Productivity Improvement Program: MAKING ALTERNATIVE SERVICE DELIVERY WORK

GENERAL INFORMATION/BACKGROUND

The Productivity Improvement Program (PIP) of the Naga City Government, a Galing Pook Awardee as one of the top 10 local government programs in 1996, has been reinventing local governance in the Philippines over the past 12 years—long before "reinventing government" became a byword among management thinkers and practitioners.

Unlike other programs that serve as mere stopgaps or palliatives, the PIP directly addresses the very roots of the maladies that have constrained local government units from consistently delivering quality service to the people.

Guided by the vision of “Maogmang Lugar,” the program marshals the full potentials of various departments, offices, and instrumentalities of the entire city government in improving both the quantity and quality of service delivery.

In the process, it has successfully transformed local government employees into highly motivated public servants proud of their city and organization, driven not by rules and regulations but by a community-owned vision and mission.

The results are remarkable: Naga gained not only national but also international renown for its governance innovations—among them the 1998 Dubai International Award for having one of the 10 best practices in the world, as well as the Asiaweek citation as one of the most improved cities in Asia for the year 1999.

start of Program

The program was operationalized sometime in 1988 at the start of the first term of Mayor Jesse Robredo. Given the problems faced by the city at that time, and to accomplish its covenant with the electorate and restore the Nagueño’s faith in the local government, the administration launched a number of measures aimed at sending the message that it seriously meant business. Guided by the recognition that people in City Hall are the local government’s most precious resource, the city sought to empower them by applying private management systems in a government setting. This departed, to some extent, from the traditional mode of public service.

The new administration immediately implemented a better compensation package for the rank-and-file. A 10% across the board increase in salaries and a 200% raise in the cost of living allowance was granted (making Naga the first LGU in the Bicol region to do so). To boost efficiency and morale, Mayor Robredo ordered the holding of aptitude tests among employees that gauged their individual competencies. The test results served as basis for personnel deployment, which enabled qualified employees to perform supervisory functions where they could be more productive and effective regardless of position titles. The Merit and Promotions Board was activated to eliminate a system of patronage. A reward and punishment scheme to recognize achievers and discipline erring workers was established. An annual awards scheme for employees was institutionalized. Professionalization of the ranks was upgraded through regular training, workshops and seminars.

These confidence-building measures within City Hall, in 1995 gave rise to PIP, a program focusing on employee empowerment (people change) and improvements in systems and procedures (systems change). In 1997, the program was institutionalized through City Ordinance 97-002.

Needs and Problems Addressed by the Program

The program tackles the problem of how to bring about adequacy, efficiency, effectiveness and equity in the delivery of public services amidst competing sectoral demands.

In doing so, it focuses on the four interlinked areas relevant to local government productivity:

  • the provision of sufficient services to meet the requirements of the population;
  • getting the optimum outputs with minimum expenditures;
  • the capability to produce results as desired and planned, encompassing quality and level of service; and
  • accessible and acceptable services based on the principle "the greatest good for the greatest number."

Specific Program Objectives

Essentially, the program focuses on improving and upgrading systems and procedures, fine-tuning them to the needs, problems and aspirations of the people.

Specifically, it seeks to attain the following goals:

  • Set response time in the delivery of services to its barest minimum;
  • Pursue specific projects and activities aimed at inducing and sustaining peak productivity levels in all departments and offices;
  • Encourage employees to come up with viable ideas and suggestions to further improve productivity;
  • Constantly upgrade the skills and competence of employees through the regular conduct of seminars, workshops, trainings and similar activities;
  • Institutionalize a cost reduction system; and
  • Set up a feedback mechanism for the public.

Program Strategies and Corresponding Activities Undertaken

Over the years, the following strategies were pursued to facilitate implementation and attainment of program objectives:

  • Confidence building. As noted above, the city government, at the outset, implemented empowering policies-- guided by the recognition that its personnel are an organization’s most precious resource. These include:
  • Implementation of a better compensation package
  • Setting up of a system based on aptitude and competence
  • Activation of the Merit and Promotions Board (with an employee representative to eliminate patronage)
  • Cultivation of an “atmosphere of competition”
  • Adoption of a more open, deliberative and participative system of management
  • Performance metrics. To promote accountability and efficiency in service delivery, the city government applied private management systems in a government setting. They include the following:
  • Implementation and institutionalization of private sector HRM techniques (like the 5-S and Productivity Improvement Circles, productivity seminars and semestral surveys) to set benchmarks and measure performance
  • An incentive system rewarding employee innovation, and
  • A “Contract of Deliverables” specifying services, the person responsible, and response time for each service of every department of the city government.
  • Program development. As the “mother of all award-winning programs” of the city government, the PIP helped crystallize and operationalize the following sectoral programs:
  • Emergency Rescue Naga (ERN)
  • Kaantabay sa Kauswagan
  • Metro Naga Development Council (MNDC)
  • Socialized Program for Empowerment and Economic Development (SPEED)
  • Local Initiatives for Economic Activities and Partnerships (LEAPS)
  • City Government Computerization Program (CGCP), and
  • Naga Early Education and Development (NEED).
  • Organizational development. As a consequence of program development, the city government created new organizational units that address the accelerated need for urban basic services to improve its responsiveness. These include the:
  • Urban Poor Affairs Office
  • Lingkod Barangay Office
  • Naga City Hospital
  • Electronic Data Processing Unit, and
  • Investment Promotion and Action Center.
  • Institutionalization. Through the passage of City Ordinance No. 97-002, otherwise known as the PIP Ordinance, the program was institutionalized. Under the new configuration, the program was “homed” under the City Human Resource Management Office (CHRMO).

