Public or private “ownership” - what’s in a name?

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 441-447
Author(s):  
J. Davis ◽  
G. Cashin
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Capital Expenditure ◽  
Performance Standards ◽  
Public Utility ◽  
Private Ownership ◽  
Private Company ◽  
Delivery Performance ◽  
Operations And Maintenance ◽  
Private And Public

This paper examines the similarities and differences between public and private ownership of water utilities, including variations such as corporatisation. In any utility where the asset owner and the asset operator are the same, there are pressures to reduce operations and maintenance costs and capital expenditure to maximise returns. The authors argue that this is the case irrespective of whether such returns are to private shareholders or dividends to government. On the other hand, where the asset owner and the asset operator are separate entities with a clearly defined contractual interface, it is not possible to increase returns by reducing operations and maintenance standards, presuming a properly constructed contract. This is because the performance standards are clearly stipulated in the contract with payment reductions applying for non-performance. Such a model can be put in place irrespective of whether the asset owner is a private company or a public utility. The paper examines the profit incentive applying to private and public sector organisations in models where:the asset owner and the asset operator are the same organisation;models where the asset owner and the asset operator are separate organisations, with the service delivery performance governed by a clearly defined contractual interface. The paper shows why the drivers governing the behaviour of public sector and private sector owners are similar, and how the separation of asset owner and asset operator can be used to ensure that service delivery standards are achieved at the lowest cost, whilst providing full transparency to shareholders, regulators and customers alike. The paper also reviews actual comparative data on service quality and performance under a number of ownership and contractual models, and draws conclusions on the effectiveness of the various asset owner/operator models in terms of service delivery performance and costs.

How effective are the new WASH security guidelines for India? An empirical case study of Andhra Pradesh

Water Policy ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 535-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Kurian Baby ◽  
V. Ratna Reddy
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Capital Maintenance ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene ◽  
Operations And Maintenance ◽  
Private And Public

India has been making policies relating to the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector since independence. The 2010 policy guidelines for the water and sanitation sectors have embarked on a new path of water security by identifying and emphasizing the importance of hitherto nagging bottlenecks in sustainable service delivery. This paper attempts to assess these policy guidelines critically and suggest ways to make them effective from the point of view of putting them into operation. This paper argues the following. (i) WASH sector financing needs to be addressed directly with realistic assessment of unit costs and their composition. (ii) Within the WASH sector sanitation needs special focus in terms of planning and allocations. Treating sanitation as an add-on to water would not be enough to improve the sanitation and hygiene conditions. The approach to sanitation needs to be focused on creating demand at the household level, segregating private and public responsibilities in this regard. (iii) Although the new guidelines try to bring a much needed balance between the cost components of new capital investment, they are not clear about post-construction support, especially capital maintenance and ring fencing the allocations towards O&M (operations and maintenance), as well as emphasizing that capital maintenance is critical for sustainable service delivery.

scholarly journals Ethics, codes of conduct, morals and professionalism as a bulwark against corruption and unethical conduct in the public sector: A case of South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 207-212
Author(s):  
Melody Brauns ◽  
David Mdlazi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
South African ◽  
Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
The South ◽  
Unethical Conduct ◽  
The Public ◽  
Private And Public

This paper endeavours to critically examine ethics in South Africa especially after the first democratic elections and later developments. Such an analysis will inevitably overspill to the quality of service delivery and participation. As such there is a need for ethics to be re-examined and investigate how this may be used to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the South African government service. Much has been written on ethics and their relevance to the public sector organisations. Indeed they are critical for service delivery for both sectors namely, private and public sectors. This paper will trace the origins and development of ethics and their relationship with other associated terms such as morals, codes of conduct and relate same to the guidelines emanating from the South African Constitution Act (Act 108 of 1996). Once this objective has been achieved the position of ethics to our daily lives from individual and citizenship perspective will be explored. By such investigation it is envisaged to reposition ethics to our working environment as a vehicle that supports and fuels accelerated quality decision-making and service delivery. In that way it will be possible to locate the area of responsibility and accountability in the public sector. One will also examine the power-authority-responsibility triangle relative to ethics, ethical conduct, codes of conduct, and professionalism and indicate how these can be effectively applied to address issues of violation of human right through fundamental deprivation of critical services and products.

