Strategic Cost Management Essay Analyzes Australian Public Sector Departments.

Public Sector Analysis

Describe about the Strategic Cost Management for Comprehensive Analysis.

The report is aimed to provide a comprehensive analysis of the public sector departments in Australia. The report provides both the financial and the nonfinancial aspects of both the Government departments. The report further shows the exploration of the literature review with respect to the use of strategic management techniques, which is most promeinetly, related to the improvement of the selected Governmental agencies. The report also provides the objectives and the strategies of the selected organization. The latter part of the report discussed about the key strengths and the weakness in terms of the availability of the resources and capabilities of the selected Governmental department.

The two Government departments of Australia selected of the purpose of this assignment are Australian defense industry and Department of immigration and border protection. The Australian defense force (ADF) established in the year 1903 was founded with the basic principle to drive the self-reliance of the defense system in Australia. The defense industry operations are accountable to Commonwealth parliament, which efficiently which is represented by the people of Australia and aims to effectively carry out the defense policies of the Government of Australia (Commonwealth of Australia, 2016).

The department of the immigration and border protection is responsible for the immigration and adherence to the customs border policy. The department directly comes under the jurisdiction of commonwealth of Australia, with its sole motto to develop Australia through a well managed and settlement of the people. The department is headed by the department of sectary of the department of immigration and border protection. It has been furher noted that the administrative arrangements are broadly classified in to matters relating to various types of the ethnic affairs, border immigration control, entry stay and departure of the non citizens. It also provides the various types of the facilities for the people who are in need of services such as citizenship of Australia (Border.gov.au. 2016).

Department of Defense

Scope of the Department

The scope of the department is seen in form of total employee strength of 65647 (as recorded in the year 2016) employees and maintaining an annual budget of $ 32.4 billion.

Impact of Australian GDP

The department of defense constitutes 1.92% of the total GDP of Australia. The total amount allocated by the Government of Australia to the defense organization is $ 31.9 billion in the present financial year of 2015-2016. This is seen as an increase of $ 25.4 billion allocated in the previous year.

Literature into Public Sector’s use of strategic management techniques

Nonfinancial Impact

The non-financial impact is seen in form of “The Australian Defense Force (ADF)” and “Financial Services Consumer Centre (ADF Consumer)”. These institutions are responsible for providing independent and professional financial education assistance to the ADF members so that the ADF personnel can experience a greater benefit in terms of the financial security (Adfconsumer.gov.au. 2016).The non financial impact is also seen with possession for various types of the nonfinancial assets of the company. These assets include Land & Buildings, specialty military equipment, infrastructure, plant and equipment, intangibles and many more. The total possession of the non-financial assets of the defense department is seen to be around 80 million in the year 2014-2015.

Financial Impact

The chief financial officer of the department of defense is responsible for driving the improvement program for the defense and the make the necessary financial amendments for the improvement in the defense activities. The financial benefits are seen in form of providing assistance during short term financial difficulties or emergencies. In a distressed situation, the members of the ADF can access the different types of financial services such as loans and grants through the welfare services. The financial assistance is further is seen in form of department’s application of various types of schemes related to Home ownership assistance, which helps the members of the ADF to achieve the home ownership and offering the eligible members a subsidy for the interest. The department is also responsible for providing financial assistance through salary packaging system, which allows the defense employees to restructure the income and deal in range of pre tax products.  This is done through Navy Relief Trust Fund, Army Relief Trust Fund or RAAF Welfare Trust Fund. The department is further seen to have an income of $ 51 Million in the year 2014-2015 (Defence.gov.au. 2016).

The defense expenditure as a proportions to the total expenditure and proportion of the GDP is shown below with a line graph as follows

 

Figure 1: Defense expenditure as a proportion total expenditure and GDP

(Source: Aph.gov.au.2016)

Department of Immigration and border protection

Scope of the Department

The scope of this department is seen with total employee strength of 8506. It has been further observed that the annual budget of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection is 15 million, with a total funding of 46 million.

Impact of Australian GDP

The department of immigration and Border Protection has been seen with a total contribution of 5.9 percent in the GDP per growth. The GDP is further expected to grow by 10% in the year 2050 (Australia.gov.au.2016).

