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Creation And Development Of A Factory Of Ideas In Public Administration

Original Language Title: Criação e desenvolvimento de uma Fábrica de Ideias na Administração Publica

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ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC

Draft Resolution No. 414 /X

Creation and Development of a Ideas Factory in the Publica Administration

I. Objective of the Draft Resolution

The XVII Constitutional Government in its Programme has taken up the objective of " achieve an Administration

effective, that serves citizens and businesses well ", and acknowledges that" the key to the competitiveness of the Portuguese economy

it's called innovation. Innovation of processes, innovation of products and services, technological innovation and innovation in the organization and the

management. "

In the fulfillment of this Programme, the Government has been developing a number of initiatives that " target the

promotion of citizenship, economic development and quality of public services, improve the efficiency of services

provided. "

Therefore, in the framework of the Modernization of Public Administration, the Government has adopted measures

indispensable for the promotion of economic development on the basis of the improvement of services

public and in gains in efficiency. Of these measures are the Restructuring Programme of the

Central State Administration (PRACE) with a view to the reorganisation of the Administration's services

Central of the State, the Administrative and Legislative Simplification Program (SIMPLEX) that integrates a

set of initiatives aimed at facilitating the lives of citizens and businesses, and the establishment of the Agency

for Administrative Modernization, plus a clear sign of the imperative to realize in practice a

Modernization of the Portuguese Public Administration.

Despite this set of initiatives, a recent study on " The Papel of Public Administration in the

Society and the Portuguese Economy " 1 concluded that:

" There is a growing culture of service and attention to the customer in Portugal, disseminated by sectors

fundamental of economic, social and cultural activity, which tease in not being adopted, in a visible manner,

1 Roberto Carneiro, Carlos Liz, Elsa Gervásio (2008) The Role of Public Administration in Society and Economics

Portuguese-An Empypic study, Notebooks INA, 37.

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by the Public Administration. From here results a very clear dissonance, involving two worlds of

equivalent importance to the daily life of the citizen, which it will impose to correct. This is a diagnosis that,

significantly and in essence, is shared by leaders of the Administration, provider of services, and by the

citizens, their customers.

For the citizens, the Public Administration has evolved little in recent years and has still

many problems, being from the entities that least contributes to the increase in

competitiveness of the country. Public sectors from other countries of the European Union and private sector are assessed

much more positive form, being that the paramount responsibility for the maintenance of the status quo in our country is

assigned to the Government and the top leaders of the Public Administration ".

The experience gained demonstrates that success of the modernization of any administration depends on

much of its protagonists and actors. It is they who directly feel the impact of the changes

structural. They are the ones that have to be conquered in the process of modernization. Hence, it is necessary

establish a transparent reform process in which the public servants themselves can

invest . It is a way to make use of your experience and creativity as well as to get your

commitment

Despite the process of restructuring the Public Administration to say also respect to each employee

public, the services reorganization projects presented have typically the exclusive intervention of

top management of the administration or external consultants, not favoring inclusion and participation

of the officials who, in the first line, have daily, direct and immediate contact with the problems that if

raise citizens, local communities and businesses in the context of contact with the services of the

Public Administration.

Given this circumstantialism, this project has the aim of constituting itself as a call

individual to innovation in the Portuguese public administration. It rests on the deep belief that there is talent and

creativity in the approximately 550,000 Portuguese civil servants and that an investment in their

individual and collective innovation capacities will be significantly generator of value for Portugal.

In this context, motivate employees to collaborate systematically in a generation team effort

of ideas of radical improvement, building an innovation system that is able to support with resources

financial and human the projects with impact, it is very important.

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Given the difficulties of punctual and unstructured approaches, we consider that a form

already proven to create the energy needed to bring innovation to the first line of public function is

through a system of innovation. This Recommendation aims to contribute to the discussion of how to bring the

innovation to the mind of each public employee, what are the best worldwide practices at the level of

governments and large companies and what the major barriers to innovation are.

