RAWA program for Public Sector Development

Public Sector Development rawa

Introduction:

The success of outstanding Government Authorities/Departments is based on four key elements; Planning (which constitutes about 30% of the success rate of Government Departments in the world), having an Effective Working Trilogy (leadership,competent staff, and clarity of purpose, regulations, instructions and legislation), maintaining Competitive Service (satisfied and loyal service recipientrequires continual improvement of the quality of service), and Reliable Infrastructure.   Clear Criteria and sub-criteria have been developed describing the World Class Best Practices.  These criteria are used to assess objectively and scientifically the status of organizations and enterprises.  Preciseassessment is the baseline and springboard for successful ones towards leadership and excellence.

Monitoring and Control is a crucial process to assure proper completion of any project as planned.Effective Monitoring requires;a clear plan for the project with a definitive timeframe, budget cost, and enhanced performance indicators that enable stakeholders to stand at any deviation and take the appropriate corrective action.  To achieve this, it is necessary to assign staff to monitor the progress, and prepare periodic reports to senior management on the progress of plans, and deviations if any.

The success of any Public Authority or Department mainly depends on its staff experience, skills and the extent of their understanding of the mechanism of action in their organizations.  This comes only through the involvement of cadres from different disciplines in a series of foundational, intermediate and advanced qualifying courses and according to a training plan to ensure progress of work of theirDepartments; parallel to proper selection of new competent staff.

Diagnosis

Despite all the efforts made by the Ministry of Public Sector Development, and despite the passage of ten years on the launch of the King Abdullah II Award for Excellence in Government Performance and Transparency, the majority of public sector bodies in Jordan still below the required level, in terms of quality and level of service provided to citizens, which reflected negatively on the satisfaction and expectations of service recipients.With the exception of a small number of GovernmentalDepartments, which offer outstanding service with high quality (compared to other Departments), most of the Ministries,GovernmentalDepartments and semi-GovernmentalDepartments, are still suffering from the administrative slack, and the low level of service and quality.

The real problem lays in that each Ministry or GovernmentalDepartment acting alone, defining goals, standards and processes, independently from the rest of GovernmentalDepartments. There is no doubt, that all this does not lead to improve the quality of the service provided, or help in achieving the desired integration between the processes or procedures of GovernmentalDepartments.  There is a lack of a comprehensive vision or overall goal at the Government level, to harmonize the coordination among all GovernmentalDepartments.

The other problem, and most serious, is the constant change in the visions, goals and the application in all GovernmentalDepartments, each with a cabinet reshuffle, or whenever the top of the pyramid change in any Department.

Research and studies relating to high performing institutions indicate that the continuous improvement in the satisfaction of service recipients, is achieved better by identifying the objectives of continuous improvement within the framework of the strategic planning process, and then make sure that the annual plans to improve service based on the priorities of the recipient of the service.Management Studies spot-out that most Citizens regard two things are the most important features of an outstanding service; smooth and easy access to government services (could be via e-government program), and get a service of high quality level (by quantifying quality standards for services provided).

The Citizens appreciationand satisfaction from the quality of provided services, particularly in the social, educational and health fields, as well as, from the municipality are the appropriate scale of the Government’s developedservices.  These services are required by a large segment of the Jordanian society daily (or almost daily).  It is easy to characterize and measure the quality of service provided, if we look into three dimensions;

    Fastservices (reasonable waiting time for the service)

    Correct and Completeservices

    Simplified services (reform traditional routine or complex procedures, or cancel meaningless routes)

Instant ServiceTreatmentStrategy:

The treatment strategy deals with two prospects; short-term program for the first two years, and long-term (Future) program extended to a period of five years.

First: Short-Term Progress Treatment

Creativity and Innovation in delivering Governmentalservicesis reflected in:

–     Continuing to simplify services and convert a lot of them to become e-services

–     Flexibility in providing the service (open service centers in malls, extends its working hours evening to spare employees to leave their shift).

It is the certainty that every Governmentalbody, provides service its privacy, does not work with it to has unified solution, similar to other bodies, with our agreement on the presence of many similarities, especially at the beginning of treatment, Like many of the patients, who are true when you receive them give them drug painkiller, pending complete diagnosis, and therefore the doctor can find out the disease and to develop its own treatment plan.

