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Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Trends and the Future of Public Service Essay Example for Free
Trends and the Future of Public Service Essay Introduction Public service organizations are the sectors that always receive considerable attention form the government. Beside their currently lower level of performance compare to private organizations, the attention is given due to governmental responsibilities is fulfilling demands of the people. Recently, the public service sector is evolving, partly due to the influence of a new management system called Outcome Based Management. In this paper, I am discussing the contents and philosophy of the Outcome Based management approach and how it influenced the public service sector in United States. Outcome Based Management II.1.    Emerging Trend Outcome based management (OBM) is the managerial framework that emphasizes more on forward looking activities. This managerial approach focuses on why are things done and what have actually been done. In a simple sentence, the term encourages managing for actual results. The term is often identified with the sentence: â€Å"better planning generates better outcomes†. The managerial framework first gained attention of public organization’s managers because of its commitment toward results. The public service is always known lo lag behind the private sector because of its weak commitment toward real achievements. This is reveled in various sectors of the public sector, including the environmental sector, health sector and even child-care. These sectors required a system that works based on real-hard results, and OBM’s characteristic that put forth alignment between services delivered and actual goal achievements is a dominant catalyst in the adoption of this concept into the public service sector.  II.2.    Elements of OBM There are several elements of OBM. The first is the outcome itself. Outcome is the impact, result or consequences for the organization of related parties. If the outcome of a particular project matched existing corporate objective, then the company have successfully performed the OBM. The second element of OBM is the services given. They are tools to achieve the outcomes determined earlier. The third element is the Key Performance Indicators. The performance indicators function as an analysis tool that determines whether the targeted outcomes are achieved or not. The traditional perspective perceived a company to perform three important activities, which are: planning, budgeting and reporting. According to the OBM perspective however, these activities can be explained further using a chain of detailed process, which includes: Formulation of corporate goals and strategic outcomes Formulation of mission statement and the strategic plan Formulation of budgets, including key performance indicator targets Delivery of services Performance reporting in annual reports Performance assessment Outcome Outcome is simply the reason why corporate activities are performed. There are actually three levels of outcomes, the first is corporate goals. It is the highest level of outcome and the most general one. The second is called strategic outcomes, which relate corporate goals into these parties: the people in general (community), the environment, the economy, the region and governance. Considerations of these factors brought to the finding of strategic outcomes. The third is called agency-level outcomes, which functions are to detail the general outcomes into more specific targets. The formulation of agency-level outcomes is the final step before performing the services Clearly defining corporate outcomes are important element of the OBM application. This is true because the outcome information will be used to direct the organization within its activities. For example, the outcome information is generally used by the corporate management to: trigger corrective actions like identifying problem areas that requires attention; identify best practices; motivate employees and to perform planning and budgeting activities. The outcome objective can also be used by external parties to: perform economic analysis, provide informed commentary, and perform benchmarking. Services      The next step in OBM after properly defining the right goals, strategic level outcomes and agency level outcomes is defining how each unit could contribute to the achievement of organizational goals. OBM stresses on the importance in finding the link between the desired outcome and the services delivered. This is necessary because according to the OBM resource should be allocated to any unit unless it can contribute to the achievement of organizational goals. Alignment between the goals and the service provided is a must because once such an alignment is achieved; the collection of costs and performance data is easier to perform. After defining the specific agendas of each unit of the organization, the next step within OBM is reviewing the service agendas. The common practice in OBM organizations is by developing a service checklist that will enable them to evaluate whether the services delivered are the right ones. Performance Indicators      The third step in the application of OBM is developing performance indicators. The presence of the right performance indicators will allow performances to be measured, evaluated, and improved. The general performance indicators in OBM are divided into two categories, which are: effectiveness indicators and efficiency indicators. The two categories should have at least three characteristics, which are: relevance, appropriateness and fair representative ness. Defining these indicators enables the organization to perform continuous improvement by identifying emerging issues and specify the best services to deal with the issues, and furthermore, improve organizational accountability.  