Challenges in Contracting and Expertise in Leadership

PUBLIC MANAGEMENT
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Q. 1 What are the challenges posed by contracting for the provision of public services? In your answer, identify and critically assess the conditions for success and the potential drivers of failure in contracting.
1. Introduction
Contracting for the provision of public services is a complex process that can be challenging for both the government and private sector organizations involved. The public services are outsourced to be used in several policy disciplines and analyzed by economists who deal with them with core attention (Provost & Esteve, 2016). Several challenges can be posed by contracting for the provision of public services, which need to be sorted for smooth service delivery.
2. Challenges in Contracting
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: Challenges in Contract Management
2.1 Ensuring Value for Money
One of the main challenges of contracting for public services is ensuring that the contract provides value for money to the public. This can be difficult to assess, as it is not always easy to compare the cost and quality of different service providers.
2.2 Managing risk
Another challenge is managing risk, as the public sector is often responsible for ensuring that the services provided are of high quality and meet the community's needs (Rendon et al., 2019). This can be difficult when the services are provided by an external contractor, as the public sector may have limited control over the service quality. Risk management and allocation also need to be cleared. The details like risks associated with the private contractor, the retention by the government, and surety of handling need to be cleared; otherwise, it may disrupt the contract's success.
2.3 Ensuring transparency and accountability
It is also important to ensure that the contracting process is transparent and accountable, as the public sector is accountable to the taxpayers for public funds.
2.4 Maintaining flexibility
It can also be challenging when contracting for public services. Since the community's needs may change over time, the public sector may need to adapt the services provided to meet these changing needs. To reduce the communication gap and enhance the company's overall productivity, it is pertinent to incorporate the element of flexibility in maintaining contracts.
2.5 Implementation of Contracts
This includes ensuring that contracts are properly executed and that the services are delivered as required. This can be difficult as it involves coordination between different government departments and private sector organizations and requires effective communication and monitoring mechanisms to be in place (Castillo, 2016). Furthermore, ensuring that the contractor is held accountable and measuring its performance during the contract period can be difficult in practice. It can be challenging to measure the outcomes and results of public services. Also, ensuring that the contractor adheres to the terms of the contract can be difficult to enforce.
3. Conditions for Success in Contracting
Contracting through public services cannot always succeed without combining several factors. Perfection in work comes with sustenance, but some features are considered essential in the overall success of contracting. Conditions for success in contracting for public services include:
3.1 Defined Objectives
It is important to have clear and measurable objectives for the service provided. A clear objective will help ensure that the contractor can deliver the required service effectively. Contracts need to be properly designed and tailored to meet the specific needs of citizens (Hasan et al., 2019). This requires a deep understanding of citizens' needs and the services required to meet those needs. Secondly, effective communication and coordination mechanisms must be in place to ensure that contracts are properly implemented and services are delivered as required. Thirdly, effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms must be in place to ensure that contracts deliver the desired outcomes for citizens.
3.2 Adequate Resources
The public sector and the contractor should have adequate resources (including financial, human, and technical resources) to deliver the service effectively. Preliminary competition during procurement can lead to higher prices, poorer quality, and less innovation. Therefore, it is essential for the organization's overall growth to incorporate adequate resources.
3.3 Effective Communication and Collaboration
Good communication and collaboration between the public sector and the contractor are essential for the success of the contract. With communication barriers, no contract can prove fruitful. Collaboration and smooth communication channels, including video conferencing, calls, physical visits, and contracts, can produce positive, productive results.
3.4 Strong Contract Management
Effective contract management is also important, as it can help to ensure that the contract is being delivered following the terms and conditions of the contract.
4. Potential Drivers of Failure in Contracting
4.1 Inadequate Planning
If the contracting process is not well planned, it can lead to problems with service delivery. For perfect contract completion and work delivery, proper planning is needed. The proposed plans also need to be assessed and implemented properly to ensure success; otherwise, they may fail.
4.2 Poor Communication and Collaboration
Poor communication and collaboration between the public sector and the contractor can lead to misunderstandings and disagreements, which can negatively impact service delivery.
4.3 Lack of Transparency and Accountability
If the contracting process is not transparent and accountable, it can lead to concerns about using public funds and the service quality (Bada et al., 2019). The contracts should be open and transparent, but due to non-transparency, contracts get failed.
4.4 Insufficient Resources
If the public sector or the contractor does not have sufficient resources to deliver the service, it can lead to problems with the quality and reliability of the service. Contracting can also be failed due to a lack of certain factors. Potential drivers of failure in contracting for public services can badly impact the growth and development of public service provision.
5. Conclusion
To sum up, it can be said that contracting for the provision of public services can be a challenging process, with several potential drivers of failure. The key to success is ensuring that contracts are properly designed and implemented and delivering the desired outcomes for citizens. This requires a deep understanding of the needs of citizens and the services required to meet those needs. Similarly, effective communication and coordination mechanisms and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are required to sort out run-time issues. Additionally, attention must be paid to competition, risk management, allocation, transparency, accountability, and governance to achieve the best results for citizens.
Q.2 Is expertise a key determinant of the ability of public sector leaders to influence organizational performance? What are the potential drawbacks of involving professional experts in leadership roles?
1. Introduction
Expertise can be a key determinant of the ability of public sector leaders to influence organizational performance, as leaders with specialized knowledge and skills in a particular area may be better equipped to make informed decisions and effectively lead their organizations. However, expertise is not the only factor determining a leader's ability to influence organizational performance (Kuziemski & Misuraca, 2020). Other factors, such as leadership style, communication skills, and the ability to build and maintain relationships, can also play a role. The importance of expertise in enhancing organizational performance can be determined through several factors which aid the company's overall development.
Table SEQ Table \* ARABIC 1: Experts' Skill Benefits to the Organizational Performance
Skills of Experts

Benefits to the Organization

Leadership and keen knowledge

* Perfection in the work
* Reduced errors

The utilization of the latest technological tools coupled with experience

* Quick work delivery with target achievement

Minute decision-making abilities

* Positive entanglement in all the departments of the organization

(Smith, 2021)
The tables above talk about experts' skills and benefit the organization. Optimizing organizational performance is possible through the experts' efficient team management and communication skills. As the organizational performance gets amplified by the positive skills of the experts, the experts play an important role in the organization's overall development. Leadership skills coupled with keen knowledge can enhance the organization's overall productivity. Expertise certainly plays an important role in the development of organizational performance. Sound communication and minutes decision-making skills also play an important role in uplifting the performance of an organization.
With their sound strategies and experience, experts can enhance the organization's overall productivity. Experts not only raise the level of productivity in an organization but also improve the quality of content. Lack of necessary leadership, management, and communication skills and limited experience in working within the political and bureaucratic environments of the public sector can create issues. Also, the absence of information can create issues in working with other stakeholders. Therefore, public sector leaders must have a broad range of skills and experiences that will enable them to lead and manage organizations in the public sector effectively.
2. Potential Drawbacks
Experts have experience and exposure to work in different departments, but experts must have leadership skills too. For managing teams on a broader level, good leadership skills are also required, along with the expertise to deal with critical issues. An expert brings perfection to work, but a leader aligns the task and manages the expertise of the team members. To ensure work perfection, leaders must also carry expertise (Lofgren, 2017). There are potential drawbacks to involving professional experts in leadership roles. Some of these drawbacks include the following:
2.1 Limited Perspective
Professional experts may have a narrow perspective and be less able to see the bigger picture or understand, the broader context in which their organization operates. Experts may also have limited experience working in the broader public service context. They m...