The Short-Term Progress Treatment is structured at three levels:

  1. Provide Painkiller (quick victories), through the provision of specific and quick solutions reflecting the experience and knowledge of RAWA International Centrefor the nature of Governmentalbodies and their chronic problems (training, qualifying and enabling the staff responsible for direct service provision).
  2. Search for Solutions:
  • Analytical survey (using SWOT Analysis and RADAR Evaluation Technique) to determine the problem of each service sector, and to measure the starting baseline.
  • Find and seek to determine the most appropriate action plans to address each sector and service problems
  1. Execute and Implement Solutions:
  • Explain the plans and agree on implementation with the concerned parties, and arrange the necessary resources (human, material and legislative)
  • Oversee the implementation and deal with daily obstacles (flexible and assertive)
  • Regular measurement of progress 

Government -service

Second: Long-Term (Future)Treatment

According to the envisaged program, it is required to focus on the activation of a comprehensive Government program for the development of public sector performance in collaboration with the people of expertise and competence in RAWA International Centre, to improve services in the public sector bodies.  The program is planned to be implemented gradually during a period lasts for five years.  During the first two years (first phase) a group of creative ideas will be applied selectively on a limited number of Governmentalbodies to improve their quality and service in accordance with world class best practices.  These selected Governmentalbodies will become leading exemplary models for others.  In the next three years, the implementation will be extended to cover all Governmentalbodies. 

The proposed program includes the following;

  • Adopt an approach for planning, continuous improvement and implementation of a comprehensive plan to enhance services and satisfaction of service’recipient (Citizens).
  • Developfundamental, clear and reliable measures forCitizens’ satisfaction of the basic services provided by all Governmentalbodies.
  • Identify Citizens (servicerecipients) priorities for improving government services, in order to prepare and implement an annual improvement plan accordingly.
  • Define the lowest acceptable limit of improvement in Citizens (service’recipients) satisfaction within a specified number of years (five years for example).
  • Adopt and disseminate of fundamental service standard for each service in order to encourage the participation of citizens and increase their awareness of the government effort and interest in improving the services provided to them.
  • Include an improvement action plans as part of the annual appraisal system of Managers, Officials and Ministries. They will beaccountable for the results ofimplementing improvement action plans, and this will be part of.   The results will feed into the management system and assess the government’s performance as a whole.

Mechanisms and methodologies that will be used and relied upon:

  1. Balanced Scorecards (BSC)

Many organizations are trapped in traditional financial reporting systems, which provide an indication of how an organization performed in the past, but offer no insight into how an organization will perform in the future. This is a problem since a critical element of any organization’s performance management system is knowing where the organization stands in relation to where it wants to be. Decision makers can better monitor performance if they receive accurate, timely, relevant measurement reports. As management gurus have noted, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Unfortunately, organizations often fail to look at the full range of activities that result in superior performance. To deal with this problem, Kaplan and Norton developed the balanced scorecard, a performance measurement system that considers financial measures as well as customer, business process and learning measures.

Many organizations spend a lot of time and effort toprepare strategy plans and detailed execution plans but  with limited effort to realize them, while other organizations start executing plans that are neither solid nor efficient, and without ensuring the availability of the needed resources. 

BSCassists organizations to prepare an integrated and comprehensive strategic plan (strategy map), and follow-up the effective implementation.  It is regarded as a strategic tool to achieve the organization’s vision through the development of a coherent strategy goals arranged into four perspectives (Customers, Financial, Internal Business Processes, and Learning & Organization perspectives), and follow up the implementation by measuring the progress in achievingthe targets of SMARTfinancial and non-financial keyperformance indicators (KPI’s).The progress in achieving strategic goals/objectives is reviewed by Top Management on periodical basis (usually monthly).  Any detected shortfall will be discussed and appropriate action will be approved and followed to restore the desired status before the accumulation of failures.  The implementation is supported by adequate initiatives (projects) to fill the performance gaps and achieve the strategic goals.  The system is run in a clear framework ofauthorities and responsibilities.

