THE EDITOR, Sir:
GLOBALISATION FUELLED by technological advances has changed the structure of most economies in the 21st century. The Jamaican public sector, like its private counterpart, will have to make changes to its processes in keeping with global demands and public expectation.
This will require a massive investment in human, information technology and business. The results of this are a more cost-effective public service, which will be more responsive to the changing needs of the public. For this to occur however, the government must be willing to take a bold step in re-engineering the public sector.
Re-engineering entails making radical changes to an organisation's business processes. Simply put, re-engineering is using technology to change the ways an organisation does business. This will require, re-evaluating current business processes, examining its infrastructure and changing its culture in keeping with global changes.
Revaluating current business processes entails examining the way an organisation does business to determine its responsiveness to changes in the environment. Also to ascertain how integrated these processes are in providing real time information.
In considering the organisation's infrastructure, one needs to examine if they are designed to support current business processes.
Finally, one needs to look at the culture of the public sector with a view to making changes to some norms, attitude and behaviours. The public sector needs to embrace the group and open office concept. General maintenance of furniture and equipment is relevant. Also, the issuing of information and public interaction will have to be improved considerably. This again will require more investment in training.
I am, etc.,
M. CLARKE
mm2clarke@yahoo.com