II.3.    Expert’s Opinion about OBM            The ideal implementation of the OBM concept supposedly generates the following conditions: Encourages information sharing between employees and externally with clients, partners, etc Encourage communication of organizational achievements Easier and more effective reporting activities Increased flexibility and scalability Lead to effective use of available business information for analytical reporting, decision making and forecasting. Improve operational efficiency Increased profitability from relationship with partners and suppliers Drive operating staff toward the achievements of strategic results, etc Taking account of these achievements, the OBM concept is generally benefiting organizations as a whole, particularly the less committed public service organizations. There are however, obstacles that must be faced. In the process of defining outcomes and unit contribution to that outcome, there are individuals and parts of the organization that are reluctant to share data due to fear of inaccuracy or more often, unfavorable interpretation. The second challenge is caused by the tendency of people that have invested in their data collection to be unwilling to share the information due to the loss of credit in the work involved. The third challenge is cost oriented. Some data required to achieve accurate measurement are more expensive than others. The fourth challenge is simply caused by the fear of being judged for something that we cannot control. In many sectors, like the environmental and health sectors, there are often uncontrollable variables that considerably affect the achievements of organizational goals. Including these factors in the evaluation system will be inaccurate and furthermore, most likely become the source of discontent ness among employees.  II.4.    Identification of the Trend            Organizations and institutions that use OBM concepts generally have specific characteristics within them. The implementation of OBM is similar in various sectors despite the different services offered by the sectors. The implementation can be detected in the form of steps performed to identify goals and linking them to services performed. The amount of resources and time dedicated to each step might differ from one industry to the others depending on the difficulty of performing each step, but the steps that are performed are generally within the same order. For example, in the environmental public services, the amount of resources committed to define the desirable outcome is quite enormous and significantly larger than other sectors; This is due to the difficult nature of defining the suitable environmental targets to be achieved from environmental projects. In health care sector and child care sector on the other hand, identifying what services to perform in order to achieve identified goals are the most difficult step and the one requires most observations. These sectors however, are all performing similar elements of the OBM approach. Implications for the Public Service III.1.  Unique Sector            Public service is generally known as governmentally-run organizations which all resources are generated from the government and thus, from the public themselves. If we are to study the development of this sector however, it is necessary to reveal how the public service sector is rationally different from the private sector. The most basic difference is the fact that in the private sector, most activities started at the supply side. Technology, for instance, is known as a tremendous catalyst from the supply side of business in the private sector that generates dramatic changes in various industries.            In the public service sector on the other hand, the main intervention that leads to change originated from the demand side. Ironically, there are generally little chances to charge the public directly for the services they receive. Governmental taxes are the media that connects the payment between the public and the public sector workers. In addition of becoming a tool of delivering what the public needs, the public sector is also the tool to create a balance in the private sectors’ operations. In the transport and utilities sector for example, where networks grows and the element for natural monopoly is strong, public involvement is required to prevent market failures and the abuse of market positions (Franà §ois, 2003).            In the light of this unique structure, we can logically guest that the problem with public service sector is actually the presence of the government as an intermediary party itself. In the private sector, people are working for their customers and they gain payments from them as well. This trade between service and payments happens dynamically and each side can influence the trade. In other words, it is easier for the private sector workers to influence the amount of payment they will receive. In the public sector on the other hand, people are working for the government. Workers are not in direct trade of service and payments as the private sector. It is harder for them to influence the amount of payment they will receive (Glaeser, 2003).            In discussions of why productivity and efficiency in the public sector is often considered worse than the private sectors, many factors are mentioned, but the condition revealed above is one of the reasons often mentioned. The private sector workers are generally more motivated because in their frame of mind they have a way of influencing their own destiny. The public sector workers on the other hand, are working for different people than the one signing their checks. Knowing that the quality of their work will not influence their salaries, public sector workers are subject to a declining working motivation (Disney, 1998).  III.2.  