The Outdated Nature Of Bureaucracy

Context: It’s time for India to move from Weberian model of bureaucracy to a collaborative new public governance model.

Issues with traditional Weberian model of bureaucracy

• Preferring generalist over specialist:
  • Specialists in government department remain subordinate to generalist officers based on the outdated justification of generalist providing a broader perspective.
  • E.g. Healthcare professionals who are specialists are made to work under generalist officers.
• Stuck with the leadership of position over leadership of function:
  • Leadership of function is when a person has expert knowledge of particular responsibility in a particular situation, and the role of leader is to explain situation instead of issuing orders.
  • In the leadership of function, every official responds to the situation rather than relying on some dictation from someone occupying a particular position.
• Bureaucracy became an end in itself rather than a means to an end: Rigid adherence to rules has resulted in rejection of innovation. E.g. COVID-19 aid getting stuck in cumbersome clearance processes.
• Concerns with reforms: It is often promoted to bring in managerial techniques of private sector in order to seek improvements in governance. However this remains unviable -
  • This is because of existing social inequality and regional variations in development.
  • It renders the state a bystander with accountability being constantly shifted, especially during a crisis where private sector has also failed in public service delivery.

Way forward: New public governance is the future of governance.

• Towards collaborative governance: Where public sector, private players and civil society, especially public service organisations (NGOs), work together for effective public service delivery.
  • No domination of public bureaucracy: As sole agency in policy formulation and implementation.
  • Institutionalise role of civil society: A network of social and private players to take responsibility in various aspects of governance with public bureaucracy steering the ship rather than rowing it.
  • Incorporate changes in behaviour of bureaucracy: Bring flexibility in hierarchy, relook generalist versus specialist debate, and openness to reforms like lateral entry and collaboration.
    • All major revolutions have come through the collaboration of public bureaucracy with outsiders.
    • E.g. Green Revolution (M.S. Swaminathan), White Revolution (Verghese Kurien), Aadhaar-enabled services (Nandan Nilekani) and the IT revolution (Sam Pitroda).