Assignment 05

ASSIGNMENT #5 M.AHSAN KHAN (E/ M – SUM 09 – 16) Q1 : Suggest ways to add value to Govt. organizations for enhancing speed, efficiency and quality? I think a great effort and determination is required to bring revolutionary changes to Govt. sector organizations.  There is need to revise salary packages of Govt. servants. This will reduce the corruption level and shall also motivate the employees to perform their duties more efficiently.  Extensive training of Govt. officials is required so that their thinking process can be modified. Once their mind set will come out of traditional paradigms they will be in a better position to lead their organizations and motivate their subordinates.  Successful candidates in civil service exams should be trained in such pattern that they consider themselves as true civil servants rather than “lords” once they join their administrative positions.  Example should be set from top levels of hierarchy. Top Govt. officials should set high standards of discipline responsibility and punctuality in their areas of responsibilities.  In order to curb corruption there should be transparent accountability process. There should be rule of law, a free media and judiciary. No matter how influential one is perpetrators should be brought to justice and example should be set for others.  The status quo paradigm should be broken. Govt. officials should be encouraged to take unpopular decisions to improve the performance of their departments.

 Nepotism should be discouraged at levels of hierarchy.  There is need of Govt. structural reorganization. I think we have surplus ministries and departments created just to offer political favors. This not only increases administrative overhead tremendously, but also reduces coordination level, speed and efficiency. In order to achieve these goals there is need to reduce management layers as much as possible by merging related ministries and departments.  Selection criteria for Govt. officials should be more standardized, so that we can have more efficient, self disciplined, honest and innovative officials who can run their departments on more modern lines with great efficiency.  Modern technology should be introduced where possible in Govt. sector to enhance the efficiency and speed of processing.  Govt. officials should realize that people coming to them with their problems are their customers and they should seek customer delight by addressing their problems in most efficient manner.  Govt. officials should promote ethical values in their departments. The ultimate goal should be to serve the clients with highest efficiency and ethical standards to achieve customer delight.  There is necessity to carry out periodic organizational audits to monitor the departmental performance. Public feed back and criticism should me welcomed and corrective measures should be taken accordingly.

Q2 :Suggest new set of values in a proposed travel company scheduled to start business from Lahore to Islamabad? 



Before starting business travel company must decide what customer segments it wants to target, and what values it will add to each segment service accordingly. Let us suppose that the company decides to address three major segments, economy, air conditioned and luxury classes. There are some issues that must be addressed irrespective of customer segment: Field staff should be hired strictly on merit. Drivers and conductors and maintenance staff should be educated, well trained and well mannered.  Managerial staff should have strong interpersonal, management and EQ skills. They must have vision, strategy and character to deliver.  All staff members should be uniformed, and all buses should have same appearance.  Bus terminals should be located at prime locations in Lahore and Islamabad, where travelers have easy approach at any time.  Water dispensers should be installed at bus terminals to provide cold drinking water to customers.  There should be proper sitting arrangement for each customer segment in the waiting rooms. Waiting rooms should contain television sets.  There should be proper parking facility at bus terminals.  There should be a branch of some popular food chain and children play areas at bus terminals. 

After each arrival, the buses should be handed over to maintenance staff who will make sure their cleaning and maintenance.  There should be disciplined arrangement at ticket booths so that customers have to wait for their turns in queues to buy ticket.  Online services should be provided for schedule inquiries and bookings.  Employees should be instructed to be polite and helpful to the customers and to respect women. The goal is to achieve customer delight, which is key to success for any business.  Bus departure schedules should be strictly observed irrespective of the number of travelers.  For frequent travelers there should be incentives like subsidized ticket packages.  For A/C and Luxury class customer segments 

 



Waiting rooms should be air conditioned, with newspapers and popular magazines. There should be bus hostess and light refreshments in the buses. Cold drinks for A/C class and cold drinks plus snacks for luxury class. Luxury class buses should have entertainment facilities like TV and popular magazines for travelers.

Q3 :Review the current budget and suggest ways for value addition? 