Challenges            In addition to the general problem mentioned above, there are also other issues that are parts of the new development of the public service sector in United States. Political leaders indicated the need to recruit the next generation of public sector workers. It is believed that the public service sector environment today has already evolved into phases that are out of the older-generation’s league. The new system of management requires new workers with the ability to learn and adapt to the evolved conditions of the public service sector. Others however, believed that such a change will not be beneficial due to the similar image of the job. Workers at the public service sector are still viewed as a ‘public servant’, a phrase which are highly unpopular in American society. Despite the enhanced system of management, if the government is unable to maintain change this image, the new workers are still going to be the ‘new generation of public servants’, in the sense that they have minimum bargaining power over the services they provide and salaries they receive. Another issue in the public service sector, particularly in the United States is the ageing structure of the public service workers. Statistics indicated that with the reluctance of young people in entering the sector leave only old people within the sector. This will obviously mean a degradation of management quality within the public service sector. Another study indicated that information deficiency is significant problem in managing public services. The information regarding desired outcome are generally owned by the lowest people in the managerial chain, while the strategic decisions are made by the government which has little access to the information (‘Challenges’, 2008). III.3.  Implications of the OBM Approach III.3.1. New Systems            The application of the OBM approach to the public service sector might address several of the problems mentioned earlier. For example, the lack of motivation could be solved by better focus on actual results and linking organizational objectives directly to services performed. Successful application however, requires adaptation to the steps and elements of the OBM approach.            In the public service organization, the desired outcomes can be those specified in the annual budget statements or those identified in legislation and specified by the related authority. For example, the general outcome of a public sector could be: accessible, reliable and safe public transport system, or a fair and independent criminal prosecution service. In the public service organizations, these general outcomes can then be translated into the agency-level outcomes. Furthermore, the use of outcome information in the public service organizations, can internally improve the budget setting process, while externally it can improve agency control, make it easier for other agencies to make contributions to the organization (Hundley, 1991).            In the next step, OBM leads the public sector organization to specify agency-level services that are required to achieve the agency-level outcomes. This is generally performed by the making of a service checklist. The service checklist consist of questions like what service are delivered, what outcome are the services addressing, what results are the service addressing. Afterwards, the OBM approach takes the public service organization to developing performance indicators. For the public service organizations, cost efficiency indicators could be: cost per student graduated, cost per license issued, etc; productivity indicators include: students taught per teacher, cases resolved per officer, etc. Overall, the benefits brought by the new approach include: Greater public transparency Enhanced knowledge in identifying best practices Increased ability in assessing performance against target Increased ability in investigating reasons of failure in meeting specified targets (Hatry, 2003) III.3.2. New Skills Required            In light of the elements and process demanded by the OBM approach, the new skills required are: Sensitivity to new Information            To better perform the first step of the OBM approach, which is defining goals and outcomes, members of the public service organization need to be sensitive of the demands exist in the surrounding environment. This is related to the fact that public sector organizations exist to serve the public rather than to achieve organizational profit. Communicating information The people that are exposed to new information generally come from the lowest structure of the organization. Thus, the organization must design a system and furthermore, the skills to communicate information up to the highest level of management. Linking service activities to established goals Under the OBM approach workers at the public service organization are demanded to constantly see the linkage between the goals, outcome defined agency-level outcome and finally the service performed. This will provide them with clear logical frame of thinking, especially in decision making activities. Reference: ‘Challenges and Trends in Public Administration’. 2008. Retrieved January 2008 from unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/ public/documents/ASPA/UNPAN006965.pdf Disney, R., and Gosling, A. 1998, ‘Does it Pay to Work in the Public Sector?’, Fiscal Studies, 19(4), 347–74. Franà §ois, P. 2003, ‘Not-for-Profit Provision of Public Services’, The Economic Journal, 113(486), C53–61. Glaeser, E. L. 2003. ‘The Governance of Not-for-profit Organizations’. Chicago, IL, University of ChicagoPress. Hatry, H. P., Morley, E., Rossman, S. B. Wholey, J. S. 2003. ‘How Federal Programs Use Outcome Information: Opportunities for Federal Managers’. National Academy of Public Administration Hundley, G. 1991. ‘Public and Private-sector Occupational Pay Structures’, Industrial Relations, 30(3), 417–34.
