For thousands of years, the notion of private property and ownership has been basic to Western Civilization beginning before the Old Testament and reinforced again in the New Testament. We own many things. Our possessions include our furnishings, clothing, cars, and real estate as well as less physical things like our names, our memories, our talents, our personality, our thoughts and, to some degree, our loved ones - human and otherwise. Victims claim that losing their family member was like losing part of themselves. Those who have dogs are called dog owners.
There is also the notion of public ownership. Citizens are part owners of their homeland and residents are part owners of their public spaces, like parks, highways and bridges. Those who pay for, use and depend upon public facilities have a vested interest in their continued availability. Citizens elect representatives to not only make and enforce policies for the greater good, but also to properly maintain our public property.
The private sector which affects the flow of private property is driven by the profit motive, enlightened self-interest. In our western, capitalistic society, the banking industry controls the flow of capital - the cause and effect of private ownership, by deciding to whom to lend money and for whom to deny it.
The public sector is controlled by government agencies whose bottom line is the efficient and effective distribution of public services to create and maintain public property not profit.
Private sector workers are primarily motivated by the same profit motive as is their industry. In this sector, in order to ensure maximized profit, employees are evaluated based on their ability and effectiveness. Just as private sector firms are competitive, so are their employees. Only the best survive. The better you do, the better you do.
In the public sector, workers are motivated either by a love of service to the community or the comfort of knowing that their jobs are safe and that their performance will not be used for or against them when it comes to raises and promotions. This environment can foster a spirit of cooperation rather than competition. It can also cause some to become less enthusiastic about doing much at work since it makes very little extrinsic difference.
We see this in education where poor teachers who have seniority don’t have to worry about losing their jobs because any layoffs that occur will affect the least senior teachers no matter how excellent their work has been. We see this in our city’s and probably our state’s civil service system. Public employees testing for promotional opportunities can not be judged on any of their past evaluations, no matter how behavior-based, because they could be subjective. The promotion must be based on seniority as well as the results (subjective or objective) of a standardized oral and/or written examination. Seniority and test taking ability are considered more important than actual performance.
The same is true in many public sector agencies where transfers to other units are granted based on seniority of the requester and the request and not past performance.
The effect of this difference in private and public sector performance is striking. The private sector employee is motivated by fear of job loss and ambition to succeed as well as any intrinsic motivations that might be involved such as pride in one’s work, wanting the organization to succeed, being of service and a nice working environment. The public sector employee can enjoy job security and excellent present and future fringe benefits like a good pension, with some getting 90% of their pay in retirement and a Cadillac health plan. There also is the satisfaction of serving the public to help make life that much more pleasant for the people affected by their services - police officers save lives and arrest criminals; firefighters save burning buildings and rush people suffering illness or injury to the hospital to sometimes save their lives; nurses and social workers help those in greatest social or physical need. Public sector gardeners can provide the community with beautiful spaces filled with nature as relief from the concrete and metal that surrounds us.
We must encourage our private sector by making wise purchases that reward quality and creativity, while our government agencies insure that the private sector companies can compete fairly and honestly in the free market to provide goods and services as effectively and efficiently as possible.
We must motivate our public service sector by treasuring our public property and insisting that it be maintained. Government agencies must stimulate their staff to maximize performance by holding them accountable to achieve certain agreed upon objectives and responsibilities and by basing their career successes on their actual performance and not just their seniority.
Historical, as well as current evidence, strongly suggests that the population is best served when there is a thriving, competitive, law abiding and creative private sector complemented by a vibrant, hard working, efficient and effective public sector to do what the other sector can’t or won’t.
There is also the notion of public ownership. Citizens are part owners of their homeland and residents are part owners of their public spaces, like parks, highways and bridges. Those who pay for, use and depend upon public facilities have a vested interest in their continued availability. Citizens elect representatives to not only make and enforce policies for the greater good, but also to properly maintain our public property.
The private sector which affects the flow of private property is driven by the profit motive, enlightened self-interest. In our western, capitalistic society, the banking industry controls the flow of capital - the cause and effect of private ownership, by deciding to whom to lend money and for whom to deny it.
The public sector is controlled by government agencies whose bottom line is the efficient and effective distribution of public services to create and maintain public property not profit.
Private sector workers are primarily motivated by the same profit motive as is their industry. In this sector, in order to ensure maximized profit, employees are evaluated based on their ability and effectiveness. Just as private sector firms are competitive, so are their employees. Only the best survive. The better you do, the better you do.
In the public sector, workers are motivated either by a love of service to the community or the comfort of knowing that their jobs are safe and that their performance will not be used for or against them when it comes to raises and promotions. This environment can foster a spirit of cooperation rather than competition. It can also cause some to become less enthusiastic about doing much at work since it makes very little extrinsic difference.
We see this in education where poor teachers who have seniority don’t have to worry about losing their jobs because any layoffs that occur will affect the least senior teachers no matter how excellent their work has been. We see this in our city’s and probably our state’s civil service system. Public employees testing for promotional opportunities can not be judged on any of their past evaluations, no matter how behavior-based, because they could be subjective. The promotion must be based on seniority as well as the results (subjective or objective) of a standardized oral and/or written examination. Seniority and test taking ability are considered more important than actual performance.
The same is true in many public sector agencies where transfers to other units are granted based on seniority of the requester and the request and not past performance.
The effect of this difference in private and public sector performance is striking. The private sector employee is motivated by fear of job loss and ambition to succeed as well as any intrinsic motivations that might be involved such as pride in one’s work, wanting the organization to succeed, being of service and a nice working environment. The public sector employee can enjoy job security and excellent present and future fringe benefits like a good pension, with some getting 90% of their pay in retirement and a Cadillac health plan. There also is the satisfaction of serving the public to help make life that much more pleasant for the people affected by their services - police officers save lives and arrest criminals; firefighters save burning buildings and rush people suffering illness or injury to the hospital to sometimes save their lives; nurses and social workers help those in greatest social or physical need. Public sector gardeners can provide the community with beautiful spaces filled with nature as relief from the concrete and metal that surrounds us.
We must encourage our private sector by making wise purchases that reward quality and creativity, while our government agencies insure that the private sector companies can compete fairly and honestly in the free market to provide goods and services as effectively and efficiently as possible.
We must motivate our public service sector by treasuring our public property and insisting that it be maintained. Government agencies must stimulate their staff to maximize performance by holding them accountable to achieve certain agreed upon objectives and responsibilities and by basing their career successes on their actual performance and not just their seniority.
Historical, as well as current evidence, strongly suggests that the population is best served when there is a thriving, competitive, law abiding and creative private sector complemented by a vibrant, hard working, efficient and effective public sector to do what the other sector can’t or won’t.
No comments:
Post a Comment