Over-governed and Under-funded
3 December 2005
Early in November Peter Drucker died. He was regarded as the
father of modern management and his thirty books influenced not
only university studies, but businesses across the world. Business
Week magazine once described him as 'the most enduring management
thinker of our time'. At age 93, when receiving a Presidential
Medal of Freedom from the US President, he was said to be 'still
the youngest mind'.
Drucker was considered a management visionary because he
recognised that dedicated employees, by their example configuring
the culture of a business organisation through their innovative
approaches, accompanied by effective marketing, were more important
than worries about finances and the bottom line.
Some of his writings have resonated with me again this week
following the release of Commissioner Davies' report into the
State's public hospital system.
Queensland's problems seem also to be problems in other States.
They are problems associated with massive under-funding, leading to
politicians and bureaucrats alike becoming so preoccupied with
finances and disguising the real issues of the health of patients,
and the pressures on nurses and doctors, that the whole system had
become dysfunctional.
It was a system that was as far from Drucker's organisational
vision as you could get, where finances were the major determinants
and a positive employee culture totally absent.
The Health debate of course raises wider issues about national
governance arrangements with three tiers of government. It raises
issues associated about tax systems. And it raises issues
associated with proportions of public and private expenditure on
national priorities like health and education.
Mr Davies has commented on the possible confusion and
blame-shifting that might occur between the State and Commonwealth
Governments, and if it happens will further exacerbate rather than
urgently ameliorate the ailing health system. I suspect we are
over-governed in this country and confusion over responsibilities
is adding to the problems of health and education, and perhaps
other areas as well.
Mr Davies also commented on the tax system as it is currently
structured probably not being able to deliver the level of health
services people expect and are often promised. Public schools and
universities could be said to be similarly under-funded as the
shift to privatisation accelerates, and as the current focus turns
to further tax relief, which in turn will inevitably lead to
further financial problems in the essential public services the
majority of people increasingly expect.
The National drop in demand for post-school education, for
example, could have profound consequences for the future prosperity
of this county, and with public education, as with public health we
perhaps need to look again at where we want to be as a nation in
the world. That will require some rethinking about the balance
between private and public, about the efficiency and culture of
organisations that Drucker raised, and about whether the confusing,
expensive and often politically embattled three tiers of government
are really necessary to administer organisations such as health and
education.
Professor Paul Thomas is Vice-Chancellor of University of
the Sunshine Coast