Saudi Arabia Public Sector Reform - Case Study Example

Saudi Arabia public sector reform Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction Public sector reforms are all the adjustments to the economic sector. The aim of public sector reform is to strengthen the services that are offered by the government to its people. For along time now Saudi Arabia has been experiencing challenges in the public sector (Madawi 2007). First it has not been able to reduce the level of unemployment to its people. This is because there has been rampant corruption in the public sector due to poor management strategies leading to embezzlement of funds. There have been challenges in the leadership because the kind of leadership that has been applied in Saudi Arabia is the colonial one. This country has not been able to offer better social amenities to its people because of poor systems of management and lack of proper planning. On the other side, education system of the country has been performing poorly because of the poor management of the government resources which are supposed to improve the education sector in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the health sector has not been able to provide adequate health services for the people of Saudi Arabia until recently when the reforms were being implemented. Due to above challenges, the government of Saudi Arabia decided to implement reforms in the public sector so as to improve and strengthen the performance of the public sector. This paper will discuss on the various aspects concerning the concepts of public reforms in Saudi Arabia. Key concepts and developments in public management reforms Some concepts came up as a result of the public reforms in Saudi Arabia. There came up the concept of competitiveness. The government designed strategies where the where the public operations could be assessed in terms of their cost (Amelie 2008). The aim of this assessment is to know how much profits could be reaped with the intent that hire profits benefit the society. Competitiveness could improve the quality of services offered to the people of Saudi Arabia. In this aspect the public sector is encouraged to compete with the private sector. Competition will improve the quality of services provided. The concept of risk management was introduced like in the private sector. Risk management is done through auditing of the public sector to enhance the provision of better services and products (Madawi 2007). This concept aims at defending the public sector from the risks that may arise. Managing the risks improves the performance of the public sector because risks are prevented from taking place hence there is no hindrance to quality services and products. The concept of information technology was also adopted in the public sector like in the private sector (Madawi 2007). Information technology improves communication and management systems within the public sector. For instance modern technology in business improves the management of the public sector through application of software that could measure the performance of every sector. This leads to improvement of services provided by eh public sector. In addition to that, Information technology improves the connectivity of the public sector to international sectors where they will exchange ideas which can be resource when tackling the public sector tasks. On the other hand, there are key developments in public management reforms. Saudi Arabia changed its values and gave the people the first priority because it considered that the future development of the country depends on the competency of its people. The government started allocated resources for the education sector to improve the skills of the citizens. Up to date Saudi Arabia comprises of more than thirty public and private Universities with over 26000 primary schools. Education development was also developed through partnerships between Universities of Saudi Arabia with Universities of the world. Improvement in education sector also improved and fostered various opportunities for women. Initially in Saudi Arabia women were not given equal educational opportunities like the male. Public sector reforms increased the number of female students in Saudi Arabia to a half of the students’ population. For example there is the University of Women called the Effart University of women. Improvement in women education improves the management of resources of the public by the female employees. This is a development as a result of public management reforms. There was development on the political administration. King Abdulla recently made changes to the government and centralized more powers (Amelie 2008). He also expanded the operations of the public sector for example the introduction of municipal councils which help in the implementation of government programs. The councils will bring services near to people hence improve the rate at which people are served. Economy was developed as a result of the public sector reforms. Saudi Arabia is the leading supplier of oil but the resources was poorly managed before the reforms. These reforms enabled Saudi Arabia to be able to provide oil in adequate quantities to serve other markets. This earned the country foreign exchange of which they use to develop the country. Therefore has led to improvement of the country’s economy hence a development because of the public management reforms. Debate in public sector reform However, there have been battles for reforms between the conservatives and reformists in Saudi Arabia. They have been debating concerning the crucial sectors of the economy of the country. The conservatives have been advocating for the conservation of religious establishments in the country (Hamzawy 2006). I just chose the gender based confrontations to show how reforms are being resisted by some conservatives of the religious establishments. Gender discrimination has been practiced by many conservatives in Saudi Arabia who belief that women should not have equal opportunities as men like attending the same schools, Universities, hospitals, hotels, public offices and non governmental organizations. This greatly lowered the esteem of women and their roles. The reformists argue that women can also have equal opportunities as men while the conservatives argue that women should not have equal opportunities in the society like men. This discrimination was promoted by the state and the police who implemented moral discipline among the people of Saudi Arabia hence promoted the discrimination of female gender (Amelie 2008). However the place of women has greatly changed due to changes enforced by reformists which conservatives felt that there conservations are being attacked leading to debate regarding gender issues. The reformists are accused of betraying the culture of Muslims and they are said to be so corrupt. While the reformists refer to conservatives and reactionaries who resist change, better administration, improved science and technology and other reforms in the public sector which should benefit both gender. Furthermore, they argue that their opponents have been using their power to manipulate the media. The liberals argue that the conservatives do not take into account the future concerns of the country rather they look at issues like burning women from being drivers which will not benefit the country. In addition they argue that conservatives do not take into account the real issues of the country like poverty, drug abuse and unemployment among its people. The conservatives believe in isolating Saudi Arabia from the other world regardless of their economic status. The conservatives also accuse their liberalists that they are the sources threat to Islam and terrorism. The liberalists do connect the extremist opponents to pluralism and terrorism. Developments in your selected country case study There have been many developments in Saudi Arabia since the reform agenda came into practice. First and foremost, the education sector was so doomed and it had a few schools where people can access education (Jamil 2010). After reforms today the country has thousands of schools including both public and private schools. This shows the improvement in government priorities and thus