Posted: Dec 28, 2016 2:41 pm
Sendraks wrote:Galactor wrote:Commercial enterprises have to innovate and be efficient or go under. In government, rocking the boat is frowned upon. Suggesting economies, doing things differently to be efficient and more productive is to suggest running the risk of embarrassing the ministers or senior civil servants (if things go wrong) with the knowledge that success will not even bring a pat on the back.
It seems that the UK civil service is in the entirely contrary position, where efficiency and productivity are the be all and end all at the moment. Of course, blindly pursuing these things in a dogmatic way, doesn't necessarily lead to better outcomes that generate real efficiencies but, as long as we're seen to save money its all our Ministers care about.
Well, "efficiency" and "productivity" by what definition?
One of the problems with using market jargon to set goals for government agencies is that government agencies are not - generally speaking - in the market in the first place. As a result, what constitutes "efficiency and productivity" tends to be mandated by a committee somewhere rather than by what the people who use the services actually want.