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Precision Guided Munitions :: Weapons Guns Gun Essays Reseach Papers
Precision Guided Munitions During the Persian Gulf War of 1991 a new class of weapons made its debut and presaged a revolution in military affairs. Although precision-guided munitions (PGMs), ranging from laser-guided bombs to Tomahawk cruise missiles, represented only a fraction of the total ordinance used in Iraq, the effect they had was electric. The television footage of a bomb dropped from more than 6 miles above descending onto its target and hitting with absolute precision was at once fascinating and jarring. The Gulf War demonstrated the power that precision aerial attacks possessed. The accuracy and lethality of air launched munitions during the Gulf war was in sharp contrast to the relative crudity of aerial bombing during World War II. In Iraq and later in Kosovo, precision-guided munitions (PGM) demonstrated their capabilities. The US waged a type of warfare in these campaigns that was markedly different from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. The US is still coming to grips with the implications of the new type of warfare it has released. The development of accurate precision-guided munitions was not revolutionary, but an evolutionary process that took the course of half a century. Today most precision-guided munitions can be classified by their guidance or propulsion systems. Precision-guided munitions affect the military in three areas. First precision-guided munitions have challenged time-honored traditions of mass. Second, precision-guided munitions have unique information needs. Finally, the capabilities of precision-guided munitions have significant implications on acquisitions policy. Regardless of whether or not precision-guided munitions are part of a larger revolution in military, the implic ations of precision-guided munitions for the US military are significant. Historical Evolution of Accuracy Ever since man first threw stones at their fellow men, the elusive goal of killing one’s opponent from a distance, with absolute precision has been a holy grail of warfare. Weapons such as bows and arrows, rifles, and artillery, were all designed for increased lethality at longer distances, with less risk to the operator. PGMs provide just that capability; that is the capability to put ordinance on target with precision at long ranges. Precision has always played a role in warfare. Whether it was marksmanship with bow or rifle, the ability to place a projectile on target contributed greatly to victory. PGMs were designed with just that function in mind.
Monday, January 13, 2020
Digital voltmeter using 8051 microcontroller Essay
Voltmeter using 8051 microcontroller. Automatic railway gate control 8051 microcontroller use  adminOctober – 4 – 20127 CommentsVoltmeter using 8051. A simple 0-5V voltmeter using 8051 is shown in this article. This digital voltmeter has a sensitivity of 200mV which is a bit low but this project is meant for demonstrating how an ADC and seven segment display can be interfaced to 8051 to obtain a digital readout of the input voltage. A 31/2 digit high end voltmeter will be added soon. ADC0804 is the ADC and AT89S51 is the controller used in this project. Before attempting this project, go through these projects Interfacing ADC to 8051 and Interfacing seven segment display to 8051 which will give you a good idea on the basics. Circuit diagram. 0-5 digital voltmeter using 8051 About the circuit. In the circuit Vref/2 (pin9) of the ADC is left open and it means that the input voltage span can be o to 5V and the step size will be 5/255 = 19.6mV. The equation for the digital output of ADC0804 is Dout = Vin/Step size. In this circuit, for an input voltage of 1V the digital output will be 1/19.6mV = 51 and so the binary equivalent of 51 ie 00110011. Digital output of the ADC is interfaced to P1.0 of the microcontroller. Control signals for the ADC ie CS, RD, WR and INTR are available from the P3.7, P3.6, P3.5 and P3.4 pins of the microcontroller respectively. 