Public Service Management - Essay Example

After giving a brief picture f the values I shall go into detail about each element so as to give a broader view f the topic. An important question, which has to be addressed before moving on, is whether there is so much need for a public service. We are in an era where most f the services offered by government through its public service are already being offered too by the private sector. May I say, most f the times the private sector supplies these services in a more efficient way. People who follow the laissez-faire ideology argue that governments have been involved in activities which are inappropriate and that the size and role f government needs to be drastically cut back.

The role f the government and the way it intervenes has always been highly debatable by the various ideologies and surely will remain highly debatable also in the future. (Parsons 1995) As we have mentioned before, most f the activities carried out by government can be allowed to occur through the market system without the need f government intervention. There are a series f circumstances where this does not apply. Such situations include government regulations securing free entry to producers in the market, securing that the consumer is given all the product information, controlling competition, and protecting and regulating all the contractual arrangement set up within the market.

The market system does not necessarily bring high employment, price stability and the socially desired rate f economic growth. Public policy from the government is needed to deal with these factors. Adjustments in the social values due to redistribution f wealth through the market system have to be catered for too. The same thing applies also when speaking f market failures resulting from public goods, externalities and situations f natural monopolies or where there is imperfect information.Thus we have seen that a certain level f government intervention is always desirable.

The degree f this intervention also depends on the political and social ideologies f the environment where this occurs. If for example we take Malta, there has always been a paternalistic approach to government. The way in which government acts, reflects also in the size f the public sector. In order to deal with education, health care, national defense, environment, public transport, law and order, welfare services etc governments need to have an efficient public service which in turn inevitably becomes f large proportions.

Even if nowadays with Malta's future entry in the European Union, government is moving towards a direction where it seeks to reduce the size f the public service in order to operate in the most efficient ways by means f privatization.If we start looking at the values f the public service, the first thing that comes to mind is the bureaucratic way in which it operates. Bureaucracy most f the times is mistakenly associated with a bad image. Bureaucracy is a system f administration in which the horizontal divisions between various elements or departments are complemented by vertical divisions f authority, and filled by professional career specialists.

The bureaucracy can be considered as being the