteries. Some of these services, e.g. firefighting services, are deliberately inefficient. Although the expensive resources are always on standby, every effort is made through regulation and other preventative measures to prevent their use. Greater success in prevention will result in lower efficiency in the use of the resources! 4 Even where the net benefits of public investment can be expressed in Rand value, it is not always possible to decide that an investment with a high Rand value return is preferred to an investment with no direct return, for example to rather invest in a new office block than in early childhood development facilities. The reason is that many municipal service returns are social and intangible, rather than private. Equally, a business investor is responsible for covering private costs and where forced by legislation and regulation to cover social costs such as damage to the environment caused by development, the costs are still quantified and therefore become part of the private cost package. In contrast, a municipal investor must consider social intangible costs in its broadest application and in a wide spectrum, ranging from pollution caused by waste disposal and environmental impact of streets, roads and highways, to potential social marginalisation of the poor caused by spatial development planning. The implication is therefore that the initial decision on what services and at what level or standard, is not merely the result of a relatively straight forward application of cost-benefit (CBA) and cost effectiveness (CEA) analyses. These techniques nevertheless remain valid and useful and should be applied. The application of CBA will help determine the selection of what services and at what standards, and the application of CEA will help answer the more tactical question of how to provide the service in a range of options within the spectrum of “insourcing” (make) provision, outsourcing (buy) or in cooperation with other municipalities (combined services) and other spheres and units of government. Different applications of these techniques in a public environment depend on the combination of adequacy prescriptions from legislation, regulations, policy and strategy. Exercise: Discuss, based on practical examples affecting your area of responsibility: Contradictions in public needs and choices. The nature and unique challenges of services provided. Section 4: The peculiarities of public administration Even in the most affluent and well-organised society in the world, the administration will not win any popularity contest! The public simply does not appreciate the value add of a well-run administration which protects public goods such as clean air, safety, environmental health, freedom, environmental preservation and many other that are taken for granted. Only when failures or break-down occur, or tax burdens increase, the administration is blamed. Caiden (1982: 9) therefore claims that prejudice is a peculiarity of public administration. In addition, Caiden (1982: 9 – 11) identified unavoidability, obedience, priority, exceptional size, political top management, difficulty in measuring performance, and ever- increasing expectation for more as further peculiarities. These are explained in the following subsections. 5 4.1. Unavoidability of public administration Social institutions such as charities, churches and clubs, other than public administration are voluntary, but public administration must be done to ensure that the will of the public is adhered to, and concomitantly, members of the public cannot avoid or evade public administration until death! 4.2. Obedience is expected Whereas other organisations cannot enforce obedience unless they employ the law courts and the rest of the machinery of state, public administration has legal monopoly of coercive power. Repression is the negative manifestation of this peculiarity and indicates poor or bad governance. 4.3. Priority is given When public administration break down, all other societal activities are threatened. If ESCOM interrupts power supply because municipalities did not pay their bills, or if the water supply dries up or if bus drivers or waste collectors strike, normal life is severely interrupted. The public looks to public authorities in times of crisis, which demands that there is a moral responsibility to be ever present and be able to meet all contingencies, which demand high safety margins, even where the public cannot afford it. 4.4. Exceptional size In spite of efforts by Thatcher and Reagan in the late 20th century to minimize the state, the ever- increasing demand for public service in complex society invariably means big size. The City of Cape Town is for example held to be the biggest landlord in the Southern Hemisphere. In many countries, public administration hold the biggest property portfolios, are the biggest investors, are the biggest developers, are the biggest employers, are the biggest publishers and (slightly ironically) are the biggest innovators, because it can afford specialisation, capitalization, professionalism, research, and take advantage of economies of scale. Obviously, it also suffers the disadvantages of size, including red-tape, convolutedness, officiousness and indifference that could lead to inefficiency, slowness and hostility if not checked. 4.5. Political top management Whereas any successful enterprise relies on business acumen, charities on social enlightenment and industry on scientific precision to give direction, politics govern public administration. Political principles, promises, expedience, pressure, debate, scrutiny and judgement simply means that public administrators work in a “political fishbowl” (Caiden, 1982: 10). 4.6. Difficulty in measuring performance In spite of the current emphasis on public performance metrics and monitoring and evaluation prescriptions, performance remains difficult to measure, because, as was alluded to in the beginning of this section, normally the absence of favourable conditions are ascribed to the failures of public administration, while the presence of favourable conditions are taken for granted and not seen as performance outcomes. Opinions about satisfactory performance invariably differ according to values, and what may be considered exceptional performance today may cause devastation later. 6 4.7. Ever-increasing expectation for more The public always expects more of public administration, except in paying taxes! In the words of Caiden (1982: 11), “Public officials should be guardians of public interest, trustees of public property, paragons of virtue. Public morality should be above reproach, an example to younger generations. People should be treated fairly, equitably and with consistency. The law should apply to all. Discrimination should be minimized. Public business should be conducted in the open. Public officials should be optimistic and encouraging; they should evidence faith in a brighter future, demonstrate leadership and generally behave more responsibly than other people”. The peculiarities described above has lead Caiden (1982: 11) to conclude, “In short, if public administration is not different, then it should be”. Public administration as “different” or “distinct” (Cloete, revised and updated by Thornhill, 1991: 93), requires of practitioners to conform to specific guidelines, tenets or codes that guide conduct. These provide for a positive ethos or culture of government and administration that would prevent malenactments by the legislature, misgovernment by executives and maladministration by officials. Whereas ethos refers to an institutional culture, and the attitude of the members of the institution concerned, ethics is the manifested conduct and character of people, as well as their principles and methods of distinguishing right from wrong, and good from bad. The ethical foundations created by the guidelines, tenets or codes can only partly be regulated and enforced, but must also develop as personal conviction and integrity of the practitioners. Regardless of differences in social background, culture, religious beliefs, or any other deeply embedded frame of reference of individual officials, ethical norms provide a common universal framework for the practice of acceptable behaviour. If there is a perception among the public that public office-bearers and officials are not adhering to this common universal framework for acceptable behaviour, for example due to their use of public resources for self-enrichment, and/or their due to their abuse of their positions for personal gain, and/or them acting with prejudice (i.e. being corrupt, or allowing corruption to take place, rather than acting with total integrity), the service delivery concerned is likely to be viewed with suspicion (National Treasury, 2013:4). Exercise: Discuss, based on practical examples affecting your area of responsibility: Any or all of the manifestations of peculiarities and how it affects what you do and how you do it. Are there any other peculiarities you can add from experience? Complete the Ethical Work Survey exercise. 5. Administrative directives from political supremacy In this section, the implications of political supremacy for administration is explored, firstly by considering how the legislature exercises authority over the administration, secondly by considering the implications of public accountability, and thirdly by considering the tenets of democracy. 