Meeting Stakeholder Expectations
The success of public service organisations depends on satisfying the expectations of their key stakeholders. The Forum briefing on 30 April debated issues around getting clarity on the justifiable performance expectations for an organisation. There was reference to the recently published OECD Public Management Review and the need for the public service to move ‘towards a performance focus’. The speakers were:
- Patricia Quinn, former Director of the Arts Council and member of several public bodies discussed the changing nature of the relationship between the voluntary sector and the public sector. It is now estimated that 60% of the income of charities comes from the state. There is, however, often a multiplicity of public agents pursuing parallel objectives through service agreements and other arrangements with voluntary bodies. With increased levels of complexity an important challenge is to avoid the neglect of legitimate stakeholder expectations.
- Bernie Gray, Chairperson of Eirgrid and former employee director of Telecom Eireann, drew on her experience as a nominated worker director with Telecom Eireann, as a senior executive dealing with a board and from her current appointment as Chairperson of Eirgrid to discuss the role and contribution of the worker director. Cohesion and trust between Board members and stakeholders is critical in maintaining mutual respect. The relationship between worker directors and trade unions can be complex. When there is clarity on their role, she believes worker directors can bring very valuable expertise and make a positive contribution to board effectiveness.
- Sean Dorgan, recently retired Chief Executive of IDA and former Secretary General of Government Departments, discussed the relationship between Government Departments and state agencies. It was not unusual for there to be a confusion of purpose and mission. Among the reasons for this is the lack of expertise or depth in handling issues. It is a challenge for a board to achieve sufficient separation from the Minister/ Department while retaining a cohesion of purpose. This was referred to in the OECD Review – "the performance dialogue between departments and agencies is currently missing in Ireland and with it the link beteen societal and government goals"