RAWA International Centrehas vast and accumulated experience in working with Governmentalbodies.  This will be invested in designing and executing focused training andconsultancy program.  RAWA offers training courses on how to prepare the strategic vision using SWOT Analysis to determine the strengths and weaknesses within the organization, opportunities and threats in the external environment, in order to quantify the vision, and to developa well-structuredstrategy.  , objectives The training will includehow to develop SMART objectives, and the associated KPI’s to measure how far from achieving the quantified vision, and the required initiatives to achieve them.  The Governmental bodies will be trained also on how to cascade objectives of enterprise Strategy Map to the departmental maps, all the way to connect with staff objectives, to establish a clear and specific relationship to the success of the enterprise through the success and integration of the objectives of its staff and management.

  1. Create an Organizational Process of Government Innovation

Innovationshall be directed at individuals and institutionalized to be in the path of providing advanced services, through the establishment of special departments responsible for the care of innovation, for organizing relevant training, and for the development of appropriate legislation and incentives.  Innovation departments at different Authorities and Ministries will be linked to each other and to a centralized Innovation body, not only to avoid working as isolated islands, but to encourage them to continue and to exchange experiences and ideas.

We will rely on the development of plans to meet the criteria of “Government Innovation Award“, and supervisory follow-up of implementation and correction (novelty and added part to the King Abdullah II Award for Excellence in Government Performance and Transparency), which is an excellent basis on which to build.  The Government Innovation Award focuses on the following areas:

  • Identify vision and clear objectives for innovation at a strategic level within the Ministries and Departments of the public sector.
  • Develop a vision and strategies for innovation within the Ministry/Department plans and implementation.
  • Strengthening the role of leadership in providing a good example and build a supportive corporate culture of innovation and creativity.
  • Planning, development, motivating and empowerment of the human resources to participate in the innovation/creative process, and provide an appropriate environment for it.
  • Adopt the concept of innovation/creative in order to ensure complementary resources and capabilities with partners.
  • Manage technological and knowledge resources, and provide the necessary funding to support creativity and innovation.
  • Design and management of innovation/creativity processes, and the creation and implementation of effective systems and procedures (including the stages of finding creative ideas, study and analyze the feasibility and suitability, provide adequate environment and resources for testing, the actual implementation, and measure the impact on the level of services provided).
  • Invest in innovation to achieve long-term growth in response to changing economic conditions.
  • Measure the impact of implementingthe innovation/creative projects on the Ministry/Departmentresults and performance.
  1. Fast-Tracks for Complaints and Suggestions

To complete the loop of development and innovation, there must be a reliable channel for servicerecipients and staff to submit their complaints and suggestions.  The complaints and suggestions are improvement opportunities and shall be dealt promptly, thoughtfullyand effectively, irrespective of the way they were received (in writing, verballyby telephone or face-to-face, or electronically via e-mail or social media).  The aim is to receive and listen to service’s recipient views and thus being able to improve the services.

The awareness and training programs will be designed and focused to change the negative mentality of employees (service providers)in dealing withservice’s recipient notes.  These notes could lead to brilliant ideas to improve and enhance the service as wished by the service’s recipient, who is the real target of all services.

  1. Transparency and Corporate Governance

The Fast-Tracks for Complaints and Suggestions are enabled by educating the Ministries and Governmental Authorities and Departments the necessity of abiding by the principles of transparency and corporate governance, to achieve both service’s recipient and staff confidence, since their absence makes it useless to complain or make suggestions, and will lead to empty suggestion boxes (people lose hope).  

To stay alive, Transparency and Corporate Governancerequire independent, effective and reliable auditing process(refer to clear policies, guidance and procedures) to assess compliance regularly.  Audit finding and results shall be presented to the highest point has the power to take decisions and implement reform, no matter how difficult or painful. 

The role of RAWA International Center:

RAWA International Center for Training and Consulting is a Jordanian company, specialized in training in addition to scientific and methodological consulting. It aims to promote sustainable development in the local and Arab societies, as training is a developmental humanity process, and to develop thought and mind through sharing the expertise and experiences of others.

