Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

John T Young
municipal services. The elected representatives are known as councillors and <strong>the</strong> municipal bodies
are known as councils in urban areas and shires in rural areas. The councillors sit on a number <strong>of</strong>
committees which focus on <strong>the</strong> management <strong>of</strong> a range <strong>of</strong> services such as town planning, refuse
collection, health and home services, road maintenance, parks and gardens etc.
As municipalities and populations grew, some towns developed and some diminished creating an
imbalance between neighbouring bodies. Their capacity to generate income and <strong>the</strong> extent <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir
services was linked directly to <strong>the</strong>ir municipal boundaries. Many <strong>of</strong>fered duplicated and conflicting
services or were unable to <strong>of</strong>fer <strong>the</strong> depth <strong>of</strong> services called for by <strong>the</strong> communities. Development and
maintenance work was generally conducted on a cost plus basis resulting in municipal charges being
increased to cover costs.
In recent years, <strong>the</strong> advent <strong>of</strong> a newly elected State government was <strong>the</strong> catalyst for structural and
cultural change. The new state government forced amalgamation <strong>of</strong> two, three or so smaller
municipalities into larger bodies, dismissed all elected <strong>of</strong>ficials and appointed temporary
administrators, recruited new chief executives and decreed that rate revenue be reduced by 20%, and
that work be conducted on <strong>the</strong> basis <strong>of</strong> compulsory competitive tendering. Projected savings across
<strong>the</strong> state were expected to be $100 million. A large number <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> elected councillors and <strong>the</strong>
municipal employees were <strong>of</strong> a different political persuasion to <strong>the</strong> new government and resented <strong>the</strong>
changes in <strong>the</strong>ir circumstances with some hostility. The government countered this by appointing
competent administrators and by delivering a positive supportive attitude to change.
3.1.2 Characteristics <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> changes
These changes had a wide ranging affect on <strong>the</strong> local culture as well those employed by <strong>the</strong>
municipalities. In rural and semi rural areas, <strong>the</strong> local municipality provided a sense <strong>of</strong> identity for <strong>the</strong>
community. In many cases, <strong>the</strong> centre <strong>of</strong> government, i.e., <strong>the</strong> town hall was moved to ano<strong>the</strong>r
location, usually to a bigger town. This resulted in feelings <strong>of</strong> stress, anger and bewilderment among
<strong>the</strong> community, and in particular, <strong>the</strong> employees <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> municipality.
Their primary and most immediate task was to recover <strong>the</strong>ir traditional work and source <strong>of</strong>
employment for <strong>the</strong> majority <strong>of</strong> blue-collar employees. This was now to be achieved by open
competitive tendering, as prescribed by new legislation. These workers were now exposed to <strong>the</strong>
uncertainty and risk <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tendering process. Most had diverse levels <strong>of</strong> education and were
unaccustomed to thinking or contributing ideas about <strong>the</strong>ir tasks. There had been no investment in
development <strong>of</strong> skills or knowledge <strong>of</strong> this part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> workforce.
In terms <strong>of</strong> system change, all staff was now more exposed to systems processes and to process
improvement. All operations were more process oriented with an emphasis on probity <strong>of</strong> accounting
and stewardship <strong>of</strong> resources. There was a realisation that employees needed to take responsibility
for outcomes and desire to improve efficiency so that <strong>the</strong>y would win tenders for work on <strong>the</strong> open
market. Improvements introduced by <strong>the</strong> chief executive were very much in <strong>the</strong> ‘pull’ category. The
concepts <strong>of</strong> quality management, service capability, leadership development and clear
communication lines were introduced with positive results.
Many difficulties were encountered. In one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> towns that had previously been independent, a
dichotomy <strong>of</strong> mindsets arose. Eventually all disaffected staff resigned, whilst <strong>the</strong> remaining staff,
which had in effect won <strong>the</strong> day, had a very positive attitude. Encouraging and accepting new ideas
from <strong>the</strong>m reinforced this attitude. A new culture developed that could accept bad news but not
cover-ups or undisclosed information. A staff survey was conducted which highlighted <strong>the</strong> need for
more information sharing.
The business unit had to start tendering from inception and winning a tender was a considerable
change lever. Not all tenders were won but <strong>the</strong>y became averse to loosing and made every effort to
win. Works supervisors were required to keep every job within budget. They found <strong>the</strong> change
process quite practical and were able to work well with it.
The first step is to explore and understand <strong>the</strong> situation, followed by expressing <strong>the</strong> unstructured
situation in a Rich Picture (Fig 4). Rich Pictures are pictorial representation <strong>of</strong> a messy problem
situation. They include a range <strong>of</strong> elements such as opinions, concerns, conflicts, constraints as well
as business processes and structural arrangements.
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