7 5.1. The authority of the legislature When discussing the separation of power in Section 2, it was indicated that the legislative authority is the highest regulating authority within a state, even though that authority may be compromised for the reasons explained. This position of legislatures as highest authority is derived from the democratic notion that voters have power and they assign original authority to the legislature, while the executive and administration have delegated authority received from the legislature only. Where authority is delegated, controls must be introduced to ensure that accountability is maintained. The legislature therefore exercises this original authority by firstly laying down the laws and overarching objectives directing functional activities or line functions. The reality is that no public service occurs without it being prescribed by law, as opposed to private enterprise that can do anything as long as it is not prohibited by law. And law is made by a legislature, including annual legislation such as the annual division of revenue acts, appropriation acts and adjustment appropriation acts. Even though members of the executive (ministers) may introduce the bill, it remains the legislature that promulgates the act. No administration in any of the spheres of government can change the nature and extent of its functional activities without being authorised to do so by its legislature, whether it is a parliament or a municipal council (Cloete, revised and updated by Thornhill, 1991: 94). The second manner in which the legislature exercises its original authority, is through regulating executive institutions such as departments, state enterprises and other entities. Legislatures of all spheres of government may decide along with decisions to deal with emerging matters either by assignment to existing institutions in its sphere, or by creating new institutions, or by other forms of delivery, for example public-private partnerships. In South Africa, the Constitution (1996) governs the rules of relationship between legislatures and executive institutions in each of the three spheres of government. This provision, together with the need for flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances without having to change legislation, makes it possible for legislatures to confine themselves to determining matters of principle and leaving detail executive actions and internal organisational arrangements to executives (Cloete, revised and updated by Thornhill, 1991: 97). The legislature also exercises authority, thirdly, by determining matters relating to the appointment, remuneration, promotion and dismissal of staff. In South Africa, the Public Service Act 1994 (RSA, Act 103 of 1994) and Local Government: Regulations on Appointment and Conditions of Employment of Senior Managers (RSA, Government Gazette 36223, 2013) promulgated in terms of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (RSA, Act 32 of 2000) are examples. The legislature fourthly exercises original authority, according to Cloete, (revised and updated by Thornhill, 1991: 98) through determining work procedures that establish fundamental aspects such as the procedures to follow when the rights and freedom of individuals or groups are affected, for example under what circumstances an official can be discharged and what procedures should be followed when misconduct is suspected (See Sections 17 and 18 of the Public Service Act, 1994). See the Local Government: Regulations on Appointment and Conditions of Employment of Senior Managers (RSA, Government Gazette 36223, 2013) for further examples of work procedures to be followed. 8 The legislature fifthly exercises original authority by levying taxes and allocating money through annual legislation such as division of revenue acts, appropriation acts and adjustment appropriation acts. Only the legislature can do that. In addition, they issue financial instructions through financial legislation such as the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (RSA, Act 1 of 1999) and the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (RSA, Act 56 of 2003). Finally, in the sixth instance, original authority of the legislature means that they must exercise oversight over the executive and administration, meaning that the legislature controls in order to be held accountable by the voters. The standing committees of legislatures provide one mechanism for control. Others would include inspection undertaken by members of the legislature, as well as reporting requirements and auditing prescriptions, which are prescribed by legislation such as the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (RSA, Act 1 of 1999). In South Africa, so called Chapter 9 Institutions (meaning state institutions supporting constitutional democracy established in terms of Chapter 9 of the Constitution (1996) provides for control beyond that exercised by the legislature. 5.2. Implications of public accountability In the previous subsection it was said that where authority is delegated, controls must be introduced to ensure that accountability is maintained. As voters hold members of the legislature accountable for good government, it is the duty of the legislature to put in place means of ensuring appropriate oversight so that the individual members and collective political executive can be held accountable. The political executive members in turn must put in place means of ensuring that accounting officers can be held accountable, and similarly, with each delegation or assignment of area of responsibility, comes controls for ensuring accountability. When an area of responsibility is assigned to an outside service provider, that assignment is also controlled for maintaining accountability, usually through contractual arrangements. Accountability relates to work and conduct. Legislation and policies frame both. Chapter 10 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) sets out Public Administration, and of particular relevance for giving direction for the content of the what and how of service delivery is Section 195, “Basic values and principles governing public administration”. Section 195(1) (c) of The Constitution specifically instructs that public administration must be development-oriented. This means that the lives of people must be improved as part of service delivery where they live under unfavourable conditions. This places a massive demand for high performance on the service delivery mechanisms of government and on the shoulders of all officials. In order to maximise public services and products for available resources, efficiency, economy and effectiveness in resource application are essential. The Constitution therefore also provides for the promotion of “efficient, economic and effective use of resources” (Section 195 (1) (b) as principle. Sections 45 and 57 of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (RSA, Act 1 of 1999) and 78 of the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (RSA, Act 56 of 2003) for example prescribes that all officials must “take all reasonable steps within their respective areas of responsibility to ensure” that the machinery of service delivery is functioning as productively as is possible. These sections determines that, in his or her area of responsibility, the manager must (no discretion) ensure that,  The systems of financial management and internal control are fully functional and adhered to;  Resources are used economically, efficiently, effectively and transparently;  Take all possible steps to prevent irregular, unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure; 9  Prevent under-collection of revenue due;  Manage and safeguard all assets;  Provide and submit all information required for compliance  Manage liabilities;  Comply with all provisions in legislation and regulations assigned to the official accounting officer. The White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery (RSA, 1997), titled “Batho Pele” (a Sesotho word, which means “People First”) was launched with a view to impact on the skills and attitudes to develop a culture of positive conduct. The Batho Pele slogan “We belong, we care, we serve” and its eight principles of (1) consultation, (2) known service standards, (3) redress where these are not met, (4) equal access, (5) courtesy, (6) information, (7) openness and transparency and (8) value for money serve to define how the public is served. Measures to uphold public accountability include the following (Cloete, revised and updated by Thornhill, 1991: 101):  Through the legislatures and the control mechanisms available to them, including standing committees, the state auditor, the public protector and public hearings;  Through the judicial institutions;  Through organisational arrangements, such as the hierarchy of accountability in the division and assignment of work discussed above. Provisions in legislation to institutionalise professional conduct in the various professions, the legal prescript that each public institution must appoint a deputy information officer and that officials must practice just administrative action strengthens the organisational arrangements;  Through work procedures that originate in legislation and is supplemented by further regulation and work procedures. 