12 March 2015 Employee Benefit Plan Review■ Focus On … Pla.docx
Joanne kelly
1. Strategic government requires a strategic centre: and a note on program review L21 Public Sector Conference 13 May, 2010 Associate Professor Joanne Kelly Director, ANZSOG (NSW) University of Sydney
Individual central agencies have a strong sense of their own function and mandate, yet they question whether they have the technical and political capacity to deliver on the mandate (relationships; staff and skills); and how the roles they perform contribute to the core mandate of their organisation or the government (esp. re tools/instruments, including procedural tools). But with the central agency network more broadly, the legitimacy of central agencies actions are questioned by other central agencies & by line agencies; clearly overlap and competition between the roles performed by different actors at the centre; questions on internal capacity are repeatedly raised.
If we accept the deliberative approach then strategy = plan and strategic government is implementation of the plan…. Role of centre is to articulate the deliberate strategy; role in line agencies is to implement…. If we accept the emergent approach then strategy = the accumulation of all government activities and strategic government is … well any government
Without these preconditions the strategic plan will be continually adjusted due to changes in the external environment – it doesn’t make sense to keep delivering a product if there is no demand for it; if a competitor offers the similar product for less; if the product proves to be faulty or too expensive to produce; or if an economic crisis changes the levels of demand in the market. Nor will the ‘planner’ necessarily have the authority to force action by the ‘implementer’ – the regions know the local market better than head office and therefore contests the legitimacy of plans; a federated organisational structure divides power and frequently rejects the aims and authority of the centre.
Central agencies are moving to exert more deliberate, explicit influence over the long term trajectory of government, whether by ‘whole of government’ action plans or more interventionist approaches to ensuring existing programs are delivered successfully and in accordance with government priorities. These changes denote a shift in both the ethos and the instruments of central agencies. Yet there is little agreement in either theory or practice on how governments can and should respond to this ‘strategic’ challenge. This report presents the findings of extensive research into the challenges facing central agencies in Australia and New Zealand and then proposes a model of strategic engagement as the basis for re-conceiving roles and relationships at the centre of government.
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