They key goals included customer satisfaction, simplification of communication between the taxpayer and agency, increased compliance rates and maximization of revenue. Elliott Hibbs, director of the Arizona Department of Revenue, is excited about the results his department has managed to achieve by creating a high performance organization where value matters. He explained: "Previous administrations had done great work increasing customer service levels and satisfaction. But an unintended consequence of that emphasis was that voluntary compliance rates had dipped, with a negative effect on overall tax revenue. The more comprehensive approach to public-sector value, as applied to my department, is the most exciting thing I've seen in my 20 years of service in terms of balancing accountability and agency performance to deliver value to citizens." (Jupp & Younger, 2004)
Jupp & Younger (2004) have identified some important characteristics of a high performance organization in public sector. They maintain that HPOs in public sector are:
relentlessly outcome- and value-focused," "highly efficient," "exceptionally aware of changes in their environments, and able to translate insight into action," "highly focused on their core capabilities, and adopt outsourcing strategies to improve efficiencies in non-core activities," "committed to the growth and development of their employees" and "government are headed by courageous leaders."
These characteristics need to be adopted or developed by organizations in the public sectors wishing to achieve better results and greater customer satisfaction...
There are many examples that can be given in this regard. Jupp and Younger (2004) cite the examples of two countries where public sector has shown remarkable improvement and have successfully created high performance organizations. They write: "...the Australian Taxation Office is implementing an Internet portal for business-to-government and government-to-government users. A new public register now holds key identification information that 2.5 million Australian businesses previously were required to provide every time they dealt with a new government department. In the future, government agencies will be able to refer to the register instead of requiring businesses to provide documents to prove their identity or other high-level registration information. In Ireland, similar online technologies -- including digital certificates and electronic signatures -- are enabling the office of the Revenue Commissioners to transform the tax payment process for its citizens."
The same methods can be duplicated by organizations in American public sector to increase efficiency and generate greater rewards. Cost constraints must not be used as an excuse since there are other ways in which an organization can improve its performance as we have seen from examples of government agencies in Australia and Ireland.
References
1) Popovich, M, ed. Creating High-Performance Organizations: A Practical Guide for Public Managers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers;1998
2) Vivienne Jupp and Mark P. Younger, a Value Model for the Public Sector, Outlook Journal, February 2004
