Public Sector Funding and Accountability in the UK

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PUBLIC SERVICE IN
CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................3
LO1........................................................................................................................................... 4
P1 DESCRIBE THE DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICES.......................................................4
P2 DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION (BBC)................................6
M1 INVESTIGATE THE WAYS IN WHICH CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE SITS WITHIN A
TRADITION OF HISTORICAL PRACTICE..................................................................................7
LO2........................................................................................................................................... 9
P3 OPERATIONAL STRUCTURE OF BBC.................................................................................9
P4 HOW IS PUBLIC SECTOR HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ITS ACTIONS AND DIRECTIONS BOTH
STRATEGICALLY AND OPERATIONALLY...............................................................................12
M2 ASSESS THE STRUCTURE OF PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANIZATION WITH REFFERNCE TO
RESPONSIBILITIES............................................................................................................... 13
LO3......................................................................................................................................... 15
P5 EXPLANATION OF THE VARIOUS FUNDING SOURCES THAT ARE AVAILABLE FOR
ORGANIZATIONS IN PUBLIC SECTOR..................................................................................15
P6 IDENTIFYING THE ALLOCATION OF THE FUNDING IN VARIOUS PUBLIC SECTOR
ORGANIZATIONS................................................................................................................ 17
M3 ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF FUNDING FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES AND THE FUNDING
ALLOCATION IN DIFFERENT PUBLIC SECTOR......................................................................19
LO4......................................................................................................................................... 20
P7 DEFINING THE STRATEGY STRUCTURE AS WELL AS THE ROLE OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR
ORGANIZATIONS................................................................................................................ 20
M4 ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF PROPOSED CHANGES IN SOCIETY IN WHICH PUBLIC
SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS SERVE........................................................................................22
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 24
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 25
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INTRODUCTION
Digital technology has a great impact on the revolution of the operations of the public
service organizations. The following assignment will describe the development of public
service with reference to British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the ways in which the
contemporary practices works along with the traditional practices will also be described.
The operational structure of BBC and the accountability of operational and strategic actions
of the public sector will be explained. The report lays its emphasis on the various types of
funding and its allocations available to the public sector. Lastly, the strategies, role and
structure of the public sector organization will be determined in the report.
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a mass media company headquartered in
Broadcasting House, London, UK and was founded by John Reith in 1927. It is the world’s
oldest and the largest broadcaster having employed 35,402 people till 2017.The company
provides its products and service such as news, entertainment, etc. through TV, radio, web
portals, broadcasting, etc. (Frischmann, 2019).
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LO1
P1 DESCRIBE THE DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICES
Public services are provided to all the people of the country without any discrimination on
the basis of their income, mental or physical abilities, etc.by the government directly or
through subsidies or financial provisions. There are many services provided by the
government that includes air force, police, fire brigade, ambulance, electricity, etc.
(Denhardt and Denhardt, 2015).
The public sector in the UK provides all types of public services such as emergency,
healthcare, housing, social care, education, etc. and the development in the public sector
has led to increase in employment in the UK. The advancement in the technology has
drastically changed the delivery systems of public services (Denhardt and Denhardt, 2015).
The public services have been developed in the UK by using different managerial techniques
and practices that are new for the public sector. The emergence of New Public Management
(NPM) has led to changes in the political and economic sector. The NPM model focuses on
professional management, significance is given to outcomes, encouraging competition in
order to reduce cost and improve quality standards of products and services offered by the
public service companies, adopting new management styles and approaches that are used
by the private sector and focusing on optimum utilization of resources (Osborne et al.2015).
The public service providers use more innovative approach in businesses using advanced
digital technology, developing the workforce, coping up with the changing environment, etc.
that influence the operations of the businesses and the delivery of the services to the public
efficiently and successfully (Denhardt and Denhardt, 2015).
The public sector organizations work in coordination with the government of the UK trying
to offer high quality services to the customers at low cost using advanced technology that
helps in improving sustainability in the country (Osborne et al.2015).
