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M.P.A.-13Public Systems Management

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given in the Assignments. These Sample Answers/Solutions are prepared by Tutor for the help of the studentto get an idea of how he/she can answer the questions of the Assignments. Sample answers may be seen asthe Guide/Reference Book/assignment Guide. Any Omission or Error is highly regretted though every carehas been taken while preparing these Sample Answers/Solutions. Please consult you Teacher / Tutor beforeyou prepare a Particular Answer.

SECTION - IQ. 1. Discuss the nature and scope of Public System Management.Ans. As we say the only constant in this world is change. Therefore, any system to retain

its core has to undergo constant change to fit in the ever-changing world. Similarly, there hasbeen constant evolution of different system such as political and administrative keeping inmind the best interest of the public. Public Systems Management has been defined by manyas “Administration and Management of both direct and indirect institutions engaged in thepublic policy-making exercise and in delivery of public services”. The core areas of PSM areon results, efficiency and quantification.

With respect to governance, it lays focus on:(i) Ensuring the government plays a less active role in day-to-day functioning.(ii) More emphasis on the results.(iii) Keeping the requirements of customers in mind.(iv) Putting market mechanisms in place in those areas which cannot be privatised.

SCOPE OF PUBLIC SYSTEMS MANAGEMENTWith the ever-changing scenario of public- private enterprises, the extent of role play by

the government in public systems the scope of public systems management is limited to:(i) Giving importance to attaining results instead of blindly following the guidelines.(ii) Putting across the market principles such as competition, contracting etc.(iii) Making public administration with the customer as the core.(iv) Less interference from the governments and independence to these agencies for better

functioning and answerability in case of any under-achievement.(v) Assigning fixed responsibilities to the employees, thereby motivating them for better

results.(vi) Making employees more customer centric.(vii) Making the functioning of these units more flexible, goal-oriented and reducing

bureaucratic interference.

(viii) Ensuring that there is a positive form of corporatisation of these units for goal attainment.

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Kettle in 2002 points out the basic concerns that are looked into by the New PublicManagement initiatives. These are:

(a) Productivity,

(b) Marketisation,

(c) Service-orientation,

(d) De-centralisation,

(e) Policy,

(f) Accountability for results.

Q. 2. Analyse the political environment of public systems management in India.Ans. The term political environment is a very broad term and includes the bureaucracy,

parastatal bodies local government institutions and also bodies working with the criteria ofpublic interest. It is therefore imperative that the political environment plays a very importantrole in effective public systems management of a country.

The major political developments that have taken place in India over a period after itattained independence can be summed up as:

(i) Promoting regional autonomy to the states.(ii) Gradually putting an end to the single party dominance system.(iii) Giving due importance to the rise of more and more regional parties.(iv) Criminalisation and communalisation of politics.Apart from these negative aspects there have also been quite a few positive influences of

the political system on the Public Systems Management such as increasing the participationof women at the local level and ‘empowering’ the poor and the socially marginalised. India’spolitical administrative structure has changed so dynamically with respect to globalisation,liberalization and privatisation. The modes of governance in the country also have evolvedover a period in the sense that there have been sweeping economic reforms and lesseningof the state’s role in its day-to-day working. Another factor is the erosion of bureaucraticprofessionalism especially at the higher levels.

Therefore, it becomes imperative for public systems management to understand thedynamics of the political environment to cope up with the market forces.

Q. 3. The concept of goernance is used in several contexts. Examine.Ans. Rhodes grapples with the significance and definitions of “governance” as a way to

explicate the trends and form of British Government reform since the 1980’s. Rhodes reviewsand critiques various definitions of ‘governance.’ And find these inadequate in explaining thenew governing structure that had developed in Britain by 1995. Rhodes begins by identifyingtwo generally accepted and understood governing structures (1) hierarchies, namelygovernment bureaucracies, and (2) markets, the rallying cry of privatization advocates in the1980’s. Rhodes, however, finds these lacking in explanatory power and adds a third one,networks, which he recasts as “governance,” and posits as an alternative conception ofcontemporary governing structure in Britain. Before arriving at his definition of governanceas “self-organizing networks,” Rhodes evaluates different strands of literature assessing

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government reform and governance in order to arrive at a critical assessment of how the term“governance” may contribute to our understanding of the current working of governments asthey become increasingly embedded in network relationships in order to provide services tothe public.

