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Last updated: : 25 August 2003
Embedding the APS Values
Overall framework
Embedding the Australian Public Service (APS) Values into the culture of an agency requires action at two levels:
- grouping the Values—a simple clarification by the Public Service Commissioner of the Values so that they can be more easily explained to APS employees across the Service, and
- promoting and upholding the Values—a holistic approach by each agency to build the robust management environment necessary to promote and uphold the Values, and to inspire public trust and organisational performance.
Building a fair and robust environment to inspire public trust, give APS employees confidence and improve organisational performance.
Grouping the Values
Values-based management is about relationships and behaviours. It means developing and sustaining a culture of trust based on a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities.
It underpins the governance structure when authority is devolved, and flexible, innovative management is needed. Control is maintained through confidence in the way decisions will be taken, rather than through detailed rules and instructions.
The APS Values can usefully be grouped according to the key relationships and behaviours they affect:
- the relationship between the APS and the government and the parliament
- the relationship between the APS and the public
- relationships in the workplace
- personal behaviours.
Embedding the APS Values
These relationships and behaviours effectively define the APS as an institution in Australia's democratic system. The APS is apolitical and professional, responsive to the elected government and openly accountable to the government, the parliament and the public; it is impartial in its dealings with the public; employment decisions are based on merit; and it has the highest ethical standards. APS employees are different from other employees providing services in the marketplace, in that they exercise authority on behalf of the government and the parliament, and act for the public. The public rightly expects high performance and high standards of personal behaviour.
Promoting and upholding the Values
There are three supporting elements at the base of the framework-commitment, management and assurance-that are key to the successful integration of the APS Values into an agency and to transforming the APS Values into daily decision making and behaviour. In a best practice agency they can be summarised as follows:
- Commitment is provided by guidance from leaders and managers who have the highest standards of behaviour and role-model the APS Values. They make clear expected standards of conduct and build trust with employees. The APS Values are integrated into strategic direction setting and induction activities. 'How to live them' is promulgated through learning and development activities, especially leadership development.
- Management is provided by 'hardwiring' the APS Values into management policies, instructions and guidance that are consciously communicated and accessible to everyone who needs them. Policies, instructions and guidance are coordinated so that the APS Values are part of day-to-day decision making and activity.
- Assurance is provided by effectively using accountability and control mechanisms such as the Code of Conduct, fraud control and risk assessment strategies and contract management arrangements. Employees are comfortable with reporting wrongdoing; suspected breaches of the Code of Conduct are investigated fairly and reasonably; and sanctions have substance and are respected by employees. Quality assurance mechanisms, such as staff and client surveys, are used to monitor adherence to the APS Values throughout the agency and to improve agency practice.
The framework is specific to the APS, but draws on and adapts international experience and work undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD 1997). It is influenced by the approaches taken to embedding the APS Values by the six agencies that contributed to this guide. The broad conclusions drawn from these sources are:
- A strategic and integrated approach is required to promote and maintain a values-based culture within an organisation. Such an approach requires effective leadership which establishes a fair and robust values-based culture with complementary learning and development strategies. It also requires hardwiring of the Values into instructions and guidance and effective control and assurance systems.
- Leadership is critical to inspiring and motivating employees not only to achieve organisational outcomes but also to engage with the expected values and behaviours.
- To foster and sustain a culture based on the APS Values, agencies need to guide and work with their people so that employees are aware of the APS Values and Code of Conduct and develop good judgement in applying them to their everyday duties.
Elements of the framework are illustrated by drawing on many of the case studies that are set out more fully in a second volume to this guide.
The importance of Values-based management
There is now broad interest in values-based management and recognition that, properly implemented, it offers organisations a framework of relations and behaviours within which they can drive different business tasks and respond quickly to changing circumstances. At the same time, a values-based framework has been shown to build public trust in an organisation's activities, increasing its overall effectiveness.
The APS Values have been designed to suit the specific business needs of the APS. They set a framework of enduring principles of good public administration while giving agencies the capacity to manage a wide range of functions and respond to environmental factors. According to the final explanatory memorandum for the Public Service Bill 1999, the Values are designed to:
- provide the philosophical underpinning for the APS
- reflect public expectations of the relationship between public servants and the government, parliament and the Australian community
- articulate the culture and operating ethos of the APS
- support and inform the Public Service Commissioner's Directions issued under the authority of the Act.
The Values framework represents a risk management approach, replacing the risk-averse approach of central prescription. It is responsive to the APS institutional framework and is sufficiently robust to direct the behaviour of all employees.
The Values themselves support longer-term organisational capability development while allowing decision-makers more flexibility. They also assist in increasing employee commitment and performance. They help shape an ethical culture that can enhance and continue the high standards of conduct that are the hallmark of the APS and they continue to underpin the public interest aspects of APS employment.
