The Public Sector, Managing the Unmanageable

Alexander Stevenson suggests that two factors differentiate the role public sector managers making their task hugely complicated compared to that of their peers in the for profit sector. First the lack of a single measure of success (like profit margin or share price) and second the need for democratic accountability. These two issues are illustrated by two of the UK’s main broadcasters and media organisations. At Sky, the Chief Executive Officer is accountable to the shareholders and measures the organisation’s success by monitoring its profit margin. At the BBC the Director General has to monitor viewing and listening figures. These figures need to be representative of the population ensuring that all demographics are appropriately served. The BBC has to be seen to be free from political bias and inappropriate content, it is scrutinised by a Government Minister and his/her Department, a House of Commons Select Committee, the rest of the media and various pressure groups. Its income is uncertain from one parliamentary session to the next and there are constant calls for reform. Much is made of the issues of accountability and performance measuring through-out the book with chapters devoted to these twin challenges as well as many other key public sector management issues. The book ends by returning to comparisons between public and private sector management roles and by considering the public’s perception of managers in public service.

Stevenson is clearly well connected, Lord Mandleson writes the foreword. In it he says that he admires the way the book addresses the ethos, goals and disciplines of public service and the way it will enable the strengthening and reshaping of public sector organisations. However, a foreword by a former minister in a Blair Government which introduced a whole range public sector reforms under the banner of contestability and new public management, with little if any evidence of their efficacy, will not be seen as a ringing endorsement by all potential readers.

Stevenson introduces himself as a successful private sector manager and entrepreneur turned management consultant. He does not claim to have experience of working in public sector organisations. Instead he is someone who has operated as a management consultant offering advice to senior managers on how to make the public sector operate in a more business-like way. As an ex-NHS manager myself this is what I found most troubling about the book. Stevenson does not appear to have worked in a situation where he was constrained by the two key issues he identifies as distinctive of public service. The book was compiled from the content of 60 interviews with public sector managers but this means that many of the anecdotes which add colour to the narrative, about managing traffic wardens and job centre staff, are second-hand and open to the interpretation of the people telling the story. How many of the stories one wonders are truly candid, revealing the – keep them awake at night – insecurities of the interviewees? My reading was that Stevenson was great at describing the broad brush context issues, the Director General level dilemmas, but I felt he struggled to convince the reader that he has a true understanding of the daily grind of the front line staff in public sector organisations or the management of the services these people deliver.

The book is not without its merits. For example, on the customer in public service there is an interesting section on who is the customer of the prison officer; is it he ponders the tax payer with strong views about law and order or instead a vulnerable soon to be released elderly prisoner, to whom they owe their duty of care? On the impact of targets there are stories of concerns raised in A & E Departments as seriously ill patients sit on trolleys while walking wounded patients are admitted overnight so they don’t breach the four-hour treatment target. Despite his connections to former ministers, Stevenson is to his credit, prepared to question the benefit of political interference, questioning what experience most politicians have of management. Not very much is the general conclusion. To make matters worse they keep changing their role. Stevenson describes an interviewee who had to work with five ministers in five years each with a different style and different ideas about what should be done.

The chapter on what the private sector can learn from the public sector is interesting, if rather short (is it faint praise?). Stevenson suggests that managing complexity, dealing with multiple stakeholders and crisis management are all issues in which public sector managers are ahead. Interestingly he tentatively suggests that Tesco’s recent failings have in part been due to them not being able to work in this way. He does not develop the idea but wouldn’t it be an interesting turnaround to bring public sector managers into a supermarket to help them deal with the complexity of their management challenge!

I found the managing people chapter less convincing. Stevenson seems certain of the importance of an appraisal system but has little experience of trying to implement such a system in public sector organisations. The reader is treated to several anecdotes that hint at the degree of cynicism with which such systems are viewed by many staff, but I did not get the impression that he had spoken to staff plagued by poor managers trying to implement systems with no real interest in them, simply aiming to tick a box; he had merely heard that such people exist. He does report one interviewee describing the existence of organisational terrorists and another trying to give performance feedback to an older subordinate only to be screamed at, but both anecdotes were available to Stevenson because the interviewees were able to report their heroism in overcoming the obstacles. He does not suggest that there will be many other occasions when the public sector manager does not emerge as the hero in the end.

Other personnel management related anecdotes include the story of an adviser and former Development Agency boss who got all his new recruits to write a report for him so that he could personally assess the qualities of new recruits – possible in a Development Agency employing a few score people, but in a Local Authority or NHS Trust? – probably not. Similarly the sections on dealing with poor performance (why not move them into different roles) and the processes of selection (ask them what they like to do for fun?) seem a little out of touch with the rigorous personnel processes that dominate most large public sector organisations.

The strengths of this book lies in the consideration of the big issues, these are the issues Stevenson is able to debate with the great and good he interviewed, like: Michael Bloomberg, Robin Butler, Michael Heseltine, Gus O’Donnell, Jonathan Powell, Heather Rabbatts. They are interesting people and he has made good use of their contributions. He gives plenty of interesting insights into the challenges of running large public sector organisations through the lens of the people who sit at the top table. The book is therefore an ideal read for those taking-on a new senior role such as a non-executive director of a public body. It could be useful as a reader on a public sector management module, where some of the big issues around funding, performance and political intervention are to the fore. However, the book is less strong as a reporter of the work of the unnamed middle manager interviewees (identities withheld by the author). Where he does include their anecdotes about life deep within the organisation, the stories felt somewhat isolated. Stevenson was not able to debate with his more junior interviewees the pros and cons of different approaches to their management challenges in the same way he been able to debate the big issues at the top of the organisation. I simply do not think he had sufficient familiarity with these contexts.

It is therefore somewhat surprising that one of the aims of the book is to be a how to do it guide for public sector managers, with checklists and helpful tips for managers. This aspect of the book is less convincing. I do not think that Stevenson has the right contacts or set of experiences for that type of book. Recent graduates in their first management job in a local authority or hospital or a junior accountant doing their first value for money audit in a Police Force HQ should look elsewhere. Those working at a more senior level or those studying the public sector will however be interested to read about how Rudolf Giuliani’s approach to governing New York differed from that of his successor, Michael Bloomberg, and similar fascinating insights.

The book concludes by considering the many negative perceptions of public sector management. Stevenson is clearly an advocate of the need for good public sector management because of its financial impact on the nation’s coffers and quality of life issues that derive from good public services. He is staggered by pay comparisons. For example he tells us that the Chief Executive of Whitbread earned £1.2 million in 2012. These days Whitbread is best known for its Premier Inns and Costa Coffee outlets, it is an organisation with a turnover of £1.8 billion and employing 40,000. The Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council on the other hand has a budget approaching twice that at £3.5 billion, and runs an organisation employing 50,000 but is paid around 20 per cent of the salary (£233,000 in 2011). And yet, Stevenson goes on to say, public perception has it that that public sector managers are overpaid. The public’s ignorance he says is deeply depressing. How can it be that the public is so poorly informed? His parting hope is that this book will begin to change some of the negative perceptions that surround public sector management and it will start to inform the public of the challenging work they perform. It is a laudable hope, but to be honest, I for one will not be holding my breath for the outcome.