● Governance as minimal state, Rhodes argues, embodies the ideological and politicalcall for downsizing the state.

● Governance as corporate governance focuses our attention on the policy-making, goal-setting role of government and sets the requirement for transparency and publicaccountability.

● Governance as New Public Management (NPM), Rhodes argues follows closely fromthe above criteria and develops a notion of government directing or “steering” actionby structuring the market, which takes over the actual service provision or the “rowing”function.

● Governance as Good Governance, as advanced by the World Bank “marries new publicmanagement to the advocacy of liberal democracy.”

● Governance as a socio-cybernetic system can be conceptualized as the effects of theinteractions among government, social, political and economic actors wherein no oneactor has a monopoly over information or expertise. In other words, the public may setbroad goals and create a regulatory framework but as actors interact within thisinstitutional environment, they work in and reshape the network of relations to solveproblems.

● Governance as self-organizing networks is related to the above form of governance inthat it focuses on governance as referring to networks in which private, non-profit, andpublic individuals and organizations interact to provide public services. However, thefocus here is on the autonomous character of these networks as deregulation andalternative service provision mechanisms increasingly debilitate the ability of governmentto steer.

In order to distance his conception of governance from NPM and refute its applicability tointer-organizational networks, Rhodes highlights four ways in which it fails to capture thecharacteristics of contemporary government structure:

(i) NPM’s focus is within the organization instead of managing outside linkages.(ii) NPM concentrates on objectives instead of on the importance of maintaining

relationships and trust.(iii) NPM highlights results while Rhodes’ model reveals a possible breakdown in public

accountability.(iv) NPM’s emphasis on competition does not fit with the imperatives of steering inherent

to a network model.Definitions of governance as a socio-cybernetic system, or as self-organizing networks

then are closest to Rhodes conception of governance. In this model no single actor, includinggovernment, has all the knowledge, tools, or power to either dominate or to make policy work.“The task of government is to enable socio-political interactions” and to manage relationships

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of trust and cooperation within a network. Government becomes something broader –‘governance’ – when it provides services through outside organizational patterns. Finally, hesuggests that networks to provide services are self-organizing, and that these “integratednetworks resist government steering, develop their own policies and mold their environments.”

This emerging governing structure, however, Rhodes postulates, poses serious challengesto accountability and governability, particularly within the context of representative democracies.The fragmengtation and decentralization of service delivery reduces the government’s controlover implementation and its ability to coordinate and steer the networks. Worryingly, thecomplexity of these relationships also erodes responsibility and accountability since outcomesare the product of multiple actors. To address some of these concerns Rhodes suggeststools of intergovernmental management to strengthen communication and facilitate problemsolving between different branches of government. At best these efforts may help the problemsof coordination and steering but cannot address issues of democratic accountability. Rhodescautions that the policy networks he has identified may both shut out the public and be resistantto central guidance, “becoming the prime example of governing without Government.”

SECTION - IIQ. 7. Write a note in brief on important techniques of work measurement.Ans. The method chosen for each individual situation to be measured depends on sev-

eral factors which include:(a) The length on the job to be measured in time units.(b) The precision which is appropriate for the type of work in terms of time units (i.e.

should it be in minutes, hundredths or thousandths of a minute).(c) The general cycle-time of the work, i.e. does it take seconds, minutes or days to

complete.The length of time necessary for the completion of the range of jobs can vary from a few

seconds in highly repetitive factory work to several weeks or months for large projects suchas major shutdown maintenance work on an oil refinery. It is quite clear that using a stop-watch, for example, on the latter work would take several man-years to time to measure!Thus, more “overall” large-scale methods of timing must be employed.

