Quality in Government: Issues and Opportunities

I would like to share my personal perspective about common issues arising from lack of quality in government, benefits of quality in government, and some successful role model examples of quality in government.

I. Common Issues arising from Lack of Quality in Government:
I have experienced some of the following issues when there was a lack of quality in government.

• Poor Leadership
• Sub-optimal Performance 
• Wasted Public Resources
• Lack of Social Responsibility
• Special Interest Groups Hijacking Public Agenda
• Lack of Transparency
• Corruption

II. Benefits of Quality in Government:
When quality is embraced by the government, we can see some of the benefits as follows:

• Effective Leadership
• Focused Strategic Planning and Strategy Deployment
• Citizenship Focus and Client Feedback
• Performance Measurement
• Employee Engagement and Participation
• Systems Thinking and Continuous Improvement
• Optimal Performance

III. Successful Role Model Examples of Quality in Government:
Here are some successful role model examples of quality and continuous improvement in government:

• City of Madison, Wisconsin, USA - March 1984,  Motor Equipment Division of the City's Department of Public Works embraced Dr. W. Edwards Deming's Philosophy.
• City of Coral Springs, Florida, USA - 2007 Baldrige Performance Excellence Awardee
• U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC), Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, USA - 2007 Baldrige Performance Excellence Awardee
• VA Cooperative Studies Program Clinical Research Pharmacy Coordinating Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA - 2009 Baldrige Performance Excellence Awardee
• State of Gujarat, India - 2006-2011, e-governance Leader in India. The State made e-governance functional in all its Municipalities and Municipal Corporations. The State provided citizen based services as per convenient locations, improved the reach, provided more transparent services, reduced response time, and reduced costs.

I would welcome your thoughts on quality in government.