๐ TOC Critique of the ONS 2024 Public Sector Management Practices Survey Pilot
๐ง 1. What Is the Real System Goal?
The implicit goal of public sector management is to:
Deliver consistent, high-quality public services through effective and adaptive management.
Everything else—KPIs, tech, staff training—should serve this.
๐จ 2. Identified UDEs (Undesirable Effects)
From the report, we can extract several UDEs:
-
management improvements are slow or stalled
-
frontline managers lack time and capacity to improve
-
high volume of ad hoc, reactive work
-
resistance to change and innovation
-
admin tasks are delayed or incomplete
-
operational pressure dominates strategy
-
budget constraints block investment
-
automation is underutilized
These are all valid observations, but in TOC terms, they are symptoms, not root causes.
๐งฑ 3. Core Error: Mistaking Local Constraints for the System Constraint
The report identifies "barriers" like cost, time, resistance, and capacity—but treats them all as separate, equal obstacles.
From a TOC perspective, this is flawed.
๐ TOC Principle:
Every system has one constraint that determines its performance. Improving anything else won't improve the system unless the constraint is addressed.
In this report, the constraint is assumed to be capacity or funding.
But TOC would dig deeper.
๐ฏ 4. What Is the Likely Core Constraint?
TOC suggests the core constraint is not money or time, but:
The reactive, fragmented operating model that prevents time from being allocated to improvement in a protected, systemic way.
In other words:
-
Managers could find time or resources if they weren’t constantly fighting fires.
-
Admin overload, ad hoc requests, and daily operational chaos consume capacity that could go to improvement.
This is a vicious cycle:
-
No time to improve → systems stay broken → firefighting continues → still no time.
๐ 5. Circular Logic in the Recommendations
The report says:
“We need to build capacity and make time for managers to improve.”
But this is circular:
-
You can’t build capacity without freeing time.
-
You can’t free time without fixing the broken processes.
-
You can’t fix processes because there’s no time.
So nothing changes.
TOC breaks this loop by identifying the one leverage point that, if resolved, breaks the cycle.
⚖️ 6. TOC Conflict Cloud: Why the System Is Stuck
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| A – Goal | Improve management practices to increase public service effectiveness |
| B – Need | Maintain operational continuity and responsiveness |
| C – Need | Dedicate protected time and resources to improve systems |
| D – Action | Keep responding to ad hoc requests and daily demands (short-term survival) |
| D′ – Action | Invest time and attention in structured management improvement (long-term gain) |
This is the core conflict the report doesn’t surface.
Without dissolving this, no cultural, technological, or financial investment will stick.
๐ง 7. The Missing Injection
TOC would propose a decisive injection like:
Create “improvement windows” protected by policy, where managers are shielded from ad hoc demands and given authority, tools, and facilitation to improve a local process.
This would:
-
Shift the system from reactive to proactive in a focused way
-
Create proof points where improvement is real and visible
-
Build momentum and cultural trust in improvement
-
Require no new funding, just protected time
Until this exists, no training, KPI review, or tech adoption will break the inertia.
❌ 8. Why the Report’s Recommendations Won’t Work (TOC View)
| Recommendation | TOC Flaw |
|---|---|
| Strategic investment | Doesn’t solve the constraint—investments will be consumed by firefighting unless system changes first |
| Capacity building | Adds pressure if time isn’t freed up first; risks frustration |
| Cultural transformation | Depends on behavior change without removing systemic pressure |
| Streamlining admin | Helps, but only after root causes of workflow chaos are addressed |
| Managing ad hoc work | Recognizes the issue but provides no mechanism to stop it |
| Continued measurement | Important, but measuring broken systems won’t improve them |
๐ก 9. Positive TOC-Inspired Reframe
Let’s reimagine this initiative using TOC:
๐งญ Injection:
Install Local Process Improvement Sprints, supported centrally but protected from operational noise.
๐ฆ Necessary Conditions:
-
Each team gets 2 hours/week “firewall time” to redesign or fix one process.
-
No new tools—just focus on removing rework, duplicate approvals, or handoffs.
-
Leadership measures success not by number of projects but permanent reduction in interruptions and measurable local gains.
-
HR/central teams act as facilitators—not compliance monitors.
๐ Positive Loop Created:
-
Managers get quick wins → feel ownership → reduce chaos → free more time
-
Staff see benefits → reduce resistance → volunteer improvement ideas
-
Less firefighting → more improvement → more capacity → improved service
๐ Final TOC Summary: Why the ONS Report Won’t Solve the Problem
| Problem | TOC View |
|---|---|
| Focuses on symptoms | Doesn’t isolate the true system constraint |
| Suggests broad initiatives | Lacks precise injection to break vicious cycle |
| Treats all barriers equally | No prioritization = no leverage |
| Depends on capacity growth | Ignores why capacity is trapped in the first place |
| Misses conflict | No conflict cloud = no clear resolution path |
๐ฃ️ Final Thought
Big institutions often miss the constraint because they try to fix everything. TOC teaches us that true change begins when we fix the one thing that governs the rest.
