1. Agency Effectiveness
–Shaping
organisational goals
and strategies
Ahmed Qadir, Office of InternationalAffairs
Competition Commission of Pakistan
Competition
and
Consumer
Protection
Consultations
10-14 August
2015, Istanbul

2. Introduction
Those managing public sector
organisations must address two simple,
but central questions:
1. Where should I take this
organisation?
2. What type of work should we do?

3. Introduction
Every organisation is expected to
perform certain functions thus,
organisational strategy is important.
In the private sector, strategy is based
on market forces (competition) and
organisational capability
In the public sector, political forces
replace market forces.These can
complicate strategic decisions

4. Introduction
– comparing
private and
public sector
strategy
The private sector must decide how to
make and market goods and services.
In the public sector, an organisation
must receive permission and gain
resources from elected officials before
any product can be marketed.

5. Introduction
Developing a practical operational
strategy and communicating a sense of
purpose are key tasks of effective
leaders.

6. Preferred Management Tools
Source: The Economist, The Cart Pulling the Horse?, 7 April 2005
For 12 years, the Bain & Company,
a firm of consultants, asked
companies how many
management tools they use and
how satisfied they are with them.
Their findings are summarised in
the figure.

7. Why strategy
is important?
It is possible to manage an organisation
without a strategy but that only goes so
far…
Without a strategy, very difficult to
have influence over the organisation’s
agenda and its stakeholders.
Some people are lucky without a
strategy and good media relations; for
others, best to have a plan.

8. What is
strategy?
Peter Drucker describes strategy as
“actions taken today to meet
tomorrow’s objectives”
Where we are now
Where we want to be
How we are going to get there
IN ESSENCE,THE STRATEGIC PLAN IS
YOUR ORGANISATION’S GAME PLAN

9. What is
strategy?
MOORE and KHAGRAM [ON CREATING PUBLICVALUE, 2004]
describe a STRATEGICTRIANGLE for the
public sector that
defines the organisation’s mission in terms
of important public values
describes the sources of support and
legitimacy it can draw upon to accomplish
its mission and
explains how the organisation will be
organised to achieve its mission

10. What is
strategy?
Formulation
Strategy formulation begins with the
identification of objectives and
determining the methods of reaching
those objectives.
Objectives and activities are scaled to
fit within resource constraints.
Each element of strategy is constrained
by political, social, economic, and
environmental variables.

11. What is the
Benefit of a
Strategic
Plan?
Compass for action
Measurement system for monitoring
progress
Resource attraction and resource
allocation

12. Why do you
need a
Strategic
Plan?
Defines core values
Communicates common understanding
of goals & unified plan of action on
which to base business decisions
Provides framework for evaluating new
ideas
It’s a DRIVER— integrated into how you
run your operations
Keeps you from going off-track

13. Developing
and
Implementing
Strategy
A strategy should not just be a written
document…it’s a way of thinking about
what you do.
It help connects objectives to activities
and to resources

14. Developing
and
Implementing
Strategy
A key element in developing a strategy
is take both a short-term and long-term
perspective. Look at your mandate.
How much progress will you make in the
next several years?
How will the problems you are working to
solve change?What’s more/less important?
Who are your internal and external
customers?

15. Developing
and
Implementing
Strategy
What highly visible and dramatic short-
term accomplishments could your
organisation achieve to demonstrate
competence and attract support and
resources?
Who should do the work required to
achieve your strategic goals?

16. Developing
and
Implementing
Strategy
The best strategies are built
incrementally over time and are based
on modest efforts to encourage
organisational learning.
Organisations are organic creatures.
Can only absorb so much.
Objectives and activities must be not
only politically, socially, and
economically viable, you should be
able to implement them also.

17. Implementing
Strategy
The key to effective strategy is to set
realistic but important goals and the
maintain the connection between ends
and means. [Much public sector work is routine and performed
as a matter of habit]
Basic questions remain unanswered:
who are the stakeholders? How are we
helping them?
Be careful of the huge variety of
internal processes that distract you!

18. Time Management Problems…
Operations Analysis Strategy
Operational actions
encroach on time of
senior management
? ? ? ? ? ?
MID-LEVEL
MANAGERS
SENIOR
MANAGEMENT
JUNIOR STAFF
Not enough
time for this
? ? ?

19. Role of
leadership in
strategy and
implementation
Implementing strategies requires
leadership!
Leadership is not some mythical
quality; rather, it is a function of
management.
What’s above and what’s below the
platform?

20. Role of
leadership in
strategy and
implementation
Above the platform is the environment
and a manager has two basic functions:
1. Obtain resources and support 
money, staff, authority, turf.
2. Defend the organisation’s distinctive
competence  the organisation is
viewed as being capable of
discharging its responsibilities

21. Role of
leadership in
strategy and
implementation
Below the platform is the organisation,
where the leader has four principal
functions:
1. Infuse with value
2. Develop distinctive competence
3. Distribute incentives fairly
4. Structure and mediate internal
conflicts

22. Infusing the
organisation
with value…
Defining the organisation’s mission and
role and adapting that to the needs of
organisational survival.
Defining a core set of objectives and
operating principles and constantly
communicate these to the others.
This is not a one-way communication
and social values will be evident.

23. Developing
an
organisation’s
distinctive
competence
In the public sector, this translates into
activities that generate political
support and builds allies.
What are you [really] good at?What do
people say about what you do?

24. Distributing
incentives
fairly
Incentives motivate staff to act in
desired ways.
Leaders must direct incentives with an
understanding of an individual’s talents
and preferences.
By understanding staff’s values,
preferences, communication patterns,
and relationships, one can direct
incentives and stimulate productivity.

25. Structure and
mediate
internal
conflicts
Leaders play a unique role in the
organisation’s social structure and
conflicts are brought to them.
This function of leadership involves
setting up processes for identifying and
resolving conflicts.
Leaders should approach conflict with
care because by the time it comes to
you, positions have harden, egos are
engaged, and emotions are visible.

26. Some final
thoughts on
leadership
Cant be done from behind a desk. One
must get out and learn about the social
organism one manages  MBWA
One needs a management philosophy
that works and the ability to listen to,
learn about, and observe one’s
environment.

27. Some final
thoughts on
leadership
You are never writing your strategy on
blank paper. All organisations have a
history and a trajectory.
Failure happens. Learn from it and keep
moving.

28. Importance
of a sense of
purpose
Public sector employees have a desire
to be part of important work 
important to build on that!
When staff members cannot link their
work to the organisation’s larger
objectives, work and morale can
deteriorate.
Sense of purpose encourages extra
effort [MLK: racial equality; JFK: man on the moon]

29. Communicating
higher
expectations
You will need to communicate your
organisation’s mission and its strategy
for that mission. Sometimes you’ll have
to scream and shout.
This is a continuous process of
teaching, listening to, and
communicating with the people who
work with you and for you.

30. Communicating
higher
expectations
You must learn to use your organisation’s
purpose to motivate work and listen to
and learn from people – understand what
they expect from you, try to perform up to
their expectations or change those
expectations.
Developing an organisation is a collective
effort. Communicating higher
expectations requires mutual respect.

31. Final
Thoughts
An authority will ultimately be judged
on its perceived VALUE to the
economy
Important to demonstrate this value
quickly
 keeping focused on the ’main game’, i.e., key
priority issues and avoiding easy but low[er]
priority issues is essential.
 Communicating about what one does is also
important  helps get support

32. Thank you very
much