Public Sector Organizations - Essay Example

? Public sector organizations are entities that affect the lives of each and every individual in a country. The performance of most corporations has always been the centre of a series of hot debates. Indeed the trend has been that most of these corporations are not living up to the expectations of the public and this has raised a number of questions regarding their operations. One such question is whether these organizations respond effectively to changes in regulations that are expected to improve their operations. Introduction Public sector organizations are types of entities that are owned or controlled by the government for the interest of the public (Barnet & Muller, 2009). They provide essential social services that cannot be provided by the private sector on grounds such as high capital investment. They also provide services that have little or no profit at all and are thereby shunned by the private sector. Normally public corporations are established on statutory grounds by the parliament. It therefore means that these corporations will normally have a lot of influence from the workings of the government. Public sector corporations are normally instituted to provide services such as health, education, social insurance and transport. Most of their management is comprises of political appointees. Legislations are laws or rules that are enacted by the government through the legislature or parliament. Such enactments are usually made relating to various issues that affect the masses. Public sector organizations are normally expected to respond to any new legislation that affects them. Much legislation has been enacted that affect the management of the public corporations. Legislations affecting the public sector are customarily enacted out of the need to protect the general public from exploitation from these corporations. Exploitations have always been realized from these public corporations inasmuch as they are directly controlled by the government. It arises from the fact that some figures in government are always interested in the affairs of these corporations. As a result they end up influencing their operations most often for their own gains. Response to changes Public corporations are always expected to respond to legislations that are enacted to improve their operations or to bring sanity in the manner in which their operations are run. Most of these corporations were instituted several years back but unfortunately, many years later it is realized that their service delivery is usually below expectations. A comparison of some of these corporations with privately managed enterprises will reveal a lot of striking differences. It therefore begs the analysis of the reasons as to what might be wrong in the affairs of these corporations. It has always been realized that the manner in which some corporations respond to very pertinent legislations is always very slow and wanting. For instance, legislations relating to global warming , dumping of toxins into water bodies and other emerging issues have always raised a lot of questions regarding the slow pace of compliance from these corporations. Just like public enterprises, most of these corporations fall under specific regulatory authorities that are expected to regulate their operations. It has also been realized that that regulating these corporations is not easy as it may seem. Given the nature of their management, their organizational structures and the fact that they are not profit motivated, it makes it very difficult for the regulatory authorities to make them comply with the regulations expected. Most public sector organizations have very complex organization structures in operation. Decision making in such an organization is not easy. As such it has always been difficult to implement some proposed regulations that are created for a specific purpose. Moreover managing employees in many public corporations is a daunting task. Most of them are protected by their terms of engagement which gives them the freedom to work in a sluggish manner convinced that sacking them is very hard. Most public corporations are not profit motivated. They only exist to provide services that are essential to the public. In most cases, the government will come to their aid if they make losses. Such an assurance has always made most public corporations reluctant to institute changes that may improve operations. Such corporations may therefore not respond effectively to external regulations. Another aspect that hinders the compliance with the necessary regulations is the management in these corporations. Most of the heads of many public corporations are appointed by politicians who will always place them on such positions on specific conditions. It therefore creates situation where the objectives of the head and those of the corporation conflict. Implementing change in such an environment is not easy. Different governments will always come and go. When a new government assumes office, it comes in with a set of objectives that are normally intended to improve service delivery in the country. To execute this, the government makes use of its organs of which public corporations will usually fall. This creates a constant change of events in these corporations given that different governments have different plans and priorities. Therefore, public corporations are under a constant review of their plans to suite different governments. This makes the aspect of compliance with new regulations a least factor to consider. Some enactments by the government do not usually take into account many issues at hand. It therefore becomes totally impossible to implement them. Given that most public corporations get their finding from the government, it means that their operations are limited and governed by the amount of funding they receive from the government. Moreover getting money from the government can be very procedural and may even require the authority of the legislature. New legislations and regulations normally require huge amounts of money to implement. The corporations therefore fall short of money to implement such enactments. For instance in the transport industry, modernizing the railway system may only be possible if the railway is privatized considering the challenges inherent. Recommendations To bring sanity and order in the management of public corporations, and to improve their response to regulations and enactments that are expected to improve their performance, several adjustments have to be made. Their management structures should be shelved to reduce their sizes so that decision making is improved. The regulatory authorities should also be given much autonomy to effectively regulate these corporations. Moreover it is imperative that the management of these corporations be appointed in a credible manner without regard to political affiliations. The policy makers should also conduct sufficient surveys before enacting legislations and regulations to ensure that only practical decisions are made. Conclusionss It has been seen that most corporations do not respond effectively to changes in legislations and regulations. The challenges realized in their management and operations are the reasons for this. These corporations are very important for the services they offer. It is therefore quite important to improve their service delivery and to make changes that will improve operations. Such changes will only be evidenced if the response rate of these corporations to legislations and regulations is enhanced. References Barnet, R., & Muller, R. E. (2009). Global Reach: The Power of the Multinational Corporation. New York: Simon & Schuster. Read More