Thus, the Draft Resolution aims to recommend the Government the development of a factory of ideas ,

that encourages innovation in an independent way, and that involves and motivates the civil servants to

improve the services they provide by making available a methodology and the necessary financial resources

so that those can create and lead up to the citizens innovative public service ideas. Hence, the

Factory constitute itself as an autonomous system to the method of evaluation and performance of the employee,

is distinct from the "best practice award in the public sector", and aims to encourage, evaluate and promote ideas

concrete, innovative, valid conducive to the improvement of the services provided, constituting itself as a

tool with a view to motivating, compromising and rewarding each employee who contributes to the improvement of the

service that provides. On the other hand, the factory is also intended to remove barriers to innovation,

ensuring that ideas with merit have viability, and recourse to financial and human means for

be able to be put into practice, and subsequently generalized to other areas of public administration.

II. International experiences

As it is common knowledge, the movements of reform and modernization of public administration do not

is exclusive to our country. Before it falls into a global phenomenon started, some two decades ago, in the

United Kingdom and in the New Zelândia2.

It has been nearly two decades since the beginning of government reforms and public administration,

matter to look at them, learn from their experiences and welcome what they unanimously have been

presented as the best practices.

Like the Portuguese case, many of the reforms carried out were the result of crisis of the system

budget of the state. So it was necessary to organize the respective administration, so as to

2 Many of the concepts concerning innovation in the public sector origination from the reform movement known as the " new

public sector management " (new public management) or "reinvent governance" started in the UK and the New

Zealand in the 80.

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get a Public Administration with less costs, a quality Public Administration, a

Professional and competitive Public Administration in the context of economic globalization.

Comparative studies also reveal that budget cuts have demanded and led to development

of human resources management tools increasingly close to the private sector, based on the

promotion of merit and the commitment of each employee with the public service it provides.

More and more the international community has been taking initiatives that demonstrate the usefulness of the

sharing of information and "learning from others". Example of this in the framework of Modernization of the

Public Administration was the initiative of the European Public Sector Award (EPSA), the first platform

pan-European Public Administration that aims to make public and transparent initiatives taken to

cable at the level of the Modernization of Public Administration.

In New Zealand, one of the fundamental aspects of the Reformation considered at the end of the 90, was

precisely the "personal" factor. In a first phase of the reform the attention focused on the structures and

systems, but quickly became demonstrated that in any reform the excellence could only be

made if counted with the people who directly provide the public service , being this way

fundamental that the employees were motivated and with this truly made a commitment

with the process of change. Without a staff motivate would not achieve excellence in the provision of the service.

So it is not enough for structural reform, reform has to be done at different levels, involving

people, knowledge, funds, technologies and other resources such as organizational culture and the

relations humanas3.

The bet on human resources is also one of the elements of the modernization of the Central Administration

of the State in Germany- Regierungsprogramm Zukunftsorientiert Verwaltung durch innovationnen , from September of

2006-and of the modernization of the administrations of the federated states, as is the case with the State of Bavaria

and of the State of North Rhineland that have already put in place the method of Innovation in the Administration

Public-"Innovative Moderne Verwaltung"-making express reference that " in public services there are

enough women and men, committed to their work and relatively to which they can be critical and make new

proposals "

In the cited paper on Innovation in Public Administration, the German Government mentions that despite

of fiscal consolidation efforts, the success of the modernization of the public administration will not be

3 Government Reform: of roles and functions of Government and public Administration New Zeland-country paper

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achieved with the imposition of the costs on its workers. To the contrary, what is required are

innovative solutions with a view to increasing the efficiency and flexibility of the Administration. The

innovation increases productivity and creates new perspectives for employees, and constitutes a

strategic form of, on the one hand, making use of your experience and creativity, and on the other being able to get your

commitment.

The Government of one of the largest European economies recognizes that modern demands for a

Public Administration, more efficient and directed to better serve citizens, needs new

results-oriented processes and capable of involving the people who with it work. And for that

new communication processes must be implemented.

