ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1980.tb00905.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

I feel it a great honour to be invited to give the Robert Garran Memorial Oration of 1979. Although Sir Robert and I were of different generations, I did have some personal contact with him following my coming to Canberra in 1939. I also had the pleasure of knowing two of his sons, John and Andrew. Andrew and I were colleagues in our roles as Chairmen of the Victorian and Commonwealth Public Service Boards respectively. These small personal associations enable me to appreciate all the better the wide‐ranging and historic contributions made by Sir Robert to government in Australi

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1980.tb00906.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Thank you for inviting me to open the Institute's National Conference this year. Your program looks most interesting and relevant to modern public sector administration. I accepted your invitation on the basis that I would make personal observations – comments of a manager turned Minister. Nothing that I say should necessarily be identified with my Department or fellow Ministers. Rather, I speak as a person in government who is interested in and concerned with change, increased efficiency and improved national productivit

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1980.tb00907.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

There is a certain irony about a public service staff perspective on the topic of “Managing with Less”. In recent times ACOA has perforce managed with less. This was necessitated by the government decision to withdraw the facility of payroll deduction of members' dues. That action and the consequent massive reduction in income is intended to threaten, and does impair the effectiveness and general viability of ACOA. It is a kind of expenditure cut used with devious purpose, a ploy characteristic of Mr Fraser's government. In our case, unlike those whom we serve, Mr Fraser's assault on our budget will not destroy our capacity to perform our function. At least our main function of directly advancing and preserving membership interests should not be much impaired, albeit with perhaps a somewhat reduced membership. The main result of having to “manage with less” is that particular programs and policies at the margin have and will continue to come under threat. In ACOA's case I suspect that our capacity to allocate any worthwhile priority to extracurricular exploration such as this conference must diminish in the

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1980.tb00908.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Managers everywhere are faced always with problems of scarcity, with setting priorities, making trade‐offs and allocating short resources. One part of the administrative task is necessarily about getting the most done for the least cost. But is Australian government administration now entering a particularly severe period of restraint, which will place even sharper challenges upon managers in the public service? I think the answer to this question is yes, and that there is general agreement about this within the public service itself. Problems of managing with less are therefore contemporary and pressing; and this paper is a summary of ways in which those problems are being approached. One way issues in calls for improved efficiency in government. This is not, however, a straightforward matter at all. Improvements or so called improvements to efficiency will always meet some resistance for a mixture of reasons. Some managers think that the need for change is not as great as critics maintain, so giving them no cause to do more than continue their normal practices of good management. Others see a renewed emphasis on efficiency as cutting into the resources properly available to the public service, so harming the community which the administration is supposed to serve. Managing with less is not then merely a technical issue. It involves questions about the meaning of efficiency and the role of management, and also judgments about the nature of the period in which we live and about who gains and who loses when we do indeed have to manage with less: that is, political and even moral considerations are mixed up with considerations of good management and efficiency. These matters of value, choice and conflict cannot be avoide

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1980.tb00909.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Three speakers, Mr J. L. Evans (Education Department, Tasmania), Mr D. Moore (New Zealand Institute of Public Administration), and Ms D. K. Conroy (Queensland Institute of Technology) agreed that a major element in the papers was the demand for change. Reducing staff, though the commonest solution to the problem of “managing with less”, did not necessarily lead to effective administration, especially when departments were expected to maintain the same range of activities. Mr Evans argued that change had to pay regard to the needs of clients. “We must see that those who are hurt are not those who can least afford to suffer”. There might be ways of simplifying administration, such as a better sorting out of federal‐state activities. Mr Moore asked whether it was a real option that governments should do less in an age of higher technology, more unemployment, and greater calls for equity and help to the underp

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1980.tb00910.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

For the purpose of this paper I shall accept the assumption underlying the theme of this Conference. In practical terms, in the early 1980s at least, it will mean that public service managers will be asked to carry on or expand existing functions, and often take on new functions, without being supplied with what they believe to be the commensurate manpower and financial resources required for the adequate performance of such functions. Hence, the determination of priorities will be a primary task for governments and managers at differing levels.

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1980.tb00911.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In opening the discussion on Mr Gleeson's paper, Professor Murray Stewart (Urban Research Unit, University of Bristol) suggested that the United Kingdom had now much experience of “managing with less”. “Corporate planning” had its limitations, especially when cutbacks were involved. Then people retreated into their departmental shells to protect their own interests. In Britain planning units were to some extent in disgrace and there was more stress on making use of existing departments and ad hoc working groups. It was also beneficial to focus more attention on the impact of programs on particular client groups or areas. This was useful to the politicians, as it focused on what was of electoral concern, and it also helped departments to work together. One of the worst failures in British capital budgeting had been failure to “monitor” programs. He echoed all that Mr Gleeson's paper said about the role of politicians. There had to be much more debate between politicians and officials at an early stage in the decision‐making process. This was better done through working parties and discussions on specific cases, rather than more dif

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1980.tb00912.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1980.tb00913.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Dr Evans stressed that the attempt to plan for the effects of technological changes was likely to be very difficult, or even to set misleading precedents. Such changes were largely unpredictable, and compensation schemes for displacement are often highly inequitable in their impact.

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1980.tb00914.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY