Another Milestone in Public Sector Governance

(October 27– November 03, 2006)
by Rino M. Cabarios

Rino M. Cabarios

After having passed the initial screening stage wherein over 90 individuals from different countries all over the world were selected to participate in the online discussion, and then making it to the final 24 selected participants for the actual new public management (NPM) forum in Gummersbach, Germany, I had a glimpse of hope for my never-ending search for lasting solutions and much-needed reforms in public governance processes in my country, the Philippines. The series of lectures, discussions and exchange of views and experiences with my fellow participants at the International Academy for Leadership (IAF) of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) at the Theodor-Heuss-Akademie further illuminated my hopes and expectations. The well-managed forum for sharing of ideas and experiences by the Academy’s well-meaning and competent faculty, moderators, staff and interpreters made the learning process fittingly conducive, convenient, exciting and empowering for all participants.

This successfully held international seminar, however, is just the starting point in the difficult task of undertaking reforms in the field of public sector governance for the participating countries. To describe it succinctly, the ideas, instruments and concepts we had learned, the governance experiences we had related and shared to one another, and the plans and programs we had developed are but part of “the first steps” in a series of reform initiatives and implementation processes yet to be carried out in our respective countries. The governance issues and challenges and the implementation methods and processes can vary depending on the peculiar circumstances prevailing in each country. Indeed, much still needs to be done as there are many other factors that can shape our plans and programs and alter the course of what can be described as well-planned reform initiatives.

I am confident, however, that the FNF’s IAF has equipped us with the necessary tools, orientation and training to face the challenges that lie ahead in our future governance endeavors. In the final analysis, I can say with pride and confidence that we had achieved a significant milestone in the field of public sector governance — a feat worthy of consideration by government leaders and public administration scholars all over the world.

In the following sections, let me recapitulate the highlights of the accomplishments made during the seminar in terms of activities undertaken and lessons learned, all couched under catchwords featuring the main subjects covered, with emphasis on the concepts and elements of the public administration paradigm called NPM.

Deficiencies of the Present Structure of Public Administration

Many aspects of public administration are criticized almost all over the world. Some of the criticisms are rather stereotypical; some are specific, depending on the circumstances. But the most notable criticisms are: (1) public administration is too slow; (2) it is too expensive; (3) the quality of what it does is simply poor; (4) public administration is too far removed from citizens to be able to serve their interests, and (5) public administration provides poor information. At the same time, there are additional aspects that come under fire in some countries such as: (a) public administration is corrupt; (b) it wastes financial and human resources; (c) public administration has deteriorated into a "line-your-own-pocket" shop; (d) public administration is the extended arm of central power, and (e) public administration breaks the law. These are the criticisms that the new public management seeks to address with a view to eliminating their causes.

Developments of Public Administration in Various Regions Around the World

This subject involves a review of the deficiencies of public administration, an analysis of the causes of such deficiencies, and what we have done about them so far. These were conducted in a moderated discussion in a plenary session. This subject also formed part of the online discussion in the first and second online phases of the seminar. We had the chance to present and discuss the various trends and developments of public administration in our respective countries.

Principles and Instruments of NPM

The moderators expounded with clear illustrations on the concepts of new public management. In a separate session, there was a discussion and evaluation of the instruments of NPM after which we had the chance to present our inputs and participate in the discussion on the various concepts and instruments. The overriding concern was to determine whether those tools or instruments were suitable to the participants’ respective countries.

Key Issue of NPM

The key issue of NPM is to learn from private industry and to transfer in an appropriate way its instruments and mindset to the organization, processes and employees of public administration. Some countries have already begun this “transformation.” The concept has its roots in the Netherlands and the UK where the reforms began at the end of the 1980s. But Germany, New Zealand, Mexico and Phoenix (USA) are also well known for their extensive reforms. Fundamentally, the key elements of all these reforms are the same everywhere: learning private industry’s instruments and service mentality and creating a market-oriented work attitude based on performance orientation and competition.
NPM and Liberalism
NPM is a genuinely liberal concept. Liberals fundamentally believe in market-orientation and the responsibility of self-aware citizens. Therefore, from the perspective of a liberal, a public administration that is remote from the citizens is in need of fundamental reform. The concept of NPM is particularly in line with established liberal values like: lean state, self-responsibility, free market, competition, performance orientation and transparency.

What is NPM?

New Public Management is a management culture that emphasizes the central role of the “customer” as well as accountability for results. Its core philosophy comprises: (1) a management culture that emphasizes the central role of the customer; (2) transparency regarding resource allocation and results; (3) organization that promotes decentralized control through a wide variety of alternative service delivery mechanisms (including quasi-markets, i.e., public and private service providers competing for public budgets); (4) NPM represents the idea of a cascading chain of contracts leading to the single goal of public employees getting better results within a sector portfolio over which they have significant authority (contract management), and (5) NPM is an attempt to adopt management instruments from the private sector so that they can be transferred over to the public administration.

