Reforming the Public Sector: How to Achieve Better Transparency, Service, and Leadership

14. Public Sector Reforms: State of the Art and Future Challenges

During the meeting of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ministers held in Venice on November 15, 2010, chaired by Renato Brunetta, the Italian minister for public administration and innovation , the most crucial concern was productivity in the public sector.As stated in the conference proceedings:“Boosting public sector productivity and maximizing returns on investment in technology will be key to governments playing their part in restoring economic growth.”1 This sentiment is supported by everyone, but what managerial guidelines and devices can be put in place to boost public sector performance? The basic assumption, which also triggered the recent reforms in public administration in Italy, is that improvements in public sector performance are underpinned by the following pillars: measuring performance, using adequate tools and methodologies; making public sector performance transparent ; and boosting performance through leadership and motivation. The most feasible starting point for a discussion of public sector reform is the adjustment of the systems used for measurement and assessment (part IV of this volume provides an exploration of the importance of performance measurement and management in the public sector).The reasons for poor performance are often unclear—or they are perceived as unclear—because evaluators do not have enough basic information to carry out a detailed evaluation. In such a situation it is inevitable that the actual quality of performance will be filtered by the subjective perceptions of citizens, politicians, and managers. The configuration of any performance measurement model must clearly be linked to the specific nature of the institution’s mission as well as its operations . However, it is crucial that the general architecture be common to all 285 14 Public Sector Reforms: State of the Art and Future Challenges giovanni valotti public administrations, to ensure both the scope and comparability through benchmarking.2 Measurement systems should be an essential factor for supporting decisions instead of just being considered a way to collect and represent data and information, as in the past.3 Once performance has been assessed and measured , it is possible to examine the second pillar underpinning the recovery of productivity: the transparency of performance. Transparency is crucial. Public sector agencies should be obligated to keep reports of their performance on the basis of clearly identified parameters and to use various media, including websites, annual reports, and public meetings .4 Institutions should not be able to pick and choose whether to publish how their performance has been rated or be able to select which results they want to publish.Administrators, managers, and employees should be obliged to put their credibility to the test and allow a comparison of themselves with other government agencies. It is unlikely that this will happen if institutions are given too much autonomy and freedom to select how their own performance is represented and interpreted (see chapter 2). Consequently, it is essential to develop a common device for reporting performance in detail—a “performance report” replacing subjective and often poorly coordinated, partial, and fragmentary reviews of financial statements that are currently issued by public administrations.5 The establishment of truly independent assessment agencies would also be a welcome move, whether they provide in-house auditing services or are independent , public (compartmental and system), or private agencies specializing in certification and accreditation procedures (see chapter 1 in this volume). The significant element is that these agencies are explicitly responsible for their work; they certify the performance of an institution and notify it of any shortcomings, mistakes, or omissions in the documentation they produce. There is a distinct need to “clear the fog” currently obscuring the true status of the performance of public administration, to make the relevant information easily accessible and understandable to anyone, including third parties.6 Thus it is essential to measure and assess public sector performance by any means available and to make this information available without any prior selection or concealment. This is a performance-oriented approach. Once this step has been completed, the third fundamental pillar can be taken into consideration : boost public sector performance through leadership and motivation . As discussed in part II, there is a strong need to rethink what leadership skills are required to implement managerial reforms and to improve performance in the public sector and to find a way to reframe the concept of 286 giovanni valotti motivation in the public sector and align the human resources management tools with it. My coeditor’s and my aim with this book is...