On 14th of this month 2009-10 federal budget of 2.897trillion rupees was presented by the finance minister with a deficit of 4.9%. Budget was focused on short term relief for inflation and conflict hit people. 1.5% of deficit is planned to be met from external sources , while rest will be met from additional taxation and internal resources. In this sense it is highly risky budget with no guaranty of pledged money will be provided by friends of Pakistan. Govt. will have to borrow from internal resources that will put upward pressure on interest rates resulting in adverse effects on investment and growth. Budget is neither growth oriented nor people friendly. As a commitment with IMF drastic cuts have been made in subsidy on electricity. Excise duty on petroleum products has been levied in the shape of carbon surcharge, that would add to the difficulties of already overburdened people of the country. 15% ad hoc relief allowance has been announced for Govt. servants and pensioners, which is trivial compared to the inflation, and by no means would help Govt. servants to address even their basic needs. Textile sector which has 55% share in export proceeds has been totally ignored. No relief has been announced for the revival of ailing industry. In fact a rise in electricity tariff will add to the difficulties of the sector. In order to protect local industry, 5 % federal excise duty on motor cars has been withdrawn. Import duty on raw materials for poultry feeds, pharmaceuticals & manufacturing of prefabricated steel buildings has been reduced. FED on cement has been reduced. Additional duty has been imposed on

imported motorcycles. Exemption on the import of potatoes and onions has been exempted.  Duty exemption on import of agriculture tractors has been continued. Duty on four stroke rickshaw import has been reduced.  Debt servicing, and defense and public service are among the major expenditures again, in fact 68.43% of total expenditure. 62% of total expenditure is allocated to massive public debt and maintaining huge military establishment. And with lack of tax culture public revenue lags behind increase in Govt. expenditure and GDP growth.  Development constitutes only 31.57% of total expenditure.  Only 2% of total expenditure has been allocated for health and education sectors., which is far below the desired level. Poverty alleviation & employment generation require substantial investment in human capital development, that depends upon education & health sectors.  In my opinion it is a status quo budget , that will bring no change in society, in fact decisions like carbon tax will add to the miseries of common man. The budget is clever manipulation of statistics and based on many assumptions.  I suggest following value additions to the budget:  There should be reduction in defense budget, so that scarce resources can be allocated to other key sectors like health, education. Civilian Govt. will have to take the initiative to control the powerful military establishment.  Unpopular decisions like carbon tax, and with drawl of electricity subsidy should be reversed to provide relief to common man and local industry.  Tax culture should be promoted. There should be justified taxation that will be paid with ease by the stake holders resulting in a broader tax base. There is need for massive restructuring of Excise & taxation departments to ensure transparency and efficiency.

Example should be set by the highest echelons of regime. Govt. expenditures should be reduced. What is the need for such a large cabinet in a poor country like Pakistan? The remaining MPs are either heads or members of so called ‘Standing Committees’ which have never been productive. Related ministries should be merged to reduce administrative overhead. Simplicity should be promoted at all levels. There is no need to take large contingents at useless foreign tours , which should be reduced in frequency.  More resources should be allocated to education and health sectors, so that we can have basis for producing efficient human resources. Tax payer’s money should be used for their welfare.  Concrete action is required to curb corruption at all levels of Govt. machinery. There should be transparent accountability process through independent judiciary. We should stop blaming past Govt. for failures, and bring revolutionary changes in Govt. functionality.  More effort and resources are required to restore law and order situation in the country. A better law and order situation along with effective economic policies draw massive investments, the key factor for national development.  Relief should be provided to industrial sector particularly textile sector. Measures should be taken to reduce the production cost in local industry. More industrial zones need to be established, with special tax incentives and electricity tariffs.  To support local industry more taxes should be levied on imported products. But the tax on imported raw material should be reduced.  Instead of asking for monetary assistance to the friends of Pakistan , Govt. should seek trade quotas in these countries. 

 Concrete measures should be taken to restore peace in conflict zone, so that IDPs can be sent back homes, and their burden on national economy can be reduced.  Tax base needs to be broadened. Agriculture tax should be imposed, despite the fact that it will be opposed by powerful feudal setup. Tax should be imposed on stock market earnings and services. Thus by reducing expenditures and by increasing revenues the budget deficit can be minimized. This will reduce our dependence on internal and external debts.