TOPIC 2.12: Cross-sector governance challenges

The complex system of citizens, clients and stakeholders is driving changes in public management. With the development of partnered, contractual and networked relationships, diverse forms of governance are emerging to support cross-sectoral, collaborative ventures.

Corporate governance broadly concerns the oversight of four elements:

1. The relationship between the organisation and the environment (the customer).
2. The strategic direction of the organisation (3-5 year plan).
3. The organisation’s financial sustainability and disclosure.
4. The reputation (risk and ethics) of the organisation.

Network governance, as we noted earlier, includes facilitating commitment to:

• Agreed network purpose and timeframe.
• Shared and individual participant contributions.
• Political support for network flexibility, innovativeness and expanded capacity.
• Open communication.
• Managing risk.
• Measuring network performance.

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) refers to elements of governance of public sector entities as follows: public governance, values and code of ethics, audit, compliance and controls, risk management and performance information, strategic and business planning, management structure. The principles of good governance in public sector entities are managerial and personal including integration, accountability, transparency, leadership, integrity and commitment. Getting the balance right between performance and conformance is a challenge in public sector governance.

Our final short section is about performance evaluation. We have considered stakeholders participation in planning and engagement. Stakeholders also have a role in evaluation.