Agency Effectiveness – Shaping organisational goals and strategies

Ahmed Qadir, Office of International AffairsCompetition Commission of Pakistan

Competition and

Consumer Protection Consultati

ons10-14

August 2015,

Istanbul

Introduction

Those managing public sector organisations must address two simple, but central questions:

1. Where should I take this organisation?2. What type of work should we do?

Introduction

Every organisation is expected to perform certain functions thus, organisational strategy is important.

In the private sector, strategy is based on market forces (competition) and organisational capability

In the public sector, political forces replace market forces. These can complicate strategic decisions

Introduction – comparing private and public sector strategy

The private sector must decide how to make and market goods and services.

In the public sector, an organisation must receive permission and gain resources from elected officials before any product can be marketed.

Introduction

Developing a practical operational strategy and communicating a sense of purpose are key tasks of effective leaders.

Preferred Management Tools

Source: The Economist, The Cart Pulling the Horse?, 7 April 2005

For 12 years, the Bain & Company, a firm of consultants, asked companies how many management tools they use and how satisfied they are with them.Their findings are summarised in the figure.

Why strategy is important?

It is possible to manage an organisation without a strategy but that only goes so far…

Without a strategy, very difficult to have influence over the organisation’s agenda and its stakeholders.

Some people are lucky without a strategy and good media relations; for others, best to have a plan.

What is strategy?

Peter Drucker describes strategy as “actions taken today to meet tomorrow’s objectives”Where we are nowWhere we want to beHow we are going to get thereIN ESSENCE, THE STRATEGIC PLAN IS YOUR ORGANISATION’S GAME PLAN

What is strategy?

MOORE and KHAGRAM [

ON CREATING PUBLIC VALUE, 2004] describe a STRATEGIC TRIANGLE for the public sector that

defines the organisation’s mission in terms of important public values

describes the sources of support and legitimacy it can draw upon to accomplish its mission and

explains how the organisation will be organised to achieve its mission

What is strategy? Formulation

Strategy formulation begins with the identification of objectives and determining the methods of reaching those objectives.

Objectives and activities are scaled to fit within resource constraints.

Each element of strategy is constrained by political, social, economic, and environmental variables.

What is the Benefit of a Strategic Plan?

Compass for action Measurement system for monitoring progress Resource attraction and resource allocation

Why do you need a Strategic Plan?

Defines core values Communicates common understanding of goals &

unified plan of action on which to base business decisions

Provides framework for evaluating new ideas It’s a DRIVER— integrated into how you run your

operations Keeps you from going off-track

Developing and Implementing Strategy

A strategy should not just be a written document…it’s a way of thinking about what you do.

It help connects objectives to activities and to resources

Developing and Implementing Strategy

A key element in developing a strategy is take both a short-term and long-term perspective. Look at your mandate.

How much progress will you make in the next several years?

How will the problems you are working to solve change? What’s more/less important?

Who are your internal and external customers?

Developing and Implementing Strategy

What highly visible and dramatic short-term accomplishments could your organisation achieve to demonstrate competence and attract support and resources?

Who should do the work required to achieve your strategic goals?

Developing and Implementing Strategy

The best strategies are built incrementally over time and are based on modest efforts to encourage organisational learning.

Organisations are organic creatures. Can only absorb so much.

Objectives and activities must be not only politically, socially, and economically viable, you should be able to implement them also.

Implementing Strategy

The key to effective strategy is to set realistic but important goals and the maintain the connection between ends and means. [Much public sector work is routine and performed as a matter of habit]

Basic questions remain unanswered: who are the stakeholders? How are we helping them?

Be careful of the huge variety of internal processes that distract you!

Time Management Problems…  Operations Analysis Strategy

 

 

  Operational actions encroach on time of senior management

? ? ? ? ? ?  

MID-LEVEL MANAGERS

 

SENIOR MANAGEMENT

JUNIOR STAFF

Not enough time for this

? ? ?

Role of leadership in strategy and implementation

Implementing strategies requires leadership!

Leadership is not some mythical quality; rather, it is a function of management.

What’s above and what’s below the platform?

Role of leadership in strategy and implementation

Above the platform is the environment and a manager has two basic functions:

1. Obtain resources and support money, staff, authority, turf.

2. Defend the organisation’s distinctive competence the organisation is viewed as being capable of discharging its responsibilities

Role of leadership in strategy and implementation

Below the platform is the organisation, where the leader has four principal functions:

1. Infuse with value2. Develop distinctive

competence3. Distribute incentives fairly4. Structure and mediate

internal conflicts

Infusing the organisation with value…

Defining the organisation’s mission and role and adapting that to the needs of organisational survival.

Defining a core set of objectives and operating principles and constantly communicate these to the others.

This is not a one-way communication and social values will be evident.

Developing an organisation’s distinctive competence

In the public sector, this translates into activities that generate political support and builds allies.

What are you [really] good at? What do people say about what you do?

Distributing incentives fairly

Incentives motivate staff to act in desired ways.

Leaders must direct incentives with an understanding of an individual’s talents and preferences.

By understanding staff’s values, preferences, communication patterns, and relationships, one can direct incentives and stimulate productivity.

Structure and mediate internal conflicts

Leaders play a unique role in the organisation’s social structure and conflicts are brought to them.

This function of leadership involves setting up processes for identifying and resolving conflicts.

Leaders should approach conflict with care because by the time it comes to you, positions have harden, egos are engaged, and emotions are visible.

Some final thoughts on leadership

Cant be done from behind a desk. One must get out and learn about the social organism one manages MBWA

One needs a management philosophy that works and the ability to listen to, learn about, and observe one’s environment.

Some final thoughts on leadership

You are never writing your strategy on blank paper. All organisations have a history and a trajectory.

Failure happens. Learn from it and keep moving.

Importance of a sense of purpose

Public sector employees have a desire to be part of important work important to build on that!

When staff members cannot link their work to the organisation’s larger objectives, work and morale can deteriorate.

Sense of purpose encourages extra effort [MLK: racial equality; JFK: man on the moon]

Communicating higher expectations

You will need to communicate your organisation’s mission and its strategy for that mission. Sometimes you’ll have to scream and shout.

This is a continuous process of teaching, listening to, and communicating with the people who work with you and for you.

Communicating higher expectations

You must learn to use your organisation’s purpose to motivate work and listen to and learn from people – understand what they expect from you, try to perform up to their expectations or change those expectations.

Developing an organisation is a collective effort. Communicating higher expectations requires mutual respect.

Final Thoughts

An authority will ultimately be judged on its perceived VALUE to the economy

Important to demonstrate this value quickly

keeping focused on the ’main game’, i.e., key priority issues and avoiding easy but low[er] priority issues is essential.

Communicating about what one does is also important helps get support

Thank you very much