The People Problem
Nick Jackson, head of local government consulting at Capgemini, comments on a Management Consultancies Association survey on risk management in the public sector.
11 September 2007
Publication
Difficulty in maintaining the motivation and morale of staff is seen as the biggest threat facing public sector organisations, according to a survey carried out by the Management Consultancies Association.
The survey results also highlighted a lack of a strategic approach to risk management among public sector bodies. Asked to describe their management of the various risks, only around one in three managers called their approach strategic, with another third saying they tended to react to problems as they were identified. One manager in three said that his or her risk management simply relied on procedure or “ticking boxes”.
According to Nick Jackson, head of local government consulting at Capgemini, this box-ticking mentality will become difficult to sustain as public bodies come under increasing pressure to improve their performance.
“Historically the public sector has been very risk averse and tended to always take the least risk option,” he says. “However, if you completely avoid risk then you will find it increasingly hard to deliver the kind of performance the Government is demanding.”
“For instance, the decision to merge two schools might be entirely beneficial to the pupils’ education but it would also involve a considerable amount of political risk – it might upset the local population, be unpopular with staff, involve short-term costs and so on. So you will have to take a risk to be able to make the right decision.”
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