Why Governmental Agencies Underperform: How governmental agencies manage operational ecosystem changes

On some level, all of us have had interactions and transactions with public agencies that are established to deliver a wide array of services ranging from motor vehicles registrations to food security issues. The underlying theme is that some essential services cannot be effectively or efficiently delivered by private sector entities. Services designed to provide benefit for the greater society are thought to be inappropriate for the private sector because such organizations are primarily motivated by profit rather than the public good. The private sector profit focus is driven by the need to deliver shareholder value through its operational workflows and these entities are sensitive to maintaining and increasing market share. Public entities fill the critical role of providing services that can be cost-intensive and therefore do not lend itself to private sector provision. In some cases, services designed to benefit all people can be jointly provided. Building roads and bridges are examples of such services. Private companies can provide the actual end products with funding provided by public funding. Transportation services such as bus lines and light rail are another example of the need to provide utilities that return benefits to all stakeholders in designated communities. This book is devoted to exploration of why these public entities sometimes tend to underperform in the discharge of their duties to provide socially responsible services to their constituent stakeholder populations. Dr. Julius Jones Jr (DM/IST, University of Phoenix) has over 40 years of experience working in the public and private sectors. This experience includes operational responsibilities in state and local government, the University of MN, and multiple employers in the healthcare administrative arena. His action research interests include organizational anthropology, technology and innovation management, workflow process optimization, and team dynamics.