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of accountability. Gaining independent insight into the problems within
his area of responsibility and conditions on the ground should therefore be very much part of the function of any supervisory officer. He can do so by taking time out to visit his staff at work, to observe ground conditions and to discuss problems his staff are faced with.
6.10 Departmental Internal Audit
Head of Department may also gain independent knowledge through an "internal audit unit" reporting directly to him. There is a pressing need to develop and extend the existing forms of what is described in Chapter 3 as "internal audit" within Government departments. The ain must be to enable a Head of Department to receive reports on operational standards, technical efficiency, level of achievement, problems of operational implementation, etc., from a body which is independent of the normal hierarchical structure within the department. This form of internal audit can be refined and developed into a type of "management services unit" within each department, which offers positive advice on ways and means by which systems can be improved and levels of efficiency raised. The independence of this unit in reporting direct to the Head of Department, or a member of his Directorate, will ensure that the top echelons of management receive information and feedback which has not been diluted or slanted while coming up to them through the various hierarchical levels. Although the fundamental purpose of such machinery would be to reflect the true position at the lower operational levels, and to increase efficiency, it could also help in the deterrence and the detection of malpractices.
6.11 Service-Wide Control
If the aim of departmental internal audit is to provide a more accurate and realistic picture of the operational level for senior officers within a department, then the next logical and necessary step is the provision of a more accurate picture of departmental performance and efficiency as a whole, in relation to wider and more long term objectives. Fart of this need for service-wide control is met by the resource branches of the Government Secretariat, e.g. Finance Branch and Civil Service Branch, which exercise a form of service-wide control of specific managerial or technical functions; the Director of Audit exercises another significant form in terms of his examination of financial regularity. In addition to these forms of control, there is a need to review the operation of the processes of planning and control within departments. In this respect, the recent amalgamation of the Management Unit, the Organisation and Methods Division and the Data Processing Division, to form a Management Services Organisation in the Government Secretariat to undertake manage- ment reviews within departments, is a most significant development.
6.12 Management Review
The concept of Management Review has recently been promulgated by the Secretary for Administration and is described in detail in Chapter 3 (Paras. 3.25 -3.32). The purpose of a management review will be to help a department to improve the effectiveness of its organisation und management, to enable it better to achieve its policy objectives, including the planning and control of its resources. The concept is that a Head of Department will invite the Management Services Organisation to conduct a management review within his department as a joint venture with the staff of his department, necessarily involving a considerable
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