5.3. Democratic codes The Greek philosopher, Socrates, died 399 BC by being sentenced to death and drinking the poisoned cup after causing societal unrest with his philosophy – Public Value. He proclaimed that only wealthy elites, and not the ordinary people really had access to democracy. This incident blemishes the traditional understanding of the Greek origins of direct democracy (demos, meaning nation and kratos, meaning power - i.e. government by the people) and its slogan, “government of the people, for the people and by the people” However, it illustrates what was alluded to in Subsection 3.1, namely the weakness of democracy and the claim by Fox and Miller (1995:15) that representative democracy (even more so than direct democracy) is “incredulous”, because it relies on a model whereby elected representatives act for and are accountable to the people, while unelected officials are controlled by means of hierarchy and chain of command while there are realities that compromise the ideals of democracy, as it has done 399 BC! Inevitably, only a small number of people receive lawful authority to take decisions that are binding for the whole of society. Nevertheless, to uphold the codes of belief of democracy, legislatures and the structures of the executive should be constituted so that authority cannot be abused (Cloete, revised and updated by Thornhill, 1991: 105). Individual wellbeing and rights should be maintained through transparency, freedom of speech and freedom of movement. Secrecy should only be exercised where 10 premature leaking of information will create inequity – for example if prior knowledge of the budget is leaked or action against crime syndicates is prematurely publicised. Freedom of individuals also cannot lead to disadvantage for other members of society. Rule of law should prevail, meaning that executive discretionary powers cannot be unrestrained, all members of society are treated equally and the courts should function independently (Cloete, revised and updated by Thornhill, 1991: 107). As mentioned before, office bearers may abuse their authority and transgress democratic codes by malenactments (a legislature passing laws that unjustly remove rights from individuals or groups); misgovernment (executive instructions that are inequitable, illegal, unauthorised or fruitless and wasteful) and maladministration (actions that are inequitable, illegal, unauthorised or fruitless and wasteful). The power–authority relationships between voters, legislatures, executives and officials and the controls introduced to ensure that democratic codes are upheld in these relationships must be upheld. However, as mentioned by Cloete, revised and updated by Thornhill (1991: 109), political parties may compromise this, as popularity, rather than capability is the reason for being elected, and loyalty to the party, rather than to the interest of society as a whole. Section 6: Administrative directives from public values and prescription It was mentioned above that Public Value as philosophy caused Socrates his death in spite of living in a democracy! However, the breakdown is not because of democracy, but compromising democratic codes through a powerful interest group, the wealthy elites in that case. Public value theory currently manifests itself as paradigm of networked community governance, shifting the centre of gravity of governance from state and market towards civil society, from regulation by voice (vote) and exit (choice) to regulation by loyalty, and from coordination by hierarchies and markets to networks. The role of government in society is to serve as creator of public value and pro-active shaper of the public sphere, while the administration and officials act as stewards of public assets with “restless value seeking imaginations” who have important roles to play in helping governments to discover what will enhance value (Benington and Moore, 2011: 3). The Public Value theory therefore seeks to establish an ethos that put people first. The establishment and maintenance of such an ethos is visibly promoted as follows (Cloete, revised and updated by Thornhill, 1991: 109 - 114):  Constitutional provisions: The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) for example contains a Bill of Rights; makes provision for principles of cooperative government that supports the notion of networked governance; provides for a Constitutional Court to protect constitutional rights, provides for state institutions supporting constitutional democracy (including the Public Protector and Human Rights Commission) and sets basic values and principles governing public administration.  Equity: Officials should always act fairly and reasonably and may not discriminate against anybody on any basis or any predisposal. Section 9 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) and the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, 200 (RSA, Act 3 of 2000) as well as the Regulations on Fair Administrative Procedures (RSA, Government Gazette 23674, 2002) promote this principle. The eight Batho Pele principles of (1) consultation; (2) known service standards; (3) redress, where these first two principles are not met; (4) equal access; (5) courtesy; (6) 11 information; (7) openness and transparency; and (8) value for money mentioned before also support equity.  Balanced decisions: A decision is balanced if all aspects of a matter have been considered. That means that the official responsible for taking a decision must first ensure that he/she has the authority to take the decision, must apply his or her mind when taking the decision, and must know and acknowledge the legal basis for the decision. In applying his/her mind, it means that all relevant and permissible facts and circumstances were taken into consideration, that all prescripts, limits and conditions were adhered to, that the decision is within ambit of a delegation or assigned area of responsibility, that the result of action from the decision will serve a legal permissible purpose, and that the result falls within the ambit of the framework of authorization (budget, strategic plan).  Thoroughness: This principle is implied by the notion of “applying his or her mind” as discussed above. It is also implied by the Batho Pele principles. It also means that prescription (for example tender specifications and contractual provisions) must prevent shoddiness, slow turnaround times and other forms of neglect.  Probity: Office bearers and officials must act with integrity and without ulterior motives. This speaks against manifestations of unethical or corrupt behaviour such as nepotism, favouritism, collusion. Although such behaviour by others are never condoned, it still occurs because transgressors never believe they are actually transgressing as they have special justification for what they do! The only approach should be not to allow any compromise and demand irreproachable ethical behaviour.  Economy, efficiency and effectiveness: The value for money principle is one of the eight Batho Pele principles. This principle, as was discussed before, is specifically included as obligation of all officials in their areas of responsibility by Sections 45 and 57 of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (RSA, Act 1 of 1999) and 78 of the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (RSA, Act 56 of 2003) which determine that the financial and other resources of the municipality are utilised effectively, efficiently, economically and transparently. Economy represents delivering the required service on budget, on time and within other resource constraints. It is common for public officials to complain about underfunding but they have to deliver value to the taxpayers, as well as those working in them and those using the service. Efficiency is concerned with getting an acceptable return on the money and resources invested in a service. Efficiency is defined as work output divided by work input and it is all about getting as much out as possible from the amount put into a system. It follows that an efficient administration delivers more for a given level of resource input than an inefficient one. Effectiveness describes the extent to which the administration delivers what it is intended to deliver. Prescription provides codes for appropriate conduct. The word choice of “code” rather than “rule” is deliberately selected to indicate that conduct cannot be fully directed towards public value conception due to differing social and cultural expectations and behaviours. Codes, may therefore include rules, but they also call upon integrity and the conviction to do what is right, right. The following nevertheless prescribe and frame conduct (Cloete, revised and updated by Thornhill, 1991: 114):  Legality: Administrative law provide normative codes through provisions such as acting intra vires, and not ultra vires (within the law), acting within the ambit of the authority assigned, acting in 12 good faith (bona fide) and not in bad faith (mala fide) and listen to the other side (audi alterem partem).  Entrenched rights: Rights to equality, life, dignity, freedom and security of person, freedom from slavery, servitude or forced labour, personal privacy, freedom of religion, belief and opinion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, movement, place of residence, freedom of association with a political party, access to all information held by the state required to exercise or protect any right, lawful and just administrative action, freedom of trade, occupation and profession, fair labour practices, access to adequate housing, use a chosen language and participate in favoured cultural life, basic education and equal access to educational institutions is for example included in the Constitution (1996). It must nevertheless be understood that rights may be limited and that rights also come with responsibilities, otherwise ordered society will collapse.  