Another important factor is the involvement of the citizens themselves in the design of future services

public, as well as the establishment of an ecosystem of partners for social entrepreneurship and

of public service ( social entrepreneurship ), which works in conjunction with the state's organizations for

finding innovative public service solutions and disseminating them by the public administration in general. A

successful experience in the establishment of this ecosystem is the United Kingdom. Since 2002 there is

an innovation initiative led by the National School of Government 4, which has been presenting cases of success

in the most diverse areas, from education projects between the school and the community to the provision of

care of saúde5.

It is universally recognized that the objectives of the modernization of the Public Administration will only be

hit with skilled, motivated and efficient professionals. This puts a high

requirement in the training of personnel and the management of human resources.

The Public Administration needs professionals who know to look to the future, a resource management

humans who know how to motivate, a culture of management that knows how to involve the staff in the decision making

decisive and important, as well as in the determination of the objectives and measures to achieve them.

Because to the state as to the Society if they impose increasing challenges and demands, the commitment of

each public servant is indispensable if we want efficient and quality, capable public services

to contribute to the development of the country's economy, which must gain in efficiency and effectiveness for

compete in a globalized economy.

4 http://www.nationalschool.gov.uk/innovation/

5 Creating the Conditions for Public Innovation, by Prof. Su Maddock, Innovation Advisor, National School of Government

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III. The Factory of Ideas in the National Framework

The Government has approved by the Law No. 66-B/2007 of December 28, the integrated management system and

assessment of performance in the Public Administration (SIADAP). Despite also this " contribute to the

improvement of the performance and quality of service of the Public Administration, for the consistency and harmony of the action of the services,

leaders and too many workers and for the promotion of their professional motivation and skills development ", the

SIADAP is how the name itself indicates a subjective evaluation system (of the employee), within the framework of

hierarchy of services.

The proposed system that we designate from Factory of Ideas visa precisely not the evaluation of the

employee performance, but the stimulus to the contribution of the employees with new ideas, respective

assessment and allocation of resources for their implementation on the ground. This is so of a system

autonomous which integrates an objective evaluation process of the idea itself and not the employee, what

carries more valuable assets for the employee's motivation, and above all for the innovation and improvement of the

services.

We consider that the aspiration of the civil service of Portugal should be to build one of the

best public services at the world level . Hence, being in an early stage the reform of the

structures of the Public Administration, there must be a further step, with a view to the provision of public services

pautered by excellence.

The experience gained in the framework of the Public Administration's reform movements demonstrates that

a continuous process with a view to the provision of a public service of excellence depends on:

 Institute a formal innovation process

 Thinking of public services in the perspective of the citizen, facing him in the optics of the utent, facing

your problems

 Ensure that innovation is an activity that happens on a continuous basis

 Engage many collaborators in the innovation effort (linking their participation to the context of the

your work)

 Search for incremental improvements, but also innovations that change the rules of the game

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 Reinforce frequently the importance of innovation

 Use metrics to monitor the results of innovation

 Compensate employees who contribute ideas and make the personal investment of

learning of concepts, tools and practices of innovation.

In what concerns the funding of the system designated by Factory of Ideas , we remind you that the

National Strategic Reference Framework takes on as a major strategic disigning the qualification

of the Portuguese, valuing the innovation and the increase in efficiency and quality of public institutions.

In the context of the Agenda for competitiveness factors one of the key priorities translates

on increasing the efficiency and quality of public administration, reducing the respective public costs

of context.

The Factory of Ideas based on a system that acts on concrete themes and creates new skills

internal, should constitute a project to be financed by the Operational Programme Factors of

Competitiveness, framing the development of the different innovative ideas, as long as promoters

of efficiency and flexibility of the administration, and as a desideratum to improve the services provided by the

administration publishes, bringing greater efficiency to service and improving citizens ' satisfaction.