The main targets of NPM are more transparency, more efficiency and more quality as well as cost reduction.However, NPM is not just another attempt at reforming public administration like the reforms that have been made in the past and still continue to be implemented all over the world, albeit with limited success. NPM goes much further. Above all, it involves links to the political level (parliament), i.e., the strategic level. It is also connected to the general public, the citizens, i.e., to the market or customers.

The Elements of NPM: An Overview

New Public Management consists of the following elements:

Strategy for Implementing NPM

A strategic discussion in plenary session was conducted regarding the “next steps.” The main question was: How shall we continue with the work we started in order to get visible and sustainable results? We had a lot of ideas in mind, but due to time constraints and considering the number of participants, we were only allotted a short time to speak out. Nonetheless, the ideas and suggestions we expressed were just as interesting and quite attainable.

Along this line, the Academy has briefed us on the mechanics of the next online (phase three) phase of the NPM seminar that we need to work on until December 31, 2006. The main objectives of phase three are: (1) to increase the sustainability of the NPM seminar, (2) to provide support for the implementation of the elements of NPM, (3) to be able to widen public awareness about NPM in our respective countries, with the support of FNF-IAF, (4) to help improve the concept of the seminar and to get our reflections thereafter and (5) to give participants a chance to deepen our network.

Reports Presented by Major Users of NPM Concepts and Instruments

Mr. Uwe Ufer, mayor of the town of Hückeswagen, made a presentation on the successful implementation of NPM’s new model of control in his town.

Ms. Iris Karras, head of the Bürgerservice Gummersbach (Citizens’ Bureau), made a presentation on the successful management of the Citizens’ Bureau of Gummersbach with the application of NPM concepts and instruments. We also had a short visit to the Bürgerservice at the townhall of Gummersbach.

Mr. Ralf Günther of the Kommunale Gemeinschaftsstelle für Verwaltungsvereinfachung [KGSt] made a presentation at the Hotel Euro Garden on the NPM concepts of product approach, controlling and benchmarking.

Group Work Activities

(1) Regional Presentation: The more than 90 participants in the first online phase and the 24 who made it to the second online phase were made to present and discuss the major trends and developments of public administration in their respective countries. In the actual forum in Germany, this sharing of information was further visualized by the 24 selected participants in the regional presentations exhibited through four regional teams consisting of the following: Team 1: Latin America, Team 2: South and Southeast Asia, Team 3: Euro-Mediterranean Region and Team 4: Africa. It was a great opportunity to actually learn about the current developments and situations in such diverse countries around the globe straight from the mouths of regional and country representatives. Apart from the data or information one can gather from the Internet or published documents, this was something I considered as first-hand information. The regional presentations also covered various aspects like specific problems in each country, common problems among countries represented in each region, geographical location, similarities and differences in political structures and typical features of their respective cultures and traditions.

(2) Evaluating the Tools of NPM: After we were briefed on the concepts of NPM and after an intensive discussion about the various conceptual approaches and the tools involved, we recognized the fact that the conditions for public administration reform may vary considerably in different countries. Particularly when it came to relations between public administrators on the one hand and elected politicians and the citizens of these countries on the other; factors which will in turn vary depending on the different systems. Given this preliminary orientation, we were tasked to: (a) assess whether some of the tools or instruments might be applicable in our respective countries and (b) assess the preliminary conditions that may have to be established in our countries before it is possible to get a debate on NPM going.

(3) Applying the Tools and Methods of NPM in the Countries Represented: Real Life Projects: During the second online phase, one important task was to develop a specific project to implement NPM in our respective countries. We were asked to bring our draft to the actual seminar in Germany. We had the choice between two project titles that we could use to implement our ideas, as follows:

Project 1: “Improving Services for Citizens:” Imagine that you had the chance to improve something specific, e.g., what a local council does for its citizens or — seen the other way around — what citizens today have “to ask” of the public administration. The task was to outline in a few key words: (1) what would be interesting to change into a “real service;” (2) what would be different after the change and the benefits for citizens and (3) what would be (given realistic consideration of the factors that support and obstruct it) the most important steps to implement “your specific new service?”

Project 2: “Implementing the Mindset of Customer Orientation in Public Administration:” Imagine that you had the chance to change the mindset of the leaders and employees within public administration and achieve “real customer orientation.” How would you do it? The task was to outline in a few key words: (1) what would be different after the change and what would be the benefits; (2) what would be (given realistic consideration to the factors that support and obstruct it) the most important steps to implement “the new way of thinking.”