Despite its scale and institutional credibility, this report and proposed interventions that are necessary but not sufficient to produce lasting improvement.
Appendix
The "Public Sector Management Practices Survey pilot, UK: 2023" (released by the Office for National Statistics in October 2024) was a groundbreaking initiative. It represented the first time the ONS systematically captured information on management practices specifically within the UK public sector, adapting a survey instrument (the Management and Expectations Survey - MES) previously used for private firms.
Here's a summary of the paper and its key findings, particularly focusing on the identified barriers to improvement:
Summary of the Paper:
The pilot survey aimed to:
- Establish a baseline: Provide an initial measurement of management practices across various UK public sector organizations (excluding local healthcare units for quality reasons).
- Test the survey instrument: Assess the applicability and effectiveness of the existing private sector management practices questionnaire in the public sector context.
- Identify drivers and barriers: Begin to understand what influences management quality and what hinders its improvement in public services.
The survey covered four key dimensions of management practices:
- Continuous improvement: How well organizations monitor and adapt to unexpected situations.
- Key performance indicators (KPIs): How many and how frequently they are reviewed.
- Targets: How targets are set, tracked, and reviewed.
- Employment practices: Processes of promotion, management, and training of employees.
Key Findings:
- Overall Management Score: The average management practice score across the UK public sector was found to be 0.56 (on a scale of 0 to 1), with a median of 0.57. This was generally similar to the private sector average of 0.55 from the MES 2023.
- Sectoral Variation: Police and fire service organizations had the highest median management practice score (0.69), while education organizations had the lowest (0.57).
- Size Matters: Public sector organizations with more employees tended to have higher management practice scores.
- Technology Adoption: Organizations with higher management practice scores were more likely to adopt technology, including artificial intelligence, and viewed automation as a way to deliver work differently.
- Barriers to Improvement: This was a significant focus, and the survey highlighted that only about 19% of public sector organizations reported facing no barriers to improving how they were managed, compared with almost one-third (32%) of private sector organizations.
Identified Barriers to Improvement:
The report specifically highlighted the following as the most common perceived barriers to improving management practices in the public sector:
- Cost (58% of organizations): This was the most frequently cited barrier. Public sector organizations often face significant budget constraints, making it difficult to allocate resources for management training, process improvements, or the adoption of new technologies that could enhance management practices.
- Too Little Time (41% of organizations): Managers often feel they lack the dedicated time to think about or implement improvements to their management practices. This is particularly acute in public-facing sectors like education and healthcare, where day-to-day service delivery pressures dominate.
- Lack of Capacity and Financial Resources: This is closely related to "cost" but extends to the availability of staff to undertake improvement initiatives, or the funding to bring in external expertise. Managers in qualitative research emphasized this, especially in public-facing sectors with high operational demands.
- Resistance to Change and Unwillingness of Staff to Learn New Things: Mentioned by some managers, this barrier points to cultural or human factors that can impede the adoption of new or improved management practices. Even when organizations are open to change, the pressure to maintain daily productivity can make innovation challenging.
- Lack of Resource for Administration Work (66% of organizations): While administration tasks are seen as essential, a significant proportion of public sector organizations reported not being able to complete them on time due to a lack of resources. This directly impacts efficiency and the ability to dedicate time to strategic management improvements.
- Ad Hoc Work Requests (56% of organizations): Frequent, unplanned, or ad hoc requests disrupt workflow and make it difficult for public sector organizations to plan and dedicate time to systematic improvements. This is particularly noted in frontline services like health, education, fire, and police.
Implications and Suggestions:
The findings from this pilot survey implicitly suggest several areas for focus to improve public sector management and, by extension, productivity:
- Strategic Investment: Acknowledge and address the financial and time constraints faced by public sector organizations. This may require more strategic, long-term investment in management development and operational improvement initiatives.
- Capacity Building: Develop programs and resources specifically designed to build the capacity of public sector managers to implement change and improve processes, even amidst daily pressures.
- Cultural Transformation: Work towards fostering a culture that embraces continuous improvement, innovation, and learning within the public sector, addressing resistance to change through effective communication and stakeholder engagement.
- Streamlining Administration: Invest in automation and process streamlining for administrative tasks to free up valuable time and resources for more strategic management activities.
- Addressing Ad Hoc Demands: Examine ways to manage and perhaps reduce the impact of ad hoc work requests, allowing for more predictable planning and execution of improvement efforts.
- Continued Measurement and Benchmarking: The pilot highlights the value of continuing to measure management practices in the public sector to track progress, identify areas of strength and weakness, and allow for benchmarking against both private sector and international public sector organizations.