1

N
2
N
M.P.A.-13
Public Systems Management
ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS GUIDE (2013-2014)
Disclaimer / Special Note: These are just the sample of the Answers/Solutions to some of the questions
given in the Assignments. These Sample Answers/Solutions are prepared by Tutor for the help of the student
to get an idea of how he/she can answer the questions of the Assignments. Sample answers may be seen as
the Guide/Reference Book/assignment Guide. Any Omission or Error is highly regretted though every care
has been taken while preparing these Sample Answers/Solutions. Please consult you Teacher / Tutor before
you prepare a Particular Answer.
SECTION - I
Q. 1. Discuss the nature and scope of Public System Management.
Ans. As we say the only constant in this world is change. Therefore, any system to retain
its core has to undergo constant change to fit in the ever-changing world. Similarly, there has
been constant evolution of different system such as political and administrative keeping in
mind the best interest of the public. Public Systems Management has been defined by many
as Administration and Management of both direct and indirect institutions engaged in the
public policy-making exercise and in delivery of public services. The core areas of PSM are
on results, efficiency and quantification.
With respect to governance, it lays focus on:
(i) Ensuring the government plays a less active role in day-to-day functioning.
(ii) More emphasis on the results.
(iii) Keeping the requirements of customers in mind.
(iv) Putting market mechanisms in place in those areas which cannot be privatised.
SCOPE OF PUBLIC SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
With the ever-changing scenario of public- private enterprises, the extent of role play by
the government in public systems the scope of public systems management is limited to:
(i) Giving importance to attaining results instead of blindly following the guidelines.
(ii) Putting across the market principles such as competition, contracting etc.
(iii) Making public administration with the customer as the core.
(iv) Less interference from the governments and independence to these agencies for better
functioning and answerability in case of any under-achievement.
(v) Assigning fixed responsibilities to the employees, thereby motivating them for better
results.
(vi) Making employees more customer centric.
(vii) Making the functioning of these units more flexible, goal-oriented and reducing
bureaucratic interference.
(viii) Ensuring that there is a positive form of corporatisation of these units for goal attainment.
3
N
Kettle in 2002 points out the basic concerns that are looked into by the New Public
Management initiatives. These are:
(a) Productivity,
(b) Marketisation,
(c) Service-orientation,
(d) De-centralisation,
(e) Policy,
(f) Accountability for results.
Q. 2. Analyse the political environment of public systems management in India.
Ans. The term political environment is a very broad term and includes the bureaucracy,
parastatal bodies local government institutions and also bodies working with the criteria of
public interest. It is therefore imperative that the political environment plays a very important
role in effective public systems management of a country.
The major political developments that have taken place in India over a period after it
attained independence can be summed up as:
(i) Promoting regional autonomy to the states.
(ii) Gradually putting an end to the single party dominance system.
(iii) Giving due importance to the rise of more and more regional parties.
(iv) Criminalisation and communalisation of politics.
Apart from these negative aspects there have also been quite a few positive influences of
the political system on the Public Systems Management such as increasing the participation
of women at the local level and empowering the poor and the socially marginalised. Indias
political administrative structure has changed so dynamically with respect to globalisation,
liberalization and privatisation. The modes of governance in the country also have evolved
over a period in the sense that there have been sweeping economic reforms and lessening
of the states role in its day-to-day working. Another factor is the erosion of bureaucratic
professionalism especially at the higher levels.
Therefore, it becomes imperative for public systems management to understand the
dynamics of the political environment to cope up with the market forces.
