Assignment Code

MPA-013 / ASST / TMA / 2022-23

Course Code

MPA-013

Assignment Name

Public Systems Management

Year

2022 - 2023

Verification Status

Verified by Professor

This assignment consists of Sections I and II. There are five questions in each section. You have to answer a total of five questions in about 500 words each. It is necessary to attempt at least two questions from each section. Each question carries 20 marks.

Section – I

Q 1) Examine the nature and scope of public systems management. 20

Ans) The term Public Systems Management has been dynamic and constantly changing, especially in recent decades as a result of modernization. It is being viewed in a broader context than ever before. There is clearer accountability placed on public administrators, and they are viewed as cost-cutting agents in public-sector enterprises.

Scope of Public Systems Management

Many people define public systems management as "the administration and management of both direct and indirect institutions engaged in the formulation of public policy and the delivery of public services." It is a management style that emphasises output targets, short-term contracts, monetary incentives, and management freedom. The PSM focuses on outcomes, efficiency, and measurement. It causes the following changes in the operation of public organisations:

1. Instead of following a rigid Weberian model, there is more flexibility in tailoring the organisation to circumstance.

2. The emphasis is on outcomes.

3. Strategic planning is receiving more attention.

4. Private sector personnel practises such as paying more for good performance and less for poor performance have been adopted.

PSM propagates managerial pursuits in governance, with a focus upon the following:

1. Steering role of the government instead of direct provision

2. Concern on results and outcomes

3. Orientation to the needs of customers, and

4. Use of market mechanisms in those activities of public sector which cannot be privatised.

Public systems management is characterised by its 'publicness' Ranson and Stewart believe the public domain is unique and cannot be managed privately. According to them, "any notion of management that doesn't recognise politics and conflict as constitutive of a public organisation rather than an impediment is barren." PSM helps public organisations achieve goals more pragmatically. Public system managers must become entrepreneurs to provide government services through bureaucracy and the private sector. More creativity and energy are needed. Modern governments value managerialism to provide efficient services at low costs. Managerialism doesn't mean technocratic government usurpation, less accountability, or less democracy. Managerialism makes government services more efficient and cost-effective. It also helps managers make better policy decisions. PSM provides people-cantered, efficient, cost-effective public services. It combines ethical consistency and organisational flexibility to achieve public service goals.

Scope of Public Systems Management

Governments today are attempting to be more performance oriented. As a result, government management must be deregulated. Public agencies must be entrepreneurial, mission-driven, and service-oriented in nature. Managers of public systems must be risk takers who invite other organisations to collaborate and reward performance.

The scope of public system management is limited to the following governance areas:

1. concentrating on achieving results rather than strictly adhering to processes

2. Introducing market principles such as competition and outsourcing of goods and services

3. Making public administration more customer-focused in order to improve service ethic and efficiency

4. Assigning to the government the role of steering activities rather than rowing, relying on third parties such as non-profit organisations and other levels of government in policy implementation

5. Deregulation of government activities to improve their effectiveness

6. It promotes teamwork by empowering employees to serve customers.

7. Changing the overall public administrative culture to one of flexibility, innovation, and entrepreneurship, as opposed to rule-bound processes and a focus on inputs rather than outcomes; and

8. In public systems, a new entrepreneurial, user-oriented culture is emerging, with an emphasis on performance measurement, organisational autonomy, and individual freedom.

Q 3) Describe the various forms of governance. 20

Ans) There are several types of governance, the most important of which are political, economic, and social.

1. Political

Political and economic shifts have limited nation states' ability to govern. The State seems to be 'hollowing out' This has shifted power to international financial markets, global companies that can move capital and other resources, and supranational entities like the World Bank or European Union. Subnational regions and cities have gained power. These changes have led to a series of reforms that have shrunk and fragmented government.

New strategies emphasise informal influence, enabling, and regulation. This doesn't mean the State's role will decline. New forms of governance continue hierarchical, institutional control. The State's changing role is an adaptation to its environment, not a loss of power.

2. Economic

The 1980s and 1990s neoliberal regime dismantled the State as a direct service provider. Market mechanisms have fragmented service delivery and regulation, requiring new forms of coordination. Privatization, contracting out, quasi-markets, the removal of local authority functions, and the creation of executive agencies forced governments to develop new forms of control. Framework documents, contracts, targets, performance indicators, service standards, contracts, and customer charters. While governments could still set action parameters (through funding regimes) and monopolise some forms of power (like legislation), they increased their reliance on private, public, and voluntary bodies.

Economic governance requires removal of market distortions, setting appropriate service standards, ensuring fair competition amongst the players and a level playing field, protecting the interests of all concerned key stakeholders.

3. Social

Responding to society's complexity, diversity, and dynamic changes is another type of governance analysis. Governance, according to Kooiman and Van Vliet, is linked to the need for an interactive form of governance. The goal of governance in our societies can be defined as dealing with the problems as well as the opportunities that come with complex, diverse, and fragmented societies. Because of complexity, dynamics, and diversity, the nation state's external autonomy has shrunk, as has its internal dominance over social subsystems... Governing in modern society is primarily a process of coordinating and influencing social, political, and administrative interactions, necessitating the development of new forms of interactive government. The goal of governing from an interactive perspective is to balance social interests while also creating the possibilities and limits for social actors and systems to organise themselves.

