Critical Question: “What leadership and management reforms are necessary to improve public service in Denmark?”

Critical Question: “What leadership and management reforms are necessary to improve public service in Denmark?”

An evaluation of the Danish public sector indicates the presence of significant challenges, which require timely solutions from the sector’s leaders and managers. After assessing the public service sector, I discovered the need for leadership and management transformations that can allow the government to develop meaningful relationships with its citizens and civil society. Positive relationships between the government and its stakeholders are crucial for social stability and adequate public support. Additionally, I recognized the necessity for the public sector to facilitate the policy reforms required to improve public participation in governance. For instance, the government needs policy-making procedures that focus on addressing the major socioeconomic problems affecting communities. Such problems include underemployment, community safety, crime, and social exclusion. The improvement of the Danish public sector’s leadership and management aspects will enhance quality and efficiency in service delivery to citizens at national and local levels.

The qualitative data collected from the public sector demonstrates that the Danish society has varying demands that the public service department cannot address effectively without undergoing appropriate transformations. For instance, I interviewed some leaders within the division and discovered that the focus in service delivery has shifted from management to leadership (Angelo & Cross, 1993). The division and the community recognize the importance of leadership in implementing the devolution and modernization agendas intended to improve accessibility to public service. Consequently, the information I gathered indicates that citizens support the implementation of reforms in corporate, political, and government contexts to meet the emerging socioeconomic needs. Moreover, the public service department has several bureaucracies, which increase the costs of service delivery besides causing major delays. Therefore, while focusing on addressing such needs, the public-sector innovation division should adopt cost-effective strategies to avoid an increase in taxation for citizens.

Based on the identified need for leadership and management reforms to improve service delivery, the concerned public service division should implement several relevant strategies to address such need. Firstly, the sector should adopt the lean thinking strategies to increase its efficiency in offering public service. The primary objective of lean thinking entails optimizing customer value and eliminating waste. As a mindset, lean thinking enhances an entity’s capacity to provide quality and cost-effective services and products. As a result, applying lean thinking in the public sector will allow the leaders to eliminate the bureaucracies and other activities, which do not add value to citizens and communities.

Secondly, in line with the need for improved public participation in governance, the public-sector innovation department should adopt the balanced scorecard (BSC) to improve its performance. The BSC will improve the department’s communication procedures to ensure adequate community awareness of its mandate. Additionally, the strategy will allow the department to align its daily operations with the shared objective and strategy. It strategy will also allow leaders and managers to prioritize projects and services depending on their urgency and importance. Lastly, BSC will allow the department to monitor its success toward achieving the desired goals (Torres, 2004). Therefore, with the extensive use of a balanced scorecard, the department will improve community participation in governance and public service transformation. These strategies require the department to transformational leadership, which focuses on service improvement.