education has been given the first priority. As a development project, the government of Saudi Arabia allocates 25 percent of its budget to education sector thus showing development in the allocation of public resources. In addition king Abdullah established a scholarship program for students to study abroad and bring new ideas to Saudi Arabia for development initiatives. There is development on economy of Saudi Arabia. Due to changes in the country, today the country has managed to lower the rate of infant mortality and increased life expectancy (Jamil 2010). This has led to improvement in the infrastructure sector, increased employment opportunities and improved business management by attracting more investors into the economy. Up to date Saudi Arabia is among the growing economies in the world. Development of foreign exchange free market in the Saudi Arabia; due to reforms and liberalizations which have taken place in the country, it has been able to improve its economy in the past few years. It has created a favorable environment for investors who have invested heavily into the economy. It has become among the best trading partners of the US and has promoted bilateral trade. It is ranked 22nd country where investors can conduct business with ease and this has greatly attracted the investors into the country thus improving its economy (World Bank 2008). Saudi Arabia has also developed politically. Reforms have led the country to develop measures which encourage its members to participate in the political arena. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has managed to monitor and control the religious schools which could otherwise teach its followers only the societal norms which are not development oriented (Jamil 2010). The kingdom also conducted the municipal council elections which will help the kingdom in administration of public resources. Municipal councils could ensure that the people also participate in the development projects by being involved in the operations of the municipal councils. Contextual issues affecting reforms There are various issues that affected reform to take place in Saudi Arabia. According to the research done some of the issues include the following. First, there was violation of human rights in Saudi Arabia (Hamzawy 2006). This is in the context that there was discrimination against women. They were not given equal opportunities as men like they could not hold public offices and they could not attend the same school with men. This led to reforms that observed equal opportunities for both men and women. It led to establishment of University for female students hence they had equal education opportunities and they could be public servants like men as long as they are qualified. On the other hand, political system in Saudi Arabia was too colonial. The king had all the powers over everything and did not delegate authorities. In this regard the services which were offered were very poor because of the poor system of management (Hamzawy 2006). This led to a group of people to think that governance needs to be changed for the better management of public resources. The reformists advocated for the establishment of municipal councils which decentralized public resources better and of which people could have a say by giving their opinions. Later the king established municipal councils which better managed the public resources. There was also desire to improve the economy of Saudi Arabia which was poorly performing. The leadership of Saudi Arabia at first did not regard any importance of improving the economy of their country. The conservatives were so much concerned with the religious affairs like burning women from driving cars and forgot the development of the country (Hamzawy 2006). This compelled the reformists to fight for reforms which could develop the economy of Saudi Arabia by reducing unemployment level and exposing the economy of the country to global trade so as to attract investors. Reforms took place and it started from the education sector through to other sectors. Saudi Arabia was exposed to international trade and provided favorable environment for investors who invested heavily in the economy and created jobs for the people hence improved the economy. Evidence for the convergence or divergence thesis of public sector in Saudi Arabia There are evidences to support the thesis of public sector reforms in Saudi Arabia. According to the World Bank reports, Saudi Arabia is ranked among the fastest growing economies in the world. It is the 18th economy in the world according to the reports of world economic forums and also ranked the 22nd out of the surveys which were conducted among 185 nations according to World Bank Business report proving that the reforms have taken place in Saudi Arabia (World Bank 2008). There have been contemporary themes which have been included in the management of public sectors to prevent the sectors from failures. Like in the private sector some enterprises have not achieved their objectives because of filing to put systems in place to prevent such failures. Due to reforms in the public sector such failures have been avoided from occurring which shows that the sector have been developed fairly well because before the reforms many public sectors filed due to poor management which is now a thing of the past. Risk management is another evidence of development in the public sector. Many public sectors in Saudi Arabia were reporting numerous cases of risks involved in the public sectors. In most public sectors there is blame game and no one admits responsibility when things go wrong but due to reforms risks are well managed and therefore few cases of risks are reported showing that the public sector has been reformed. There is advancement in the education sector in Saudi Arabia showing improvement in the public sector (Amelie 2008). Early before reforms there were very few schools in Saudi Arabia but after the reforms took place the number of schools increased tremendously to serve the whole population this provides evidence that reforms had succeeded in Saudi Arabia. With the introduction of municipal councils, one can easily prove that indeed reform have succeeded in Saudi Arabia. Before the reforms were implemented there were no councils and all operations were carried out by the cabinet of the king which could not be competent and that was why the delivery of services was poor. With the introduction of the municipal councils services are well discharged proving that reforms have really taken place. Conclusion Due to the above discussions, it can be concluded that Saudi Arabia has come along to where it is now. The economy of Saudi Arabia before the reforms was wanting in that the people were suffering despite the country being rich in oil production. The management of the country was purely based on the powers and controls of the king who presided over every sector. A group liberalists came up with ideas on how to reform the country. Although their reform agendas were opposed at first, they managed to bring some changes in the management of public resources. Due to reforms governance changed with the expansion of authorities, economy was improved by creating a favorable business environment for investors and finally the education sector was improved by allocating resources to the education sector (Amelie 2008). Actually, 25 percent of each year’s budget was allocated to the education sector. Also many schools were built as well as provision of sponsorship programs for students studying abroad. All the above programs strengthened the management of the public sector in Saudi Arabia leading to improved economy in the Middle East. References Amelie, L. (2008). Only for women:’ Women the state of reform in Saudi Arabia. Middle East journal, 62(4), 610-629. Hamzawy, A. (2006). The Saudi Labyrinth: Evaluating the current political opening. Carnegie papers, 4(68), 4-20. Jamil, D. (2010). Fatawa tazaja, Retrieved 26th April 2013, http://www.daralhayat.com/portalarticleclendah147003 Madawi, S. A (2007). Contesting the Saudi State: Islamic voices from a new generation. Cambridge: Cambridge University press. World Bank. (2008). World Development Indicators/Estates database. World Bank. Read More