Working in the public sector can be highly challenging — and rewarding at the same time.
However, public management issues often arise, and the public relations manager’s job is to communicate and solve these issues.
So, how can people effectively communicate these issues inside organisations and to the public?
This article will explain public management, the most common public management issues, and how people can communicate these issues internally and externally.
What is public management?
Public management is a field of public administration that involves running managerial activities within a public organisation.
It’s used by both the nonprofit sector and the government. The goal of public management is to optimise the effectiveness of customer service and business processes so that the public can function better.
For example, public management is behind the services that ensure there’s water in your tap, your refuse is collected, and the streets are maintained.
What are the most common issues in public management?
Here are some of the biggest challenges the public management sector in South Africa faces:
Institutional capacity
South Africa’s legislature is one of the weakest links in the governance process. Generally, its administrative and technical abilities can’t support those in charge of public management to perform their duties effectively.
Declining social values
One of the major problems in public sector management in SA is the declining social values of society. Therefore, values, including integrity, dependability, impartiality, honesty, fairness, and more, are slowly disappearing from public services.
Furthermore, public service ethics, such as integrity, equity, political neutrality and moral conduct, is also fading away.
Accountability
The question of accountability is a grave issue within the public sector that causes many problems. However, the critical question remains: To whom should public servants be accountable?
There are mainly four distinct areas of accountability:
- Political accountability
- Financial accountability
- Managerial accountability
- Public accountability
In reality, public organisations need to derive ultimate legitimacy from all four of these areas of accountability.
A decline in infrastructure expenditure
The public sector’s capital expenditure on buildings, construction, machinery, and equipment has continued to decline since 2016. Declining significantly by an estimated R82 billion, this represents a decrease of 29%.
How to communicate public management issues
Both internal and external communication of public management issues is essential to solving these problems.
External communication
External communication refers to transmitting information from inside an organisation to the public. This can also be referred to as Public Relations (PR).
In the public sector, external communication strategies mainly consist of three phases:
- Inform: During the inform stage, people of the public are notified of the most critical public management issues and the policies that’ll be put in place to solve these problems. They’re informed via different media types, including television, radio, newspapers, and news websites.
- Advocate: After the public has been informed, public managers need to advocate these changes using different media and strategies to get the public on board with new policies and changes.
- Engage: After the public understands the issues and policies that’ll be implemented, public managers need to engage with citizens regarding implementing a new approach. The effectiveness depends on several factors, including the type of policy and stakeholders involved.
Internal communication
Internal communication refers to tools and processes used for adequate communication flow and collaboration among people within an organisation.
This includes communication with employees, stakeholders, executives, and other parties that either work for the organisation or have a stake in it.
Internal communication can have a significant impact on the organisation’s effectiveness. The best way to do this is to develop an internal communication strategy that outlines where the company is now, where it wants to be, and how it’ll get there.
This includes:
- Adding value to an organisation by implementing performance-based communication.
- Aligning employee goals with the goals of the organisation.
- Transforming day-to-day operations into a more citizen-centred and result-driven approach.
- Fostering mission-focused employee behaviour.
- Using leadership communication methods to strengthen employee trust and engagement.
- Measuring the impact the communication has on the service delivery quality and cost.
- Using different forms of communication for different internal organisation audiences. E.g. using distinct methods to communicate with employees and senior managers.
- Respecting cultural diversity and adjusting the communication approach accordingly.
- Making sure that communication remains consistent across different sets of internal audiences.
- Equipping managers with crucial communication skills through training.
- Reviewing communication strategies to see what worked and didn’t so that approaches can be adjusted.
How can you become a public manager?
To become a public manager in South Africa, you need to study towards a qualification in public relations.
This qualification will enable you to effectively handle public relations matters by equipping you with essential internal and external communication skills.
It’ll enable you to explore the key areas, theory foundations, techniques, and best media practices. This way, you’ll be able to communicate effectively and solve public management issues.
Furthermore, having a qualification in public management will also enable you to pursue careers in different areas of public media and marketing industries.
Study public management at REGENT
If you’re interested in working in the public sector and want to learn everything you need to know about handling public management issues, have a look at the Diploma in Public Relations Management.
REGENT Business School also offers a Bachelor of Public Administration to equip you with all the skills and expertise you need to make a difference within the public sector.