TNAG-0364-FCO40-410-McKinsey-Report-on-strengthening-the-machinery-of-government-1973 — Page 66

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1. Introduce annual operating plans. These plans relate the use of resources to the required end results of an activity, and provide the basis for

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Ensuring that resources are allocated in a balanced manner

Obtaining increasing value for resources

Delegating executive decisions in a controlled

manner so that the load on top-level staff is reduced.

This type of plan is often generated in Hong Kong when resources are required for implementing new policies, but typically not for the bulk of expenditure that relates to existing policies.

2. Formalise the process and extend the coverage of long-term programme plans. This type of plan relates activities to overall programmes. It provides an aid to top-level staff, first in determining and setting overall programme objectives, and second in identifying and then setting appropriate objectives for each departmental activity that contributes to the programme

Long-term programme plans have been drawn up for some areas, but typically efforts are sporadic and plans are not kept up to date on a rolling basis.

3. Formalise the process and extend the coverage of resource plans. This type of plan identifies total requirements, across the whole Government Service, for particular resources such as money, categories of staff, land, etc. It thus helps to identify potential shortfalls in time to take corrective action and to ensure that scarce resources are diverted to priority areas with minimum disturbance.

Again examples of these plans do exist, but they are insufficiently complete or up to date to achieve their full potential. The need to introduce such plans for key grades of staff is covered more fully in the next section.

4. Introduce processes for monitoring performance against plans. To gain the full benefits of any planning process it is necessary to monitor performance against plan to detect shortfalls while there is still time to take corrective action. The recommended new processes provide a reference against which performance can be monitored. At present, such controls as do exist are exercised in the form of limits. The main form of control is financial and is maintained by requiring formal application to be made before

McKinsey & Company, Inc.