Codes of ethics: Such codes prescribe or provide guidelines for appropriate conduct. The eight Batho Pele principles, codes of ethics for councillors, and code of conduct for public service provide some examples of such codes in South Africa. Section 7: The public manager So far, the focus was on public administration and appropriate conduct of office bearers and officials. However, that alone will not make service delivery happen. In this section, the focus shift to the deliberate action of the public manager to do that. Managers are not employed to make the inevitable happen. They are employed to make happen what otherwise would not happen. Whereas Public Administration as defined by Fox, et al (1991:2) refers to “that system of structures and processes, operating within a particular society as environment, with the objective of facilitating the formulation of appropriate governmental policy, and the efficient execution of the formulated policy”, it stresses the importance of the environmental context, politics and policy, policy execution and management. Public management is therefore a part of public administration but with the focus on the dynamic nature of management, without disregard for the unique context discussed so far. The specialised study of public management, is seen to be linked in a similar way to public administration as for example, administrative law, policy studies, organisational science and bureaucratic theory. The influential International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA, 1978) therefore held that knowledge of cultural, economic, legal, social and political institutions and processes; organisations and organisational behaviour; policy analysis, formulation, implementation and review; administrative processes with particular emphasis on managerial functions, personnel and finance; quantitative and non-quantitative tools and methodology; and ethical and value systems within which public administrators must operate, need to be included in the curricula of Public Administration studies. Similarly, Starling (1986:7-12) states that the National Association of Schools of Public Administration of the United States of America recommends that public administration curricula and programmes at universities and colleges cover the political, social and economic environment; policy analysis; managerial processes; analytical tools; and individual, group and organisational behaviour. In this section, the uniqueness of Public Management (as opposed to generic management) is first 13 conceptualised by means of the Public Management Model of Fox, et al. Second, the public management environment, and third the means for deliberate action by the manager is explored. This is followed by a focus on theories relevant for Public Management as focus of study. 7.1. The unique characteristics of Public Management IASIA (1978:17) referred to by Fox, et al (1991: 2) presented an argument for the distinctiveness of public management as follows: “Although the administration of public functions and private business enterprises have some common elements, the environment, objectives and processes of administration are sufficiently different to call for curricula [and practices] which focus on the public aspects of management. For example, training in quantitative analysis may be common for both public and private managers, but training in the political environment and values is more essential for the public manager”. Fox, et al thus argued that “the approaches to the management of public and private organisations will have more in common at the level of techniques and less in common at the level of political and managerial judgement and decision-making”. They illustrated a conceptual model of Public Management (See Figure 2, derived from The Public Management Model of Fox, et al, 1991: 4). Models are inventions, based on a simplified understanding of how reality works. A model is a representation of an idea, object, event, process or system that play a crucial role in scientific practice, both in research and communication. A conceptual model is a representation of a system, made of the composition of concepts which are used to help people know, understand, or simulate a subject the model represents. A useful model is both as accurate as possible and as simple as possible, which makes it not only powerful but also easy to understand. However, no matter how good they are, models will always have limitations, because they simplify reality. SPECIFIC OR TASK ENVIRONMENT Functions Skills Applications Utilities GENERAL OR MACRO ENVIRONMENT Figure 2: A Conceptual Model for Public Management In an attempt to conceptualise, explain and simplify the complexities of public management, the model used by Fox, et al (1991: 4) is based on the premise of a contingency approach to management. The 14 contingency approach in turn is based upon open systems theory and stresses the importance of the environment for the theory and practice of management. The public management environment consists of general and specific components. The general component includes the political, economic, social, cultural and technological aspects of the environment. The specific environment includes suppliers, regulators, competitors and consumers. It is important to analyse and acknowledge the effects of the environment on particular public management functions, skill, applications and utilities. Public management functions as represented in the model refer to ongoing concerns for public managers and are used to delineate and conceptualise the management task in line with a functional approach to management. The functions also acknowledge that Public Management is an applied science, relying on theories from distinct, but related fields of study. These theories will be explored in following sections. The public management functions are supported and underpinned by management skills. The skills are distinguished from the management functions as they represent practical “tools”. Public management applications incorporate a wide spectrum of management knowledge and skills into integrated and systematic approaches to improve the quality of particular aspects of public management. Examples are policy analysis aimed at improving the quality of policy decisions, strategic management aimed at improving the capacity to plan and manage optimally based upon systematic assessments of opportunities and constraints and organisation development aimed at improving the productivity and adaptive capacity of organisations within turbulent environments. Utilities represent supportive technologies and techniques as aids to management. 7.2. The public management environment Fox, et al (1991: 18 – 22) argues that the environment within which management operate is of relevance for analysis as public managers have to mobilise resources from the environment. A proper analysis and assessment of the environment and its possible impacts is of importance when exercising public management functions such as policy management, planning, organising, leadership and motivation and control and evaluation. It is also necessary to consider the environment when making decisions, when communicating, bargaining and when managing change and conflict. In any management application, for example strategic planning, an analysis of the environment is done. The general environment refers to everything external to the organisation or everything outside of the boundaries of the organisation. (Fox, et al, 1991: 18, referring to Kast and Rosenzweig, 1974.) Hodge and Anthony (1984) refer to the general environment as the "macro environment". The general environment influences the management of an organisation constantly. These influences and their effects are, however, not easy to observe directly. It is usually only possible to observe and experience the influence of the general environment once it has been mediated through the specific environment. It is the specific environment that makes the influences of the general environment concrete and observable. Nevertheless, it is important that managers devise instruments for identifying and coping with trends in the general environment. For the purpose of this section, the general environment is considered in terms of its political, economic, social, cultural and technological components:  The political environment: According to Fox, et al, (1991) the political system of a society is the way in which the society is governed. The political system has a major impact on organisations within the society and should be considered by managers. Political ideas, philosophy and especially political ideology form the basis of the political environment. These find concrete form 15 in political institutions. These institutions include international and national power structures. International bodies such as the United Nations, the European Parliament and the Pan-African Parliament have political effects that transcend national borders and may exert influences experienced by public organisations. Public organisations are also influenced by national power structures and processes such as political parties, pressure and interest groups, political policy, governmental laws, acts and regulations as well as political and executive authorities. These international and national power structures and processes can be analysed in terms of their nature, power positions, influence, legitimacy and stability. The results of such analyses have to be considered by public managers exercising their management functions.  The economic environment: Fox, et al, (1991) state that the economic system of a society is the way in which the society creates and distributes wealth. It is also the system which allocates scarce resources to competing individuals and groups. Economic ideas, philosophy and ideology provide a basis for international and national economic structures and processes. International and regional economic bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the African Development Bank have wide-ranging influences on national economies. National economic factors that have to be considered include the structure of the economy, patterns of economic growth, inflation trends, rates of exchange, trends, balance of payment trends and savings and investment trends. Climatic conditions and geography have to be considered since they influence the availability of land, water, mineral and energy resources as well as the international competitiveness of the particular national economy.  