HR Green ASD for Local Governments Handbook - Executive Summary - Manual (Page 12)

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CHAPTER 7. ORGANIZATIONAL READINESS
FOR ALTERNATIVE SERVICE DELIVERY
Kurt Thurmaier
It should be apparent to the reader that some alternative service delivery innovations are more difficult and
transformational than others. For example, interlocal agreements are widespread and cover both informal and
formal agreements between jurisdictions. Service consolidation requires a much more extensive and intensive
agreement because it involves a high level of collaboration and political consensus to work. The variation in
ASD options is addressed by two themes that resonate throughout the chapter discussions. First, organizational
culture matters. The ability for a local government to successfully develop and implement an alternative
modality to deliver public services in the community depends on an organizational culture that embraces the
prerequisites of that modality.
Second, the complexity of implementing an alternative service delivery rises with the length of the time horizon and the strategic
orientation of the local government. Contracting for another organization (public/private/nonprofit) to deliver
many public services is a relatively straightforward, short-term, and tactical decision. This contrasts with a
public-private-partnership (3P) that requires a long-term horizon, a strategic orientation, and the ability to
manage a host of complex, inter-related decisions.
Flexibility has become a core value of cities that have shed stability and incremental growth as goals; instead
they are focusing on performance for citizens as the leading value. At root is a reorientation of municipal
management from a focus on managing who provides local services (i.e., municipal employees in various
departments) to a focus on managing how a service is delivered (whether by contract, service consolidation,
managed competition, or P3).
The POSDCORB 1 framework for managing a municipality is not a relic of the past, but it needs serious
updating. Communities that successfully adopt an ASD orientation are characterized by adherence to a
POBNCAM framework for local government management. Updated management principles include
Networking, Contracting, Accountability, and Measuring.
• Planning is working out in broad outline the things that need to be done and the methods for doing
them to accomplish the purpose set for the enterprise;
• Organizing is the establishment of the formal structure of authority through which work subdivisions
are arranged, defined, and coordinated for the defined objective;
• Budgeting is planning, accounting and controlling resource development and allocation.
• Networking is creating, developing, and maintaining cooperative and collaborative relationships with
neighboring organizations;
• Contracting is purchasing services from other organizations (public, private, and nonprofit) that can
be delivered at a lower price, a higher level of quality, or both.
• Accountability is insuring that someone is answerable for financial performance and democratic
processes for planning, implementing, and evaluating service delivery
• Measuring is developing, using, and reporting efficiency and effectiveness data to organizational
stakeholders, including citizens, elected officials, and organizational managers and employees.
Organizational Culture Matters
Organizational culture matters. The discussions in various focus groups, across the various alternative service
delivery modalities, were very consistent on this point. The ability for a local government to successfully
develop and implement an alternative modality to deliver public services in the community depends on an
organizational culture that embraces the prerequisites of that modality. In its most developed form, an ASD
orientation embraces not a single alternative, but actively and continuously analyzes alternatives to how the
service is presently being delivered, whatever that is. Thus, a city could be contracting for police services with
1 POSDCORB stands for Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Deciding, Coordinating, Reporting, and Budgeting.