Increasing the Public Value of Administration - How do we Get a Better Image in Public and be More Effective and Efficient ?

Project Leaders

Target Group
This seminar is designed for civil servants, staff of international organisations, social actors and politicians involved in the daily operations of serving public interest or carrying out research on this subject.

Description
In the context of the present economic crisis and the concomitant debate on the role of government and public administration all over Europe in relation to public values, the managerial question thus arises: what does managing for Public Value mean? What is the scope? What are the core competencies of modern public administration? What are the limits? How can we create a better image in the eyes of our customers?

Public Value may be seen as a next step of reforms in the public sector, emphasising a proactive and entrepreneurial role of innovative value creation of public institutions in Europe. Therefore, we want to discuss a still controversial issue with a high potential for designing a modern public administration.

Without any doubt, the mere focus on private vs. public or on the financial bottom-line misses the point of current challenges of renewing the public sector. Participants will be introduced to the concept of Public Value, which bridges ideas of old Weberian administration with more recent ideas of “New Public Management”. Basically, Public Value reconciles inherent tensions between the two paradigms by taking into account the needs for balancing values in the light of better social outcomes. Against this background, Public Value is discussed as the guiding principle for the public sector and securing the future.

Up-to-date empirical data underscore the fact that it is the personal characteristics and environmental factors that foster Public Value entrepreneurship rather than organisational variables such as structure, incentives and controlling. A very interesting question is also how modern HR Management and Leadership in general can support the process of creating value from various aspects. As a business partner for other operative units HR Management must take over a more active and even strategic role in terms of creating and implementing management principles, leadership and collaboration guidelines, and staff training to develop competencies in general. We also want to focus on the advantages of integrated Human Resource Management and dialogue to promote change. Therefore, the practical side of the seminar is devoted to improving individual competencies. A focus will also be on developing Leadership competencies for the future, as creating public values is a way of achieving excellence in service delivery, whilst increasing income at the same time. Several studies show that when business organisations identify values, they achieve a much higher level of performance because, among other things, trust, tolerance and forgiveness levels increase; as a consequence, team identity is enhanced.

Finally, let us remember that enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union is a central task for the Treaty of
Lisbon. For reform to be successful, it needs to be underpinned by a common view of objectives, agreements on what constitutes success, and clear understanding of the relationship between ends and means.

Most Member States have contributed national cases of evaluation of public administrations’ added value to the Lisbon Strategy goals, including national representatives of the Innovate Public Services Group (IPSG) as well as colleagues from other working groups of the European Public Administration Network (EUPAN). Many of these projects reflect the decisive importance of a well-functioning public sector for the overall business climate within a country. Enhancement of efficiency, effectiveness, communication and quality is much easier if public values are added to government services.

For all these reasons, increasing the Public Value of administration is an important contribution to that process. The concept of “Public Value” offers a useful way of setting out the ultimate goal: that Public Value can help to avoid the narrow and over-simplified approaches that have sometimes dominated in the past.

Moreover, Public Values track the ethical dimension of European identity because they offer a broader way of measuring government performance and guiding European policy decisions. This approach could help to improve policy decisions and improve the relationship between government and citizens.

Objectives
The seminar focuses on strategic thinking on how to determine the Public Value of a given project or planned initiative. To improve
practical skills, participants are introduced to the “Public Value Scorecard”, which facilitates decision-making processes. Based on online feedback, participants reflect on and learn more about their individual style of approaching entrepreneurial challenges.

Methods
A combination of presentations, lectures, working groups.

Programme
The programme will commence on Monday 6 December at 09.00 hrs and finish on Tuesday 7 December at 16.15 hrs.

Seminar venue
The seminar will take place at the European Institute of Public Administration, O.L. Vrouweplein 22, NL-6211 HE Maastricht, tel.: +31.43.3296222, fax: +31.43.3296296.

Working language
The seminar will be conducted in English.

Fee
The participation fee is € 795 and includes documentation, 2 lunches, 1 reception and refreshments. Accommodation and travel costs are at the expense of the participants or their administration.

EIPA offers its members a reduction of 10% of the registration fee. This reduction is available to all civil servants working for one of EIPA’s member countries (i.e. AT, BE, BG, CY, CZ, DK, EE, FI, FR, DE, GR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LU, MT, NL, PL, PT, ES, SE, UK). If you are eligible for a discount, please tick the box in the registration form. Please note that reductions cannot be accumulated. For more information, please visit EIPA’s website: www.eipa.eu (FAQ-special discounts).

Hotel reservations
The European Institute of Public Administration will be pleased to make reservations for you at a hotel in Maastricht. We have made a block booking Hotel Beaumont**** (www.beaumont.nl), at a rate of € 101.85 p.p.p.n. (incl. breakfast and tourist tax).
Should you wish to make use of this possibility, please indicate the dates of arrival and departure on the registration form. Payment is to be made directly and personally to the hotel on checking out. Please note that if you register after the closing date, hotel reservations cannot be guaranteed.

Meals
The lunches and reception will be served at the Institute’s restaurant. Should you require a special menu (e.g. vegetarian, diabetic), please inform the Programme Organiser so that this can be arranged.

Registration
Kindly complete the registration form and submit it before 8 November. Your name and address will be part of EIPA’s database for our mailing purpose only. If you do not want to be included in our mailing database, please tick the box in the registration form.

Confirmation
Confirmation of registration will be forwarded to participants on receipt of the completed registration form.

Payment
Prior payment is a condition for participation. Please indicate the method of payment on the registration form. In any case, the participant or his/her administration will receive an invoice for the payment of the registration fee. For cancellations received after the date indicated on the registration form we will have to charge an administration fee of € 150 unless a replacement participant is found.

Cancellation policy
EIPA reserves the right to cancel the seminar up to 2 weeks before the starting date. EIPA accepts no responsibility for any costs incurred (travel, hotel, etc.). For EIPA’s cancellation policy, please visit our website www.eipa.eu (legal notice)