The social environment: The social environment refers to patterns of interaction or interacting social roles and institutions within a particular society (Fox, et al, 1991). For management and organisational purposes factors to be considered when analysing the social environment include trends regarding the demographic characteristics of the population, trends in respect of urbanisation, housing, education and training and human development. These factors will, inter alia, influence the characteristics and needs of consumer groups as well as employees of the organisation. They have to be considered by the policy-makers and managers of public organisations.  The cultural environment: According to Fox, et al, (1991) the cultural system of a society is the society's basic beliefs, attitudes, role definitions and interactions. It is the motive force by which a society perpetuates and transfers its basic belief systems. Institutions in the cultural system include the family, religious institutions and educational institutions. These institutions transmit cultural patterns from one generation to the next and also redefine and build upon cultural values. The cultural values and norms held by a society or segments of that society are of importance when their preferences and needs are to be assessed.  The technological environment: Fox, et al, (1991) view technology as the use of machinery and processes to produce and distribute goods and services. It stresses the importance of considering the technological environment for public managers. The interaction between the technological environment and public organisations should encourage public managers to cope with the changing technological environment by understanding the nature of these changes and by broadening their skills to handle these changes; to learn to monitor technological change and discern patterns as well as the impact of these changes and patterns on other policy areas; and to 16 actively explore the link between technology and public policy as one of the dominant issues of the future which will require unique skills and understanding. Factors identified for analysis in the technological environment include the nature of technology, trends in technological development and the natural and social impact of the uses of technology. It is clear from the above that the general environment has a wide ranging, but subtle impact on public organisations. This impact is made more concrete, observable and capable of being experienced through the specific environment. The specific environment is the concrete manifestation of more general environmental forces. It is that part of the environment which directly influences the availability of resources to the organisation. As such these environmental components are observable and directly experienced by the organisation. Brown and Moberg (1980:45) view this part of the environment in the following way: "Every organisation exists within an inter-organisational field — that set of organisations, groups and influential individuals with which the organisations have relations. Each of these units constitutes a concrete force that the organisation must reckon with, particularly if there is dependency involved." Fox, et al (1991) has conceptualised the specific environment in terms of regulators, suppliers, consumers (for the purpose of this section we use beneficiaries) and competitors.  Regulators: Regulators mediate, control or regulate the relationships between the organisation and its suppliers, consumers and competitors. Regulators are usually vested with some form of authority to provide enforceable rules by which the organisations within their sphere of authority have to abide. In terms of their authority these regulators also have powers to sanction deviant organisations or deviant behaviour of organisational functionaries. Within the public sector and governmental context the authority, coercive powers and sanctioning capacity are usually formally defined and described in statutory provisions. Often these regulating authorities derive their powers of regulation by virtue of a mandate from the citizens to serve as their controlling agents over the particular organisation or by virtue of the fact that they act as suppliers of resources to the organisations. Examples of societal institutions that exercise a regulatory function over public organisations are found within the legislative, judicial and executive governmental structure. Parliaments, the law courts and the political executive constantly regulate the actions of public organisations within their sphere of jurisdiction. These institutions perform these specific functions in accordance with the needs of the polity, the society or the economy as they perceive it. Taking into account the profound effect of these regulators on the structures and functions of the public organisations, a careful analysis by public managers of which regulators are important, their viewpoints and their actions is necessary. Such analyses, linked to a proper perception of the general environmental trends, can be used to generate and select strategic options to cope and improve relationships with these regulators.  Suppliers: Suppliers produce, mobilise and allocate various kinds of resources to particular organisations. In public organisations, financial resources allocated by policy-making bodies are of major importance. These financial resources are mobilised by means of taxes, levies or service charges and are then allocated to public organisations in accordance with political and policy priorities. Another important resource that has to be supplied to public organisations is political support for the initiating and continuation of action programmes. Examples of societal institutions 17 acting as suppliers of financial and political resources to public organisations include the legislative bodies such as Parliament, the electorate and the tax-payers. Executive and administrative bodies acting as suppliers include the Cabinet and the Treasury. In terms of the resource-dependence model discussed in Chapter 2, suppliers of resources gain power over the organisations or individuals that are being supplied by them. One of the implications of this is that these suppliers also gain authority and power to act as regulators over those organisations they supply. Considering the importance of resources for the continued functioning of public organisations an analysis of suppliers is of paramount importance to public managers. Such analysis should identify the most important sources of supply and should devise strategies to optimally exploit these suppliers of resources.  Beneficiaries: Beneficiaries are the users of the products or services of the particular public organisation. These beneficiaries may voluntarily use (normally consume) the services provided or may even be compelled to use the services provided. Voluntary use would include health services by going to a hospital or clinic. Compulsory use would include situations such as compulsory vaccination against infectious diseases. Beneficiaries have certain rights which enable them to act as regulators or to elect or appoint regulators to act on their behalf. The beneficiaries are often also suppliers of economic or political resources as taxpayers or the electorate. For this reason their preferences and views may have important consequences for the functioning of public organisations. In the most basic sense it can be argued that public organisations derive their reason for existence from the need of their beneficiaries. A proper analysis of their characteristics and preferences are therefore of significant importance to public managers.  Competitors: The competitors consist of those societal institutions which compete for scarce resources with the particular public organisation concerned. In many instances public organisations are ostensibly in a monopolistic market situation where there are no competitors for the services they deliver. This may be the situation in general but strategies such as privatisation and deregulation may create economic competitors in respect of service provision for public organisations. With regard to political resources such as political support for the establishment or continuation of particular programmes, public organisations are definitely in competition, albeit with other public organisations. Public organisations have to analyse the environment to identity possible competitors and have to design strategies to deal with competing alternative providers of products and services as well as with competitors competing for political priority over the particular public organisation. The analyses of the regulator, supplier, beneficiaries and competitor components of the specific environment of public organisations from a resource-dependence perspective provide particular implications in public value theory and the networked community governance paradigm referred to in Section 6. 