The organizations providing health care services develop strong systems of health and social
care for the people considering the health of the population and prevention of the diseases
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and promotion of health using advance information technology in business (Denhardt and
Denhardt, 2015).
The Government Digital Service (GDS) in the UK ensures that the public is provided with the
best services that help in raising their standards of living. The GDS uses Digital Service
Standards, Open standards and Technology Code of Practices in order to help government in
running best digital services (Osborne et al.2015).
The National Infrastructure Plan of the government focuses on the strategies and vision for
the development of the country and its economy by stimulating growth with the help of
investments in the efficient infrastructure of rail, road and airways in the UK and managing
the digital development and data access of the country (Osborne et al.2015).
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P2 DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION (BBC)
BBC has become the largest broadcasting service provider in the world because of the
constant development in its technologies since the time it was founded that is in 1927.
The recent developments in the BBC include launching of the first stereoscopic 3D television
channel in Europe by Sky in October, 2010, TV streaming service and a movie launched by
Netflix in January, 2012,launching new TV services in 21 local areas from 2013-2016 having
licenced under Ofcom, launching ultra HD sports channel in the UK in August, 2015,BBC
three became online-only since February, 2016, etc. which have helped in improvement in
services provided by the BBC to the people of the country (Van der Veur, 2017).
The radio service provided by BBC started from 1932 and was broadcasted in more than 40
languages all over the world serving approximately 120 million people by the 21st century.
The engineers and managers of the research and development department of BBC are
engaged in constantly improving the existing services by bring innovations in the business
using BBC Redux that is a R&D system that helps in digitally recording the output produced
by the BBC in the UK in terms of TV and radio broadcasting services provided by the
organization (Van der Veur, 2017).
BBC merged its design and research department naming it as Research and Innovation that
focuses on carrying out original research and development of Peak Programme Meter (PPM)
that act as a base for many standards in the world. BBC has been awarded with the Queen’s
Awards for Innovation for 8 years because of the advanced and innovative services provided
by the corporation. It uses technologies such as Freeview, NICAM, DAB, etc. to be provided
to the consumers and also was the first to develop FM radios and stereo FM ( Frischmann,
2019).
The recent development in BBC includes the introduction of BBC box, setting up of 5G
network in Orkney, creating an interactive episode of BBC click with Story Kit, new article
formats etc. (Frischmann, 2019)
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M1 INVESTIGATE THE WAYS IN WHICH CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE SITS
WITHIN A TRADITION OF HISTORICAL PRACTICE
In traditional society, the public sector organisations are usually rested in the nature of
bureaucracy and emphasised on control from top to bottom. The traditional model of public
administration emphasises on administration under the formal control of the political
leadership and follows a strict hierarchical model of bureaucracy (Nicolini, 2016). The
traditional historical practices involve;
1. Hierarchy and rules
2. Internal regulations
3. Permanence and stability
4. Equality
5. An institutional civil service
With the changing time and developments, the traditional historical practices are needed to
be changed as these are no longer relevant to the rapidly changing needs of society.
Therefore, the public organisations have to adopt the contemporary practices that could
meet the rapidly changing needs of the customers along with meeting with the
organisational cultural and historical practices (Nicolini, 2016). There are so many ways
through which the company can formulate contemporary practice along with the following
historical practices of the company.
Flexibility: by adopting flexible work culture the company can grant freedom to the
employees to organise their schedule and work in flexible hours to meet both personal and
professionals needs of the employees. These contemporary practices should be set with
setting the deadlines for the work so that the employees are properly aware of their time
and tasks and could effectively manage it accordingly.
Encouraging collaboration and productivity: the historical practices are aimed at setting
disciplined work culture through practising internal regulations. But, in contemporary
practices, public organisations should focus on the social needs of the employees to create
greater motivation and sense of responsibility within them through encouraging
collaboration and productivity (Nicolini, 2016). This would also support in creating a positive
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competition among the employees that would sit with the aim of the historic tradition of
the discipline work.
