REFORMS AND IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES IN GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH: FIELD OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS (2010-2018)
Keywords:
Management in Government, Public Sector Reforms, Improvements in Government, Field Research, Qualitative Research.
Abstract
When it comes to improving citizen service delivery standard and processes, or broadly, management in government (MIG), many reform programs and improvement efforts are ongoing across different ministries, departments, and agencies. As part of a larger field research, this paper investigates what those programs and projects are, and how they are doing, and what the gaps are. Analyzing the publicly available data on the government portal and donors’ website, this article provides an overall idea of current reforms in various places of government. In parallel, field research was conducted through visiting agency offices, observing office environment and mechanisms, and interviewing public managers who are working at district and sub-district level offices of directorates or agencies. As a trend, state-led development process and the traditional mode of administration have moved to New Public Management based quality and performance approach. All donors have their own strategy framework document like ‘Country Assistance strategy’, ‘Country Operations and Business Plan’, Logical Framework Document, etc. Many of the projects are sectoral and agency or ministry specific, having inherent limitations, due to ‘cadre’ based organizational structural arrangement. It is common ‘not to own the projects’, rather ‘using the fund as much as possible anyway within the given project duration’. When the fund ends, implementing units or agencies leave the projects alone. That is why many projects are actually half done without significant and sustained direction.
JEL Classification Codes: J18, H83, I18.
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Zussman, D. (1997). Do citizens trust their governments? Canadian Public Administration, 40(2), 234-254.
Ali, A. S. (2004). Bangladesh civil service: A political – administrative perspective. Dhaka: The University Press Limited.
Ali, A. S. (2007). Civil service management in Bangladesh: An agenda for policy reform. Dhaka: University Press Limited.
Anderson, C. A., Cassidy, B., & Rivenburgh, P. (1991). Implementing continuous quality improvement (CQI) in hospitals: Lessons learned from the International Quality Study. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 3(3), 141-146.
Andrews, M., Pritchett, L., Samji, S., & Woolcock, M. (2015). Building capability by delivering results: Putting Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) principles into practice. A Governance Practitioner’s Notebook, 123.
Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA). (June, 28, 2018). Bangladesh economy and investment opportunities. Presentation by BIDA Deputy Director Mr. Moazzam Hossain, at DC office.
Barnes, C., & Gill, D. (2000). Declining government performance? Why citizens don't trust government. New Zealand: State Services Commission.
Behn, R. (2009). Leadership counts: Lessons for public managers from the Massachusetts welfare, training, and employment program. Harvard University Press.
Behn, R. D. (1995). The big questions of public management. Public administration review, 313-324.
Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2011). Business research methods. New York: Oxford University Press.
Czarniawska, B. (2004). Narratives in social science research: Introducing qualitative methods. London: Sage Publications.
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Sage Publications, Inc.
Deming, W. E. (1986). Out of the crisis. Cambridge, MA: MIT press.
Ferlie, E., Lynn, L. E., & Pollitt, C. (Eds.). (2005). The Oxford handbook of public management. Oxford University Press, USA.
Ferlie, E., Pettigrew, A., Ashburner, L., & Fitzgerald, L. (1996). The new public management in action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust: The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. Free Press.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). (2013). Report on the Assessment of the Contribution of Horizontal Learning Program (HLP) to/from JICA Projects in Bangladesh.
Juran, M., & Gryna, F. M. (1993). Quality planning and analysis: From product development through use (No. 04; TS156, J8 1993.).
Kettl, D. F. (2002). The transformation of governance: Public administration for the 21st century (p. 119). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University.
Khaled, M. C. (2013). Improving environment through policy and regulatory reforms and applying modern business management practices in government: Case of a developing country like Bangladesh. (Unpublished M. Phil. thesis), University of Chittagong.
Khaled, M. C. (2017). Developing business like strategic approach in government: A framework. Proceedings of AMDISA conference, 14th South Asia Management Forum conference at MNU Business School, Maldives, April 24-26
Khaled, M. C. (2018). Improving management in government: bottom-up approach for better citizen service. (Unpublished PhD thesis), University of Chittagong.
Khan, A. A. (2010). Friendly fires, humpty dumpty, disorder, and other essays. Dhaka: University Press Limited.
Khan, A. A. (2015). Gresham's law syndrome and beyond. Dhaka: University Press Limited.
Khan, M. M. (2009). From government to governance: Expanding the horizon of public administration to public management. Dhaka: University Press Limited.
Kickert, W. J. M. (Ed.). (1997). Public management and administrative reform in Western Europe. Edward Elgar Pub.
Norman, R. (1984). Service management: Strategy and leadership in service businesses. Wiley.
Nye, J. S., Zelikow, P., & King, D. C. (Eds.). (1997). Why people don't trust government. Harvard University Press.
OECD (2011). Government at a glance. OECD publications.
Øvretveit, J., & Gustafson, D. (2002). Evaluation of quality improvement programmes. BMJ Quality & Safety, 11(3), 270-275.
Pollitt, C. (1990). Doing business in the temple? Managers and quality assurance in the public services. Public Administration, 68(4), 435-452.
Pollitt, C., & Bouckaert, G. (2011). Public management reform: A comparative analysis-new public management, governance, and the Neo-Weberian state. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling alone: America's declining social capital. Journal of democracy, 6(1), 65-78.
Ruscio, K. P. (1996). Trust, democracy, and public management: A theoretical argument. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 6(3), 461-477.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2012). Research methods for business students. New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd/Pearson.
Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC). (June, 2013). Study on the potential of the Horizontal Learning Program (HLP) in Bangladesh on behalf of SDC.
Walshe, K., & Freeman, T. (2002). Effectiveness of quality improvement: learning from evaluations. BMJ Quality & Safety, 11(1), 85-87.
Woods, N. 2016. The trust issue: Introduction. Oxford government review number 1 / August 2016.
Woods, N. 2017. Bridging the gap: Introduction. Oxford government review. Number 2 / October 2017.
World Bank. (2008). Bangladesh - Horizontal learning for strengthening capacities of local government institutions in Bangladesh (English), Proceedings; Water and sanitation program. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Yin, R. K. (2017). Case study research and applications. SAGE Publications US.
Zafarullah, H., & Sarker, A. E. (2016). Public management reforms in developing countries: Toward a new synthesis. In Ahmed, N. (Ed.). Public Policy and Governance in Bangladesh: Forty Years of Experience (pp. 42-53). Routledge: London and New York.
Zeithaml, V. A., Parasuraman, A., & Berry, L. L. (1990). Delivering quality service: Balancing customer perceptions and expectations. Simon and Schuster.
Zussman, D. (1997). Do citizens trust their governments? Canadian Public Administration, 40(2), 234-254.
Published
2024-12-16
How to Cite
Khaled, M. C. (2024). REFORMS AND IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES IN GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH: FIELD OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS (2010-2018). American Economic & Social Review, 13(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.46281/aesr.v13i1.2262
Section
Research Paper/Theoretical Paper/Review Paper/Short Communication Paper
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