Making Authorities Act
The other day there was a team from the Netherlands who had come to my B-School. They were talking about social responsibility and how they are helping a small town in Orissa to build a school. The team leader was a 55 year old ex-industrialist who is now into education. He was sounding quite pompous about his efforts. Afterwards during the lunch, he was cursing the Indian bureaucracy for the speed or rather the lack of it at which any legitimate paper work moves in India… He was mimicking the laid back attitudes of the babus and the lack of discipline. He commented, “It’s easier to poke life into a dead man, than making your officials work.”
Now, to be very honest I would have loved to bash the living day lights out of the gentleman and the students, who were nastier in their comments, but the rational me went prodding about it. Wasn’t what he said true? Don’t we encounter it everyday? Hasn’t it got so engrained in the system that we take it as a part of life? What makes these organizations & the employees so weak that they refrain from acting on which is simply their job? What could the governing body do to correct it?
I feel that there is a need of a strong sense of accountability for the jobs that they do. For that, either the employees need to be truly driven about their work or they need be made aware of the fact that his work is in a position to be tracked back to him. So any deviations to the standard delivered would be credited to him- in form of a perk or a penalty.
Secondly the tasks of these employees should be measurable in tangibles. The tangible can be in terms of any variable, the best and the apt one being- Time. And these two factors of Time (or any other relevant variable) and Accountability should be directly related to their compensation and rewards.
Time & Measurability: The 2 factors to make authorities act
In a research conducted in 70 nations, amongst working professionals, it was accepted that time spent for a project is a just and fair way of compensation. Also time is viewed as today’s currency; hence it’s only fair to make such variables as a crucial parameter t
o decide compensation. For e.g.: In the passport office, the cycle time can be measured from the submission of all valid documents to the issue of the passport. A standard can be set, and different area offices should be rewarded according to their overall performances on average cycle time and compliance with the standard. This system can be duplicated in any office with high turnaround time. Bonuses for these people shouldn’t come as mandatory bakshees during Diwali, but as perks for effective work delivery. This will not only increase efficiency, but also provide the employee or the teams to make extra money.
In a research conducted in 70 nations, amongst working professionals, it was accepted that time spent for a project is a just and fair way of compensation. Also time is viewed as today’s currency; hence it’s only fair to make such variables as a crucial parameter t
o decide compensation. For e.g.: In the passport office, the cycle time can be measured from the submission of all valid documents to the issue of the passport. A standard can be set, and different area offices should be rewarded according to their overall performances on average cycle time and compliance with the standard. This system can be duplicated in any office with high turnaround time. Bonuses for these people shouldn’t come as mandatory bakshees during Diwali, but as perks for effective work delivery. This will not only increase efficiency, but also provide the employee or the teams to make extra money.Government jobs boast about job security. It’s quite a noble thought- You take care of your employees and they’ll take care of you. But doesn’t that give the employees a free hand to decide what priority? They know that they would not lose their job for under-performance. Defaulted cases should be tracked back to concerned people and action should be taken against them- either in terms of a warning or a memo. This would make the employees believe that the management means business.
The objective of having these 2 parameters directly connected to the salary that they are paid leads to an understanding that there are no free lunches- What you sow is what you reap. How his performance determines what he takes home- Its sort if a Marxist theory in a capitalist format. For India to flourish & fast, its system and its bureaucracy needs to find its way, and install formats of working that can’t be breached. Today it’s a slow moving, inefficient step mother of the larger goal of holistic development. There is a need for people who could carry out this restructuring & provide a six sigma performance. Let government offices go to B-Schools and recruit professionals to make this performance management system work for them. Because it’s only if they put systems into place, attach tangibility to what they dispense, will they end up delivering world class service even at a governmental level…
So that the next time, none of us have to sit across a non-Indian and listen to how brittle our system is.
5 comments:
What is said in this article is true. However the reaction that arises, after my own experiences, is that the mere existence of a concept of 'accountability' or 'perks and penalties' will never get us anywhere. These are easily manipulated by the those presiding in the upper echelons of power in our country and this translates into "If you aren't performing in accordance with what's on my agenda then you will have to face the consequent penalties."
Everyone says change has to start from the top, with greater or rather truthful & factual transparency in our system. Just having these as showpieces will not do. I think the forum on India should discuss what changes can be initiated to bring about the truthful existence of concepts such as 'accountability' 'transparency' and 'social governance'
Some very good suggestions Hari...however just a thought....a tendency to shirk work...to be corrupt....to run away from responsibilities....is it all due to faulty systems....or is it due to little or no value systems....
Cause I feel an honest and hard working guy will work hard irrespective of the fact that a watchdog is monitoring him or not
In response to "Making Authorities Act", I agree with all that has been said. However, I would say that the concepts of 'accountability' and 'perks & penalties' already do exist in our system. The only difference being: to whom is one accountable and who is the controller of these so-called perks & penalties? It all boils down to the fact that there is a lot of manipulation amongst the upper echelons of power within our government which ultimately translates to "If you aren't acting in accordance with what's on my agenda, then you will have to face the consequent penalties." And unfortunately, it is ultimately the public who suffers.
So then, to whom do we give this control? The public? How would that play out? What would motivate a public official to respond authority when it is in our hands?... Just a little something to think about...
The point here is that there already exists a vicious cycle. It is not enough to merely create policies, procedures or rewards programs and think that the situation will improve. The forces that create these policies need to ensure that their powers are not used for promoting personal agendas over the public's welfare.
We need to take concepts such as 'accoutability' 'transparency' and 'governance' off of the table, moving them beyond being mere showpieces, and transform them into a truthful existence.
A very good read Hari and i have to say that it is quite a workable solution.
I just wanted to add to it. Many a times people dont know what all papers are required for the required work. For this the Government has to be forthcoming and start e-governance initiatives across all the divisions.
Like for example, the passport division has clearly mentioned in its website what all papers are required to be filed when you submit the passport application.
I believe if all the governmental divisions replicate this, we can reduce the multiple rounds to these offices for duplicates, triplicates etc.
This would make life much more easier for the common man and make the government uncommonly common man friendly!!!!!!
A suggestion on the same lines came from Mr. Narayan Murthy's Lecture we attended "Low fixed pay and high variables for all government officials, which means they should be given greater incentives for completing a project in time or at low cost" he also said, "what I am saying is not rocket science, problem is implementation or lack thereof."
Now on a personal note, this country is well known for great minds, proof would be the excellent laws and the elite team of Dr. singh and Chindambaram but we suffer from execution and we have been cursed with tolerance.( a high amount of it, we never seem to reach a point in time where we say enough is enough)
Finding solutions to beaurcracy is one thing, changing it is a whole another. We need more people ready to take on the action; maybe we need to do more than think more.
Now now, I don’t mean you beat the firangi up... but yea, treat him to the spicy street food next time he begins to talk, he'll get the msg!! :))
Good read!
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