Consequently, chairmanship of the PIP Committee—the entity in charge of managing the program—was transferred to the CHRMO head from the Secretary to the Mayor who used to head it.

  • Capability building. Under the auspices of the GOLD Project, the city government’s internal capability to continuously improve itself was enhanced. The vehicle was the training of a city facilitating team in the Technology of Participation (ToP) methodologies, which became a critical skill in improving productivity and service quality.

Side by side, continuing personnel development and empowerment was carried out through the installation and operationalization of the following:

  • Performance evaluation system
  • Merit promotion plan and system of ranking positions
  • Employee suggestions and incentives awards system
  • Grievance machinery, and
  • Adoption of qualification standards (QS) for certain positions.
  • Service quality improvement. The direct impact of the GOLD Project was felt in improving service quality. In 1998, the Quality Service Improvement Program (QSIP) was piloted in 5 health-related offices and departments, focusing on building customer service skills (BCSS) among frontliners.

In 2000, an enhanced version of the QSIP, called the Public Service Excellence Program (PSEP), was implemented, this time covering all 25 departments and offices of the city government. It was through PSEP that each of the departments drew up their own version of the following service quality improvement tools:

  • Departmental service vision
  • Departmental service values
  • Departmental service strategies
  • Departmental service standards
  • Individual Performance Pledges by department
  • Departmental organizational charts
  • Transaction flow, and
  • Requirements list in official transactions

While PIP, originally, focused on productivity improvement, PSEP gave the whole program a “customer focus” by implementing the whole spectrum of quality service improvement interventions.

Condition of area before the Program

The situation in Naga was not exactly ideal when the program was conceptualized in 1988.

  • The city coffers were virtually empty. (In fact, the new administration had to contend with a deficit in its first year in office. Moreover, the first-class status of the city, once the pride of Bicol, had been ignominiously reduced to a third-class rating.)
  • There was a crisis of confidence at City Hall itself. Morale was low, stemming mostly from poor pay (then the lowest in the region), and a demoralizing patronage system that promised promotion and professional advancement only those belonging to the so-called “in-crowd.”
  • As a result, productivity was low. The government’s tight financial position spawned a vicious cycle that impacted negatively on service delivery. Basic services, particularly for health and education, had been deteriorating. Resources required to address the problems were not forthcoming.
  • There was widespread indifference and very little stakeholdership among the various sectors of society. If the bureaucracy’s productivity went down, business sector confidence went lower. The narrow tax base remains confined to the 2,000 business establishments registered with the city government. As a result, tax collection was poor.

Condition of the area after the Program

Under the auspices of the program, the City Government achieved the following gains over the last 12 years:

  • Not only did its revenues consistently increase over the years, reversing the poor start in 1998. The program also helped propel a highly productive local economy that has been growing at the pace of 6.5% annually, significantly higher than rate of growth posted by the national economy.
  • In 1998, the gross city product (GCP) stood at P10.8 billion, which translates to a per capita GCP of P79,900. This figure is 115% higher than the Philippine per capita GNP.
  • It now has a highly motivated, better paid workforce that takes pride in what they do, convinced that “their city government can be as good, if not better, than the rest.” As a result, the city has received to date, on top of international acclaim, more than 60 national awards in diverse areas of governance.
  • Moreover, it has produced a total of 5 Dangal ng Bayan awardees since the Civil Service Commission started handing out the recognition a decade ago. It also posted the highest civic index—a measure of community pride—among the 10 LGUs prioritized under the GOLD Project.
  • The quality of service delivery has made tremendous gains. Aided by technical assistance under the GOLD Project, program focus has moved up the next level from quantity-driven productivity to service quality.
  • In the process, it has empowered the 25 departments and offices of the city to develop their respective service vision, values, strategies and standards, putting in place a performance metrics system that promotes transparency and accountability in service delivery.
  • Stakeholdership for various city initiatives has been enhanced under the program, thanks to the enhanced local capability among city personnel on the highly participative Technology of Participation (ToP) facilitation techniques. For instance, the city has been able to update its community-owned vision and mission statement mainly through the efforts of local ToP-trained technical personnel.

