Dear Editor,
In case no one has noticed, recent fatal events have revealed a curious juxtaposition of organisational and reporting relationships in comparator public sector organisations.
In one instance (Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security) the intention to discipline was announced before the allegation of negligence as contributory to a death – perhaps unwittingly – pre-empting the conclusion of the subsequent investigative report.
The resultant dismissals interestingly enough did not include the head of the operative unit to which the deficient performance was attributed.
The other instance involved another fatal incident in a semi-autonomous corporate institution managed by a board and a CEO. To the dismay of many observers, however, the presiding head of the health sector is reported in the media to have admitted to “failure” – again unwittingly – absolving that corporate management of its responsibility for the performance of its employees.
The difference to be noted in these two scenarios is that in the first instance the organisation structure would normally require delegation of responsibility to the assigned head of unit. It stands to reason that accountability should be required therefrom, as a matter of course.
In the other scenario it seems to have been overlooked that the Ministry of Health was some time ago re-organised to be a regulatory and monitoring institution, removed from implementing the delivery of health services.
The extant situation would suggest that there has since been a substantive departure from this ‘lofty’ role – to the extent that the ministry has to apologise for the perceived inefficiency of those components of the sector responsible for health services delivery.
Purely from the perspective of students of management interested in how organisations should normally function, these differentiations should hold some important lessons for the delegation of authority and matching responsibility and accountability, the integrity of all of which must be founded in the consistent application of mutually agreed and transparent systems and procedures which assure the sustainability of organisations.
Yours faithfully,
E B John