Q. 3. The concept of goernance is used in several contexts. Examine.
Ans. Rhodes grapples with the significance and definitions of governance as a way to
explicate the trends and form of British Government reform since the 1980s. Rhodes reviews
and critiques various definitions of governance. And find these inadequate in explaining the
new governing structure that had developed in Britain by 1995. Rhodes begins by identifying
two generally accepted and understood governing structures (1) hierarchies, namely
government bureaucracies, and (2) markets, the rallying cry of privatization advocates in the
1980s. Rhodes, however, finds these lacking in explanatory power and adds a third one,
networks, which he recasts as governance, and posits as an alternative conception of
contemporary governing structure in Britain. Before arriving at his definition of governance
as self-organizing networks, Rhodes evaluates different strands of literature assessing
4
N
government reform and governance in order to arrive at a critical assessment of how the term
governance may contribute to our understanding of the current working of governments as
they become increasingly embedded in network relationships in order to provide services to
the public.
Governance as minimal state, Rhodes argues, embodies the ideological and political
call for downsizing the state.
Governance as corporate governance focuses our attention on the policy-making, goal-
setting role of government and sets the requirement for transparency and public
accountability.
Governance as New Public Management (NPM), Rhodes argues follows closely from
the above criteria and develops a notion of government directing or steering action
by structuring the market, which takes over the actual service provision or the rowing
function.
Governance as Good Governance, as advanced by the World Bank marries new public
management to the advocacy of liberal democracy.
Governance as a socio-cybernetic system can be conceptualized as the effects of the
interactions among government, social, political and economic actors wherein no one
actor has a monopoly over information or expertise. In other words, the public may set
broad goals and create a regulatory framework but as actors interact within this
institutional environment, they work in and reshape the network of relations to solve
problems.
Governance as self-organizing networks is related to the above form of governance in
that it focuses on governance as referring to networks in which private, non-profit, and
public individuals and organizations interact to provide public services. However, the
focus here is on the autonomous character of these networks as deregulation and
alternative service provision mechanisms increasingly debilitate the ability of government
to steer.
In order to distance his conception of governance from NPM and refute its applicability to
inter-organizational networks, Rhodes highlights four ways in which it fails to capture the
characteristics of contemporary government structure:
(i) NPMs focus is within the organization instead of managing outside linkages.
(ii) NPM concentrates on objectives instead of on the importance of maintaining
relationships and trust.
(iii) NPM highlights results while Rhodes model reveals a possible breakdown in public
accountability.
(iv) NPMs emphasis on competition does not fit with the imperatives of steering inherent
to a network model.
Definitions of governance as a socio-cybernetic system, or as self-organizing networks
then are closest to Rhodes conception of governance. In this model no single actor, including
government, has all the knowledge, tools, or power to either dominate or to make policy work.
The task of government is to enable socio-political interactions and to manage relationships
5
N
of trust and cooperation within a network. Government becomes something broader
governance when it provides services through outside organizational patterns. Finally, he
suggests that networks to provide services are self-organizing, and that these integrated
networks resist government steering, develop their own policies and mold their environments.
This emerging governing structure, however, Rhodes postulates, poses serious challenges
to accountability and governability, particularly within the context of representative democracies.
The fragmengtation and decentralization of service delivery reduces the governments control
over implementation and its ability to coordinate and steer the networks. Worryingly, the
complexity of these relationships also erodes responsibility and accountability since outcomes
are the product of multiple actors. To address some of these concerns Rhodes suggests
tools of intergovernmental management to strengthen communication and facilitate problem
solving between different branches of government. At best these efforts may help the problems
of coordination and steering but cannot address issues of democratic accountability. Rhodes
cautions that the policy networks he has identified may both shut out the public and be resistant
to central guidance, becoming the prime example of governing without Government.
SECTION - II
Q. 7. Write a note in brief on important techniques of work measurement.
Ans. The method chosen for each individual situation to be measured depends on sev-
eral factors which include:
(a) The length on the job to be measured in time units.
(b) The precision which is appropriate for the type of work in terms of time units (i.e.
should it be in minutes, hundredths or thousandths of a minute).
(c) The general cycle-time of the work, i.e. does it take seconds, minutes or days to
complete.
The length of time necessary for the completion of the range of jobs can vary from a few
seconds in highly repetitive factory work to several weeks or months for large projects such
as major shutdown maintenance work on an oil refinery. It is quite clear that using a stop-
watch, for example, on the latter work would take several man-years to time to measure!
