Liverpool City Council has received a Vison 100 award as one of the top forward-thinking organisations in the UK. The initiative, backed by BT and Cranfield School of Management, celebrates innovative and progressive private and public sector bodies.The panel of judges, which included Sir Peter Bonfield, CEO of BT; Peter Murray, Cranfield School of Management and Mark Goyder, Director of the Centre for Tomorrow’s Company, were influenced by structural changes and the development of e-government facilities. A new top team has transformed the way the council works – putting the customer at the centre of everything it does and providing first-class services. Eight city council directorates, which acted independently of each other, were abolished and replaced by joined-up team of executive directors.
Primary care is the poor relation of the health service is the conclusion of a report by the King’s Fund. Although over 90 per cent of all NHS care happens in the GP surgery or in people’s own homes, it does not receive a fair share of NHS resources. The report argues that this will not change until there is a major shift of power from hospitals to primary care groups.The report recognizes that progress has been made with the development of primary care groups in the place of GP fundholding. It also highlights the benefits for patients that follow from the introduction of salaried GP schemes in deprived areas and the phone in help line NHS Direct, but it claims that there is a danger that these initiatives will not reach their full potential until the fundamental imbalance between primary care services and hospitals is redressed.
A survey of almost 1000 UK companies published today by the Confederation of British Industry and KPMG Consulting shows that British business is set to fully embrace the Internet revolution over the next two to three years. According to the report, ‘The Quiet Revolution’, 58% of companies expect to derive at least 10% of their revenue directly from e-business within the next two to three years. This demonstrates that the e-government targets for service delivery are broadly in line with the private sector intentions.The Quiet Revolution dispels the notion that the Internet revolution has ground to a halt. The rise and fall of the dotcoms may have dominated the first wave but the second is now being led by traditional organisations across the UK of all sizes in every sector, with all companies expected to step up their e-business activity over the next two to three years.
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The Government has unveiled its vision for a modernised criminal justice system. The strategy addresses the issues of improving detection, reducing the gap between the number of crimes and the number of convictions, deterring re-offending and supporting victims and witnesses. Every part of the existing criminal justice system will be subject to reform. The strategy, which includes initiatives in progress as well as new measures, also embraces other departments and agencies including the Social Exclusion Unit.Proposals to improve police performance include enhancing detective capability, possibly drawing on outside experience from the public or private sector. There are also plans for a more structured career management process, including the development of a new Leadership Development Board. It is thought that this could end the long tradition of all new entrants serving as constables, before moving to accelerated promotion. Ending this tradition and introducing private sector expertise is likely to prove extremely controversial.
Hodgkinson MThe Learning Organization, (UK), 2000 Vol 7 No 3
Start page: 156. No of pages: 11
Explores how middle managers understand the concept of the learning organization, particularly the ‘five disciplines’ defined by Senge, and to understand the barriers they perceive to the adoption of the concept. Reports the views of a group of middle managers, belonging to a large international firm, who were registered on a Diploma of Management Studies programme in the UK. Outlines how the managers perceived each of the five disciplines and indicates the barriers they identified. Sets out the results of a meeting three months later, which asked the same group of managers to identify if any processes were in place in their organization which would enable them to practice Senge’s five disciplines and to discuss their role (if any) within the process. Quotes the managers’ views that the introduction of the learning organization concept was not happening in their organization and sets out why they thought this was the case. Links this back to the literature review at the start of the article which identified similar barriers to the introduction of the concept. Draws out the implications for the development of learning organizations.
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A waste reduction group is celebrating the success of a targeted campaign to change behaviour.Waste Watch’s 3Rs for the 3rd Sector project has been running for two years in London and the North-West, working with not-for-profit organisations to promote waste reduction, reuse and recycling.
A new innovation business support scheme – Fast Track – has been launched to help construction businesses by retaining useful information gained from building projects.The half a million pound project aims to build a database of innovation. It recognises that for many projects, the information about excellent ideas behind what’s been built are lost as the construction teams split up.
An analysis of the modernisation of pensions income has found that the Government is successfully targeting the least well-off.It also shows that this is achieved by heavy dependence on means testing, with the problems that brings of achieving fairness when a variety of benefits are claimed, which often offset each other.
By Steve LeachThe Local Government Act 2000 heralds the most radical departure from a system of business management that has remained relatively unchanged for over a century within local government. New structures and methods of working are being introduced in an effort to deliver more efficient and responsive decision-making. The division between executive and scrutiny responsibilities is intended to facilitate more clear, visible and accountable leadership, whilst providing new mechanisms to properly scrutinise decision making in a less partisan political environment. The change will challenge many established cultures and already some of the early experiments have raised concerns about the role of ‘backbench’ councilors, ’secret cabinets’ and access to information. The booklet is intended to guide the reader through some of the choices and dilemmas that local authorities will face as they implement these changes.
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