In a complex, dynamic, and diverse society, no government can determine social development, say Kooiman and colleagues. In the UK, the US, and much of Western Europe, governments have tried to shift the focus away from the State and toward co-production with other agencies and citizens. There seems to be a shift away from traditional patterns in which governing was seen as a 'one-way traffic' from those governing to those governed, towards a 'two-way traffic' model in which aspects, qualities, problems, and opportunities of both the governing system and the system to be governed are considered. The government isn't acting alone. Instead, it engages in co-regulation, co-steering, co-production, cooperative management, public/private partnerships, and other forms of cross-sector governance. Steering, managing, controlling, and guiding are done by public, private, and non-profit agencies working together. Government no longer controls it. Governance means developing, strengthening, and sustaining collaborative and participatory processes, networking, and building human capacities.

Q 4) Discuss the role of legislature in governance. 20

Ans) Legislature encompasses parliament, congress, and national assembly. Parliament is India's legislature. The Indian Parliament is bicameral, with two chambers. Since India adopted a federal form of government, the framers almost unanimously agreed to set up two Houses, one representing the people as a whole and the other federated units.

The Indian Constitution went into effect on January 26, 1950, establishing a parliamentary system of government. The Constituent Assembly became India's Provisional Parliament until a new one was formed under the new Constitution. In May 1952, after the first general election, the first elected Parliament was formed.

In a parliamentary democracy, sovereignty of the people rests in and is upheld through legislature. It is this role as the custodian of the people’s sovereignty, which makes legislature the most important organ of the State. The Indian legislature, i.e., the Parliament, occupies a pre-eminent and pivotal position in the country’s constitutional set-up. Over the years, it has carved out for itself a unique place in the esteem and affection of the people as the forum through which they articulate and realise their aspirations and ventilate their grievances and seek solutions to their problems. It is the supreme representative body of the people.

Even K.R. Narayanan, former President of India, has accepted that Parliament and the State Legislatures are supreme institutions. To quote him: “Parliament and Legislatures constitute the head and front of the body-politic in India. They are the institutional embodiment of the audacious experiment in democracy – launched by the founding fathers of our republic…”.

The Indian Constitution provides for a bicameral Parliament with the President and the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of People (Lok Sabha). President is part of Parliament. The President joined Parliament in accordance with parliamentary traditions. Although the President isn't a lawmaker, he participates in the legislative process through Parliament. Since he is the chief executive and executive and legislative power are coextensive, he must be part of the legislature.

Following British principles of supremacy of law and parliamentary sovereignty, the Indian Parliament is the supreme legislative body, but it is not fully equal to its British counterpart. It performs multiple roles or functions. Described below is the Legislative role.

Legislative Role

Parliament makes laws. Making laws made the legislature a separate department historically. Despite modern government's complexity, law-making remains the legislature's most important function.

The Lok Sabha has a key role in the legislature's law-making power, especially with money bills. In financial bills, Rajya Sabha has only an advisory role. These bills can only be introduced in the Lok Sabha and, once passed, go to the Rajya Sabha. The Rajya Sabha has 14 days to act. Rajya Sabha can pass, amend, or reject. If the Rajya Sabha passes the bill, the President signs it. If it's amended or rejected, it's sent back to the Lok Sabha for a simple majority vote and to the President.

Both houses have equal power over ordinary bills. The Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha can introduce these bills. Rajya Sabha can amend or reject a Lok Sabha bill. If the Lok Sabha disagrees with the Rajya Sabha, the matter is passed by simple majority in a joint session. Since Lok Sabha is stronger than Rajya Sabha, it wins conflicts. A joint-session bill goes to the President for his signature. Both Houses have equal power over constitutional amendments. Constitutional amendments require Rajya Sabha approval. Constitutional amendment bills aren't subject to joint sitting.

Section – II

Q 6) Describe the important schools of thought in strategic management. 20

Ans) The ten most important schools of thought in strategic management are listed below. They are divided into three categories.

1. The Prescriptive Schools

The focus of these schools' intellectuals was on the process of formulating strategies, rather than on how those strategies played out in practise. As a consequence of this, their approach to the formulation of strategies is prescriptive. The following academic institutions are members of this consortium:

a. The Design School

Thinkers view strategy formulation as conceptual. Selznick was an early proponent of strategic management. SWOT analysis modernises this approach. It suggests assessing environmental influences as opportunities and threats and emphasises an objective assessment of the enterprise's strengths and weaknesses compared to competitors.

b. The Planning School

This school emphasised strategic planning. This approach involves setting objectives, external auditing (including scenario building, industry analysis, and competitor analysis), internal auditing (including strengths and weaknesses), strategy evaluation, and time-frame scheduling.

c. The Positioning School

This view suggests that only a few generic strategies are desirable or defensible in an organisation. A strategy shouldn't be judged by internal organisational factors, but by how service recipients view it relative to the competition.

