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The assessment of the management and delivery of electronic records by African governments is presented.

An overview is presented on public policy making within a federal government system, focusing on the cycle of policy formation, administration and evaluation. Topics include urban policy making, policy success/failure analysis, the effect of fiscal limitations, and the impact on social as opposed to industrial productivity.

The US government is engaging in partnerships with the private sector to better manage its real estate assets. The General Accounting Office has revealed that federal agencies' management and maintenance of facilities and real property are deficient because of ineffective capital planning, deferred maintenance, underused and unneeded properties, lack of sufficient data, poor strategic planning and lack of incentives. Public-private partnerships usually involve a government agency contracting with a private partner to renovate, construct, operate, maintain and manage a facility or system., Striking a balance between control, accountability, and innovation in managing the nation's federal assets; for some agencies, necessity has become the mother of innovation. The US government is one of [...]

Congressional insistence on better strategic plans and enhanced federal management practices are among the top priorities of government agencies. Congressional concern on better management is indicated by the 1949 Hoover Commission and the enactment of the Government Performance and Results Act in 1993. The Public Buildings Service has the improvement of management as one of its prime goals. Disciplined program management and multitalented employees with strong management skills in conjunction with experienced oversight was found to afford specific and effective management plans., Congressional pressure for better strategic plans and improved management practices dominates agency activities. Introduction to Series Several months ago, The New Yorker magazine contained a cartoon depicting a large conference [...]

The problems encountered by federal agencies in aligning their primary missions with the installation of information technology investments, operational programs and databases are discussed. Among the problems are the improper training of Chief Information Officers, the lack of understanding among non-IT managers on the difficulties in providing computer service and poorly prepared strategic plans concerning IT functions on the entire organization., Recommended actions for both the CIO or IT manager and the customer or operational manager to improve the extent and quality of strategic alignment with the mission. Under the new [...]

The paper identifies the main differences between the decision-making environments of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Canadian governments, with a view to comparing administrative practices in the IMF with those in government policy-making organizations. Many of the IMF's distinguishing features arise from its international character and the need to solve 'collaboration problems.' They include a detachment from electoral politics and external agencies, a heavy reliance on rules, universal membership, weighted voting, a specialized and technical subject-matter with broad doctrinal consensus, a comparative availability of resources and continuity in leadership. The paper then reviews the features of the administrative practices in the IMF that tend to distinguish it from policy-making organizations in the Canadian federal and provincial governments. These include top-down organizational discipline, numerous and well-staffed review procedures, elite recruitment, high pay and an internally generated and incremental approach to administrative reform. Conclusions are made about the extent to which the IMF's distinguishing administrative features are linked to its particular decision-making environment and about the lessons that might be drawn for the management of Canadian policy-making organizations. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Federal agencies have outlined a summary of downsizing strategies that can be learned from other organizations' experiences on workforce management. The findings are described in a publication entitled 'Effective Downsizing: A Compendium of Lessons Learned for Government Operations' by the National Academy of Public Administration. The findings highlight the need to conduct careful planning before initiating downsizing. The publication has argued that human resource decisions be based on the intended composition of the workforce needed to achieve the organization's new mission., A NAPA study of public and private downsizing efforts can be a helpful reference document. In the past year, 32 federal agencies have sponsored a National Academy of Public Administration [...]

The National Performance Review (NPR) group headed by VP Al Gore has made important suggestions on how the federal government can be improved. The NPR report has paved the way for the launching of the reinventing government movement, which is geared towards the reform of the public sector. Among other things, the report calls for employee empowerment, cutting red tape and prioritizing customers' needs., Vice President Al Gore's National Performance Review (NPR), with a report issued in September 1993, promised nothing less than a revolutionary reinvention of the federal government. Critics dismissed it as [...]

