In the 1990s, demands for change in public organizations are reaching new and unfamiliar levels. The continuing fiscal crisis and widespread disenchantment with governing institutions suggest that traditional change practices that gradually adapt public organizations to their environment are losing credibility. Abrupt discontinuities such as severe budget cuts or the wholesale reassignment of a mandate are becoming more common. These discontinuous changes present public managers with an extraordinary challenge to transform their organizations. Managing such change requires different skills and techniques and will be a conclusive test of leadership. Develops a conceptual framework to help managers to think about managing strategic shocks that have no precedent.
Good police performance enables social capital, strengthens communities, and helps build civil society. Since 2003, Canada's national police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), has used human performance technology to improve performance in more than 300 sites across Canada and also as a core part of the RCMP leadership talent pipeline. The lessons learned may be of interest to others contemplating a large-scale distributed use of this powerful methodology.
Officials of public organizations with responsibility for embedding Human Performance Technology (HPT) can use the maturity concept as a way to plan implementation and gauge evolution so that it supports broader policy, program, or organizational goals. This article describes such a model, which can help managers decide where to concentrate their efforts and in what priority. Over time, the model may help them make better decisions in using public resources to return the greatest value to taxpayers.
Effective policing is an expectation of citizens and communities, a priority concern for the funding jurisdiction, and a matter of accountability and professional pride for police forces. Starting in 2003, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) began a force-wide effort to improve performance in criminal investigations and more broadly to enhance operational readiness. The Bridging the Gap (BTG) initiative used Human Performance Technology (HPT) to find, assess, and remove performance barriers. This is one of the first large-scale applications of HPT in policing. To date, more than 70 detachments and units across Canada have used this process. There are encouraging results. Accelerated and expanded implementation is being planned. The process will be integrated with RCMP performance management systems and business planning.
Agencies are small public organizations that can be managed strategically to achieve a legislated goal. Develops a framework that can help them do this by working with their five key relationships: the Minister and Government, the Minister′s department, central control agencies, the agency′s board, and the professional staff. Suggests a general approach to a strategy for managing agencies: do the work envisaged in the founding legislation, while managing the primary relationships with Minister and Government and the Board, and monitoring the constraints of lateral relationships and other legislation. Within this context, set priorities and make choices in terms of managerial capacities and operate the agency to attain credibility, primarily in terms of achieving the legislated goal, while developing a reputation for managerial competence.
Agencies are small public organizations that can be managed strategically to achieve a legislated goal. Develops a framework that can help them do this by working with their five key relationships: the Minister and Government, the Minister′s department, central control agencies, the agency′s board, and the professional staff. Suggests a general approach to a strategy for managing agencies: do the work envisaged in the founding legislation, while managing the primary relationships with Minister and Government and the Board, and monitoring the constraints of lateral relationships and other legislation. Within this context, set priorities and make choices in terms of managerial capacities and operate the agency to attain credibility, primarily in terms of achieving the legislated goal, while developing a reputation for managerial competence.
Following in the footsteps of the quality revolution in manufacturing industry, service businesses are awakening to the need for quality management processes. In the U.K., local public transport undertakings are facing a future in private ownership and operating in a deregulated market place. The need to maintain market share and increase profitability has focused attention on quality of service. The paper concentrates on the definition and measurement components of quality management processes for local public transport services. Existing methods based on passengers' waiting times, lost mileage, expanded sets of measures and indices are reviewed. It is concluded that a single measure is unlikely to encompass all aspects of quality of service. Similarly, indices which collapse measures of different attributes of quality of service into a single abstract value appear to have limited appeal. Instead, a limited set of quality of service attributes can be defined, based on local operating circumstances and the goals and objectives of local interest groups. Both relevant performance measures, and psychometric measures, can be selected as indicators of the defined set of quality of service attributes. The application of a given set of quality of service indicators would then involve a comparison of measured values across time.
Public organizations send messages about their actions and values in just about everything they do and say. They can be good or bad, and choices have to be made about their composition, channels, and media. May help public managers think about how to manage these choices. There are several ways of assessing the impact of messages, and then thinking about how to manage them on strategic and tactical levels. In the end, success in managing the message comes down to how sensitive managers are to the messages their organization sends about itself and its work.
Creating a new government agency presents some interesting management challenges. The “Start‐up Problem” is how to balance demands for credibility outside with the need to create internal order. “Liability of Newness” whereby young organizations will perish unless they quickly supply a credible product to external expectations must be reduced. Explores some processes used by three new Canadian agencies in solving the start‐up problem and identifies several lessons that may help others.
Looks at the efforts required to reduce the likelihood of failure of systems and methods of working in public organisations. The incidence of low morale and high management turnover plus inadequate leadership practices contribute to placing organisations in danger through poor performance; maintaining credibility is a well‐known management priority.
Canadian Public AdministrationVolume 33, Issue 2 p. 234-242 Catching weak and distant signals: Using environmental analysis to help management public organizations William Pullen, William PullenSearch for more papers by this author William Pullen, William PullenSearch for more papers by this author First published: August 1990 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-7121.1990.tb01396.xCitations: 2Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume33, Issue2August 1990Pages 234-242 RelatedInformation
