Move towards a service-driven result-oriented government

The pressure on the Public Sector is palpable. The role of the government has changed as it has become both shareholder and supervisor in the Financial market. Furthermore, the legislature, political parties and citizens are each making their own demands. Government organizations are required to effectively deal with complex and ever-changing legislation and regulations. Citizens have become so well informed and vocal in their demands that they have raised the bar for excellent service delivery. Reason enough to cut back on bureaucracy and intensify interaction with citizens. In doing so, a – renewed – focus on achieving socially relevant results also plays an important part.

The Dutch government is there to serve its citizens. Citizens know and feel this. They have demonstrated stronger and increased criticism of government conduct recently. This is justified to some extent. After all, there are still some government officials in The Hague who consider it their duty to shield ministers from criticism instead of pleading for their citizens’ causes. Citizens find this hard to understand. On the other hand, their critical attitude regarding the service and the transparency offered by government lies at the root of the officials´ protective behaviour. When the situation calls for it though, these same citizens are smart enough to call for government assistance whenever it works in their favor. When we as citizens invest our savings with an Icelandic bank – which is clearly an decision made by the individual – and things go wrong, we demand that our Minister of Finance, Mr. Bos retrieves our money as soon as possible. A good example of the current ambivalent attitude of the citizen.

Government organisations are responding with ever-increasing bureaucracy, a safe cushion of rules to fall back on when things fall flat. Bureaucracy shields the government by showing that it did the best it could as it conducted itself by the book. A functional reaction, however, as this type of culture allows for prevention of mistakes to become more important than the solving of problems. Increasing bureaucracy also causes tension within the Public Sector itself. Many employees join government organisations for idealistic reasons and once onboard, they find it hard to reconcile themselves with what actions are being asked of them to perform. At this tricky junction, the government wants to transform itself to a service-orientated, affordable vehicle that upholds public order in a strict and effective manner.

Connected citizens become more demanding Another issue facing the government is the growing level of organization with which citizens are participating in various interest groups, also on the internet. These connected citizens are becoming more vocal and are wielding greater influence. They view themselves as ‘customers’ with rights and not as ‘servants’ with duties. The Public Sector is yet to make this shift in thinking. At municipal level, matters are dealt with adequately. In The Hague though, there is still the view that policy makers make rules to their liking from their ivory towers.

When citizens organize themselves constructively this leads to better quality information. This information can be utilized by the government in formulating targeted policies and effectively resolving social issues. This development offers many opportunities and requires a positive approach. Thinking in terms of the citizens’ talents, opportunities and contributions rather than relying on the problems and traditional problem definitions as a point of departure – for example youths with their public loitering and dropping out of school.

From incident management to coherent policy

The ‘mediacratization’ of society in general has impacted the Public Sector severely. Incident management has seeped into policymaking practices as a negative side effect. Think of a politician who trips over a loose paving stone and then uses that incident to create a new policy. Incidents are useful in the political arena as they guarantee short-term wins, but they are a nail in the coffin to the Public Sector as they seldom contribute to structural solutions and improvements. From a publicity viewpoint, incidents cannot be underestimated however. A parolee on a trial leave who then commits murder is widespread feed for the media. An inopportune moment to express that we in the Netherlands subscribe to the notion that detainees deserve a second chance. By changing our own behaviour and placing incidents into a broader perspective, government policy will become more coherent and receive the solidity it needs.

Socially relevant results as goal

Aside from unfortunate incidents, it is always difficult to clarify existing policy and its underlying reasoning to citizens. Yet it is necessary in order to gain support and acceptance from the people. It is imperative that citizens become aware of the choices that we as a society have made and then hold each other responsible for upholding these choices. Judging how successful the police are in enforcing the law by reviewing the number of fines handed out, is in this case in stark contrast to society’s wishes. The objective is obviously to increase safety and rule out criminal behaviour. This is the core of the citizen’s expectation of the government and that should be the focus of all efforts and public information: achieving socially relevant results.

