A Comparison of Values Applied to Goal
Setting Within the Public and Private Sector Water Service Industries
by
Robert E. Hebert
A Dissertation
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for a Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Management
California Coast University
2003
Abstract of the Dissertation
A Comparison of Values Applied to Goal Setting
Within the Public and Private Sector Water Service Industries
by
Robert E. Hebert
Doctor of Philosophy in Management
California Coast University
Santa Ana, California
2003
The research was designed to measure assumptions used by senior managers within the public and private sectors of the water industry as they perform decision-making within their respective utilities, and to simultaneously measure their perception of several value statements that might be applied to goal setting by their peer managers controlling similar utilities on the opposite side of the public-private divide. Specifically, the research was designed to gain new insight into the following questions:
1. Are there significant, measurable differences in the "soft facts" that public sector and private sector managers apply to similar decisions?
2. If these differences exist, do they pose significant barriers to the efficient use of private initiatives to solve public sector problems?
The research was intended to provide public and private sector managers with greater insight into areas of natural conflict stemming from observed differences in the embedded assumptions used to develop decisions applicable to the requirements of their respective management systems. No comparison of relative value was attempted for each group's goal and objective-making process, but an attempt was made to gain further understanding of the underlying dynamics affecting both groups.
This survey analysis has determined that there appear to be significant, measurable differences in the "soft facts" that public sector and private sector managers apply to similar decisions, and that these differences pose significant barriers to the efficient use of private initiatives to solve public sector problems. Specifically these areas of critical difference are found in the public sector's questions regarding the profit motivation of the private sector along with disagreement between the groups as to the importance of employee pay and motivation compared with managerial planning and control in achievement of goals and objectives. Additionally, the wider distribution of responses among the public sector participants seems to indicate a greater divergence of views within that sector on these key issues.