2 digit multiplexed seven segment display is interfaced to Port0 of the microcontroller. Control signals for the display driver transistors Q1 and Q2 are obtained from P3.2 and P3.1 of the microcontroller. Push button switch S1, capacitor C2 and resistor R10 forms a debouncing reset circuitry. Program. ORG 00H MOV P1,#11111111B MOV P0,#00000000B MOV P3,#00000000B MOV DPTR,#LABEL MAIN: CLR P3.7 SETB P3.6 CLR P3.5 SETB P3.5 WAIT: JB P3.4,WAIT CLR P3.7 CLR P3.6 MOV A,P1 MOV B,#10D DIV AB MOV B,#2D MUL AB MOV B,#10D DIV AB SETB P3.2 ACALL DISPLAY MOV P0,A ACALL DELAY MOV P0,#10000000B ACALL DELAY MOV A,B CLR P3.2 SETB P3.1 ACALL DISPLAY MOV P0,A ACALL DELAY CLR P3.1 SJMP MAIN DELAY: MOV R3,#02H DEL1: MOV R2,#0FAH DEL2: DJNZ R2,DEL2 DJNZ R3,DEL1 RET DISPLAY: MOVC A,@A+DPTR RET LABEL: DB 3FH DB 06H DB 5BH DB 4FH DB 66H DB 6DH DB 7DH DB 07H DB 7FH DB 6FH END About the program. At first the program controls the ADC to produce a digital output corresponding to the input voltage.This digital output is scanned through P1.0 and is loaded to accumulator. Then the value in the accumulator is divided by 10 to omit the last digit. For example, let the input voltage be 4V. Then the corresponding digital output of the ADC will be 204D (D stands for decimal) .After the the division by 10, the value left in the accumulator will be 20D. This 20D is then multiplied by 2D which results in 40D. The next target of the program is to manipulate this 40D and make a 4.0 readout on the display. For this the 40D is again divided by 10D . This results in 4 inside accumulator and 0 inside B register. Then the program gets the digit drive pattern for 4 using the lookup table , puts this pattern on Port 0 and activates Q1. After 1 ms delay 10000000B is loaded to P0 and this accounts for the dot. After a further 1ms delay Q1 is deactivated, content in B (ie 0) is moved to A, gets the correct digit drive pattern for 0 using the lookup table, puts this pattern on Port 0 and activates Q2. After a further 1ms delay Q2 is deactivated and the entire cycle is repeated. 8051 Microcontroller Projects & Circuits adminFebruary – 1 – 20138 CommentsIn this article we are listing all the projects and circuits we have developed using the 8051 micro controller. We have tested all of these projects in our lab and verified the working . All these projects are made to solve a real world requirement or problem. Engineering students & other diploma students will find these projects useful for their mini project and main project requirements. All the 8051 projects listed below are made using the 8051 compliant microcontroller from Atmel – AT89S51. We have given the correct circuit diagram, working and software code (in assembly language) for each and every project. You can use all of them freely for your project & learning requirements. In case you are using a controller other than AT89S51 – please be sure to check the hardware of your controller and compare it with that of AT89S51. This is necessary because we have developed all the software in assembly language. If you are not that good at assembly language, you can convert the software into C language & use it with any compliant 8051 controller. Image Source 1. Ultrasonic Range Finder using 8051 – This project as the name says, is an application to measure distance of an object. It uses an ultrasonic transducer module HC-SR04 to measure the distance and the controller AT89S51 to make the necessary processing. This project can be used to make applications like Automotive parking sensor, Obstacle warning systems, Terrain monitoring robots etc. This ultrasonic range finder can measure distances upto 2.5 meters with an accuracy of 1 cm. 2. Digital Tachometer using 8051 – This project is a digital tachometer which can be used to measure the revolutions per second of any object like a rotating wheel or a disc or a shaft. This application built using 8051 micro controller can measure upto 255 revolutions/second with an accuracy of 1 rev/sec. This application has 3 important sections – 1) is the optical pickup designed to pick the revolutions of the object using a photo transistor and LED. 2) is the processing stage designed using 8051 and the associated software 3) is the display section using 7 segment displays. 