Nonfinancial Impact

The department of the immigration has taken several initiatives such as humanitarian program, citizen program and border security program and immigration detention programs. In year 2016-17 the administered assets is expected to increase by $ 54.3 Million from $ 208087.7 million. This particular increase is mainly seen due to the increase in the overall non-financial assets. It has been further seen that the non-financial assets of the company comprises of the property, plant and equipment, land building, intangibles and inventories. The highest amount of the non- financial assets is seen in land and building of the company. It has been observes that the department is maintaining a total of $ 1402691. The treatment of the immigration is further seen in the conceptual framework of the Inter-Generational Reports. The immigration features are seen as the exogenous inputs of the size of the population and the segregation of the same based on the age and gender (Dss.gov.au. 2016). The different types of the en financial assistance is seen in form of adhering to the formalities for the people entering or leaving Australia, people seeking Visa support and individual requiring the support for studying in Australia. The migration rationale to the Australia has been shown below with then diagram as follows:

 

Figure 2: Rationale and outcome of migration to Australia

(Source: Border.gov.au. 2016)

The overall financial performance of the department is seen with an operating deficit of $ 85.3, million. The department is further seen to incur an amount of $ 109.9 million as the departmental depreciation cost. The financial impact of the department of immigration and Border Protection has been studied with the help of the studying net cost of the services and other comprehensive income of the company. It has been observed that the Immigration department contributes negatively. The loss from the comprehensive income attributable to the Government of Australia is $ 53 Million. This is mainly due to the increased cost of the services such as suppliers, personal benefits, grants and subsidies, depreciation and amortization and the increase in the values related to the impartment cost of the assets. Although the depart is able to earn a total revenue of $ 1880110 in the year 2015, but due to the increased cost of the aforementioned expenses of the company it is not able to maintain the adequate level of the cost of the services (Border.gov.au. 2016).

Department of Defense

The defense strategy of the Government is prepared based on the response of the  interest of the of the military force. The basic interest of the strategic defense is seen in form of three strategic defense interest is seen in form of the significance of the strategic defense planning. The basic strategy is seen in form of securing the country from any form of threat from other countries. The strategic management concepts implemented in the current system is directly related to the concepts of   alliance and mergers (Smith 2015). At present, the Department of Defense aims to focus on strategies related to enhancement of ADF capability and maintenance of a high axis and intelligence for military capability and collaborating with United States. The main goals of the department also lies in generating and sustaining Australia’s global and regional influence and accentuate more on the security partnerships through effective deployment of the ADF needs. The department further aims to strengthen the international security residence. This is done by supporting a strong regional security architecture, which is aimed to protect Australia’s interests and avoid risk of portion and instability due to conflicts of various opinions (Flanagan 2016).

In order to achieve the present strategic objectives the defense team of Australia has entered into bilateral defense relationship with arrangements made for multiple security needs. The benefits of the various types of the alliances are seen in form of alliance with countries such as United States, China, Japan, Malaysia, UK, New Zealand and Republic of Korea.  The strong alliance with United States will ensure that the ANZUS treaty signed in the year 1951 provides a formal basis of the relationship (Davis 2016). The treaty mainly recognized that the armed attack in the Pacific area of the United States or Australia could pose a threat to both the countries and hence this needed to be prevented. The strategic management concepts are also seen in terms of leadership skills. With respect to the leadership skills United States had shown several international coalitions respond to the global challenges in combating power and making influence for bringing both the country as to whether including Australia and sharing the burden of international security and paving the way for meaningful contributions in terms of international coalitions (Marquis et al. 2016).

Department of Immigration and border protection

The main strategic objectives of Department of immigration and border protection are seen in the interconnection of the modern world with the exposed activities and the geopolitical developments made in several corners of the globe. The department aims to resolve the growing concerns relating to conflicts, instability and factors driving civil unrest and epidemic corruption in the fragile areas of the world. It works for assisting the flow of the displaced individuals in continuing their present challenge for procedure concern the bilateral and multilateral effort and thereby ensures the coordination among the people (Pickering and Weber 2013). The strategic management conceptualization is also seen with advancements made with technology and implementing various tools such as biometric technology and data analytics and several initiatives taken for management of people, goods and issues concerning the border security. The government of Australia for the purpose of digital transformation and easy availability of the services have laid an augmented focus to the business enterprises. The exposure to the technological constraint is becoming important for increased cyber attack and crypto currency (Border.gov.au. 2016).

The key strategic objective of the department of immigration and border protection seen in form protecting the country, promotion of responsive migration, advancement in trade and revenue and enhancing the technology and border innovation. (Border.gov.au. (2016). The department further aims to work based on a cohesive and secure policy framework, which is designed to support the government expectations. It is further seen as a targeted deregulation, which acts as the most important tool for meeting the requirements of clients, industry and business. The department further ensures that the policy development and the accountability of the program is in line with the migration and visa reform agendas of the government. The department is responsible for setting the appropriate delivery channels and meets the different requirement of the clients (Hollifield, Martin and Orrenius 2014).