New public management: the new public management is a great way to propose a new
point of view towards the organisational design and administration in the public sector. It
involves the pattern change in the policy-making and proposes a more decentralised way to
manage and control the resources as well as to explore enhanced service delivery model to
deliver better services and achieve better results (Juneja, 2019).
Therefore, the companies can effectively set the contemporary practices within the tradition
of the historical practices by taking a different and innovative approach to achieve a similar
aim as historical practices in a unique way.
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LO2
P3 OPERATIONAL STRUCTURE OF BBC
The organizational structure of BBC comprises of various administrative bodies that include
the Executive Board, the Commercial Board, Journalism Board, the Board of Governor and
the Creative Board. The corporate website of BBC determines the culture of BBC with the
help of six core values that are followed in the organization such as trust, teamwork,
respect, quality, audience and Creativity (Burns, 2016).
Figure 1: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF BBC
(Source: Burns, 2016)
The organizational structure of BBC is hierarchical in nature that comprises of different head
of the departments that are responsible and accountable to the other departmental head.
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These heads have different roles and responsibilities that can be explained with the help of
the hierarchical structure of BBC.
Figure 2: HIERARCHY STRUCTURE OF BBC
(Source: McConaughey et al. 2018)
BBC Trust: The strategies of BBC are developed by the governing body of BBC that is the BBC
trust and it also monitors and controls the performance of the executive board. The trust
consists of one chairman, one vice chairman and 12 trustees (McConaughey et al. 2018).
Executive Board: The BBC is operated by the executive board and the director general is the
chairperson of the board. The directors look after the news and current affairs, the finance
and operations are managed by the managing director and the strategies and changes and
advancement in digital technology undertaken by the director of the board.
Executive Team: There are various directors that work under the executive board. These
directors focus on BBC Scotland, BBC digital, BBC Northern Ireland and market and audience
of BBC. These directors work together with cooperation in order to make an effective
executive team of BBC (McConaughey et al. 2018).
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Management Board: The management board consists of the directors of different services
offered by BBC that includes radio, Television, news and broadcasting. The directors in the
management board are responsible for managing all the issues related to the BBC that are
provided to them by the executive board.
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P4 HOW IS PUBLIC SECTOR HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ITS ACTIONS AND
DIRECTIONS BOTH STRATEGICALLY AND OPERATIONALLY
The public sector organizations are responsible and accountable for the services they
provide to the public and actions they take in the business. The public sector must follow
principles of transparency, trust, integrity and fairness in the business to enhance the
satisfaction of the society (Mayne, 2017).
The strategies formed by the BBC are focused on achieving the mission of the organization
that is done by setting effective strategic direction, budgeting, making distribution policy,
and formulation of strategies for the commercial activities conducted by BBC. The managers
are responsible and accountable for all the strategies made by them in BBC in the UK and all
parts of the world (Mayne, 2017).
BBC is ranked first as a broadcasting corporation worldwide providing best services to a
large number of populations all over the world. The strategies and operations of BBC are
managed according to the changing needs and preferences of the consumers in the market
and the company focuses on providing high quality services to its customers that includes
education, information and entertainment at lowest possible cost to increase the
satisfaction of the consumers as the corporation is held accountable to its audience for the
services provided by them (Mayne, 2017).
The online presence of BBC is used as a medium to report complaints of the customers and
thus, take quick and fair actions as feedback of the audience is valuable to the company for
making changes in its strategies and operations and thus, improve the quality of its
programmes as the company is committed to provide best services to its customers and the
as the company is accountable for its actions and directions towards the population (Visser
and Van der Togt, 2016).
The actions taken by the BBC are responsible and accountable towards the regulations and
legislations framed by the government and the legislations in the UK. The corporation
follows the laws and policies of the government in order to fulfil the rights and interests of
the customers as well as the employees of the company and increase the growth of the
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