A methodological approach for effective and

sustainable strategic planning in Independent

Authorities: the case of the Hellenic Ombudsman

Athanasios Raptis, Odysseas Kopsidas, Labrini Motsia, Stefanos

Polymenopoulos, Athamadia Simopoulou, Athanasios Gegkas,
Haralampos Platis

National School of Public Administration and Local Government, 211

Pireos Str.,17778, Tavros, Athens, Greece
THIS WORK AIMS TO….

… present the benefits of applying a methodological

approach for the effective and sustainable strategic
planning in Independent Authorities.

The proposed strategic plan is to be adopted by an

Independent Authority in Greece, the Ombudsman,
which is a part of Hellenic Public Administration.
THE OMBUDSMAN (1/2)

•The foundation of the classical ombudsman is a

Swedish idea (1809)
•The initial idea of the classical Swedish ombudsman
it was simply focusing on ensuring the rule of law in
public administration.
•The later scope of such organizations was
somewhat closer to defending human rights.
•Since their initial emergence in Sweden in 1809,
178 NHRIs (National Human Rights Institutions)
have been established in 133 countries.
THE OMBUDSMAN (2/2)

• is at the heart of European identity

• continues quest for core values in a abstract
form
• concerns the need of an organization to contrast
the idea of the economy domination over society
• balance of power between the Executive and
Parliament, and the relationship between
Parliament and the electorate
THE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
NECESSITY (1/3)

• Strategic management is usually referred as the

alignment of internal capabilities with external demands
(Johnsen, A. 2015).
• Strategy is now considered a field that makes it possible
for the leaders of public and private organizations to
‘take options on the future” Williamson (1999).

The ultimate goal is to create highly autonomous public

organizations with well-defined strategy and narrow tasks
with more ‘strategic space’ in which to operate (Pollitt et al.
2004).
THE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
NECESSITY (2/2)
The international situation:
• The total number of complaints an ombudsman receives
varies from hundreds to thousands annually
• This variation depends not only on the demographic scale of
the nation
• This is exactly the need of visibility and awareness, among
the need to respond in a proper rate and the need of
accountability

• These reasons, (in addition with the later analyzed state

of the Greek ombudsman) driving us to the strategic
management necessity
MATERIALS AND METHODS

METHODS:
• Bryson’s Strategic Management Model for Public
Institutions
• Crude Statistical Analysis (SPSS)
• Qualitative analysis (Context Analysis with Nvivo)

DATA:
• All the available open Data (Annual Reports, etc)
 MATERIALS AND
METHODS
• Many of the used methods (each Bryson step may be assumed as a
discrete method) are data driven.
• The data set used constitutes from open data available in the official
page of Greek ombudsman, such as the annual reports.
• In addition, several other open sources used, such as macroeconomic
reports in order to implement the pestle analysis.
• In order to improve the situational awareness of the organization, crude
qualitative and quantitative analysis performed.
• The quantitative analysis implemented using SPSS v.20 while the
qualitative analysis (context analysis) performed using the Nvivo v.10
software.
STRATEGIC PLAN DEVELOPMENT

• Step1: Developing an Initial Agreement

• Step 2: Recognition and Clarification of Orders from “Above”
• Step 3: Development and Clarification of Mission and Values
• Step 4: Analysis of the environment
• Step 5: Identification of Strategic Issues
• Step 6: Strategy Formulation And Development Using Balanced
Scorecard
• Step 7: Reviewing and Adopting the Strategy
• Step 8: Description of the Future Image of the Organization
• Step 9: Development of Effective Application processes
• Step 10: Strategy and Strategic Planning Procedures Reevaluation
STEP1: DEVELOPING AN
INITIAL AGREEMENT:

• It is essential that there is a consensus among the

Ombudsman leadership towards a formulation of a
strategic plan .
STEP 2: RECOGNITION AND
CLARIFICATION OF ORDERS
FROM “ABOVE”.

• The basis of the strategic planning application regarding the Ombudsman is

the recent law 4369/2016 which together with Law no. 3230/2004 1
constitute the institutional framework of the Greek government regarding
the administration and performance management system strategy.
• About is a. 22 a. 23 § 2 approx. B, c and d and a. 31 § 3 of law. 4369/2016
[entitled "National Register of Public Administration Executive, career
structure creation, evaluation systems, promotions and superiors selection
(transparency - meritocracy and efficiency of public administration and other
provisions)" . On this law was issued no. 12972 / 05.10.2016 ( "Application
Management System by Objectives for the year 2017 ") circular.
•
 STEP 3: DEVELOPMENT
AND CLARIFICATION OF
MISSION AND VALUES

This step includes : 
• Stakeholders Analysis, 
• Mission, 
• Vision
• Values declaration.
 STEP 4: ANALYSIS OF
THE ENVIRONMENT.

