Over the past 30 years New Zealand’s system of public management has seen a number of positive changes, both systematic and incremental. That process made New Zealand a world leader in public management. Despite this, it remains difficult to gain traction on some of the most complex problems in society. Further, citizens have begun to demand more from their public service than just outputs and efficiency. In order to continue the positive trend of the previous decades, the system must evolve to appreciate the importance of outcomes and effectiveness.
The call for greater efficiency in public spending is not new, but today has additional force: how can we deliver more for (even) less? A combination of high public expectations about service quality and prolonged fiscal constraint requires New Zealand government departments to focus on the highest spending priorities, find more innovative ways to deliver services, and create efficiencies wherever possible (State Services Commission, 2010a, 2010b). The urgent need to refocus on providing smarter, better public services for less was a consistent theme over the past few years in public statements made by the previous secretary to the Treasury, John Whitehead. Whitehead identified developments in the public sector in the United Kingdom as a potential model for New Zealand, particularly the speed with which ‘new thinking [was] converted into action’ in the pursuit of efficiency (Whitehead, 2010), and referenced in particular a programme launched in the UK in 2004 as an innovative public reform initiative from which New Zealand might learn (Whitehead, 2009a).
Over seven years ago the International Orgatuzation for Standardzation (ISO) released a series of quality standards whch were destined to become the boiler plate for quality management systems around the world. The standards were written by quality professionals under the direction of ISOs quality assurance technical committee and emphasized the basic quality system requirements needed to design and provide quality products and services, and to prevent nonconformity.The standards were provided in basically three dfferent but related requirements: IS0 9001, "Model for Quality Assurance in design, development, production, installation and servicing;" IS0 9002, "Model for Quality Assurance in production, installation and servicing;" and I S 0 9003, "Model for quality assurance in final inspection and test." In providing three different requirements, I S 0 brought together under one quality umbrella companies both large and small providing a wide range of goods and services, and performing an almost unlimited combination of business functions. Contents of the three quality standards are identical with the only dstinguishing feature being (as the titles imply) the number of elements covered. E.g., IS0 9002 is identical to I S 0 9001 with the exception that the requirements for "Design Control" have been omitted. Likewise, the requiretnents for "Final Inspection and Testing" and related elements in I S 0 9003 are identical to those specified in I S 0 9002.In addition to the three standards, IS0 9000 was provided to assist businesses in selecting the appropriate standard to use and, if needed, tailor the requirements of these standards to meet specific contractual situations. Also, I S 0 9004 was provided as a guide in developing Quality Systems.The European community was quick to adopt the IS0 standards and seemingly over night began preparing for assessment and regstration. So swift was the I S 0 movement, that a sizable number of European companies 0-7803-2482-Xl95 $4.00 0 1995 IEEE 60 had achieved regstration before US companies either knew or cared that the standards existed. US quality experts had contributed significantly to the development of the standards and the standards were supported by the American Society for Quality Control (ASQC), but it had become obvious that US businesses executives had no intentions of interrupting their own quality revolution until the long term importance of the IS0 standards was known. It wasn't until threats of market lock-outs and shrinlung contracts for non-registered companies became real did US companies take notice. Now, anyone remotely connected to the field of quality has (or if not, should have) heard of the I S 0 standards. With so much I S 0 information in print, how could it be otherwise? The IS0 tap of training and consulting information is wide open and the uninterrupted flow is clogging in-baskets around the world.The assortment of IS0 quick fixes are impressive and seemingly endless. Video tapes are available for the lunch and learn types, manuals for those who pr...
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