Bases for Preparing the Database of Best Practices 4

REPORT ON BEST PRACTICES

Report prepared within the framework of the “Institutional Development Programme” Project

under the agreement No DWM/33/2001 of September 21, 2001 between the Ministry of Interior and Administration and Consortium of Canadian Urban Institute and Małopolska School of Public Administration Krakow University of Economics

June 2002

INTRODUCTION 3

Bases for Preparing the “Database Of Best Practices” 4

Function of the „Database of Best Practices” 4

Structure of the “Database of Best Practices” 4

Method of Preparing the “Database of Best Practices” 4

UNDERSTANDING OF MANAGEMENT AREAS 5

Strategic and Financial Management 6

Organisation and Functioning of the Office 13

Personnel Management 15

Public Services, Including Municipal Services 17

Public Participation and Stimulating Social Development 23

Stimulating Economic Development 26

Project Management and the EU Aid Programmes 31

Co-Operation among Territorial Self-Government Entities 33

Ethics and Preventing Corruption 35

Implementation of Public Tasks of Government Administration in the Voivodship 39

DATABASE OF BEST PRACTICES 41

Priority of Investment Tasks –theCity of Kraków 42

Long-Term Financial and Investment Planning – the Gmina of Wierzbinek 46

Strategic Operational Plans – City of Winnipeg 54

Catalogue of City Office Services – the Town of Namysłów 60

Implementing the System of Employee Evaluation – the Town of Dzierżoniów 64

Local Investment Initiatives – the City of Kraków 67

Public Consultation & Participation – City of Naga, philippines 71

Development of Bilateral Communication and Public Participation – the Gmina ofNowa Dęba 75

Economic Development Information – Multiple Formats – City of St. Albert 82

Questionnaire Research of the Climate for Enterprise – the Town of Ostrów Wielkopolski 86

Co-Operation among Local Government Entities within the Framework of the Association of Gminas of the Upper Raba Basin and Kraków 90

Preparing a Network of Specialists for the EU and Its Programmes in the Gminas and Powiats of the Silesia Voivodship 93

INTRODUCTION

Bases for Preparing the “Database Of Best Practices”

The basis for preparing the „Database of best practices’ was the „Preliminary report on best practices”, prepared in the first month of the implementation of the Institutional Development Programme (IDP). The report defined the areas of IDP, described the vision of the target state in each area, characterized the present situation and showed examples of Polish and foreign best practices.

The authors of the report believe that the information included there will serve the purpose of:

– achieving a uniform understanding of management areas and target directions of change by consultants implementing the IDP,

– carrying out a preliminary diagnosis, in the aspect of institutional development, in the management areas which were subjects of analysis, and presenting solutions serving the improvement of management in these areas,

– members of local task teams (operating in pilot entities) developing a common understanding of the subject matter of the IDP and desirable directions and methods of change in the management areas defined in the IDP.

Function of the „Database of Best Practices”

The database performs two fundamental functions:

– instrumental (one of the instruments of implementing the IDP),

– educational (creates the framework for seeking good, practically verified solutions).

With regard to the instrumental dimension, the “Database of best practices” is perceived as a methodological tool, closely corresponding to indexes (descriptive and quantitative) and diagnostic questions.

With regard to the educational dimension, the “Database of best practices” will be disseminated, addressed to all territorial self-government entities in Poland. The aim will be to disseminate the IDP outputs and experiences, which will serve to build public administration entities oriented to management.

Structure of the “Database of Best Practices”

The structure of the project is based on the division into management areas which are the subject of the IDP, i.e.:

– strategic and financial management,

– organisation and functioning of the office,

– personnel management,

– ethics and preventing corruption,

– public services, including municipal services,

– public participation and stimulating social development,

– stimulating economic development,

– co-operation among territorial self-government entities,

– management by projects and EU aid programmes.

The description of specific practices was preceded by the description of the management area, the target vision in the area, and the synthetic evaluation of the situation in the area.

In the present form, the “Database of best practices” lists several Polish and foreign practices.

Method of Preparing the “Database of Best Practices”

The “Database of best practices” was prepared by Polish and foreign consultants. It is, in the authors’ intention, a “dynamic” project, which will be supplemented and verified on the basis of experiences following from the IDP implementation.

UNDERSTANDING OF MANAGEMENT AREAS

Strategic and Financial Management

Definition of the area of strategic management

Strategic management is the ability to build and implement the strategy of the institution (in this case a public administration entity). The stages of strategic activity are:

– creating a vision [1] of the development of a given entity,

– declaring a mission [2] of the entity in the process of implementation of the development vision,

– translating the vision into objectives (general and partial),

– showing modes of action (operational programmes),

– implementing the strategy efficiently and effectively,

– monitoring and initiating adaptive changes.

Three issues key for this area will be the subject of analysis in the field of strategic management:

– possessing a strategic plan and public participation in it,

– existence of operating plans of implementing the strategy,

– division of duties and responsibilities among the council, board and staff.

Vision of the optimum situation in the area of strategic management

In the territorial administration entity organised in an optimum way from the viewpoint of the analysed area, the principle of involving the society in the process of building the strategy, its implementation and control (i.e. involving the citizens in the process of defining the goals of local communities) should be introduced.

In order to achieve the desired result, all basic elements of the process of strategic management must also be present, including:

a) Building and using the vision as a factor orienting the activities of the whole local community and territorial administration.