• External Environment :
– PESTEL Analysis

• Internal Environment:
– SWOT Analysis
– Qualitative Analysis
– Quantitative Analysis
– Any other method that improves the situational awareness
 PESTEL ANALYSIS

POLITICAL
• Political background / Poliical climate favoroable to independent authorites
• Strong political will and institutional armoring of Ombusdmand’s functions
• Embedded Democratical values of citizens
• Gigh rate of maladministration cases and strong corruption index of country
ECONOMICAL
• Independent Authorities dependence on state budget
• Increased emphasis on tax revenues leasds to citizens’ overtaxation and
consequently negative “tax consciousness” among citizens.
• Strong fiscal austerity causes market “asphyxiation” and degradation of
citizens’ living standards.
 PESTEL ANALYSIS

SOCIAL
• High rate of unemployment
• Low visibility of similar institutions/organizations
• High social protection needs due to increased immigration inflows, austerity
measures and economic crisis.
TECHNOLOGICAL
• Digital illiteracy
• Lowpenetration of broadbamd connections
ENVIRONMENTAL
• Sustainable Development policies

LEGAL
• Large and uncodified legislations leads to overlapping and conflicting
administrative responsibilities.
• Increased delays in judicial porcedures
SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS :
• institutional strengthening
• institutional “prestige”
WEAKNESSES :
• Absence of strategic plan
• Lack of measurement indicator system
• Low visibility of institution among vulnerable social groups 13
OPPORTUNITIES:
• Increased visibility opportunities (visibility) through communication actions and
interventions
• Using existing structures (CSS) for territorial expansion of Ombusman’sservices
• Deepening cooperation with relevant institutions abroad forbest practices exchange
THREATS
• Inability to impose sanctions in Public Administration16
• Lack of resources / exclusivefinancing from state budget, which leads to governmental
dependence
QUALITATIVE
ANALYSIS
QUANTITATIVE
ANALYSIS

Percentage Percentage of Percentage

resolution
Year Petitions received substantiated unfounded of research
rate
reports reports stopped
2014 16339.00 56,00 44,00 80,00 7,70
2015 11502.00 54,00 46,00 85,00 7,28
20160 11915.00 56,00 44,00 83,00 8,37
 INTERNAL
ENVIRONMENT…

By studying both the organization's website and other texts, such as the 2016
annual report, the following findings emerged regarding the implementation
of strategic management in the Ombudsman:
• There is no explicit statement that any sort of managerial framework is applied to the organization
• There is no vision of the organization and therefore the relevant management's commitment to is
absent.
• There is no set of indicators for monitoring the organization, although various quantitative
aggregates are given in different texts (reports etc) but without any evaluation, linking to targets,
estimating future trend or target value, etc. 6.
• There is no evidence of environmental analytical tools (SWOT, PEST, etc.), although there is an
informal analysis of macroeconomic and social driving factors. 7.
• There is no reference to strategic management Laws (3230/2004 and 4369/2016) nor to the
measures taken by the administration to comply with the provisions of these laws.

As a result of all the above, there is a general lack of

strategic planning in the organization.
 STEP 5: IDENTIFICATION
OF STRATEGIC ISSUES:

• The results of the above analyzes are then used to determine the organization's
strategic issues. For their emergence the "Direct approach" (Bryson, 2004)

• The Strategic Issues according to Bryson are those which stem from the application of
the " do nothing scenario ", have an impact on an organization and, most importantly,
the organization can do something to address them and has more than one option for
this. In order to identify them, the following elements were analyzed:

• 1 .Frame question which identifies the strategic issue: «What will happen if the level of
services to citizens is not improved by enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the
Ombudsman

• 2 . List of critical factors of the strategic issue :

• 3. Consequences of failure to address the issue :

STEP 6: STRATEGY FORMULATION
AND DEVELOPMENT USING
BALANCED SCORECARD

• At this stage, the organization's strategy is emerged.

• From the treatment of strategic issues the strategic objectives are
identified and ultimately operational objectives are emerged,
which are further broken down to functional and personal goals.
• For this purposes, Bryson’s "5-step process" model was used
(Bryson, 2004, 2010).
BALANCED SCORECARD TABLES (1)
BALANCED SCORECARD TABLES (2)
STEP 7: REVIEWING AND
ADOPTING THE STRATEGY

Steps 7-10, are to be implemented after the whole

strategic planning initiation.

• In formulating the Ombudsman's strategy, support from

the political leadership is of the outmost importance.
• This presupposes that necessary communication
processes of the organization's vision is required in order
for the right conditions for developing the required
synergies to be created
 STEP 8: DESCRIPTION
OF THE FUTURE IMAGE
OF THE
ORGANIZATION

• The vision for the success of the organization is diffused inside

the Ombudsman, namely its staff.
• The staff is informed of its role in the strategic plan, as well as
what will be asked in the future (eg through the development of
its Code of Conduct).
 STEP 9: DEVELOPMENT OF
EFFECTIVE APPLICATION PROCESSES

• For the effective implementation of the strategic plan the organization will
create a workgroup (task force) seconded to the project "Implementation of
strategic planning." The group will contain the Chief Ombudsman, the Deputy
Ombudsmen, people from the scientific and administrative staff of the
Authority 31 . The Chief Ombudsman will chair the working meetings of the
project team, which will take place the first week of each month.
• For the implementation of the strategic and operational plan the organization
will develop a detailed annual work program for each of the three years for
2018-2020. This program will describe in great detail the operational
objectives and the individual targets, setting tasks and responsibilities,
development schedules and project progress evaluation procedures.
 STEP 10: STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC
PLANNING PROCEDURES REEVALUATION

The stage of the evaluation is a very critical process

in strategic planning.
At this stage the individual, administrative,
operational and strategic goals achievement is
evaluated by the task force and proposed corrective
measures are proposed if necessary.
 CONCLUSIONS
Map of strategic
interactions:
THE MAIN ATTRIBUTE OF THE FINAL
PRODUCT …

Is that:
• the focus is placed on the citizen as a client of the
services of this Independent Authority
 Thank you
for your attention