7.3. Means for deliberate action by the public manager The means for deliberate action by the public manager are those depicted in the conceptual model for public management in Figure 2. Of the means discussed here, only the public management functions will be explored further in the following sections as they are embedded in related theories relevant for management as applied science. The other means identified are the topics for different modules of the 18 programmes that this source serve. The public management functions that will be focused on in the following sections are policy management, planning, organising, leadership and motivation, and control and evaluation. Policy management is added to the more generally used management functions due to its relevance in public administration. Public management, like management generally, is a professional and practical effort at reaching objectives efficiently. As such it requires practical management skills. The contemporary public manager is confronted with challenges in many and varied fields as a result of the complex and dynamic environment. The professional public manager requires skills, amongst others in competent decision- making, constructive negotiation, the successful management of conflict and change and skilful bargaining (Fox, et al, 1991:5). The dynamic environment also presents a host of daunting challenges to the public manager. Systematic applications can assist the practising public manager in the execution of his or her functions and skills. The applications in policy analysis, strategic management, organisation development and programme evaluation are examples. Utilities refer to useful features, or something useful. In public management functions and skills public managers can use available supportive technological aids and techniques as utilities. Examples include computer technologies for data analytics and information and communication technologies (ICTs) for management as well as various techniques useful in public management. Contemporary public management challenges, demand a constant search for new understanding, interpretation and solutions. This requires methodical and systematic research using reliable and valid methods to uncover new data, contextualise that to create useful information, and interpret that by means of comparison, evaluation and other research design types to generate new knowledge. Public management research is of particular interest to public management scholars and practitioners. 7.4. The evolution of management theory When studying the literature on the development of management and organisation theory, it is evident that the authors have identified various schools of thought that were used consecutively as models for the study of management and organisational phenomena. In this regard reference can be made to the work of Taylor (1986-1915), Fayol (1841-1925), Mayo/Maslow/Follett (1920’s), Fiedler (1964) and Hodge and Anthony (1984). Using the basic classification a synthesis of the views of these authors is made by Thenmozhi (nd). 19 Figure 3: Key Management Theory an Overview (Thenmozhi, nd.) THE CLASSICAL SCHOOL This school has its roots in the scientific management approach as well as in bureaucratic theory. This approach was based on a belief that rationality in structure and process could be attained by building a theory around what was defined as the "one best way" of doing things. Complementary to this belief, this school maintained that it was possible to devise a set of principles of management which should be applied to improve management performance and that these principles could be applied in any type of organisation. Thus, in the classical school the concern was how to build an organisation based on proper principles of functioning and the processing of information needed to carry out functions in the most efficient way. The tenets of this school are still useful and evident in modern management theory and practice. There are, however, at least three major points of criticism that can be levelled against the approach of this school.  The school utilises a mechanistic and machine-like analogy for the studying of management and 20 organisational phenomena. There is a narrow view of task performance and the human element is not effectively considered in the process.  The school emphasises a search for universally applicable principles of management. It has been conclusively proven by authors such as Simon (1947) that the notion of universally applicable principles are not sustainable in the theory and practice of management.  It largely focuses on internal efficiency and does not give significant attention to the management environment and factors in this environment. It can be said that this school uses closed system logic instead of open system logic. THE BEHAVIOURAL SCHOOL This school is primarily composed of investigators from psychology, social psychology and sociology. The school aimed at enabling management to understand human behaviour in order to be capable of modifying it for the improved effectiveness of the organisation. The behavioural school emphasised the importance of studying people as behaving individuals in an organised setting. Studies made about human relations, motivation and the happiness and satisfaction of the worker were important to protagonists of this school. The behavioural school brought home the lesson that management cannot manipulate behaviour by using money as a sole motivator and by using the 'principles' of scientific management. In this approach the role of the human element in contributing to performance is emphasised. In this sense this school addressed an aspect that was lacking in the classical school. The behavioural school is, however, still subject to the second and third points of criticism that were levelled against the classical school. Although it is not stated as explicitly as in the classical school, there is still a search here for the "one best way" and principles regarding aspects such as leadership, group dynamics and motivation. The approach also does not sufficiently consider the impact of the environment on management. As such, this school still uses closed system logic in a similar way as the classical school. THE OPEN SYSTEMS SCHOOL This school studies management and organisational phenomena as complex systems consisting of sets of interrelated variables and parts collaborating to reach objectives by using inputs from the environment. This approach emphasises the importance of the environment as a variable in the management of complex organisations. The notions of universal 'principles of management' and the 'one best way' that are applicable in all management situations, are explicitly rejected by this approach. The open systems approach furnishes a framework for a macro-perspective for the analysis and study of organisations. This enables theorists to consider the effect of environmental dynamics on the management of the organisation. The open systems view allows one to appreciate how the organisation and its management interact with the environment and with other organisations. This view can also incorporate the behavioural and structural methods of the classical and behavioural schools. The important place given to the environment in analysis is the critical aspect that distinguishes the open 21 systems school from previous approaches. The approach helps to provide the orientation needed to keep the organisation and its management in a state of dynamic equilibrium with its environment. This orientation can be regarded as essential for modern management and the contemporary organisation. THE CONTINGENCY SCHOOL The basis of this school is found in the open systems approach. The essence of the approach is the argument that an organisation's relationship to other organisations as well as to its total environment depends on the situation it finds itself in. The notions of universal principles and the "one best way" found in other schools are therefore rejected by this school. The tenets of the contingency school implies that managers should be adaptable, flexible, analytical and ingenious in their decision-making and management. Management strategies have to be selected and/or adapted for the particular situation facing the organisation. It can be argued that this approach facilitates strategic management practices whereby strategic decisions are made in terms of an environmental analysis and situation assessment. A substantial body of empirical evidence in support of the contingency approach has been built up by researchers such as Burns and Stalker, Lawrence and Lorsch, Woodward and Aston and Perrow (Robbins, 1980:209-217). It can be concluded that the trend in the evolution of management theory has been a shift from a closed system approach searching for principles of management to an open system approach selecting management strategies in relation to the particular situation within which the organisation finds itself. This shift in emphasis has certain important implications for the theory and practice of management generally and for public management specifically. DYNAMIC ENGAGEMENT APPROACH The main purpose of this approach is to emphasise the importance of the modern organisational relationship as well as the time pressures that governs this relationship. So as the need arises for theories to be adapted in relation to the changing management environment someone assigns a name to a new theory in this case it is called the dynamic engagement approach. With this six themes can be identified in this management theory: 1. New organisational environment  The dynamic engagement approached acknowledges that no organisational environment exist of a set of fixed impersonal forces.  It is not just seen as complex but dynamic in the sense that it allows everyone to interact with one another.  