Australian Public Sector Managing Out:

Australian Public Sector

MANAGING OUT: THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN THE COMMUNITY

Key Factors That Have Produced Greater Emphasis on Relationships

Multiple factors have produced greater emphasis on building relationships within, between and outside government agencies in the Australian public sector. More and more in recent years researchers in fields including law, ethics, public administration and management alike have expressed interest in identifying and exploring the "philosophical foundations" of their work and implications (Bois, Preston & Sampford, 1998:2). This in turn has led to increasing interest in building relationships within the Australian public sector in particular, as increasing communications and dialogue have enabled greater sharing of perspectives and greater collaboration among varying agencies.

The Australian government has also realized a strong and abundant economic performance that has facilitated budget surpluses (Patterson, 2005). This has resulted in a desire from PS agencies to give back to communities and families in multiple forms including providing better funded and higher quality educational, familial and healthcare assistance (Patterson, 2005). The budget surpluses are an important factor to consider because it reminds PS agencies that community helps facilitate a strong economy.

Multiple agencies have also expressed an interest in delivering processes which uphold more ethical standards, ones that can be easily identified and institutionalized; for this reason many agencies are working together to be more informed than they would be without communicating, and to improve not only the construction of but also the implementation of such regimes or policies (Bois, Preston & Sampford, 1998). There has been great interest of late within the public sector for improving among other things ethics education, a sentiment expressed at the 5th International Ethics in Public Sector Conference held in Brisbane (Bois, Preston & Sampford, 1998). This is not surprising in light of recent reports of unethical activities among government officials working in public office around the world. This factor is important because it relates to the idea that people are valuable and vital to the livelihood and well being of the Australian government.

Other key factors influencing relationships among government agencies include increasing interest in adopting strategic human resource management practices (Teo, 2000; Hall, 1998; Fisher and Dowling, 1999). Within the Australian public sector much corporatization has occurred in recent years furthering commercialization within the country. This in turn has provided government and private agencies alike the impetus they need to develop "an improved HRM function" which in turn will facilitate more "strategic integration in business planning processes" (Hall, 1998: 75; Fisher & Dowling, 1999).

Many other factors have driven changes in PSOs in Australia in recent years including increased environment pressure on both international and domestic levels, changes in the expectations the community and public have had of Australian public sector organizations, changes in management and political influence within public sector organizations and increasing demands by both state and federal agencies to ensure that someone is held accountable for all public sector activities (Teo, 2000: 561). All of these factors are selected because they reveal how the community has influenced the public sector and re-emphasize how important collaboration is between community, citizens and government agencies toward creating a solid, driven and contemporary organizational system.

Key Differences in Analysts Views of Public Sector Agencies

Contemporary analysts view public sector agencies more like private agencies in recent years, focusing on promoting the concept of managing out or taking a greater interest in the community than ever before (Bradley & Parker, 2001). Contemporary agencies now understand that government agencies have a responsibility to be focused on citizens and customer service oriented instead of being process and procedure driven (Agyeman, 2004).

To this extent public service agencies must focus more on effective HRM practices to enable better governing within and among the community (Agyeman, 2004). One philosophy contemporary agencies are adopting includes the notion that results can be acquired through people (Agyeman, 2004). This suggest that reforms must be made at all levels within PS agencies to improve the quality of leadership and the integrity leaders have so a culture can be created that enables people to work their best and manage people and relationships effectively (Agyeman, 2004).

Contemporary public service agencies understand that it is important to create a values-based organization that strives for professionalism, loyalty, innovation and teamwork (Agyeman, 2004; Bradley & Parker, 2001). Public sector agencies are also now interested in creating social coalitions that include families, communities, businesses, government and non-government organizations in order to "help build and support strong, resilient families" (Patterson, 2005: 1). The hope is that government agencies will help build a stronger economy by creating social policies that support families and communities to enable better methods for dealing with difficulties and problems that arise on a daily basis.

Recent public surpluses within the government have caused contemporary PS agencies to focus on giving back to the community and to citizens to focus on better education, healthcare and assistance among other important functions (Paterson, 2005). The government is also now focusing on developing policies that encourage work life balance and responding to community breakdowns; their focus includes providing programs that integrate citizen support in areas including health, early education and creating communities that are child and family oriented, capable of providing affordable and high quality child and elder care (Patterson, 2005; Bradley & Parker, 2001).

Managing Out Imperative and Changing Managers Roles

The role and responsibilities of middle managers have changed and will likely continue to change as organizational structures within PSOs become less bureaucratic and monopolistic in upcoming years (Teo, 2000). More emphasis will likely be placed on strategic planning, adopting strong HRM practices instead of merely emphasizing personnel management, more emphasis on evaluating performance and adopting more emphasis on bottom line profitability (TEO, 2000; Metcalfe & Richards, 1992).

With managing out public sector managers now have multiple stakeholders to report to, various interest groups, the media and even government and members of other departments (PSM, 2005:1). Managers are now emphasizing on finding out how to become more outward focused by managing relationships in a new network type environment (PSM, 2005; Bradley & Parker, 2001). Managers must work with governments to become more involved in communities and focus on social inclusion among other subjects; they must also focus more attention on managing media and sending positive messages to the community (PSM, 2005). They will need to work to develop policies that govern their handling of media and consider their ethical obligations while working as public servants (PSM, 2005).