RAWA International Centerhas a profound presence in the Jordanian market, and in continuous contact with the public sector through the execution of projects and methodological programs to develop and activate the sector operating systems.  RAWA has an effective network of proven expertise.  Normally, RAWA develop the necessary plans, identify the needed expertise, and activate them timely according to the developed plans.

As previously stated, RAWA’s plan to develop the services of Government Sector isbased on a short-term treatment of three phased stages (Provide Painkiller, Search for Solutions, Execute and Implement Solutions), and followed by a long-term treatment (Future Program for five years).  RAWA is capable to provide:

–     Specialized training

–     Scientific Administrative Consulting

–     Institutional development following the European Excellence Model (EFQM)

–     Support the preparation of the job description

–     Study and Simplification of procedures

–     Re-structuring and automation

–     Organizing visits for government delegations (local executives and experts) toview the successful experiences in country that have already received European support to improve systems of public services (health, education, vocational training, ….)

–     The establishment of a credible independent center of all Governmental bodies to collect information and statistics for key performance indicators, which could be used for comparison (Benchmarking)and standardization.  This Center may follow a National Center for Innovation (NCI).

RAWA plans include working with different functional levels; direct staff to provide the service, supervisory and middle management, as well as senior management.

The training and consulting program offered by RAWA comprises all stages of the institutional and human performance development, starting from the planning and re-structuring, regulation, and ending up with the models’ design and the development of follow-up and evaluation systems.  RAWA International Centerprefers using the European excellence model (EFQM)because of its comprehensiveness and ease of application.

European model

RAWA International Centerunderstands the importance of cooperation with the Ministry of Public Sector Development for its central role, and enhancing the role of the Institute of Public Administration for training and rehabilitation (previously known as National Institute for Training) to do its part in a professional and effective manner.  This may include overseeing the restructuring, organization and raising its efficiency.

Sample of RAWA Training Course and workshops

  • Balanced Scorecards Workshop (Achieving Performance Excellence)

–     Understand the benefits and the importance of a Strategy Focused Organization (SFO)

–     How to conduct a SWOT Analysis, and the preparation of the vision, mission and strategic objectives

–     SMART Objectives and KPI’s

–     How to link the Performance and Productivity at all levels in the organization

–     Usebest-in-class benchmarking technique to set targets for each KPI

–     Explain Kablan& Norton Model for Balanced Scorecards

–     Learn a simple methodology for the application of the principles of the Balanced Scorecard in any organization (large or Small, Public or Private, and even for non-profit organization)

  • Skill of PreparingOperational Plans

–     Recognize the real status of the organization and know precisely its objective

–     Arrangeobjectives according to its importance and the degree of urgencyto achieve

–     Fragmentation of the main goals to easy to achieve sub-goals in accordance with SMART model

–     Determine the appropriate schedule and needed resources to achieve the objectives

–     Define standards to measure progress in executing the operational plan

–     Identify the review panel to assess the extent of achievement in the operational plan

  • Internal Audit Training

–     Related Government Systems and work instructions

–     Definition of internal audit

–     Audit types

–     Audit program

–     Audit Planning

–     Guidelines for conducting audit

–     Auditing Scope and General Checking Points

–     Psychological aspects of auditing

–     Auditor skills and tools

–     Prepare audit report

  • Introduction to Project Management

–     Explain the concept of project management

–     The components of successful project

–     The phases of the project life cycle (according to PMP)

–     Demonstration of Project Process Groups according to PMP (Initiating, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Controlling, Closing)

  • Introduction to Project Management

–     Explain the concept of project management

–     The components of successful project

–     The phases of the project life cycle (according to PMP)

–     Demonstration of Project Process Groups according to PMP (Initiating, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Controlling, Closing)

  • Leading Innovation in the Public Sector

–     Introduction of the demands and challenges faced by leaders in the public sector

–     Innovation curriculum components to address the challenges in the public sector environment

–     Developing and designing plans of action with the help of brainstorming

–     The effective use of innovation tools for monitoring and control

–     Providing innovation environment for workers

  • Management of Innovators and Talents

–     Understand the nature of the innovators and talents

–     The foundations of team-building and performancesupport

–     Concentrating efforts and utilizing innovation to create an integrated not competingteam

–     Solving the problems of the team difference in a positive way

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