The precision is an important factor, too. This can vary from setting times of the order of“to the nearest thousandth of a minute” (e.g. short cycle factory work) to the other end of thescale of “to the nearest week” (e.g. for large project work).

These are the dominant factors that affect the choice of method of measurement.The Methods

PMTS: At the “precision” end of the scale is a group of methods known as predeterminedmotion time systems that use measurement units in ten thousandths (0.0001) of a minute orhundred-thousandths of an hour (0.00001 hour).

The resulting standard times can be used directly, for very short-cycle work of around oneminute total duration such as small assembly work. However, they often are used to generateregularly used basic tasks such using assembling or disassembling nuts and bolts, using ascrewdriver and similar. Tasks of this type are filed as standard or synthetic data-banks.

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Estimating: At the other end of the scale (long-cycle and project work) we need somethingwhich is quick to use. Such a method is estimating. This can exist in three main forms:

(a) Analytical Estimating: This relies on the experience and judgement of the estimator.It is just of case of weighing up the work content and, using this experience, stating aprobable time for completion, such as “this job will take about eight days to complete.”

(b) Category Estimating: This is a form of range estimating and requires a knowledgeof the work. Estimators may not feel comfortable with overall, analytical estimatesupon which may depend the outlay of a great deal of money. They often prefer giving arange estimate such as “this job should take between 12 weeks and 14 weeks tocomplete”, which provides a safety net should things go wrong. Such ranges are notjust picked upon at random, but are statistically calculated and based on probabilitytheory.

(c) Comparative Estimating: This is another example of range estimating. Again,estimators rely on experience of the work in order to produce estimates. Thisexperience can be augmented by the provision of each time-range with a few typical,descriptive, jobs that would guide estimators to the most appropriate range. Theestimator would compare the work to be estimated with those in the various rangesuntil the most appropriate fit is found.

Timing: The intermediate method between the two groups above, is timing the work insome way, usually with a stop watch or computerised electronic study board. This method isretrospective in that the job must be seen in action in order to be timed whereas the othermethods are prospective and can be used for timing jobs before they start.

The observer times each element of the work and obtains times that the observedoperator takes to do the elements. Each timing is adjusted (rated) by the pace at which theoperator was working as assessed by the observer. This produces basic times for theelements and hence the whole job, which are independent of the operator and can be usedas the time for a trained, experienced worker to carry out the same elements.

Another method of assessing the work is using activity sampling and rated activitysampling. This is a method based on the observer making snap observations at random orsystematic sample times, observing what the operator is or operators are doing at the timesof those observations.

Models: A most useful method for standard or synthetic data-banks of job or elementtimes is using computer models of the jobs. These are generated as mathematical formulaein which the observed data are inserted to compile a time for completion of the task orproject. It is a useful method for recycling time standards for elements of basic work overand over again, only changing the values of the variables to suit each project.

Q. 9. Bring out the main features of Right of Information Act 2005.Ans. The key features of Right to Information Act, 2005 are:(i) This act not only confers right to information, but also covers “information relating to a

private body which can be accused by a public authorities, under any law.”

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(ii) The public authorities, apart from standard provisions, they are also to publish: thebudget allocations of each agency, ways in which the subsidy programmes are executedand also amounts allocated and the beneficiaries.

(iii) Appointment of Public Information Officers (PIOs).(iv) Laying down of time limits i.e. thirty days for normal application and to days where a

third party is involved.(v) The application fee has been kept nominal and for people from economically weaker

sections, there is no charge.(vi) The Act provides for establishment of new information commission at the centre and

also in all the states comprising Chief Information Commissioner and ten informationCommissioners.

(vii) Penalties can be levied on the PIO for refusing applications, delaying the release ofinformation without any reasonable cause and also giving incomplete, incorrect andalso misleading information.

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