9 out of 10 Jobs created in Canada in 2020-2021 were in the Public Sector

[Good2Golf]

One of the major drains on public sector productivity is the enhanced inefficient reporting and transparency requirements compared to the private sector.

It's not a particularly difficult square to circle if you want to address productivity and not just increasing your reasonably assured vote base.

Agree…

 

[dapaterson]

Until the political leadership is willing to change what they ask for...

 

[Good2Golf]

Until the political leadership is willing to change what they ask for...

 

[Brad Sallows]

That leaves the public sector particularly exposed to “Baumol’s cost disease”, a phenomenon first identified by William Baumol, an American economist, in the 1960s. The need to recruit and retain staff who have the option to work in more productive, better-paid industries causes wages to rise by more than underlying productivity, pushing up costs.

Vital ground of the problem right there, aggravated in all cases in which the incentives of politicians to settle generously and kick the consequences down the road have resulted in gains which overmatch the gains where true productivity increases happen.

We could recover some lost productivity by having more government services staffed outside core working hours. Every time someone takes 3 hours off in the middle of a working day, that's 3 hours of lost productivity.

 

[Rifleman62]

One of the major drains on public sector productivity is the enhanced reporting and transparency requirements compared to the private sector.

It's a difficult square to circle.

Have you been watching the various HoC Committee hearings, particularly ArriveCan?

 

[daftandbarmy]

Hit the root causes, for a change - literally


Public sector inefficiencies: Are we addressing the root causes?

Public sectors all over the world face challenges and, thus far, public sector reforms have not been very successful. The public sector, as a key component of any economy, needs to address its challenges adequately to prevent economic growth and development from being curtailed. This article hopes to spark debate about whether too much emphasis is being placed on symptoms of public sector challenges instead of addressing these challenges at their root. The article focuses on the South African public sector – a third world country public sector − and examines reports by the Auditor General of South Africa and the Public Service Commission of South Africa for recurring themes and findings. The results of the study clearly suggest that the South African public sector is not yet adequately addressing its challenges at their roots, resulting in the challenges recurring year after year.

Conclusion​

The literature and data reviewed in this article identified recurring problems in the South African public sector, indirectly raising the question of whether the public sector should pursue root cause analysis as an alternative method to identify and address public sector challenges. Key findings in the literature review are the following:

• consistent recurrence of findings;
• resource optimisation, accountability and a non-compliance culture seem to be the main problem areas in the public sector; and
• the root causes of problems are not being adequately addressed.

Future research should emphasise the relevance and importance of identifying the root causes of problems in the public sector environment and effective application of this approach in the public sector context. In addition, an answer is required to the question of whether or not root cause analysis techniques can have a positive impact on addressing challenges and minimising their recurrence. However, the effective teaching and training on how to use the cause analysis techniques will have a direct impact on its usefulness and ultimately its effectiveness.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10291954.2016.1160197

 

[Navy_Pete]

Have you been watching the various HoC Committee hearings, particularly ArriveCan?

I see Arrivecan, and raise you DPS.

If I was an embedded foreign agent, and wanted to impact delivery of strategic capabilities long term, I don't think I could have come up with a more effective way to hobble defence procurement in a benign but insidious way.

It's effectively an opening for a lot of external good idea fairies and kids in short pants to derail and delay multi-billion dollar procurements in the name of transparency and efficiency (while decreasing both). Frequently also 'reforms' things by adding 'improved' business processes.... that add additional approval gates and stakeholders.

It's very Ministry of Peace that way, in a kind of meta-Orwellian Tao of Red Tape (TM).

 

[SeaKingTacco]

I see Arrivecan, and raise you DPS.

If I was an embedded foreign agent, and wanted to impact delivery of strategic capabilities long term, I don't think I could have come up with a more effective way to hobble defence procurement in a benign but insidious way.

It's effectively an opening for a lot of external good idea fairies and kids in short pants to derail and delay multi-billion dollar procurements in the name of transparency and efficiency (while decreasing both). Frequently also 'reforms' things by adding 'improved' business processes.... that add additional approval gates and stakeholders.

It's very Ministry of Peace that way, in a kind of meta-Orwellian Tao of Red Tape (TM).

Everyone can say “no”, but nobody can say “yes”?

 

[Navy_Pete]

Everyone can say “no”, but nobody can say “yes”?

Ah, that would be almost too easy. They don't have to say no; just ask a question that requires clarification, or ask 'Have you considered xyz'. And usually takes at least a few months to get back into the cycle as the time slots are booked months in advance.

I think it's a good concept to at least have the ADMs and DMs from the multiple departments involved talking about things, but there isn't a 'chair' overall in charge to push things forwards, so can be a lot of concencus requirements. Strange to me it's not DND; no one dumps on PSPC or ISED when a project is over budget or behind schedule, and if Fin, INAC etc decide to spoke your gears for fun at the 11th hour no one can tell them to pound sand. But if you can't get through an approval gate without other departments input/signoff, you are at their mercy.

Far to many people that can ruin your day that can't in any way be held accountable for delays, increased costs etc IMHO, and because there are so many fingers in the pie really unfair to try and actually hold the PM staff accountable generally.

 

[OldSolduer]

It's effectively an opening for a lot of external good idea fairies and kids in short pants to derail and delay multi-billion dollar procurements in the name of transparency and efficiency (while decreasing both). Frequently also 'reforms' things by adding 'improved' business processes.... that add additional approval gates and stakeholders.

Both of which should be seen and not heard -

 

[Navy_Pete]

Both of which should be seen and not heard -

If they are from TBS or PMO, they have hugely oversized influence. Seeing a late 20s whiz kid with no life experience suggesting to a very senior, well respected individual in DND with a huge amount of experience that they weren't doing something correctly was a bit of a stunner, but suddenly flashed back to the face of an RSM type when a 2Lt tries to tell them how to do something basic.

Unfortunately you can't tell them where to go, but at least their boss in TBS recognized it and reined them back in pretty hard.

(also a very concrete reminder of why I don't ever want to get promoted any more because I wouldn't have had the same patience).