Therefore it allows managers not only to focus on their own problems and concerns but considers and understand that of other managers in the same working environment. 2. Ethics and Social Responsibility  It provides managers the platform to focus their immediate attention on the values that guides individuals in their organisations. 22 3. Globalisation and Management  The dynamic engagement approach acknowledges that world was already at the feet of managers in the 1990’s.  With the expectation of business to run 24 hours a day and managers having to deal with the twenty first century problems do identify as universal citizens. 4. Inventing and reinventing organisations  Managers that practice’s dynamic engagement continually create opportunities for their employees and themselves illustrate their creative potential.  Various theorist in this approach also encourages managers to re-evaluate the standard organisational structures that they have become accustomed too. 5. Cultures and multiculturalism  Managers using the dynamic engagement approach does not only embrace the different values and perspective of people coming from various cultural backgrounds but value their diverse individual contributions. 6. Quality  Those managers who embraces the dynamic engagement approach should also acknowledge the Total Quality Management (TQM) perspective.  It is the responsibility of managers to re-evaluate their thinking by looking at the current organisational processes and thinking of better ways to produce and provide services and products.  TQM also brings another dynamic perspective to management theory since quality can be seen as a moving target. Section 8: Policy management The policy process is a complex set of events that determine what actions governments will take, what effects those actions will have on social conditions, and how those actions can be altered if they produce undesirable outcomes. The public manager may not be the official makers of policy, but is nevertheless key in finding and creating policy-relevant data, information and knowledge. It is therefore in this section referred to as policy management. The process of policy-making is extremely complex and disorderly with no apparent beginning or end, and traverses boundaries which are most uncertain (Lynn, 1980:9). The fact that a government has adopted a particular policy and produced a policy statement, does not mean that the actual policy process is complete. The policy must still be implemented and the resulting outcomes of such actions assessed. Existing policy may create a demand for other policy, and therefore no policy is ever complete. In fact policy-making is a changing and continuous process, and analysts can break into the process at any point for the purpose of investigating the particular activity or phase of the policy process. While it is possible to trace and study one particular stage during a policy process — for instance the role of pressure groups 23 in policy development on nuclear power plants — analysts can generally investigate several different, but mutually independent stages of the policy-making process. Any particular policy may be in one or more stages simultaneously, or may move back and forth between stages, rather than progressing through the stages in a sequential manner. To illustrate the idea of policy-making two basic models, the systems model and the stage model, are often used by academics and practitioners. These two models are discussed, followed by a short reflection on the origins of public policy making. 8.1. The systems approach to public policy-making The idea of policy as a process is closely linked to the idea of a political system. Figure 3 presents a simplified diagram of the process in which the major stages are discretely defined. This model is particularly helpful in understanding the policy-making process on a very general and simplistic level. It assists us in understanding policy-making as a system consisting of a few major subsystems. Figure 4: The Systems Approach to Policy-making The policy-making process can accordingly be described as a political subprocess within the policy process, the former regarded as that which typically takes place within the bounds of the political arena and the latter as a broader sphere which includes implementation, results and evaluations. The policy- making process in the systems view has the following elements;  Policy inputs (initiation and information generation) such as the perceptions, demands, opinions, attitudes, support, and the behaviour of the citizens, pressure groups, extra-parliamentary groups or communities.  Policy conversion (consideration and decision-making) of the policy inputs by the political system. This refers to the role of political office-bearers of particular communities such as members of parliament or municipal councils.  Policy outputs (publication and/or statement) which involves the production of policies in the form of formal legislation, administrative rules and regulations, judicial interpretation, policy statements, momentous decisions, and legal interpretation.  Policy feedback which refers to the inputs from the environment before and after the policy output. A political system is more than just the government and the legislature. It is embedded in a political, social, economic, cultural and technological environment, with which it interacts continuously. 24 This systems model has some value in that it provides us with a framework which describes the relationships between the demands, the political system and the results or outputs in terms of stabilising the environment or triggering new demands. It provides us with a tool to understand how the environment influences or is influenced by the policy outputs. The system approach stresses the idea of the cyclical nature of policy-making as opposed to other models which see policy-making as a stop-start sequential process. The systems model according to Hogwood (1987:10-11) has a number of defects. The systems model applied to the policy-making process is analogous to a sausage machine or a production system. Firstly, it fails to describe how the actual transformation of inputs into outputs takes place. It views this part of the process as a "black box" and tells us very little of the power relationships in decision-making, the various other role players in the conversion process, the types of coalitions that are formed to secure a policy decision, and the groups or individuals which continually suffer because their demands are continually ignored. Secondly, it tells us very little about the changes which matter politically and why certain policies evolve as a response to those changes. Thirdly, the systems approach implies a logical order in the process. It implies for instance that policy development follows on the demands of citizens or outside groups, and ignores irregular policy-making by politicians themselves. 8.2. The stage model of policy-making An alternative approach to developing a policy-making model is to break down the policy process into descriptive stages that correlate with the real dynamics and activities that result in policy outputs (Figure 4). Normally any policy process has different stages that can be distinguished for identification and study, but which in practice are mutually dependent on each other for information and resources to maintain the system. The problem however with most models is that the process is viewed as being sequential in nature, and the fact that policy is often initiated at different stages and bypasses many activities is ignored. 25 FIGURE 4.3: SCHEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF THE STAGE MODEL OF POLICY-MAKING PROCESS Figure 5: The Stage Mode of the policy making process The policy-making process in this model is viewed as an irregular process which consists of activities which are often present or ignored in contemporary models of policy-making. Policy-making in this regard is almost always totally dependent on the generation and conversion of relevant information. The various activities are;  initiation: becoming aware of a public problem through civic, political or stakeholder action  agenda setting: placing the issues on the policy agenda and determining priorities  processing the issue: identifying the problem and the major stakeholders  considering the options: identifying the major alternative forms of action to solve the problem  making the choice: selecting an alternative or combination of alternatives from amongst those that have been selected as viable options  publication: making the decision public through the media, either formally or informally  allocation of resources: budgeting and selecting resources for the implementation  implementation: designing and initiating a programme of action  adjudication: enforcing the policy through administrative and legal means  impact evaluation: monitoring results and determining the value of policy action  feedback: generating and sending reports to the decision-makers regarding the impact of policy. 26 This stage model eliminates many of the disadvantages shown by the systems model. It illustrates the interaction between the policy decision process and the environment in which it operates. The stage model is dynamic and does not assume that policy-making is a sequence of events or determined at one point in time. It also allows for the possibility of administration and other bodies being involved in policy- making as opposed to the systems model which assumes that the conversion stage is the domain of the political process. The stage model assumes the involvement of individual or combined efforts of policy analysts, political office-bearers, public managers, judicial councils, and advisory bodies such as commissions of inquiry and other functional advisory councils and committees, which converts inputs into acceptable policy documents for consideration and final decision-making. 