Public Sector Management

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

READ THESE EXAMINATION INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY

Compulsory Question

Question Type: Individual

Students are required to write and provide a softcopy response of 1500 word (plus or minus 10%). Responses should include as a minimum: –

 

1.    Standard Coversheet

2.    Table of Contents

3.    An introduction/overview (approx.. 350 words)

4.    The Process of Analysis (approx.. 750 words)

5.    Recommendation and action plan (approx. 200 words)

6.    Conclusion (approx. 200 words)

7.    Recommended font style and size is Arial or Times New Roman 12. I inch margins. Line space 1.5. Standard referencing.

8.    References Required

Case Study

 

A country with a history of corruption and bribery has made great efforts via education and prosecution to conduct government business in an open and transparent way. The country has made considerable progress. As part of its reform, the country overhauled its visa procedures for foreigners wanting to live in the country. In the previous environment people with money would secretly pay off a government employee to have their visa application approved quickly, while other visa applications took much longer. Now the government has made the application procedure transparent and established a new procedure in law. The new procedure offers two visa tracks, the “Regular Track”, which does not require any payment, and the “Premium Track”, which requires a US $10,000 payment. The Regular Track takes just as long to process a visa application as an application without a bribe took before the reforms. The Premium Track moves along just as quickly as a visa application with a bribe took before the reforms. Most people wanting to visit this country cannot afford the Premium Track.

It should be noted however that the country has a tourist based economy and persons approved to enter the country contribute significantly to the country’s GDP.

 

What are the issues of unfairness, integrity and public sector service delivery posed in the case study? What options does the country have, and what should it do and why?

 

Lecturer Guidelines

Some of the questions raised by this case study include how the issue first arose, what stakeholders are involved and what power they have or don’t have; whether the current arrangement is ethical; whether the country is acting or should act with integrity; whether the current arrangement legalizes an essentially unfair arrangement, and if so, how does it affects people’s perception of Governance and the Public Administration System in that country.