The key ability is the capacity to perceive the values expressed in the vision and turning them into the basis of activity of territorial administration entities and their co-operation with local communities. It is essential that territorial self-government authorities should have a vision/mission statement, expressing the common goals of executive and legislative bodies. The vision should be formulated in a concise and unambiguous manner, preferably in written form, and it must be known to citizens and all office employees. A well-defined vision of development and mission enable to focus the thinking and acting of all organisational units and stimulate the personnel to active involvement in the activities of their institution.

b) Formulating general objectives in accordance with the vision of development and declared mission

Defining the objectives consists in translating the mission into specific activities. This enables to specify the disparity between the reality and the desired state. This activity requires innovative and at the same time ordered action. Citizens, members of the local community and their representatives from local „parliaments” should participate in the process of setting the objectives. Public institutions cannot realise their own goals independently of the local community. Both the representative and executive bodies must have the knowledge on the subject of main, long-term goals and partial, short-term goals. The first set the direction of the institution development and at the same time are an answer to the unsolved needs of the local community. Short-term goals show the activities which should be taken up on a current basis to improve the chosen area (areas) of the institution activity, thus preparing the basis for the implementation of the main objectives.

In the process of translating the „general objectives” into „partial objectives” (departments, sections) the responsibility for the realisation of objectives is assigned to particular functions and the institution is permeated with the atmosphere of “goal-orientation”. Directors of all tiers of organisation hierarchy (office) should take part in the process. Each organisational unit should have definite, measurable objectives showing its contribution to the realisation of the institution’s and community’s objectives. The objectives should by known to and understood by the administration personnel. The internal information policy of the institution ought to serve this purpose – it must contribute to the „omnipresence” of objectives – no cell in the self-government structure should lack the knowledge of the objectives and the methods of their realisation.

The ability to implement a strategy is based on the capacity for developing operational programmes allocating specific human, material and financial resources to each of the general objectives or to separated groups of general objectives. Implementation includes a series of management functions, such as organising, motivating, supervising, leading, budgeting.

c) Developing and using systems of measurements.[3]

The ability to develop and use systems of measurements of the strategy implementation progress and the principles of updating strategy objectives on the basis of the results of monitoring carried out by means of the above measurements is one of the essential factors determining efficient strategic management.

d) Defining and respecting the division of authority and responsibilities of executive and legislative bodies in the process of strategy implementation.

It is necessary to accept the rule that legislative bodies participate in strategy building and approve it as well as periodically control the process of its implementation (e.g. annually at special sessions), whereas executive organs (administration) implement the strategy and periodically prepare a report on the implementation process. Since administrative (executive) bodies are responsible for strategy implementation, they should not be „steered manually” by councils (this could lead to blurring the responsibility) but should instead have full independence in the sphere of particular executive decisions (e.g. personnel and bonuses decisions, promotions etc.). What is of enormous importance is the question of division of budget funds into particular strategy tasks – legislative bodies should influence boards (offices) only through defining general conditions of strategy implementation, not through dictating what should be done specifically on the matter of strategy implementation.

Activities aimed at finding the optimum solutions require that the following conditions should be met:

– specifying the areas of activity which determine the main and partial objectives, in practice this means creating a map of institutions involved in the process of strategic management and describing their objectives, tasks and scopes of responsibility as well as showing the mechanisms for co-ordinating their activities,

– division of resources (material and non-material) among the participants in the process of strategic management for the realisation of their objectives,

– building organisational culture conducive to strategy implementation (i.e. promoting values and outlooks required for the realisation of accepted objectives among the institution personnel, the skill of team work and co-operation among organisational departments and units),

– motivating employees and modifying the content of employee roles in order to adjust them better to strategy requirements,

– creating an objective system of rewards and bonuses related to employees’ involvement and the degree to which they realise the institution objectives,

– defining organisational procedures which enable the strategy implementation,

– developing a system of information and reporting which enables the monitoring of the process of realising and correcting objectives,

– necessity to perform periodical evaluation of strategy implementation (based on a system of measurements) and the ability to correct the strategy depending on the arising needs.

To achieve an optimum situation in the field of strategic management, with regard to the strategic plan and public participation in it, it is necessary:

– to approve the strategic plan by the entity council, taking account of the comments from citizens, social and economic partners,

– that the plan should define the key values, long-term objectives and priorities (e.g. in the area of providing public services) and generally described detailed objectives,

– to allocate funds in the annual budget for the implementation of the approved tasks, pointing to alternative sources of financing,

– partials objectives of innovative nature should be included in the long-term investment plan,

– to develop and implement the principles of monitoring the strategy implementation (a system of indexes for strategy monitoring is developed) and to define the manner in which citizens, social and economic partners participate in the process,

– to appoint a person (group of people) responsible for the monitoring and updating of strategic objectives and priorities,

– to appoint a person (group of people) responsible for the monitoring and updating of strategic objectives and priorities.

To achieve an optimum situation in the field of developing operational plans for the strategy, it is necessary:

– for all general objectives described in the formally approved strategy to have implementation plans, covering:

– definition of the tasks of office units/employees connected with the implementation of operational plans,

– schedules of implementing the tasks written in the operational plan,

– appointed persons (team) responsible for the monitoring of the process of implementing operational plans,

– precise system of monitoring the implementation of operational plans based on financial and material reports incoming from authorised entities,

– to approve the annual budget and the anticipated long-term budget,

– to define the criteria and principles of monitoring the implementation of plans (development of a system of indexes for monitoring operational plans),

– to define the criteria and principles of updating operational plans (defining the involvement of institutional partners and citizens in the process),

– to approve the annual budget and the anticipated long-term budget, related to the system of gmina long-term financial planning,

– to carry out regular (periodical, annual) monitoring of the progress of implementing all plans and basing the systematic updating of operational plans on its results.

To achieve an optimum situation in the field of division of tasks among the council, board and employees, it is necessary:

– to divide the tasks among the council, board and employees based on internal documents (statute, regulations, complementary procedures etc.) which define precisely the division of roles and competence,