The following article appears in the Summer 1995 edition of _The_Public_Sector_Network_News_, pages 5 and 6.] RESHAPING GOVERNMENT A Case Study of the Office of Registrar General, Thunder Bay, Ontario The Office of Registrar General (ORG) has the responsibility for registering vital statistics for the province of Ontario. The office has a dual purpose: the study of records and issuance of information from those records. It serves the interests of the general public as well as lawyers, clergy, physicians, coroners, funeral directors, and federal, provincial, and municipal officials. The general public is interested in records for personal identification, lawyers are interested in records for legal requirements, the medical profession is interested in records for statistical purposes, and coroners and funeral directors require death certificates for burial. In February 1987, it was announced that the ORG was one of several offices to be included in the government's Northern Relocation Project. The primary aim of this initiative was to take advantage of modern communication technology to decentralize select operations from downtown Toronto to the north, to provide new public service opportunities for communities in Ontario's north. For some, success stems from opportunity realized. Changes at the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations served as impetus for an initiative demonstrating opportunity maximized. Moving the Office of the Registrar General (ORG) branch over 1000 kilometers northwest to Thunder Bay allowed the ministry opportunity to take full advantage of the (rare) change to plan, design, and implement a new operation from the ground up. As a reengineering exercise, the challenge was formidable: planning was required for new location, new facilities, new work structure, new employees, and new technology. Management refused to defer to the path of least resistance--to merely transplant the existing organization to the new location. The relocation of ORG to Thunder Bay was viewed as an opportunity to build a model office that incorporates state- of-the-art technology as a tool for new service-oriented team representatives working in an organization that acknowledges and promotes learning and diversity. IMPETUS FOR CHANGE The records held in the registrar's office are among the oldest retained by the province, dating back as far as 1869 for birth registrations. This office has a long and sustained history of maintaining the integrity of vita event records with great surety and methodical care. This tradition of accuracy and methodical care for records also carried with it the liabilities of limited access and poor service orientation when measured against the consumer demands outlined in numerous public surveys taken in the mid-1980s. An organizational review revealed the Office of the Registrar General reflected a typical bureaucratic structure-where the layers of management are too deep (six layers from director to front line), functionality is too specialized (12 separate units), jobs are too detailed, and responsibilities over- controlled (147 staff with 41 job descriptions reflecting 23 different job classifications). Service delivery times reflected the antiquated organizational structure and filing system, with customers required to make two visits over at least a three-day period to gain access to their records. Suffering from "acute paper burden" with approximately 20 million records on hand, workflow was cumbersome and a mailed-in request for a certificate would pass through six separate units before issuance. Communication between departments was restricted to chain-of-command routines, employee morale was low, turnover was high, and service backlogs were persistent. THE ORG AS INNOVATION CASE STUDY The project's main innovation is a totally reshaped office that features recognition and integration of two systems of work technical systems (capacity, layout, degree of automation of its physical equipment) and social systems (employee profile, organizational structure, communication networks, levels of responsibility/authority, supervisory roles, and reward systems). INNOVATION FEATURES New Structure: removal of two levels of management (reporting) hierarchy, four levels to two levels removal of seven levels of clerical hierarchy integration of 12 functional units into one multifunctional department New Jobs: one multiskilled generic clerical position--that of team representative seven team managers in one broad-banded, multifunctional department New Culture: outreach recruitment program utilized for hiring new staff hiring diversified work force reflective of the community it serves continuous learning process integral to operations; knowledge acquisition key to advancement within the branch--egalitarian compensation and job design philosophy statement employed as genera guideline to human resources policies alternative work arrangements to accommodate individual employee needs, including regular part-time and flexible working hours New Technology: computer network terminals installed in workplace neighborhoods used as "shadow I/T partners" image-enabled work stations providing the power to access, process, store, and communicate knowledge installed in concert with redesigned work flow to maximize sociotechnical fit COMMUNITY AND INTER-GOVERNMENTAL PARTNERSHIP A major component of the overall plan to reshape ORG is Thunder Bay was to recruit a work force that reflected local demographics. Ministry staff worked with an interagency group organized by the Community and Social Services Ministry, representing people with disabilities, sole-support parents, native persons, visible minorities, and francophones. Of the 110 new recruits to ORG, 60% came from these targeted groups. Fifty people were graduates of a training program the ministry contracted from agencies sponsored by the federal CEIC department. In exchange for sponsoring six months' training in life skills, computer skills, and ORG operations, the federal government netted $1 million in reduced social assistance costs as individuals moved from welfare rolls to payrolls. RESULTS ACHIEVED TO DATE Productivity is up...production costs are down: The most recent provincial auditor's report revealed ORG had improved the productivity rating by 55% over the 1991 low point. Also salary costs per unit of output have decreased to pre-relocation levels. New technology...better service: This state-of-the-art document processing system offers, among other things, direct accommodation of special needs (e.g., computers that respond to voice commands to retrieve a file) for employees with restricted mobility. It provides an automated data base around which employees interface according to both responsibility and capability. Auto-imaging has also improved service deliverables to our customers with direct online production of certificates in remote locations. For people who need a certificate "right now," in-person requests have service times measured in minutes versus days. Better, broader jobs in an egalitarian work environment: ORG has no entry level jobs that often serve as ghettos or repositories for the employment of the disadvantaged. Recognition and progression are based on knowledge acquisition. Learning via job rotation is a requirement, not a perk. Rotation gives us a true circle. Besides the cycle of teaching and learning, in a circle organization, there is no place to hide. Standard hierarchies often appear like separate boxes or squares where poor performers or loners can keep a low profile, but in a circle everyone must participate and contribute. There is no status differentiation between, for example, workers compiling stats, serving a customer, or opening mail. There is no (costly and disruptive) competition "domino effect" when a senior vacancy occurs. Communication is paramount: At most, there is but one level of hierarchy between worker and branch director. "That's not my department" is being replaced by "How may I assist you?" Work and family issues are acknowledged: there is on-site culturally sensitive day care, regular part-time positions on each team, and flexible work hours available. Employment equity is here! Sixty percent of the work force are representatives of targeted groups under-represented elsewhere in the Ontario Public Service. OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE The Ontario Public Service made substantial financial investment in ORGs new technology: optical imaging has the capacity to integrate images, voice, and data together at the desktop; the intention of the ORG redesign was to exploit this new technology to its maximum through substantial investment in its people. ORG as a learning organization has mechanisms built into its structure to accommodate and take advantage of acquiring multiple skill sets. With the movement toward generic positions and multi-skilled teams, the essential logic of Taylorism is shattered. Technology provides access to and even expands what can be known, as the newly available information extends beyond the boundaries of the conventional job description. For more information, contact: Art Daniels Assistant Deputy Minister Business Division Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations 250 Yonge Street, 33rd Floor Toronto, Ontario M5B 2N5 Phone: (416) 326-8578 Fax: (416) 325-6192