Mohan Kaul

The New Public Administration: management innovations in government

Over the last two decades there have been some fundamental changes in the working of government which have resulted in major and visible management innovations in the organizational structures and systems of government aimed at delivering greater efficiency, and more responsive and flexible public services. The innovations have led to the ‘New Public Administration’. This article identifies the innovations in thinking about the role and functioning of government; about service users; about administrative structures and about staff. The article also discusses the strategies and actions employed in the new synergy between the public and private sectors, as well as the reforms in financial planning and control systems. In conclusion, the broad objectives of these reforms have been to shift emphasis from developing plans to developing key strategic areas; to shift emphasis from inward-looking systems to developing partnerships; to shift emphasis from inputs and processes to outputs and outcomes; and to shift emphasis towards managing diversity within a unified public service. Finally, managerial pragmatism and political conviction are highlighted as essential to motivating management innovation in government. (© 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Civil Service Reforms: learning from Commonwealth experiences

This article illustrates the degree to which new areas of consensus are emerging in the implementation of civil service reforms. A crucial development in Commonwealth countries has been the change in the strategies being pursued by most governments in achieving economic growth and developmental objectives. The need to change the role of the State for improved economic efficiency is finding greater acceptance in most countries. The article highlights several common themes emerging in the introduction of civil service reform programmes with remarkable similarity about the concerns and changes taking place in very different settings. The article also identifies a set of key strategies that have emerged as major instruments for the implementation of the reform process, such as securing leadership for change, enhancing policy development capacity, improved human resource and financial management systems, establishing efficiency and quality management programmes, harnessing information technology and mobilizing external and internal advice. The article concludes that there is no unique solution and each country would need to identify key strategies drawing on experiences of other countries and keeping in view national priorities. The article hence provides a useful framework for sharing of experiences and cooperation among Commonwealth countries.

A conceptual architecture for DSS generators

Abstract The development of DSS generators is a complicated task. No existing DSS generator has been reported as a generalised, powerful and “user friendly” system, which provides full-range of capabilities for easily building specific DSS in any application area. In order to integrate a variety of decision support and data management capabilities into a well-designed, orderly whole, a conceptual design model must be created as a foundation for developing such software systems. Spragues DSS model provides a basis for the creation of a foundation for DSS generator development. This paper proposes a comprehensive conceptual design model which is an in-depth augmentation of Spragues original model. This model not merely provides a basis for developing DSS generators; it also proposes a fundamental architecture of DSS generators which removes some of the responsibilities of DSS design from the user. Further, the conceptual model has been technically validated by implementing an experimental DSS generator REGIMES on a microcomputer. This implementation also demonstrates the feasibility of implementing a powerful DSS generator on cost-effective hardware.

Management of technological change: Themes and issues

As part of a programme to help developing countries to maximize the benefits from new technologies, the Commonwealth Secretariat commissioned the writing of case studies on information systems and process automation in a wide range of national contexts. A workshop was held to discuss results from the case studies in thirteen different countries and this article describes some the main results from the work. Themes and issues are discussed under the three headings of national policies for technology development, technology implementation in organizations and human resource development. The case studies are used to illustrate some important policy aspects in each of these areas. A number of recommendations for further initiatives were developed at the Workshop and these are described in the paper.