New Public Management: A Customer-Oriented Approach to Strengthen Frontline Servicing at the NERBAC-Davao

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New Public Management:
A Customer-Oriented Approach to Strengthen Frontline Servicing at the NERBAC-Davao

(April 23-30, 2007)
by Cheryl Cristobal-Cipriano

Cheryl Cristobal-Cipriano

Cheryl Cristobal-Cipriano

Backgrounder

The international online and offline seminar “New Public Management (NPM): Lean State, Lean Government,” from February 09-April 30, 2007 covered a comprehensive range of issues affecting the operation of organizations. It also put forward corrective measures that can be undertaken to address felt needs through the application of NPM.

Taking off from the practical learning of the private sector, the seminar zeroed in on how NPM can best be implemented in the participants’ respective work environments. During all the lectures and discussions, what surfaced was the fact that liberalism was indeed a universal mindset. It found a common ground even amidst the cultural and historical differences of the participants. Liberalism, as it turned out, was that all-important link that bound all of the participants together. Each participant was filled with a deep desire to advance the cause of liberalism in his or her respective country. They also very much welcomed the opportunity to delve deeper into NPM and have it implemented as a strategy in their respective communities and organizations.

This commonality served as the driving force that enabled the group to move forward in the discussions. These were truly wide-ranging and insightful. Each learned from the uniqueness of the other’s culture and the challenges confronting his or her government.

Learning

Personally, the discussions on NPM gave me the opportunity to reflect on a number of concerns. Primary of which was my assessment of who I am -- an individual working for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Region XI . DTI is the prime government body in the Philippines mandated to champion businesses as well as consumers.

It made me zero in on my work relative to our internal clients -- the people we work with at the DTI -- as well as our external clients -- our customers, majority of whom come from the business sector and the general public. The business sector includes businessmen, industry associations, chambers of commerce and industry and business support organizations. The general public refers to other national government agencies, local government units, non-governmental organizations, consumer organizations, academe, media, etc.

The entire seminar served as a starting point for a higher level of organizational analysis of our current work standards in comparison to work standards that should be implemented to realize our mandate. It was by undergoing this process that I was able to arrive at models for our office to follow. This would allow it to graduate into an organization that puts premium on the needs of the customers, thereby improving government’s service delivery.

It is common knowledge that the government’s service delivery is lacking, but the low standards, or lack of it, had never been a cause of concern for me. This was because I believed that change must come from management and not from the lowest level of the organizational structure. Management is supposed to be the forerunner and implementer of change, not the individual and certainly not the rank and file.

NPM however teaches otherwise, and I have learned this: “the individual mindset can be a prime-mover for innovation.” I realized that the individual is as much a wellspring and a purveyor of new ideas as the organization. The organization springs forth from the individual. What an individual does affects the entire organization. Any input, however small, changes the course the organization plans to take. As more new ideas are injected into it, it is transformed.

Truly, “change need not always start from the TOP.” I can be that source, that wellspring of new ideas that will help improve the DTI and National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center (NERBAC) - Davao’s delivery of services.

Steps to Take

NERBAC Davao is an initiative being piloted at DTI-XI. The first such office set up in the country; it brings together in one venue government’s different agencies for registration and business licensing or accreditation — truly a significant initiative that will soon be replicated throughout the country.

The idea is laudable, and its subsequent establishment did not prove too difficult. However, its ongoing implementation is a cause to worry due to certain operational concerns, some of which are:

Not all of the concerned agencies involved are present in the Center on a daily basis as some agencies do not have enough manpower to detail a staff daily. This presents a problem as the number of days a staff is detailed varies from one agency to the other. In any given day therefore, not all of the agencies are represented at the Center.

To do: Submit a proposal on the need for a stakeholders’ meeting before the end of the third quarter to specifically address the above and other concerns. Solicit the full support of the concerned agencies to commit at least one staff to the Center on a daily basis, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The processing of certain forms is also not being done at the Center. The detailed staffers only receive the forms. They then submit these to their respective offices, and then return the same to the Center in one to three days. This depends on the completeness of the documentary requirements and on the availability of their office’s signatories.

To do: Submit a proposal to management to also tackle the above concern during the stakeholders’ meeting. Enjoin the agencies to incorporate the Center into their usual operations. This will enable the processing of forms to be done at the Center without need of submitting it to the agencies concerned. If need be, computer programs being used at their respective offices should be made available at the Center. The detailed staff can likewise be given clearance as signatories in the releasing of documents.
If the above proposals do not work out, submit an alternative course of action to management. Propose the identification of a DTI staff who will act as a liaison officer in charge of all applications for business licensing and registration. This includes receiving all documents, facilitating the processing with the various agencies concerned and releasing said documents at the Center within five days. This will address the existing gaps currently experienced at the office and enable the Center to fast track its service delivery.

The end result will be a Center that puts a premium on its services and puts client satisfaction at the heart of its operations. These will thereby effectively transform the Center and bring it nearer to its goal of becoming a model of excellence for other government offices to follow.