A significant culture change in public organizations is necessary to make public sector reform successful. This is emphasized in VP Al Gore's initiative to reinvent the federal government. However, Gore's efforts to improve public organizations will be meaningless unless the principles underlying the envisioned change is effectively articulated. Essentially, the message of reinventing government must be communicated throughout the federal workforce., There is a continuing need to communicate effectively the message of reinventing government throughout the federal workforce. Vice President Al Gore's initiative to reinvent the federal government has called for [...]

Executive Order 12871 entitled 'Labor-Management Partnerships,' calls for labor-management cooperation in the public sector. With the US government promoting such an important initiative, total quality management (TQM) may be considered as inextricably linked to partnership. After all, the public sector needs TQM as much as the private sector. Adoption of TQM and labor-management partnership in the federal government is a positive indication of the emergence of a restructured administration in the future., In a unionized setting, complete transformation to TQM requires simultaneous large-scale change of the organization and the union, no small task. Labor-management cooperation as a technique for managing relationships in [...]

Partnership is currently being promoted in federal agencies in the hope of restructuring the federal government. This kind of partnership calls for the collaboration of union representatives, employees and management in the decision-making process to better serve the agency's customers and to achieve the organizational objectives. However, partnership in federal agencies does not mean co-management. Collective bargaining can never be replaced by partnership or labor-management collaboration., 'Partnership' means collaboration between union, management, and employees in all agency decisions involving 'reinventing' the organization. Yet, it does not mean 'co-management.' Striking fear into the heart of many a [...]

The recommendations put forward by the National Performance Review for improving federal management contain both good and bad ideas. In addition, the report often resorts to empty rhetoric which contributes nothing to the need for solutions to problems confronting government management. Decisionmakers should recognize that the reports recommendations are insufficient and should be supplemented with information and perspectives from other sources. In addition, they should exercise great care when developing future proposals and implementation actions and consider the role of Congress in federal management., The ambitious scope of and early response to NPR are heartening. Failure of earlier reform agenda suggests more careful development of both recommendations and implementation actions. The report and recommendations [...]

There is a need to change the federal government. The process of change should be initiated through leadership with a developed vision, establishing a set of values to guide daily thought processes and decisions and doing away with the bureaucratic organization. Overall effort for change should be entrusted among all agencies and with cross-cutting programs. New mechanisms which can achieve highly beneficial continuing learning should be explored., The federal government is not working well. The public has a very low opinion of government, believing it to be ineffective and inefficient, despite the real value-defense, social security, safe [...]

Comprehensive study of experiments reveals some potential benefits, some possible pitfalls, and no cure-all for current problems. Title VI of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 authorizes the U.S. [...]

The federal government has failed to totally rid itself of poor performers. Managers erroneously believe that they are incapable of firing a poorly performing employee since it may impede on the person's rights. To solve the problem, a change in office culture is needed. Supervisors should be given sufficient training and education on how to notify employees of what is expected from them. Employee feedback is also essential. The personnel office must also be trained to support a manager who decides to take action against an employee who failed to conform to performance expectations., An effective way to deal with the perennial problem of the poor performer is to change the culture. The federal government appears to be constantly trying to get a handle [...]

Large scale reductions-in-force is an emerging issue due to the intention by government to eliminate large numbers of federal positions in various agencies. Some alternative paradigms are suggested to achieve downsizing in a less costly and disruptive manner. Employees can be selected according to the manner in which government seeks to optimize organizational strategy and performance. The selection process can be based on the employee's employment status, contribution to organizational performance or elimination of competitive areas where employees perform similar responsibilities., Involuntary separation practices that are not grounded in organizational performance and interest may lead to negative consequences. Over the past few decades, individual federal agencies have grown or shrunk with [...]

The NAPA study points out that agency succession planning should be strategically-based. Where is the organization going--missionwise and structurally ? A number of factors are combining to create a condition [...]

Introduction to forum. If government were under control, would it be better government, better serving citizens? Possibly. But not necessarily. A thing-process, organization, function - can be under control and [...]