Instead of effective government policy that gets to the root of the problem, the solution is often sought in the service portfolio. When a district becomes spoilt and neglected, renovating homes and parks is rarely sufficient. The problem should be investigated. Looking and listening, as opposed to relying on what people have thought to be the cause of the problem for many years. Often the first approach leads to the cause being (a lack of) schooling and employment. A government able to recognize this and install proper measures subsequently, tackling the actual problem, is much more successful in accomplishing its goals.

Need to economize

Acting efficiently has to be weighed against the need to economize, which is necessary as the government has incurred substantial debt recently. Citizens are under the impression that we have moved past the economic crisis and that we are on the road to recovery. This impression is wholly unfounded as there has been no evidence that the economy is gaining upward momentum and it does not even take the government’s burden of debt into consideration. Therefore, cutting costs is a wise move. Workgroups are investigating measures that the government can take to cut back. The ministries and departments are having a hard time returning provisions fought for and privileges gained over time: no one wants to shoot themselves in the foot. Yet the current organisation has reached its sell-by-date. This begs the question: how to become a modern customer-orientated, flexible government where integral management is the key theme?

The major trends

  • Citizens become more critical towards government, increasing bureaucracy
  • Citizens organizing themselves into interest groups
  • Mediacratization and incident-driven policy
  • Focus on socially relevant results
  • Necessity for Cost Management: economizing
  • Reappraisal of duties
  • Improved service, more internal co-operation
  • From vertical to horizontal supervision
  • Towards an optimized execution

Corporate management

Reappraisal of duties: what should we do ourselves and what should the market take care off?
Research into what the government’s duties should and should not entail might shed light on the direction that needs to be taken. The Public Sector needs to reappraise its list of duties and it is initializing this process. The object is to streamline the government and its package of services because of the limited financial means. Government needs to answer a number of questions in this regard. What should the government’s duties be? What should government do itself and what should be left to the market? Should the police be involved on such a wide scale with every soccer match played or should soccer clubs take on more responsibility? Is it efficient for police officers to make house calls in order to check locks and other theft prevention measures? Two questions arise when weighing up these issues: do they match the organisation´s objective and more specifically: what do they contribute?

Customer experience

Internal co-operation: how do we achieve efficient service delivery?
Increased specialisation has lead to more and more co-operation between government organizations. They need each other in order to improve efficiency as well as their service to citizens. The government is re-organising itself towards citizens based on the idea of a centralised service desk. Many good examples illustrate this point. Sole proprietors are able to apply for all their licences with a single application. No one is sent to-and-fro for social security services. This is good news for citizens, but places a heavy burden on the level of organisation required from this service desk. This demands greater co-operation and investments in the chains and networks. For example, when arresting someone, the police have to take into account whether the Criminal Justice System will be able to convict and detain such a person (i.e. chain-orientated thinking). This requires a change in mindset.

Risk & Compliance

Supervision: move from vertical to horizontal
Previously policy and supervision ran through the various departments via the provinces to the municipalities. An increased measure of horizontal supervision has been observed recently, where responsibility lies lower in the chain than before. Municipal certification and quality systems enable entire branches to check and control themselves and stimulates the self-management of these branches. Risk management is important to ensure an efficient approach: checks are only performed in high-risk areas. For example, the Revenue Services know from experience which variables offer opportunities for tax evasion and focus their inspection on these. Government organisations are able to ‘play’ with risk profiles and decide for themselves whether to supervise from a preventative or a corrective point of view. The objective: first determining exactly what they want to achieve and then tailoring the supervision or control to that goal.

Operational management

Increased implementation capacity
The government’s capacity to implement still leaves considerable room for improvement. Many implementations are delayed as a result of lacking execution abilities. This extends to the IT arena, where budgets are often allocated to endless, unmanageable and/or overly ambitious projects. Socially, this is certainly not acceptable and it increases pressure on the organisation to improve its performance. Abundant policy and supervision, but too little focus on the operation: a classic case of too many chiefs, too little Indians. Innovation is highlighted as the solution to all problems, but it easily results in complex subsidy arrangements and more bureaucracy. This defeats the object entirely. Innovation is good, but at the end of the day one has to deliver what one has promised. The term ‘ambition’ needs a new definition in this case: instead of formulating new plans, use existing plans and ensure a workable solution for realising them.