Innovations in E-commerce and E- Governance.

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saurav Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Indian Government ◽  
Delivery Methods ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Telecommunication Infrastructure ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The Government

For a long yearsago e-Commerce and e-Government applications have made major impacts in their respective, private and public sector. Few yearsago, wedistinguish of thetwo phenomena. Governments and public sector organizations around the world arerelying on information and communication technologies(ICTs) to reform the functionality of the system and provide enhanced service delivery methods for their citizens living around. E-governanceincludes the effectivenessuse of ICTs, specially the Web-based online applications, for betterand effective governance and service delivery. Indian government, and other global counterparts, is using ICT and E-governance as to improve the governance services to their citizens and to expandgovernance modernization programmes worldwide. This article shows anoverview of the Egovernance scenario in India. It also observes the capability and willingness of the government torender Eservices in respect of differentfactors like telecommunication infrastructure, human capital and webpresence. On thebasis of the assessment, the factors which hinder the E-initiatives development and the obstaclesfor the successfulimplementation are observed. These barriers are furthercategorized into the three dimensionsthat determine the E-governance readiness. The study “Innovations in e-commerce and e-governance”alsoreports on more accurate findings from an ongoing empirical investigation and also to clarify our understanding of similaritiesand differences between e-Commerceand e-Governmentand their latest innovations.

scholarly journals Governance and financial health risk in an emerging economy’s public sector

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shewangu Dzomira
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Cash Flow ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Capital Expenditure ◽  
Debt Management ◽  
Risk Indicators ◽  
Financial Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Going Concern

Public sector financial health coupled with good governance is an indispensable ingredient of the growth route of any particular nation. The financial health antecedents in the public sector include under-spending of capital budgets, going concern and debt management. The study seeks out to scrutinize governance and financial health in an emerging country’s public sector. The study has been directed by the two theories namely, Agency theory and Stewardship theory. Governance hassles may take place in relation with numerous principal-agent affairs as well as stewardship matters. This study is centred on an interpretative philosophy which observed evocative and emblematic content of qualitative data from 24 General Reports on The Provincial Audit Outcomes for the three periods (2012-2013; 2013-2014 and 2014-2015). The findings suggested that most of the provinces have shown a lapsed or little progress in the sufficient monitoring and oversight of the cash flow, capital expenditure and debt management processes at a number of agencies and departments. This resulted in almost all the monies payable to the provinces not collected, capital projects not appropriately managed, suppliers not paid on time, and cash shortfalls to bring on the service delivery targets. The study concludes most of the provinces have revealed that there are no improvements towards minimization of financial risk indicators. It is recommended that public sector agencies leadership must continue to monitor the implementation of revenue collection, effective budget and cash-flow management to ensure that funds are utilized for their projected purposes and the entire monies due are recovered. This will add to improved fiscal health, going concern and service delivery in the public sector.

Service Quality Perception towards E-CRM Practices among Customers of Private and Public Sector Banks of Rajasthan Using SERVQUAL Method

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Neeti Kasliwal ◽  
Jagriti Singh
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Public Sector Banks ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Score Method ◽  
Public Banks

Banking sector is growing rapidly and playing a vital role in the economic development of the nation. Both private and public sector banks are giving more priority to service quality to satisfy their customers. For this, banks are now emphasizing on E-CRM practices to carry out transactions and communicate with their customers. The purpose of this research is to assess the service quality among private and public banks in Rajasthan. Purposive sampling technique has been employed to collect the data from three private banks and three banks from public. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, Mean score method and t test have been used. Results indicates that there is a significant difference in consumer’s perception of service quality dimensions related to E-CRM practices provided by selected private and public sector banks of Rajasthan..The findings of this research will help policy makers of banking sector to set customer oriented policies.

Are Spanish public employees happier in their job performance in the era of Industry 4.0?

