Even through the business operation management is different from governance, but we also can use some operation management method on government administration. The principle of management is the same.

Today, government is facing more and more challenge on management. Government must improve its management to increase efficiency. The requirement of Public to government is becoming more and more strict. Government must pay more attention on its service quality, must improvement its management process to create more and more high quality service. Operation management is also useful.

The follow case give a example on how government department using operation management principle for efficient governance.

Introduction and background

The Shenyang environmental protection bureau is the Shenyang muinicple government environmental protection administrative department, it had been established in 1979. Its main responsibility is, according to the relevant law and the administrative rules and regulations, implement unification surveillance management to the whole city environmental protection work, prevent and control pollution and other environmental damages, protect and improve living conditions and the ecological environment, promote economy and the society development continues, coordination and health.

An extremely important work responsibility of the bureau is: Provides the environmental protection service to the whole city people, solves environmental problem which they faced. Range of service 13,000 square kilometers, service population 7.2 million.

Along with the lives of the people level enhancement, people need more and more environmental service, the Shenyang environmental protection bureau receives every year the environment service request, from 10 year ago several hundred, rises present nearly ten thousand.

How enhances the environment service and the environment management efficiency and the level, was most urgent problem which the Shenyang environmental protection bureau faced recently several years.

2000 year's end, along with the new bureau chief's getting to work, the Shenyang environmental protection bureau have established the new leadership, in order to adapt China to join WTO, the new leadership begin to reform the Shenyang environmental protection bureau traditional management way , attempts with the new operation management idea to enhance government manages efficiency.

Weakness of the traditional management

At the beginning of 2001, a management meet was held on the bureau, all of the staff attended. At the meeting, the leadership of the bureau made the decision of reform, and sent a survey form to everyone to collect advices. The leadership thought that is necessary to find the weakness of the bureau¡¦s management. They think the bureau must use some lean production idea on its management. They must find the waste of the job at first. One month later, by collecting advice of everyone, the new leadership has discovered that the Shenyang environmental protection bureau tradition management pattern has seven kinds of wastes in the management:

1.waste caused by waiting
ƒÜ The staff passively waited for higher authority's instruction, if the higher authority did not do job placement, did not instruct, most of the staff will do nothing, the higher authority did not inquire, they did not report. Many tasks were finished under the inspection and force.
ƒÜ The higher authority passively waits for the subordinate report. After work arrangement, the higher authority has not inspected, has not supervised, didn¡¦t investigation, verifies the situation, grasps the first material, only passively listens to the subordinate report, then makes the decision or reports to the higher authority.

This kind lacks the work sense of responsibility, initiative and the work enthusiasm, the satisfied present situation, is slack in work the situation initiation waste creates the harm is huge, harm organization's normal operation.

2.waste caused by the insufficient of cooperation
ƒÜ Weak coordinates between two departments, some department mutually restricts, does not link up, only does things on their own way, considered more about the department benefit first. These were huge influence the work progress.

ƒÜ The implementation and coordination of leadership instructor is disadvantageous. The work ineffective coordination organization arrange which to the leadership work instruction and the conference carries out, causes the bureau the request to stagnate in this department, forms the work blind spot.

ƒÜ The lack of Information transmission. The information stagnates in the correlation department, the correlation personnel hand, it causes to the information couldn¡¦t grasp and obtain by the related department, difficulty does the work with effectively, cannot accurate prompt decision-making. Between the department the information cannot be share.

3.waste cause by the management resources to be unused

ƒÜ The organization overlaps, the function overlaps, there more staff than needed, enables the management essential factor to be effective use.

ƒÜ The working routine complication. Some extremely vital duty, if does not have higher authority's signature or the approval, the work is unable to carry on, can appear waited for and stagnates and so on the waste.

ƒÜ Personnel's leaving unused. The personnel excessively are many, three people do two people¡¦s work.

4. Waste caused by disorderly

ƒÜ Lacks the explicit rules and regulations, the system, the flow, in the work is easy to produce chaotic.

ƒÜ The professional ability lowly creates disorder. Should undertake some work department and the personnel, take cannot do as the reason, refuses to undertake this work. When appears the department and the personnel change, the work connects with the strength, the cooperation does not arrive, originally forms the work flow is frequently overthrown, the artificial increase restores from the disorder to has the foreword the time.

ƒÜ Has disorder because of didn¡¦t observe the rule of bureau, do thing only by one's own wish, regards company's rules and regulations as other people's rules, does not have the autonomy, does not carry on the management inspection according to the system to create disorderly  the management, dampens staff's enthusiasm and the creativity, mutually competes, affects the department the whole working efficiency and the quality.

5. Waste caused by dereliction of duty
ƒÜ The work deals with, works pursues the best result, many should daily carry on the work basically of earnest does, does not take the daily standard management, lacks the foundation work.
ƒÜ Has no plan in the work, does not have the self-examination front, works only does, along with time passing, behind forgets to do has not even done.

