Daily Times

Public policy and governance are the prime movers of development in various sectors of the economy and the characteristics of society. An integrated approach is needed to make best use of resources and to improve the delivery systems to the satisfaction of the people. Effective and efficient service delivery depends on the organisation of civil services in a country, particularly on training policies that help in capacity building and morale boosting. Rationalising the system of recruitment, career and training, and enlightening and proper orientation of politicians are all necessary to overcome problems of governance that often crop up because of lack of merit orientation, personal idiosyncrasies and corruption. There has to be a proper system to check and prevent distasteful behaviours of politicians as well as civil servants whose indifference is often detrimental and frustrating for their junior colleagues.
The best way to bring desired change is to follow the rules and procedures of the system. Dharnas (sit-ins), habitual protests and marches are a waste of time and other national resources as well as against the spirit of justice and the cooperative, democratic way forward. Without strengthening institutions it is not possible to prevent failing the people. Bad behaviour is not conducive to developing an enabling culture. Distasteful behaviours in politics and administration are non-productive.
Current administrative structures are confronted with basic and irreversible changes. The Weberian administration with its rigid hierarchical and complex lines of communication that stressed continuity is no longer applicable. New problems require more organisational structures in which creativity, flexibility and efficiency are underlined and the client or the audience essentially constitutes one of the final and most important orientations. Service orientation has to be focused on what the people want.
The quality of public administration, moreover, remains to a great extent dependent on those who produce services. As a result, within each process leading to change and aiming to influence the functioning of the administrative machinery with its own environment, values, recruitment, career and training system, there are crucial elements for achieving the envisaged changes and for maintaining the organisational culture and dynamism capable of sustaining permanent adaptations. Many countries are acquainted with similar problems and are attempting to find appropriate solutions that, nonetheless, cannot be applied as such in other administrative systems but which may bring to light new points of view and draw attention to complementary effects that are not apparent at first sight.
A broader view of the international approach to problems linked to change and to experience acquired on the subject as a stimulating effect can lead to time being gained while seeking new solutions for particular modernisation processes.
For the sake of simplicity, the analysis of public administration focuses on process and politics, and the internal functioning of public administration and its external goals and relations. The distinction is useful for purposes of explanation but it has limited validity. The decision to assign a new function to a particular agency is, on the surface, an internal governmental matter but different assignments can lead to strikingly different functional and political consequences. Nor on the other side can an administrator operate in his or her political environment without affecting the internal operations of his/her agency. We can have no effective understanding of public administration unless we keep in mind the wide range of considerations that are relevant to the administrator’s behaviour. Each administrative situation is unique, suggesting an innovative and creative approach, and importance of analytical skills to seek solutions appropriate to ever changing scenarios.
If substantive decision, i.e. decisions on programme, are arrived by wise and informed use of the resources of administration and by intelligent appreciation of the political environment, they are far more likely to be sound than if they are arrived at in hit-or-miss or doctrinaire fashion. A realisation of the nature of public administration leads to a clarification of objectives and to a more sophisticated approach to those objectives in the midst of pressures generated by society. For both professional students and lay citizens who seek to understand why government officials behave as they do and to learn how to judge their decisions, the same general conclusions apply.
People complain about government. Some question its very justification for being. We match it against an ideal. We look to government officials for qualities that we do not forcefully demand of others, including those with whom the government does important business. All we can and do ask public administrators is that they use foresight, decency and intelligence in reaching their decisions. Decisions need to be in line with public policy and the norms of good governance.
Policy is a guideline that establishes parameters for making decisions that may have implications in the political and legal contexts. In contrast to a rule, a policy does not specifically state what should or should not be done. The interpretation is left to the decision maker. The policy to pay competitive wages, for example, does not specify the amount to pay but it does give direction to the decision an organisation makes.
Your passport may or may not restrict your travel to certain destinations depending on government policy. An import policy may be open except for a negative list or items prohibited by agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FBA) or World Health Organisation (WHO). Education, health, housing and agriculture policy may provide guidelines on issues, goals and objectives or urgency of certain programmes in the public sector and specify the regulatory or controlling role of government agencies/institutions with reference to programmes or activities in the private sector.
For public enterprises, government itself is accountable and has to make sure that public enterprises are operated effectively and efficiently in line with public policy, principles of good governance and innovative techniques and methods. The trend should be toward reinventing and re-engineering rather than privatisation. The policy of nationalisation as well as privatisation has had a negative impact on Pakistan’s national economy. The government has to make sure that there are no contradictions within and between public policy.
An enabling culture has to be created to give meaning to public policy and the system of governance with strong merit orientation, capacity building and the will to serve the people to satisfy their needs.

The writer is a former director, National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA), a political analyst, public policy expert and an author. His book Post 9/11 Pakistan has been published in the US