The various types of strategies further aims for maintaining the highest form of integrity relating to the Australia citizenship program needs and promotion of the acquisition and recognition within the community. The policy set by the department directly relates to the strategic ability to acquire and use the identity information through several developmental, international, and inter-jurisdictional agreements and promotion of using greater amount of biometric technology. The department further ensures to measure the developmental and implementation agendas decorated into the effective skills targeting and temporary or permanent migration program of the clients. It also supports for continuous enhancement with the implementation of students program and making the ongoing development for a robust and sustainable communication strategy, which promotes the overall acquisition and value of Australian citizenship (Nethery, Rafferty-Brown and Taylor 2013).

Department of Defense

The strategic defense objectives of the department are formulated different the strategic defense interests. The government of Australia has prepared a three equally weighted strategic defense objectives for outlining the government expectations and use of military power with respect to strategic defense interests. The strategic defense objectives are mentioned below as follows:

Deter, defeat and denial of attacks or threats to the Australian land and protecting its national interest and the northern approaches.

Making an effective contribution in terms of supporting the securities of Southeast Asia and the government of Timor-Leste, Pacific Island countries and Papua New Guinea

Contribution of the military capabilities for the coalition operation and supporting the country’s interests in terms of rule based on the global orders (Moroney et al. 2013)

The strategies of the Department of Defense are Prepared According to the future challenges and the development, which can be made in both global and regional environment are classified as both short term and long term strategies. The elaboration of the Pacific strategies is given below as follows:

Deter, defeat and denial of attacks or threats (Long Term): - the government is responsible for providing enhanced domestic security capabilities for responding to the threats of terrorism attacks within Australia. The specialized strategic support will be seen in form of protection of countries offshore oil and gas infrastructure and in order to protect these the government of Australia will taken several initiatives in assigning of tactile assault groups who can be deployed rapidly support the local enforcement of operations.. The government has further decided to invest on the ADF capabilities for ensuring the effective contribution of combating counterterrorism at domestic level. This will further include enhancement of tactile mobility, situational awareness of Special Forces and advancements made in equipment and weapons. The strategic objective also includes countering the growing threat of the cyber terrorism and hence the government will take several improvements and initiatives for protecting the national cyber security gave capabilities and protecting the informational networks of ADF.

Supporting the security of maritime Southeast Asia Timor-Leste, Pacific Island countries and Papua New Guinea (Short Term): the government of Australia will seek to continue the security partnerships in aiding the most important program of Pacific maritime security program and replacement of the patrol boats to the 12 Pacific Island countries, which will be initiated, from the year 2018. The government further strives to work with the Pacific Island countries for strengthening the internal, border security challenges and providing natural resource to build strong resilience for facing natural disasters. This strategy also includes production of lives of Australians were staying abroad the proximity of the country and providing adequate evacuation operation in a situation of emergency whether it is a consequence of instability or a response to the natural calamity in that particular region. The defense will take further several initiatives for providing disaster relief security and stabilization operations in Bougainville and respond to devastations caused in tropical cyclone Pam at Vanatu in the year 2015. The area was observed to enhance the maritime operations and amphibious capabilities for providing a more responsive assistance to the neighboring regions as and when required.

Contribution to the military capabilities (Short Term).: Australia is seen to have a sophisticated and expanding military gullibility and the current military contribution is seen as a multinational partnership between United States in combination with the maritime forces fighting in Middle East region responsible for eliminating terrorism, smuggling drugs and piracy. The government has decided to provide continuous support with the special forces in the international coalition to defeat Daesh and regularly monitoring the progress of the same. The government is further seen to maintain important contribution for providing provisions in providing assistance for humanitarian and disaster relief programs in the Indo Pacific region. Australia is known for being the most active supporter of United Nations and the same will be depicted in terms of the defense need in providing a tailored contribution to the operation of US and supporting the growing needs of the country in future. Hence the government strives to continue working with United States and responding to the global security challenges and targeted the funding to help you and in developing standards and training for peacekeeping operations.

Department of Immigration and border protection

The strategic objective of immigration and border protection lies in the development and operation planning at national level. The objectives of the department seen in form of:

Providing protection to Australia

Promotion of a more responsive migration policy

Advancement in trade and revenue

Leading of border innovation

The strategic initiatives taken by the government is explained below as follows:

Providing protection to Australia (Long Term) - the Government of Australia has taken several initiatives to maintain sovereignty and protecting the borders of the country across both the land and the maritime operations. It has further taken the initiatives to contribute to the law enforcement and the outcomes from the national security. It has also taken the necessary initiatives to maintain the security within the country and ensured integrity and people, systems and information. The initiatives are also taken in case of managing trade risks in border continuum and issues related to trade risk.