Hence, and considering that the year 2009 is the European Year of Creativity and Innovation, the Assembly

of the Republic recommends to the Government the establishment of a System designated by Factory Ideas

that:

1. Be based on good practice assorted in five universally accepted innovation principles :

a) Search for innovation at the level of the concept of the service to be provided to the citizen

Taking into account, specifically:

 Who are the citizen groups to serve?

 What products or services will be offered?

 How these products or services will be offered (partnered; contact channels with the

citizen, etc.)?

 What value will be delivered to the citizen (in convenience, trust and time savings)?

 What cost is the state incurring to deliver these benefits to the citizen?

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b) Import of innovation for the front line, involving mainly employees

first-line public and citizens. As the service reorganisation projects have

systematically demonstrated to resort to the exclusive intervention of top frames of the

administration and at times of external consultants, systematically excluding employees

of the first line, which have in fact a daily contact with the problems of the citizens.

c) Definition of the future framework to which it aspires and work to achieve it

Improving in an incremental way what exists is a pragmatic and defensible action but it is also

fundamental to stimulate a forward-looking approach on what the future that each organization

intends for itself and with that point of departure, develop a migration plan of the

present for that future.

d) Adoption of a structured approach of generation and acceleration of implementation

on the ground of innovative ideas

The innovation process should be structured and complete, assenting in the following phases: (i)

to think the future of the public service in question; (ii) stimulate the generation of ideas; (iii) incubar and

experiment with the ideas / projects; (iv) make the projects grow, disseminating their implementation

in multiple areas of the public administration.

e) Innovation only learns by doing

The path for an individual to develop individual innovation capabilities does not go through a

long theoretical training. The only way to learn to innovate is by making innovation, working

on concrete and real themes.

2. Assent in :

 Innovation Processes: Definition of a systematic process to build a vision about the future,

generate ideas, accelerate their implementation on the ground and disseminate their scope of action;

 Model of Governance : Definition of the actors of the innovation system (internal and external to the

public administration), what their responsibilities and power of decision are. At this point is

included the definition of the competencies of the innovation desk / Factory of Ideas ;

 Resources and funding: Clarification of the origins of financing the innovation system, well

how the launch and implementation of the ideas generated;

 Organic culture and change management: A new organizational paradigm is needed in the

public administration, based on a new attitude of openness to citizens and to civil society,

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stimulating the initiative and entrepreneurship of civil servants, rewarding merit and

eliminating the stigmatization of the error;

 Innovation Metrics: Definition of the indicators of performance of the innovation system, as well as the

value of the contributions of its actors, specifically of employees. Clarification of the

reporting mechanism of results to the tutelage

 Ecosystem partners for innovation: Definition of the partners to be involved, specifically (IPSS,

Companies, Universities, NGOs, Co-investors, etc. ..)

 Support technological tools: Specification of the collaboration tools required by a

fruitful interaction between officials, top managers of public administration, citizens and partners

for innovation.

3. Attribution awards, proceed to allocation of the required resources and ensure an assessment

independent ;

For this is proposed:

 The establishment of a prize for all selected and implemented ideas, whose formula

of computation integrates, namely the following factors (a) usefulness of the proposal, b) factor achievement

(degree of difficulty of problems and the development of the resolution pathway) and c) factor

application (degree of improvement of services);

 The evaluation system of the proposals, in a manner to be effective and capable of gaining the trust of each

public servant, should be independent of the services in concrete and provide for the possibility of

each public official to make their proposal to the system, regardless of the

knowledge of your hierarchical superior.

 Constitution in each Ministry of a Core of Innovation with the responsibility to analyze and do

the filtering of each proposal presented with respect to the services that are in their dependence;

 Constitution of an Innovation Central with competence to (i) (re) analyse and appreciate the

proposals (re) forwarded by each Innovation Core, (ii) develop projects

pilot for the viable proposals, and (iii) to evaluate and assign the awards (iv) Allocation resources

financial for the incubation of innovative ideas.

Palace of S. Bento, January 7, 2009

The Deputees