Byline: Alfonso Molina, Mirta Michilli The paper discusses the emergence and development of e-commerce in a government context. Recently, the region of Veneto has implemented 'Bollo Auto' - the payment of car taxes through a digital network making use of lottery terminals located in the popular tobacco shops ('tabacchinos'). This paper examines this experience and asks: how is e-commerce emerging in European regions; what are the technologies used; what are the difficulties faced; what are the benefits; and, more generally, what is the nature of the processes involved in making a success of e-commerce by government? The paper deals with these questions through a combination of conceptual instruments (the 'diamond of sociotechnical alignment') and empirical analysis. In this way, the paper aims to provide insights beyond the particularities of the Veneto region, with a view to helping the understanding and practice of other e-commerce innovation processes in regional environments.

There are high expectations that the HIH Royal Commission will uncover the truth about the collapse of the HIH insurance group and bring to justice the individuals and organistions culpable for the losses incurred. This article argues that this hope for veracity flies in the face of other royal commissions into financial issues in Australia which were but verisimilitude.

The challenges before us are monumental. But it is not every generation that is given the opportunity to shape a new international order. If the opportunity is missed, we shall [...]

Federal theory and federal scholarship have paid little attention to the role of local communities and their governments, which receive scant recognition in the constitutional and institutional arrangements of mature federal systems such as Australia, Canada, and the United States. However, local governments have become extensively entangled in the fiscal relations and social service delivery of federal political systems. Moreover, it can be argued that localities in general and international cities in particular will play a more important role in the decades to come. This role may be particularly pronounced in emergent federal systems. It is important, therefore, to bring local communities and their governments into play as we try to understand the evolving nature of federal governance.

Like all other governing institutions, federal structures must be able to adapt and adjust to changing economic, political, and social circumstances. This article outlines the major drivers that call for change in the institutions and processes of federalism. These include changing citizen orientations and expectations, changing policy agendas arising from the environment, new patterns of governance and public administration, and the pressures of globalisation. Although some worry that federal institutions are rigid and inflexible, the paper describes a wide variety of mechanisms and processes through which federal institutions have been able to respond. These include constitutional amendment, judicial interpretation, coordination through intergovernmental relations and associated intergovernmental agreements, fiscal federalism, asymmetrical arrangements, the delegation of powers, and, in limited cases, the use of emergency powers.

Federations employ a large variety of mechanisms for conducting relations between central, regional, and local levels of government. These mechanisms span the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government within each level. Executive involvement ranges widely in degree of formality, from the making of formal intergovernmental agreements to informal liaison between governmental officers. Executive mechanisms have also evolved for correcting vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalances in federal systems. Legislatures play an important role in giving the force of law to cooperative policies initiated by the executive. These legislative mechanisms include reciprocal schemes, complementary schemes, mirror legislation, and the reference or delegation of powers from one level of government to another. The judiciary, though often undervalued, is significant for its role in establishing the legal framework within which other branches of government conduct their intergovernmental relations, through articulation of powers and competencies. The article concludes that policy makers should exercise care in selecting mechanisms that are appropriate to their task. In particular, regard should be had to the efficiency of each mechanism, and its conformity with federal values and the rule of law.

This article deals selectively with four broad approaches to conflict management in federal systems of government: formal dispute resolution, informal dispute resolution, dispute avoidance, and popular dispute resolution. Courts undertake the task of formal dispute resolution through judicial review: issues of current significance include judicial concepts of federalism, the reference jurisdiction, Scottish devolution, and supranational federalism and the European Court of Justice. Examples of informal dispute resolution are few. The South African Constitution includes a provision, requiring parties to an intergovernmental dispute to exhaust all other remedies before resorting to litigation. The dispute resolution process contained in chapter 20 of the North American Free Trade Agreement may stimulate experimentation with similar models in federal systems. Dispute avoidance techniques are many and varied; they include the drafting of constitutional instruments and the use of intergovernmental forums within and outside the constitutional framework. The electoral process may be employed in federal systems to determine the fate of governments, specific legislative measures and proposed constitutional amendments. Each federal society has its own culture of conflict management, which exerts a subtle but significant influence on the operation of, and the relationship among, dispute resolution systems.