By David Williams
22 February 2010
Public sector employees from the front line to the board will have to show greater leadership than ever before to deal with the coming spending squeeze, consultancy firm Deloitte warns.
Leadership at all levels: leading public sector organisations in an age of austerity, is published today. The report concludes that simply buying in more managers will not be enough on its own to bring about the changes that will be necessary to deal with the fiscal deficit.
Author Keith Leslie said senior leaders in the public sector are already under strain, and that this will increase as budgets continue to shrink.
‘To develop an effective response to this crisis, the challenge should be pushed back to the frontline managers to ensure the delivery responsibility is effectively shared with them,’ he added.
The report stresses that public bodies will have to abandon ‘problematic’ projects, cut jobs, strip out layers of management and bureaucracy and force workers to be more productive.
However, it argues that the crisis presents a chance to change the public sector for the better. ‘Public sector workers… don’t want to hear about cuts but they will want the chance to take control of their organisation’s destiny,’ said Leslie.
A second study on the effects of the financial crash and recession on the public sector is also released today by consultancy KPMG.
Tough choices ahead: the future of the public sector cautions against simple short-term savings and instead recommends a three-step approach to ‘redefining the role of the state’.
Public bodies should first reduce costs, including staff budgets, before becoming more efficient and improving financial management. The third ‘strategic transformation’ stage would involve finding new sources of funding and increasing the involvement of the private sector in service provision.
22 February 2010
Public sector employees from the front line to the board will have to show greater leadership than ever before to deal with the coming spending squeeze, consultancy firm Deloitte warns.
Leadership at all levels: leading public sector organisations in an age of austerity, is published today. The report concludes that simply buying in more managers will not be enough on its own to bring about the changes that will be necessary to deal with the fiscal deficit.
Author Keith Leslie said senior leaders in the public sector are already under strain, and that this will increase as budgets continue to shrink.
‘To develop an effective response to this crisis, the challenge should be pushed back to the frontline managers to ensure the delivery responsibility is effectively shared with them,’ he added.
The report stresses that public bodies will have to abandon ‘problematic’ projects, cut jobs, strip out layers of management and bureaucracy and force workers to be more productive.
However, it argues that the crisis presents a chance to change the public sector for the better. ‘Public sector workers… don’t want to hear about cuts but they will want the chance to take control of their organisation’s destiny,’ said Leslie.
A second study on the effects of the financial crash and recession on the public sector is also released today by consultancy KPMG.
Tough choices ahead: the future of the public sector cautions against simple short-term savings and instead recommends a three-step approach to ‘redefining the role of the state’.
Public bodies should first reduce costs, including staff budgets, before becoming more efficient and improving financial management. The third ‘strategic transformation’ stage would involve finding new sources of funding and increasing the involvement of the private sector in service provision.