2. The Descriptive Schools

In contrast to the Prescriptive Schools, where a single leader took centre stage, the Descriptive Schools give the spotlight to a "visionary" with intuitive, wise, experienced, or insightful abilities. In Prescriptive Schools, a single leader takes centre stage. This visionary translated ideas into strategy, which fuelled strategic management. Schumpeter's 1930s writings started this school of thought. Drucker, Kaplan, and Mintzberg have influenced this school. This school uses these methods.

a. The Entrepreneurial School

This school emphasises "vision." The leader should initiate strategy formulation using his judgement, intuition, and knowledge management skills.

b. The Cognitive School

This school emphasised strategy-mindedness. Strategists process information from the environment using their special cognitive abilities. Thus, the designs are individualistic.

c. The Learning School

Hamel and Prahalad view strategy as a collective learning process to develop and exploit "core competencies." They showed how important it was to know the organization's one or two competitive advantages. They defined’ strategic intent,' which mobilises employees. They also used other terms to argue. Stretch leverage and revolution were discussed.

d. The Power (or Political) School

This school calls non-economic factors that influence organisation functioning "power." The thinkers focused on internal organisation dynamics, which they say drives strategy. Micro and macro power were also differentiated. The former refers to power within the organisation in strategic management processes, while the latter refers to power in external relationships. Values and desired behaviour often influence macro-power use.

e. The Cultural School

Organizational culture is defined by shared traditions and habits. In Japan, management means managing economic, social, psychological, and spiritual needs. Herbert Simon emphasised values in decision making long ago.

f. The Environmental School

This school believed organisations are passive and react to environmental changes. Environment, leadership, and organisation shape strategy. As a contingency theory, it's situational.

3. The Configuration School

The configuration school is very different from the prescriptive school and the descriptive school because it "offers the possibility of reconciliation, one way to integrate the messages of other schools." There are two aspects that together describe this school's configuration: one describes the current state of the organisation and the context in which it operates, and the other describes the transformation that takes place during the process of formulating a strategy.

Q 7) The life cycle of project management has different phases-Explain. 20

Ans) Project management uses organisational management principles. The project management life cycle has phases.

Planning

A complete plan outlines all activities, their purpose, who is responsible for them, and the resources needed. A project plan is dynamic and often changes, but the act itself reveals its goals and objectives. Participatory approaches like PRA can be used to plan projects.

Planning Process

There are several steps in the planning stage:

a) Project Overview Statement: It defines the scope and goals of the project having five components.

1) Problem/ opportunity

2) Project goal

3) Project objectives

4) Expected outcomes

5) Assumptions, risks, obstacles- technological, environmental, interpersonal, cultural, and causal relationships.

b) Identifying Project Activities: The project combines many activities. Various methods generate this work list. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) deconstructs projects into chunks of work, from large to small to meet planning and scheduling needs.

c) Estimating Activity Durations: Various factors like varying skills, unexpected events, efficiency of people etc., have an impact on the duration of the project completion. But a standard is set to set up milestones keeping these risks in mind. Delphi Technique is popular for estimating activity duration.

d) Determining Resource Requirements: There are various types of resources:

1) Human

2) Facilities

3) Equipment

4) Materials

5) Money.

e) Finalising Project Proposal: It's the sum of all previous activities and has these characteristics:

1) Background

2) Objectives

3) Approach to be taken

4) Detailed statement of work

5) Time and cost summary.

Executing

Execution is multistep. In addition to organising people, resources must be identified. Activities have start and end dates. Several tools and techniques facilitate this activity. Steps include:

1. Organising Project Team: The project manager, the core team and other team members are recruited with specific responsibilities. Their authority should be commensurate with their responsibilities.

2. Operating Rules: The rules regarding authority to take decisions, limits on the exercise of power and conflict resolution mechanisms needs to be put into place.

3. Scheduling Activities: A detailed working schedule reflecting personnel, money and material needs to be calculated and put in place. Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and Critical Path Analysis (CPA) are useful techniques in scheduling activities.

Controlling

All projects need constant monitoring to avoid exceeding schedules. Controls are implemented to maintain performance levels, costs, and time schedules and to track work progress. If progress deviates from the plan, corrective action can be taken. If a major deviation from plan is noticed, find the causes, and take corrective action. Controls only partially reduce project risks. If there are more controls, the project team may spend more time on progress reports. The project manager must balance both. Effective progress reporting can help.

Closing

A formal project closure statement follows project completion. Sometimes projects are closed without completion due to redundancy or infeasibility. Closure statements are issued to avoid further project expenditures. In large projects, this statement is late because subcontractor and supplier invoices arrive after project completion.

The formal closure notice should include these details:

1. Project title

2. Project number

3. The Effective closure date

4. Reason for closure

5. Special instructions, if required

6. Closure, with authorisation signature.