The Outdated Nature of Bureaucracy
Concerns associated with traditional bureaucratic as well as outright privatization; Significance of collaborative governance.
Background
• The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major challenge to public administration and has tested the resilience of all public institutions.
• The bureaucracy is being blamed for its ineffective response to the COVID- 19 crisis.
• Academicians and public administration experts have pointed out the outdated nature of public bureaucracy for its ineffectiveness.
Concerns
Continued reliance on traditional bureaucratic structures:
• The article laments the fact that even in this 21st century, democratic countries are still relying on traditional bureaucracies (Weberian bureaucracy model) to perform public policy formulation and implementation roles despite such structures having outlived their relevance.
The Continued Preference for Generalists over Specialists
In such a system, specialists in every government department have to remain subordinate to the generalist officers despite their superior domain knowledge.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weakness of such an approach.
The lack of authority to healthcare professionals who are specialists to carry out policy formulation can be counted as one of the major lacunae in our policy response to the pandemic.
Weberian bureaucracy prefers leadership of position over leadership of function.
The leadership of function is when a person has expert knowledge of a particular responsibility in a particular situation and is capable of and authorized to respond to evolving situations rather than relying on dictation from someone occupying a particular position.
The leadership of function is when a person has expert knowledge of a particular responsibility in a particular situation and is capable of and authorized to respond to evolving situations rather than relying on dictation from someone occupying a particular position.
This acts as a major limitation for decentralized governance which is more effective. This has resulted in a situation where the bureaucracy has become an end in itself rather than a means to an end, which is, improved governance and socio-economic development of the society.
The rigid adherence to rules in the traditional bureaucratic structure has been an area of major concern.
The rigid adherence to rules in the traditional bureaucratic structure has been an area of major concern.
The strict adherence to processes and rules has resulted in COVID-19 aid getting stuck in cumbersome clearance processes even during the pandemic.
The rigid emphasis on the following of rules and regulations and the fear of official sanctions have resulted in the rejection of innovation from public officials.
Limitations of Outright Privatization
• In the light of the lacunae in the existent bureaucratic structure, there have been growing calls for new public management in India, which promotes privatization and managerial techniques of the private sector as an effective tool to seek improvements in public service delivery and governance.
• However, it should be noted that outright privatization may not be a viable solution in India where there is social inequality and regional variations in development.
Limitations of Outright Privatization
• In the light of the lacunae in the existent bureaucratic structure, there have been growing calls for new public management in India, which promotes privatization and managerial techniques of the private sector as an effective tool to seek improvements in public service delivery and governance.
• However, it should be noted that outright privatization may not be a viable solution in India where there is social inequality and regional variations in development.
• The private sector is driven by the motive of profits and hence would cater only to people and areas where their operations are financially viable. They would not be able to serve the poor due to his/her inability to pay for the private sector’s work.
• Such an approach renders the state as a mere bystander among the multiple market players with accountability being constantly shifted, especially during a crisis. The COVID-19 crisis has shown that the private sector has failed in public service delivery.
Collaborative Governance
The most appropriate administrative reform to ensure more effective public governance is aiming for collaborative governance in which the public sector, private players, and civil society, especially public service organizations (NGOs), work together for effective public service delivery.
Benefits of Such a System
Such a system would ensure that there is no domination of public bureaucracy in policy formulation and implementation. This can help change the behavior of bureaucracy towards governance and also help initiate public service reforms – relook at the generalist versus specialist debate, openness to reforms such as lateral entry, and collaboration with a network of social actors.
In such a system the existing network of social actors and private players would take responsibility in various aspects of governance with public bureaucracy coordinating the efforts.
Such a structure would allow the institutionalization of the critical role being played by civil society. This will help in scaling the impact of effective civil societies.
Civil society has been playing a major role during the pandemic.
The collaboration of public bureaucracy with the private and social society has had a profound impact on public service delivery as seen in the following cases.
Civil society has been playing a major role during the pandemic.
The collaboration of public bureaucracy with the private and social society has had a profound impact on public service delivery as seen in the following cases.
Green Revolution (M.S. Swaminathan), the White Revolution (Verghese Kurien), Aadhaar-enabled services (Nandan Nilekani), and the IT revolution (Sam Pitroda).
Conclusion
• The public sector, private players and civil society should all work together for public service delivery.
• Such new public governance which can help address the various lacunae and make public administration more effective is the future of governance, especially public service delivery in India.
Written By - Sanket Shedame
Edited By - Akash Verma
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