At the Academy, we were tasked to form teams and to develop all our ideas into a number of “best practice recommendations” which would then be presented in the plenum. Based on all the different information provided and after intensive discussions in the plenum and in the working groups, we were asked to: (1) consider in our group the different drafts (2) build on them and develop them further and (3) develop all the ideas into a best practice recommendation. In other words, what ideas from our group discussion would be suitable in most cases, and what were creative and interesting suggestions worth testing as first steps towards implementing the project; measures for overcoming obstacles most of us have in common and how to use supportive resources (what/whom).

(4) Prioritization of the Different Tools of NPM and Lean Management: We learned that NPM and lean management have a lot of different elements. These concepts are quite complex to implement in their entirety. With the use of a Portfolio Analysis grid, we were tasked to rank the various elements according to their order of priority in terms of application and implementation in our respective countries and regions. We were made to consider factors affecting application and implementation, such as degree of difficulty and order of priority. Two working groups were tasked to prioritize the main elements of the NPM concept while the other two remaining groups were tasked to prioritize the main elements of lean management.

(5) Power Field Analysis: Which Problems Will We Have to Overcome When Introducing NPM Tools and Lean Management, and Who or What Will Support Us? After the intensive discussions about various changes that needed to be made in public administration, it was made clear that not every country will apply all the elements and concepts. There would be resistance to any form of change, more in some cases and less in others. But there will also be groups, lobbies, mental attitudes and other things that could help or support us directly or indirectly when implementing NPM and lean management. This is the reason why we needed to consider the question of what obstacles we were likely to overcome when we returned to our countries and how we could use the supporting aspects. We used the Power Field Analysis grid for this activity. The task was for each region to fill out the power field analysis grid.

(6) What are the Main Arguments of Opponents of NPM, and How We Can Reply or Overcome Them: During the second online phase, we were already made aware of a wide variety of arguments that could be articulated by opponents against the implementation of NPM. There will be lobbying groups, mental aspects and other things that could help or support us directly or indirectly when implementing NPM and lean management. After undergoing intensive discussions about various necessary changes to be made in public administration, and considering the fact that not all the elements and concepts of NPM were likely to be applicable or feasible in all the participating countries, and the possibility of a resistance to the planned changes, we were tasked to discuss with our respective assigned groups our sample of arguments against NPM and develop answers and methods to overcome them.

Evaluation, Lessons Learned and Prospect for the Future

During the closing part of the last session, we were asked to express our concluding remarks and evaluation of the seminar. We expressed how the seminar intellectually-enriched us and how our co-participants, the moderators, and staff of the Academy personally touched our hearts with their warmth and hospitality.

For my part, I was also able to communicate my praises for the effective and efficient customer-oriented management of the Bürgerservice in Gummersbach. With only a few employees, it is a picture of a very dependable one-stop-shop that caters to the various basic needs of the citizens under its jurisdiction. Equipped with modern equipment, highly-competent officers and staff and a conducive work environment, the Bürgerservice is simply wonderful. It is something which should be replicated in the Philippines.

The presentation of Mayor Uwe Ufer of Hückeswagen on the concept of “New Model of Control” and Mr. Ralf Günther’s report on the Kommunale Gemeinschaftsstelle für Verwaltungsvereinfachung’s [KGSt] application and implementation aspects of the concepts of “Product Approach,” “Controlling” and “Benchmarking” were also very informative and inspiring. Their presentations gave us a more vivid picture of the mechanics and successful application and implementation of the major concepts and tools of NPM. We traveled to the Hotel Euro Garden in the City of Cologne to hear the presentation of Mr. Günther, which gave us a chance to roam around the bustling and beautiful city, to have lunch and snacks and to buy some souvenir items.

With the well-managed exchange of views, sharing of experiences, the use of case studies, analysis of precedents, cross-country comparisons, contextual information, simulations and exploration of options and scenarios, I can categorically state that the NPM seminar in its entirety was a very effective medium for the FNF-IAF’s international political dialogue and advocacy efforts. The sharing of stories — successes, failures, difficulties and other experiences — provided an environment that fostered the development of innovative ideas, concepts and methods in public sector governance. The methods employed by the IAF moderators also facilitated a results-oriented learning process where theory and practice were joined, where wisdom transmitted through the classroom interacted with the world of policy decision and action.

Having been academically oriented in the fields of political science, law and public administration, and as a public policy analyst and legal/legislative officer at work, I did not have much difficulty understanding the concepts and instruments of NPM. I can say with confidence that the NPM seminar and its objectives were highly relevant and useful to both my academic and professional interests. Given the wealth of information, tools and concepts freshly acquired from the NPM seminar in Gummersbach, I am confident that we — the Philippines’ IAF-NPM alumni together with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation — can eventually make NPM successfully thrive in the Philippine government setting in the near future.