The 18th Public Quality Symposium was held with the cooperation of the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries on March 23, 2017 with a theme of “Managing Change”. Participating as speakers were the Minister of Development, Mr.Lütfi Elvan and Undersecretary for Defense Industries, Prof. İsmail Demir.

At his speech during the Symposium, Undersecretary for Defense Industries Prof. İsmail Demir said that the institutions need to identify dynamic strategies in order to be able to keep pace with the competition and pursue their productivity in the competitive environment. “Even though the only thing that does not change is change itself, we observe that human beings are resistant to change consciously or unconsciously. In our daily lives, sometimes it is difficult to change even routine things. When we consider this from a broad perspective, setting a will for change and accomplishing it could not be that easy and possible. As per the theme of today, we need to establish an infrastructure in order to manage change and dynamism in the public sector. All institutions, organizations and companies carry out important studies to raise awareness. We thank KALDER for its incentives and efforts in this regard. 

Adapting to the changes in the world and the ability to lead such changes by foreseeing them have become a very significant factor. I observe that several brainstorming activities are being realized at public platforms to achieve this and I am pleased to see the ideas, plans and determination of public executives at various levels of meetings we have attended to this end. Especially during this period in which the sectors where industrial transformation is accelerating are connected to each other, the institutional failure to keep up with this change can be a parameter that slows down the entire chain. Some institutions may be more conservative due to their internal dynamics, while others may have completed their transformation. In this context, I would like to emphasize that some studies have been initiated under the coordination of the Prime Ministry Undersecretariat. Efforts are ongoing for establishing a single structure for the interoperability of the public services.”

The present and the future of the SEEs were discussed within the scope of the quality studies performed during the Panel on Quality and Efficiency in the Public Sector Companies within the scope of the 18th Public Quality Symposium. Within the context of the Innovative Implementation Panel for Improving the Citizen’s Quality of Life, the innovative practices of the Social Security Institution and AFAD were communicated by the presidents of the institutions.

The studies of Azerbaijan’s State Agency for Civil Service and Social Innovations (namely Asan Service Center), established by the Azerbaijani Presidency for the purpose of managing public services from a single center, coordination of public sector personnel working at service centers, mutual integration of databases of state institutions, and the regulation and development of electronic services were discussed at the symposium.

The future of the defense industry was discussed in the panel “Executives Managing the Change in Defense and IT Sectors” with the participation of Havelsan General Manager Ahmet Hamdi Atalay and Meteksan Savunma General Manager Tunç Batum under the chairmanship of Deputy Undersecretary for Defense Industries Dr. Celal Sami Tüfekçi.

In the panel “Change Management and Leadership in the Public Sector”, change and leadership issues in public administration were discussed with public and private sector perspectives.