8.3. The origins of bureaucratic policy-making The policy-making role of government officials which is today accepted as common practice and knowledge, was not recognised until the late 1930's. Public Administration as a discipline is generally traced to the late President Woodrow Wilson of the United States of America and his famous article "The Study of Administration" in the Political Science Quarterly in 1887. Ironically this article also gave birth to the rejection of policy-making as a vital role of government officials. According to Woll (1966:28) Wilson in his essay stated. ''The field of administration is a field of business. It is removed from the hurry and strife of politics; it at most points stand apart every from the debatable ground of constitutional study." Although it is disputed, some scholars insist that Wilson originated the very naive dichotomy between politics and administration, which presaged the famous work of Frank Goodnow, Politics and Administration (1900). Goodnow specifically claimed that there were two distinct functions of government; politics and administration. The former, together with the judicial branch, formulated and promulgated policy, and the latter administered policy impartially and apolitically. This state of affairs gave rise to the development of a so-called administrative science in which various authors tried to formulate theories and principles of administration and management. Amongst the most well-known were Frederick Taylor's principles of scientific management published in 1911, and considered the highlight of administrative science orthodoxy, and Lyndall Urwick and Luther Gulick's Papers on the Science of Administration in 1937, which gave rise to the famous POSDCORB acronym for the seven principles of administration; planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting. Although the above functions still stand today as a major feature of Public Administration, the misconception of a value free administration lived on until the publication of the famous book of readings, Elements of Public Administration, edited by Fritz Morstein Marx in 1946. Throughout this publication which was written by practitioners, the idea of value free administration was rebutted, and what appeared to be value free administration, actually appeared to be value laden politics. John Gaus in 1950 published an article in the Public Administration Review, "Trends in the Theory of Public Administration", which indicated the serious nature of this new perception in a few words: "A theory of public administration means in our time a theory of politics too." These developments contributed to the development of the notion that administrators as well as legislators make political decisions and public policies (Henry, 1980:27-34). However this notion raises certain questions. If government officials have a policy-making role, how does this role differ from those of the legislators, and how should we view government managers? 27 Section 9: Planning as management function The planning process for public management planning may be divided into seven phases: assessing the situation; establishing objectives; forecasting; determining alternative courses of action; evaluating and selecting alternatives; implementing selected plans, including linking selected plans to budgets, programmes and control measures, and evaluating the progress of the plan in terms of the assessed needs, the stated objectives and the set control standards. These phases will now be treated in greater detail, where after various aids for planning are considered. 9.1. The planning process ASSESSING THE SITUATION Public managers should be constantly engaged in a process of assessing the environment of their organisation. This could be enhanced by scanning the organisational environment for information about events and relationships in the organisations environment which would assist the public manager to chart the future course of action of the organisation (Hodge and Anthony, 1984:96). In this process an awareness of possible opportunities and/or threats that may influence the future of the organisation is created. The importance of this as part of public management planning is stressed by Starling (1982:192-193) who states that a cardinal purpose of planning is to discover future opportunities and make plans to exploit these opportunities. Also basic to planning is the detection of obstructions or problems (threats) that must be removed from the road ahead. The most effective plans are those that exploit opportunities and remove obstacles on the basis of an objective and systematic survey of the future. Koontz et al (1980:170) argues in this regard that the real starting point for planning includes this preliminary assessment of possible future opportunities and a clear knowledge of the position of the organisation in terms of its strengths and weaknesses. Also necessary is an understanding of why there is a wish to solve uncertainties and an assessment of what gains are expected. Awareness of the above factors is a necessary precondition for setting realistic objectives as planning requires a realistic diagnosis of the situation of the organisation. ESTABLISHING OBJECTIVES According to Koontz et al (1980:173) objectives should specify the results expected and indicate what is to be done, where the primary emphasis is to be placed and what is to be accomplished. Objectives should give direction to the nature of plans which also define the objectives of subunits of the organisation. Robbins (1980:137) states that there is a need to know which way to go. Objectives provide this kind of direction. Objectives are the ends toward which all activity is directed. They are desired ends to which functional organisational activity is directed. Organisational performance should be evaluated by the degree to which the organisation achieves its objectives. Koontz et al (1980:189) show that there is a hierarchy of objectives in any organisation. At the top of the hierarchy is the broad socio-economic purpose of the organisation which may be the supplying of low-cost quality housing to a community. The next level of objectives is the mission of the organisation with a clear 28 definition of the business and clients of the organisation such as the financing, building and marketing of a specific type of housing to people in a specific income group. The mission is followed by the overall long- range, strategic objectives of the organisation. These may include, in this example, the objectives to design, build and market a particular number of houses in a specified time. At the next level of the hierarchy the objectives in key result areas can be stated. Here aspects such as quality requirements, productivity standards, customer satisfaction, manager performance, worker performance and public responsibility will be specified. These key result areas should be selected and specified to include the areas in which performance is essential for the success of the organisation. At the next levels these key result area objectives have to be translated into subunit objectives. Finally the individual objectives of organisational members in terms of performance and personal development should reflect the spirit and priorities of the higher order objectives. On levels below the mission, objectives should be made as specific and measurable as possible. Drucker (1977:133) states that the failure of service institutions such as public sector organisations to perform is often explained as being because their objectives and results are "intangible". Drucker stresses, however, that the definition of what an organisation's business is, is always intangible for private as well as public sector organisations. It is possible to derive specific targets (objectives) from the apparently less tangible goals of service institutions. Drucker writes in this regard: "'Saving souls' as the definition of the objectives of a church is intangible. At least the bookkeeping is not of this world. But church attendance is measurable and so is 'getting the young people back into the church'. 'The development of the whole personality' as the objective of the school is, indeed, intangible. But 'teaching a child to read by the time he has finished third grade' is by no means intangible. It can be measured easily and precisely." Drucker's point is that it is important to devise operational measures that can by used to measure the performance of public sector institutions although their objectives may be intangible. Achievement in public management is also only possible against specific, limited and clearly defined objectives as targets for performance. FORECASTING Robbins (1980:146) defines forecasting as looking toward the future through the eyes of today. It forms the basis for planning by establishing assumptions about what will happen in the future. Forecasting identifies external events that will impact on the organisation. Based upon the predictions of what changes can reasonably be expected to occur outside the organisation and an assessment of the organisation's capability of responding to the external environment, public managers are able to determine which opportunities the organisation is in a position to take advantage of. Forecasts are based on factors occurring in the general political, economic, social, cultural and technological components of the

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