6.wasted caused by low effect
ƒÜ Administrative personnel's low quality causes the work the low efficiency.
ƒÜ No method of work as also is one of low efficiency reasons. The personnel arranges didn¡¦t not appropriately, can cause the low efficiency. The plan arrangement is unreasonable, the work on time completes with difficulty. The smooth arrangement has the question, can create primary and secondary divides, the key point works nobody to do.
ƒÜ The rigid way of thinking, does not have the innovative ideology, practiced the habitually used past the experience, the past method, facing the ever changing interior and the external environment, did not have the innovation and the adjustment.

7.waste caused by the insufficient plan
ƒÜ The plan establishment does not have the basis. Has not planned the work concept, does not have the long term work plan, work along with to do, the work plan lacks may the execution, needs to plan the synthesis department other expenditure massive time and the manpower analyzes and the search mistake, rerevises and the adjustment, creates the enormous waste.
ƒÜ The plan execution is not serious. After some plans establishment has not simply carried out.
ƒÜ The plan inspection is not earnest. The plan appeared the deviation, has not embarked from the question phenomenon, earnestly analyzes the reason which forms, as well as next step of correction measure.
ƒÜ Plan handling consummates does not arrive. The plan execution situation because does not have earnestly to analyze, has discovered the question, also does not examine the introspection, objectively analyzes the existence difference reason, then discovers the improvement measure, but emphasizes the reason constantly, shirks responsibility.

Plan and goal management

According the lean product, it must minimize the management waste. Because Lean production systems operate with lower amounts of inventory, additional emphasis is placed on anticipating when problems might occur before they arise, and avoiding those problem through careful planning. Even so, problems still occur at times, and quick resolution is important. Workers participate in both the planning and correction stage.  The focus is on designing a system so that worker will be able to achieve high levels of quality and quantity.

Using lean production idea on administration, means that you should take some management method to reduce the waste of management, decrease the cost of management, reduce the waiting time of customer. In view of these questions, the Shenyang environmental protection bureau started to carry out the plan and the goal management from 2001. To the overall situation work formulation detailed total plan and the concrete action program, and decompose the plan to each staff.

They Follows some principle in the plan formulation process:

ƒÜ Emphasized each staffs all participate in the plan formulation

ƒÜ Determined an clearly goal, both the overall goal and the concrete goal.

ƒÜ Not only pay attention to quota goal, also pays great attention to the qualitative goal

ƒÜ Let all staff understand the bureau¡¦s overall goal

ƒÜ Exam if the goal consistent with people's demand.

ƒÜ Confirm the possibly problem may be faced, determined what resources the goal needs¡C

ƒÜ Lists skill and authorization which realized goal needs, make it become clear about the authorization, in order to avoid the subordinate in the work time everything asks for instructions.

ƒÜ Prevented the goal is detained in the intermediate deck, not downward decomposes.

After goal and plan determination, the bureau implement work tracing, check work progress and its result. Appraises the result, and compare with the work goal. In the tracing process, If they discovered the serious deviation, they must to discover and analyze the reason. Takes the essential step to correct it, or change plan.

Therefore, the Shenyang environmental protection bureau has established the regular report, the report form system, set up regular conference system. Carries on the scene inspection and track. When they appraisal to the work, analysis deviation, they will make clearly that if the deviation was the staff unable to control or works ineffectually, and take the corresponding measure. They also feedback the work tracing situation regularly to the staff, in order to let the staff knew oneself displays, seeks to improve own method to overcome shortcoming. The deviation goal is absolutely does not permit.

Until now, the bureau has its own annually plan, each department in the bureau has its monthly plan, everyone has its own weekly plan. All the people do their work according to the plan. Through plan and goal management, the efficiency increased very fast. The city¡¦s pollution controlling become strongly, the environmental condition improved rapidly. The city is possible to be the nation environmental model city in this year.

At the same time, the Shenyang environmental protection bureau has formulated a set of complete supervisory work standard and the work routine. Carried on the adjustment to the organizations and agencies, the function department reduced 11 from 15, the staff reduced 10%. Compared to traditional way, the staff must be able to function in teams, playing active roles in operation and improving the system. Responsibilities also are much greater, which can lead to pressure and anxiety not present in traditional systems. The staffs tend to become generalists rather than specialists.

Electronic government

Besides the using of lean production idea, the shenyang environmental bureau also try to build electronic government. In 2002, they set up their own electronic government system, they built an internet web of the bureau: .. syepb.gov.cn. They put all their management information on the web, provides the public environmental service and the information service through the network to the populace. They has established the electronic information center. They also sep up an electronic archives system, manufacture archives and management by computer, and exchange the archives penetration network, people can obtains the government material very easy. Public can do a lot of work by the website, they can apply environmental permit, suit the environmental issue, give advice, or inquire environment condition. The website reduce a lot of waiting time of public. In the past, if a factory want to get an environmental permit, it would take 10 day at least, but now it may just take one or two days. 

The bureau also has established the GPS quick reaction system to handle some urgent environmental affair. Most of people in the city were satisfied with its quick reaction. It reported that, the percentage of the people satisfied with the bureau has increase form 70% to 85% during past two years.