Program Accomplishments/Results to Date

Program Objectives / Accomplishments to date / Other Unintended Results
Set response time in the delivery of services to its barest minimum /
  • Developed a functional performance metrics system through departmental performance pledges
  • Reviewed these pledges in July 2001
/
  • Initial inputs for the development of a citizens guidebook on city government services
  • The uploading of the performance pledges and other service quality improvement tools in the city government website

Pursue specific projects and activities aimed at inducing and sustaining peak productivity levels in all departments and offices / Program and organizational development initiatives led to the conceptualization and implementation of innovative programs in diverse fields of governance such as
  • Emergency Rescue Naga (ERN)
  • Kaantabay sa Kauswagan
  • Metro Naga Development Council (MNDC)
  • Socialized Program for Empowerment and Economic Development (SPEED)
  • Local Initiatives for Economic Activities and Partnerships (LEAPS)
  • City Government Computerization Program (CGCP), and
  • Naga Early Education and Development (NEED)

Encourage employees to come up with viable ideas and suggestions to further improve productivity /
  • Institutionalized annual awards for outstanding employees and organizations
  • Institutionalized Very Innovative Person (VIP) contest that yielded productivity improvement measures

Constantly upgrade the skills and competence of employees through the regular conduct of seminars, workshops, trainings and similar activities /
  • Regularly conducted in-house trainings, seminars and workshops for the rank-and-file on such topics as basic computer operations, records management, 5-S, personality development, etc.
  • Networked with other institutions that offer external training opportunities, i.e. League of Cities, academic institutions
  • Rationalized the selection of city government representatives to external training opportunities
/ The implementation of GOLD technical assistance through
  • Quality Service Improvement Program (QSIP), and
  • Public Service Excellence Program (PSEP)

Institutionalize a cost reduction system /
  • VIP contest yielded practical measures for cost reduction
  • Periodic review of government procurement program identifies areas for improvement
  • Cost-conscious budgeting policies on MOOE levels helped contain cost across departments

Set up a feedback mechanism for the public / Regular dialog with various clients through SPEED’s multi-level consultation mechanisms generate feedback / The development of a citizens guidebook on city government services is another tool for generating feedback

program evolution

Original Productivity Improvement Program. As noted above, originally, PIP comprised of a series of initiatives launched during the early years of the Robredo administration that sought to employ private sector productivity techniques in a government setting.

The PIP, which won the Galing Pook Award as one of the Philippine’s 10 most outstanding local government programs in 1996, is commonly identified with the industrious ant mascot (named Pip); the ubiquitous Performance Pledge that became a prominent part and parcel of every city hall office; and the 5-S (“sorting”, “sweeping”, “sanitizing”, “systematizing” and “self-discipline”) and 3-R (“reduce”, “reuse” and “recycle”) mantras that cut down waste and promoted office efficiency.

Quality Service Improvement Program. The next milestone came in 1997 when Naga became one of the 11 sites for the USAID-assisted GOLD Project, a demand-driven technical assistance project that promotes assisted self-reliance. When Mayor Robredo sought GOLD’s assistance in the implementation of an expansive organizational development (OD) project for City Hall, the QSIP was suggested an alternative in view of time constraint.

QSIP became a perfect complement for PIP. While PIP stressed productivity, QSIP focused on enhancing service quality. Piloted on five health-related departments of the city—Health, Hospital, Social Welfare, Population and Nutrition, and Environment—its main vehicle for service improvement was the Basic Customers Service Skills (BCSS) training program for frontliners that also yielded a core group of qualified city hall trainers.

The technology transfer was also two-way. While personnel of these departments learned service quality techniques, ARD also adopted and incorporated the Performance Pledge as component of QSIP’s successor—a more structured service quality improvement program called Public Service Excellence Program (PSEP).

Public Service Excellence Program. PSEP came about in between 1999-2000, during the extension phase of GOLD, which was originally programmed to end in 1998. GOLD’s extension phase is marked by the rollout of technical assistance projects completed in the 11 priority sites to interested LGUs in the entire country.

As a GOLD site, Naga anchored the GOLD rollout in the Bicol region; moreover, its proposed projects were allotted funding support separate from those allocated to other Bicol LGUs. PSEP was among the five proposed by the administration of then Mayor (now 2nd District Congressman) Sulpicio S. Roco, Jr., with the end view of expanding it to all 25 departments and offices of the city.

As a more structured service improvement package, city hall was viewed under PSEP more as a service provider than a bureaucracy; the customer became king, as perspective of end-users of city hall services became paramount. Guided by its own trainers quarterbacked by the revitalized Human Resource Management Office, a rigorous four-month training program (from March-June 2000) was implemented bureaucracy-wide, aimed at generating recommendations on how service delivery can be improved. Instead of the 5-S and the 3-R, “service vision and values”, “service audit”, “service improvement” and “key moments of truth” became the project bywords.

EMERGING LESSONS

PIP/PSEP, as an alternative service delivery mechanism is a better, more creative response borne out of opportunities that current or recurring problems create. In Naga’s case, for instance, the loss of trust and confidence of the people of Naga towards their government, in 1988, impelled the administration to initiate confidence-building measures which were later institutionalized. Moreover, it is a better option to delivering service that would complement current government mechanisms. It is an innovative way of fundamentally refining the role of government by looking at administrative solutions.