Promote responsive migration (Long Term) - The strategies are related to facilitating the movement and the providing support to the Australian economy and strengthen the overall social cohesion. The Government is also responsible to contribute to the Global management of the displaced populations and the assisting the refugees. It has further taken several strategies for prevention of the unauthorized people across the border of the continuum.

Advance trade and revenue (Short Term) – The Government has taken several initiatives to optimize and legitimize the trade operations across the borders of the different countries and prohibit the flow of the goods. It is also related to the management and enhancement in the collection of the revenue.

Lead border innovation (Long Term) - The various types of the strategies are related to enhance the technology and strengthen the border operation of the country. The developments have been further seen in the developments of the organizational and the technological innovations for an effective flow of management of the border operations. The Government of Australia has collaborated into effective collaboration within Australia and supports the necessary objectives of the country

Department of Defense

Strengths The main strengths are seen with its bilateral alliance with China and United States. This will help to protect significantly the Indo-Pacific region of the country.	Weakness The weakness is seen in the limited storage facility of the ammunition supplies providing adequate safety standards in the planning of the facilities. The Department of defence was unable to procure effectively the H-60 spare parts in the year 2015.
Opportunities The Australia and the indo pacific region are on the verge of showing a significant amount of transformation, which will result in a greater opportunity for increased demand of goods and services.	Threats The threats are related to terrorism at home and abroad. Moreover, the spread of the extremism is on the verge of being worsened by foreign terrorist fighters.

Strengths The department is significantly able to contribute in achieving of strong national security, economy and promotion of a prosperous and cohesive society and opportunity for more revenue. The department has been able to provide continued amount of support for managing the physical border and the offshore operations in both air and maritime operations (Immigration.gov.mw. 2016).

Weakness Inadequate physical infrastructure is seen as the major weakness. Apart from this the department lacks human and financial resources. The weakness are further seen in lack of training, work orientation, absence of deliberate policy, declining work ethics, unavailability of adequate training institution and poor record management system. It has been further seen that the department does not consider recruiting fresh graduates which are in line with the departmental job description  (Immigration.gov.mw. 2016).

Opportunities The department needs to constant consultation with the key stakeholders and the partners for the enhancement in the ownership. The department further needs to continuously improve the performance measurement tools and continuously monitor the objectives. It also needs to formulate a reward system, which can enhance then staff morale and consolidate with the efficiency of the work performance (Immigration.gov.mw. 2016).

Threats The threats are seen in form of unavailability of a personal chapter in the “Republican constitution”. There is also absence of local and international training programs. The threats are also seen in form of increased number of the illegal immigrants, regional conflicts and wars. It has been further observed that the in several instances the travelling document generated is fraud due to corrupt practices concerning the human resource system (Immigration.gov.mw. 2016).

Department of Defense

The department is seen to maintain a strong alliance with United Sates and China. The main strength is seen in form providing significant amount of protection to the country and ensuring security in the Indo-Pacific region of the country. The department of defense is seen to be responsible for the protection of the country and the promotion of the various types of the responsive policies pertaining to migration. The agency is further seen to make the necessary strategies for the advancements in the trade and revenue sector. The objective is also seen as making innovations leading to the border innovation policies.

Department of Immigration and border protection

The main strength of the department is seen in maintaining a unique knowledge of the public sector, which arises from the capacity building in public management and administration. It is further seen that the department is responsible legally mandated to perform variety of types of the operational, performance. It has further given the opportunity to generate more amount of revenue to the country and in attempting for reducing corruption within the country. Then long-term objectives of the department is seen in  form  of providing various types of the initiatives to maintain the sovereignty and provide protection to the borders of Australia. Department of Immigration and border protection has also taken the necessary initiatives to maintain the security within the country and ensured integrity and people, systems and information.  The long-term objective is further seen in promoting a responsive migration plan. The department is observed to be responsible enough to contribute to the Global management of the displaced populations and the assisting the refugees. The short- term objective is seen in promoting optimize and legitimize the trade operations across the borders of the different countries and prohibit the flow of the goods. Lastly then long-term objective of the country is seen in  form leading border innovation program. This is related to the enhancing the technology and strengthening the border operation of the country.

The analysis based on the two-commonwealth department of the Government clearly states that department of defense is in a better position to contribute to the overall welfare of the country. It has been also observed that the department maintains a positive comprehensive income of $ 510933000. The department of immigration and border protection on the other hand is seen to be in an inferior condition with operating deficit of $85.3 million in the year 2015.

Conclusion

The report provides an extensive analysis of the various types of the objectives and strategies implemented by the department of defense and immigration and border protection. It can be further observed that the department of defense is in a better position to contribute to the economy both financially and non-financially. Although department of defence only constitutes a smaller portion in the GDP it is still observed to perform better than the latter industry 

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