Thus, more overall large-scale methods of timing must be employed.
The precision is an important factor, too. This can vary from setting times of the order of
to the nearest thousandth of a minute (e.g. short cycle factory work) to the other end of the
scale of to the nearest week (e.g. for large project work).
These are the dominant factors that affect the choice of method of measurement.
The Methods
PMTS: At the precision end of the scale is a group of methods known as predetermined
motion time systems that use measurement units in ten thousandths (0.0001) of a minute or
hundred-thousandths of an hour (0.00001 hour).
The resulting standard times can be used directly, for very short-cycle work of around one
minute total duration such as small assembly work. However, they often are used to generate
regularly used basic tasks such using assembling or disassembling nuts and bolts, using a
screwdriver and similar. Tasks of this type are filed as standard or synthetic data-banks.
6
N
Estimating: At the other end of the scale (long-cycle and project work) we need something
which is quick to use. Such a method is estimating. This can exist in three main forms:
(a) Analytical Estimating: This relies on the experience and judgement of the estimator.
It is just of case of weighing up the work content and, using this experience, stating a
probable time for completion, such as this job will take about eight days to complete.
(b) Category Estimating: This is a form of range estimating and requires a knowledge
of the work. Estimators may not feel comfortable with overall, analytical estimates
upon which may depend the outlay of a great deal of money. They often prefer giving a
range estimate such as this job should take between 12 weeks and 14 weeks to
complete, which provides a safety net should things go wrong. Such ranges are not
just picked upon at random, but are statistically calculated and based on probability
theory.
(c) Comparative Estimating: This is another example of range estimating. Again,
estimators rely on experience of the work in order to produce estimates. This
experience can be augmented by the provision of each time-range with a few typical,
descriptive, jobs that would guide estimators to the most appropriate range. The
estimator would compare the work to be estimated with those in the various ranges
until the most appropriate fit is found.
Timing: The intermediate method between the two groups above, is timing the work in
some way, usually with a stop watch or computerised electronic study board. This method is
retrospective in that the job must be seen in action in order to be timed whereas the other
methods are prospective and can be used for timing jobs before they start.
The observer times each element of the work and obtains times that the observed
operator takes to do the elements. Each timing is adjusted (rated) by the pace at which the
operator was working as assessed by the observer. This produces basic times for the
elements and hence the whole job, which are independent of the operator and can be used
as the time for a trained, experienced worker to carry out the same elements.
Another method of assessing the work is using activity sampling and rated activity
sampling. This is a method based on the observer making snap observations at random or
systematic sample times, observing what the operator is or operators are doing at the times
of those observations.
Models: A most useful method for standard or synthetic data-banks of job or element
times is using computer models of the jobs. These are generated as mathematical formulae
in which the observed data are inserted to compile a time for completion of the task or
project. It is a useful method for recycling time standards for elements of basic work over
and over again, only changing the values of the variables to suit each project.
Q. 9. Bring out the main features of Right of Information Act 2005.
Ans. The key features of Right to Information Act, 2005 are:
(i) This act not only confers right to information, but also covers information relating to a
private body which can be accused by a public authorities, under any law.
7
N
(ii) The public authorities, apart from standard provisions, they are also to publish: the
budget allocations of each agency, ways in which the subsidy programmes are executed
and also amounts allocated and the beneficiaries.
(iii) Appointment of Public Information Officers (PIOs).
(iv) Laying down of time limits i.e. thirty days for normal application and to days where a
third party is involved.
(v) The application fee has been kept nominal and for people from economically weaker
sections, there is no charge.
(vi) The Act provides for establishment of new information commission at the centre and
also in all the states comprising Chief Information Commissioner and ten information
Commissioners.
(vii) Penalties can be levied on the PIO for refusing applications, delaying the release of
information without any reasonable cause and also giving incomplete, incorrect and
also misleading information.