w2

PUB 407 ML

Productivity Improvement in the Public Sector

Class 1

Chapter 1

· What is a government’s role and purpose?

· To provide services to their citizens.

· Name some types of governments

· Federal

· State

· County

· City

· Special Districts

· Name some services:

· Police

· Fire

· Military

· Water

· Sewer

· Electric

· Emergency

· What else?

· The public’s, often negative, perception of government is shaped by

· Mass media

· Social media

· Internet based news

· Family, Friends, and Personal Experiences

· Perception Videos

· Examples of perception not being reality.

· Ferguson

· Not the PD racism outlined in the DOJ report, but the initial witness statements that went viral.

· Obama Birth Certificate

· Police Setting Fire in Waco

· 9/11 Conspiracy

· Newtown, CT conspiracy

· etc...

· Examples?

· Public perception and opinion of government wax and wane:

· Post 9/11 federal gov’t approval (presidential approval) - 90%

· Current federal gov’t approval (presidential approval) - 42%

· It all depends on who is in charge, what the gov’t is doing, and how its being “sold”.

· Favorability ratings of federal, state, and local gov’t have steadily declines since 2002.

· Local gov’t has the highest approval rating

· This is the level people interact with the most.

· The collective American consensus is gov’t disapproval and that gov’t causes more problems than it solves.

· Examples

· Crime

· Drug Abuse

· Poverty

· Tax rate

· Failing cities

· Flint?

· Declining schools in some areas

· Corruption

· Is this perception true?

· The public believes the federal gov’t wastes about HALF of what it spends, and that it is more wasteful than state and local government.

· Gov’t vs. Private Sector

· Public sees the private sector as innovative and efficient.

· Gov’t as stagnant and inefficient.

· True?

· President Obama started an initiative to combat waste called their “Campaign to Cut Waste” but then approved a $528 million Federal Loan to a Solar Start-Up that went bankrupt and left the taxpayers on the hook. One of the investors in the company was also a large donor to President Obama’s campaign - some consider this wasteful and possibly corrupt.

· Is it wasteful and/or corrupt?

· Are all innovation subsidies or investments bad?

· What about discoveries and technologies made via NASA contractors?

· GPS via Air Force R and D?

· If it's successful people don’t care, if it's not the perception is waste and corruption.

· Does waste or corruption inherently make a program bad?

· Interstate highway system

· Social security

· Rural electricity

· Food stamps

· Government failure is very public and impacts perception and approval for a great deal of time.

· See Hurricane Katrina response

· Example: President Bush and Obama bailouts in 2008 and 2009 probably stopped another Great Depression, but because it did not cause an economic BOOM it is perceived as a failure.

· The majority of the american public believes the gov’t does more harm than good to businesses via regulation.

· As a result of less gon’t confidence, the average citizen trusts gov’t less to fulfill their needs and thus wants to give them less money.

· Politicians run on this, and cut the federal budget.

· Budget deficit.

· Less taxes sent back to state and local gov’t from the feds.

· State and local tax increase.

· Public perception drops.

· And repeat.

· In the 1990’s politicians campaigned on REINVENTING the gov’t. Streamlining, modernizing, and adopting private sector efficiencies.

· President Clinton tasked Vice President Gore with a National Performance Review to apply these to the federal gov’t.

· The reviews priorities were to cut red tape, put customers first, empower employees to get results, and get back to basics.

· The final report suggests a federal spending cut of 108 billion dollars and 252,000 federal jobs.

· Largest reduction occurred in the military.

· Challenges of Performance-Based Evaluation and government downsizing.

· Since the 1990s all levels of gov’t have adopted some form of performance based evaluation and improvement.

· It doesn’t always tell the whole story.

· Management tailors programs to meet externally assigned performance goals which may be wrong.

· Performance improvement is often seen as an exercise in compliance rather than an opportunity to improve.

· They don’t ensure agencies will perform well.

· Don’t eliminate incompetent management, ethics, or corruption.

· Downsizing doesn’t always result in efficiency.

· US federal gov’t Procurement workforce downsized by a quarter in the 1990s, but then spending grew by 80 percent.

· Results in less management, oversight, and cost controls.

· Reform efforts should be focused on efficiency and transparency, not “starving the beast”.

· Government policies, processes, and procedures must be logically established to allow for these efficiencies.

· This is the difference between gov’t and business…. Red tape.

· SpaceX

· Give four points that would ensure effective public management.

· Training

· Accountability

· Waste/Fraud Prevention

· Regulation/Corruption Enforcement

·