3. Water Level Controller using 8051 – This is one of the most popular project we have published using 8051 controller. This water level controller monitors the level of the over head tank and automatically switches on the water pump when ever the level goes below a preset limit. The level of the over head tank is indicated using 5 leds and the pump is switched of when the over head tank is filled. We have given an illustrated circuit diagram with working explained in detail. You will also find the software codes written in assemble language. 4. Voltmeter using 8051 – We all must have used a multimeter from our young days. Have you ever bothered to create one ? So here is one such an interesting project. A Voltmeter using 8051 micro controller. Even though its quiet simple and an easy to make one, you shall find it really interesting. This can be used as an application at the mini project level for engineering and diploma students. This digital voltmeter can measure 0 to 5 volts and has a sensitivity of 200mV which is a bit low but this project is meant for demonstrating how an ADC and seven segment display can be interfaced to 8051 to obtain a digital readout of the input voltage. ADC0804 is the ADC and AT89S51 is the controller used in this project. 5. Thermometer using 8051 – This is an interesting project designed to measure temperature using 8051. Its a simple 0-100 °C digital thermometer with 1 °C resolution using 8051. The circuit is based on LM35 analog temperature sensor, ADC0804 and AT89S51 microcontroller. LM35 is an analogue temperature sensor IC which can measure a temperature range of -55 to 150 °C. Its output voltage varies 10mV per  °C change in temperature. Knowledge Resources:- The articles below given are basics on how to work with 8051 micro controller. You can refer them if you come across a road block anywhere! 1. Interfacing 7 segment display to 8051 – A good tutorial on interfacing 7 segment display to 8051 micro controller. 2. Interfacing LCD display to 8051 – Explains how to interface a 16Ãâ€"2 LCD display with 8051 micro controller. 3. Interfacing DC motor to 8051 – Explains how to interface a DC motor with 8051 micro controller. 4. Interfacing push button switch to 8051 – Interfacing LED & Push button switch to 8051 micro controller. 5. Interfacing ADC to 8051 – This articles gives you a good detail on how to interface ADC to 8051 micro controller. ADC 0804 is used to explain the interfacing procedure with an example software routine. 8 channel light chaser using 8051 adminMay – 10 – 201210 Comments6 function 8 channel light chaser using 8051. A 6 function 8 channel light chaser using 8051 is shown here. The hardware and software of this circuit are very simple and the light functions gets repeated one after another automatically. P1.0 to P1.7 of the microcontroller (AT89S51) are assigned as the output pins. Corresponding LEDs are connected to the output pins through 1K current limiting resistors (R1 to R8). The sequence by which the output pins (P1.0 to P1.7) goes high and low is determined by the program and the LEDs follow this sequence. Circuit diagram of the 6 function chaser using 8051 is shown below. 6 function light chaser using 8051 Program. START: MOV A,#80H MOV R7,#07H MOV P1,A LCALL DELAY LABEL1: RR A MOV P1,A LCALL DELAY DJNZ R7,LABEL1 MOV R7,#07H LABEL2: RL A MOV P1,A LCALL DELAY DJNZ R7,LABEL2 MOV P1,#81H LCALL DELAY MOV P1,#42H LCALL DELAY MOV P1,#24H LCALL DELAY MOV P1,#18H LCALL DELAY MOV P1,#0FFH LCALL DELAY MOV P1,#00H LCALL DELAY MOV A,#80H MOV P1,A LCALL DELAY MOV R7,#07H LABEL3: SETB C RRC A MOV P1,A LCALL DELAY DJNZ R7,LABEL3 MOv P1,#00H LCALL DELAY MOV A,#0AAH MOV P1,A LCALL DELAY CPL A MOV P1,A LCALL DELAY LJMP START DELAY: MOV R4,#03H WAIT1: MOV R3,#00H WAIT2: MOV R2,#00H WAIT3: DJNZ R2,WAIT3 DJNZ R3,WAIT2 DJNZ R4,WAIT1 RET END
Saturday, January 4, 2020
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