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-97
Author(s):  
María- José Foncubierta-Rodriguez ◽  
Rafael Ravina-Ripoll ◽  
Eduardo Ahumada-Tello ◽  
Luis Bayardo Tobar-Pesantez
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Industry 4.0 ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Private Company ◽  
The Future

Since the end of the 20th century, economists have been attracted to the study of the economics of happiness (e.g., Singh, & Alexandrova, 2020; Crespo & Mesurado, 2015; Ferrer-i-Carbonell,2013). The use of the term happiness characterizes an essential volume of this bibliographical production as a synonym for the words satisfaction, well-being, or quality of life (Teixeira&Vasque, 2020; Carlquist et al., 2017). Under this umbrella, the culture of happiness management teaches us that a management model or direction oriented to the holistic search for happiness or job satisfaction of its employees is one of the essential axial pieces that organizations have to increase the commitment of their human capital, and therefore, their productivity and business performance (Ravina et al., 2019). Public administration employees are not exempt from this reality, a group that is characterized by job stability compared to private company employees. This article is dedicated to them. The era of Industry 4.0 is a period that is characterized, among other things, by the high precariousness of labor that is originated by the implementation of management models in advanced economies. This phenomenon is derived from the technological point of view by the automation and massive robotization of production processes and the supply chain. Together with the digitalization of companies, both factors are very present in the ecosystems of the Covid-19, and have come, perhaps, to stay in the future (Bragazzi, 2020; Ghadge et al., 2020). In line with the above, a more holistic examination of this issue seems likely to show that there is a keen interest among people to enter into Work mostly in public administrations, in search of a permanent contract for their entire working life. As is known, this is especially true in countries with high unemployment levels, such as Spain. Its unemployment rate is 20.1% in mid-2020. In the collective imagination of these individuals, there is the conviction that this type of Work constitutes ambrosia of eudaimonic happiness, job security, and quality of life, especially at present, in times of the Covid-19 pandemic (Fernández-Urbano, & Kulic, 2020). In this sense, it should be noted that in the last decades of the 21st century, there has been a growing interest in researching public employees' job satisfaction (e.g., Ryu&Bae, 2020; Steijn &Van der Voet, 2019; Luechinge et al., 2010). Most of the studies carried out on this scientific topic to date show empirically that public sector workers are happier than individuals in the private sphere. It's basically due to the intrinsic benefits (flexibility, vacation, or family reconciliation, among others) that this type of government entity offers concerning for-profit organizations (e.g., Lahat&Ofek, 2020; Sánchez-Sánchez, & Puente, 2020; Danzer,2019). In this context, this article aims to examine, as a priority in the era of Industry 4.0, whether there are observed differences in the levels of congratulations between human capital working in the private sector and that working in the public sector in Spain, by analyzing a set of variables that define positions: hours, salary, stability, promotion, and stress. Finally, we must indicate, on the one hand, that the choice of this spatial framework is motivated by the scarce literature investigating the happiness of Spanish public employees in an economy with high levels of youth unemployment (Núñez-Barriopedro et al., 2020). On the other hand, the results achieved in this study may be useful in the future for the implementation of public policies aimed at significantly promoting the welfare of working citizens through the happiness management approach (Ravina-Ripoll et al., 2019), or for taking this management concept to private companies to increase the motivation of their employees (Foncubierta-Rodríguez & Sánchez-Montero, 2019). Keywords: Happiness, human resources, Industry 4.0, public sector.

Transitions from career employment among public- and private-sector workers

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (04) ◽  
pp. 529-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph F. Quinn ◽  
Kevin E. Cahill ◽  
Michael D. Giandrea
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Pension Plans ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Defined Benefit ◽  
Defined Contribution ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Public And Private Sector ◽  
Career Employment ◽  
Public Sector Workers

AbstractDo the retirement patterns of public-sector workers differ from those in the private sector? The latter typically face a retirement landscape with exposure to market uncertainties through defined-contribution pension plans and private saving. Public-sector workers, in contrast, are often covered by defined-benefit pension plans that encourage retirement at relatively young ages and offer financial security at older ages. We examine how private- and public-sector workers transition from full-time career employment, with a focus on the importance of gradual retirement. To our surprise, we find that the prevalence of continued work after career employment, predominantly on bridge jobs with new employers, is very similar in the two sectors, a result with important implications in a rapidly aging society.

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