What are the challenges for a Public Servant?
The World Bank defines governance as the traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is executed, including the process by which governments are selected, monitored and replaced. As the issues about government are becoming more complex, the entire modus operandi and standard operating procedures of governance are likely to undergo a radical change in the face of fundamental social, economic and political challenges posed by a rapidly changing world.
Some drivers of this changing landscape are as follows;
A. Globalization
A multifaceted concept that represents the increasing integration of economics, communications, and culture across national boundaries is affecting, directly as well as indirectly, the governance structures, processes and culture in every country. Thanks to social and electronic media, small domestic issues become breaking news in major global channels, creating advocacy and sympathy movements in different parts of the world. (Arab Spring).
On the other hand, global issues like environmental degradation, climate change, GMO, etc which were only discussed in the corridors of power are being debated in the drawing rooms of countries and creating strong advocacy movements among the population. Similarly, enters of actual power and decision-making are shifting from local to a global level. Global state and non-state actors are increasingly penetrating those domains which were henceforth exclusively reserved for the domestic state machinery.
B. Changing State Role
Views on the role of the state/government are undergoing a paradigm shift in response to realignment in the comparative power structure in the societies. Confident private sector and assertive civil society are forcing it to give them more space in policymaking and implementation, shed its extra load and shift from all-encompassing role of service provider, enabler and regulator to merely regulation. At the same time, it is in the process of decentralization and devolution, giving more and more of its functions to the provincial and local levels.
C. Demographic Transition
Almost every developing country is passing through the most crucial phase of its demographic transition in which the rate of childbirths is gradually falling but due to rapidly falling death rates, its population is growing at an unsustainable rate, creating a youth bulge on the one hand and the ageing bulge on the other. Add the rapid urbanization being witnessed, and you have a perfect set of challenges for the policy formulators as well those responsible for their implementation to find apt solutions for myriad problems these three trends are creating for a developing country.
D. Democratic Development
The modernization process, which accompanied the industrialization efforts of post-colonial states, has brought fundamental changes in the attitudes and behaviour of citizens all over the world. These changes, in turn, transform social life and political institutions, bringing rising mass participation in politics in the long run. Consequently, people are now demanding greater say in public affairs, an open government, transparency in public dealing, and an accountable and responsible executive.
E. Economic Growth
The Age-old concept of development as the process whereby the national income of a country increases over some time has been replaced by the concept of all-inclusive, socially just and environmentally sustainable development with the ultimate aim of improving the quality of life of the people. This needs attitudinal and behavioural changes in our public servants to cope with the new paradigm shift.
F. Technology
Technology has been with us for centuries, but its rapid speed, widening coverage and deepening impact poses threats as well as offer tremendous opportunities for modern public servants. On the demand, the side public is forcing them to not only demolish their walls of secrecy but also to quicken the pace of decision-making and adopt it as a tool of service delivery and grievance redress. On the other hand, technology also provides supply-side support to the public servants and offers limitless opportunities to improve their service delivery. It enables them to reach the millions in far less time than traditional methods for launching public awareness campaigns, keeping them informed of the good work being done and seeking their support as well as demanding compliance for state regulations
G. Activism
Four types of activism are putting pressures, directly as well as indirectly, on a civil servant in every country
- Media: an aggressive media is demanding transparency and openness in the government dealings
- Civil Society: a vibrant civil society is clamouring for effective service delivery at affordable rates irrespective of the costs of providing these services
- Judiciary: an increasingly assertive judiciary is mainly interested in accountability
- Politicians: a highly charged political elite that is under pressure from their respective constituencies to perform, is demanding more role in policy implementation and is not content with just their traditional role of policy formulation.
All the above-mentioned activist roles of respective actors have put the public servants under tremendous pressure to improve their performance.
Challenges for Public Administration
As the public sector has to now work under increased scrutiny of media, civil society organizations, judiciary and the political elite, this new landscape poses the following six challenges to a civil servant in any country;
- Challenge of effective service delivery
The citizens and the civil society organizations demand constant improvement in their quality of life and are not much bothered about costs or sources of funds for meeting their demands for convenient availability of quality goods and services at affordable prices. They demand a responsive bureaucracy that is politically neutral, professional, well-trained, performance-oriented, and relatively open.
2. Challenge of efficiency
While the public demands effective service delivery as stated above, in every country, rich or poor, the state is always hard-pressed for a resource to meet the rising demand for funds. It expects from its bureaucracy to cut every possible corner to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency, without caring that such cutting of corners adversely affects service delivery-a real Catch22.
3. Challenge of transparency
Social and electronic media are eager for scoops relating to any aspect of governance-service delivery, transparency, cost-effectiveness, procedural lapses etc to feed to their reader who is also eager to find out what is happening behind the four walls of the government. It makes the position of a civil servant very precarious as he cannot divulge the details demanded by the media which press him to do so under the freedom of information legislation.
4. Challenge of accountability
Primarily emanating from the courts which are less worried about service delivery and more about strict compliance of the legal framework under which a civil servant is obligated to perform, this challenge is gaining importance for a civil servant in an environment of greater openness and intrusiveness.
5. Challenge of sharing power
Textbooks on public management have a neat distribution of statecraft i.e. rulemaking or policy formulation is the prerogative of the elected representatives, its implementation rests with the bureaucracy while adjudication is the responsibility of the judiciary. However, the modern political elite is not content with this arrangement. They are now demanding more than their share in policy implementation and are not much bothered about the fact that ultimately it is the bureaucracy that has to answer to the courts for any infringement of procedure.
6. Challenge of attracting the best and retaining the skilled
Government service offers power and prestige, while the private sector offers better financial terms and conditions. In this tug of war between power and perks, the private sector is winning, posing a challenge to the state on how to attract and retain the best of the minds through a proper incentives and rewards system which does not adversely affect its exchequer.
Conclusion
All the above six challenges are not mutually exclusive; rather, they are mutually reinforcing ones, taking new shapes and gathering momentum in the days to come. Secondly, they are not a new challenge; it is only their new vigour and their synergetic effect which has given them urgency and potency, demanding an appropriate response from the civil servants at the personal as well as at institutional and organizational level.
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(It is an abridged version of chapter 1 of my E-Book “ 10 Essential Skills for Public Servants” available at Amazon 10 Essential Skills for Public Servants: A Handbook — Kindle edition by Shahid Hussain Raja. Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
