Rewarding failure

The prime motivators for enhancing results is rewarding success and penalising failure. These are natural laws and universally proven facts. All research has shown that accountability for results is dependent on the proper following of these laws. Western societies over a period of time have proved that in state or corporate affairs, wherever a culture of promoting rewards on the basis of success and vice versa is concerned, the experience shows high performance or otherwise. Thus societies that go by these principles have made very visible and clear cut progress in recent times. Similarly, those flouting them have never been able to develop sustainably. The evidence of the latter is visible in the precarious socio-economic situation our country finds itself in today. From energy to the economy and from education to health, the downward spiral is almost dangerously steep now. The slide is so consistent that it beats all estimations of what can be the worst that can happen to our country. Every time we think we have hit rock bottom, a new depth of despair crops up.
Organisation psychology research shows that behaviour is reinforced by how it is incentivised. Whatever is encouraged through monetary and non-monetary means is repeated, while whatever is discouraged through these means is not. This is how most organisations and countries keep themselves on track. However, in our country, we see an opposite application, and of course, this in turn brings opposite results as well. Whether it is public sector enterprises or government departments, their capacity to default has become almost unlimited, given the absence of any system of accountability. A budgeting exercise is about to start shortly and the budget will be announced in May/June. This is the traditional goal-setting tool used by many governments to set targets and then keep a track on how their performance measures against these targets. However, in our country this exercise is more of figure fudging and balancing both sides of statements rather than a plan that will get us to our destination. Every day, we will see most targets being missed. In most sane organisations, shortfalls are alarm bells and reasons to review and develop new strategies for reducing and removing them. But sanity itself has a shortfall in this country. GDP growth rates, tax collection and literacy rates are all thrown in the dustbin the minute the budget speech is over and any default in them is conveniently blamed on circumstances.
The reason for recurring failure in all these areas is that defaulting behaviour is not penalised — it is in fact rewarded. The most glaring example of this is the recurring and chronic problem of load shedding that has assumed cancerous proportions on our economic security. Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was the man who started a string of false promises of ending load shedding at the end of the month, quarter, year, and then laughed away any criticism. His solution to this problem was to hire rental power projects. Nonetheless, the ever-growing outcry of the media and protesting public forced the government to finally remove him, but without any penalty for lying and not being able to handle any issue at all. The rental power project scandal went to the Supreme Court and it was proved to have cost Rs 50 billion. Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s name was also placed on the ECL. This in any other country would have made the government cringe and immediately take action against the incriminated individual to prove that it would not spare such confirmed crimes. But to the horror of all, the present government has rewarded him for his crimes by appointing him as a minister. To make it even more ridiculous, he has not been given any ministry but just the title so that he can plunder all the privileges of being a minister without having a single responsibility to his name. This will ensure that his ability to mess up everything in no way becomes public news, as he does not have a job description to follow. If this is not a recipe for disaster, then what is it?
The last four years of the present government has broken all records of disastrous performance, be it macro or micro economic indicators. Locally, the industry is shutting down as the cost of running a business far exceeds the returns on it and internationally, foreign direct investment is down by 65 percent. While all this is going on, the government is busy making itself and its partners happy. Aside from load shedding, security has been the main culprit for making investments dip in the country. The man in charge of security, Rehman Malik, whose track record shows failure of security on all counts — whether it is the war on terror or the law and order situation that according to government estimates has cost $ 59 billion and almost 35,000 lives — has, for his constant failure, been rewarded by being given a doctorate degree. And to make it even more embarrassing, Nishan-e-Imtiaz, for his services to enhance terrorism in the country.
With such open appreciation through awards and rewards for the wrong ones and for the failures, the impact on the minds of young and old, who are trying to uphold the values of an honest day’s work and accountability then becomes ridiculous, bookish and impractical pursuit of ideals. In such a society, all effort is then directed to get the maximum with the minimum. In such circumstances, the race for grabbing without earning becomes a prime thing. In such conditions, stampeding and crushing others to go ahead becomes a norm; in such circumstances, the rule breakers are termed geniuses and rule abiders crazy; all thoughts and debates become centred to prove that the concept of doing right and living right is the figment of some lunatic’s imagination. It is when the belief system collapses that the moral fabric of a society becomes tattered. History shows that changes in society are a result of this loss of identity and direction. Eventually, people do realise that the cost of rewarding failure and doing wrong is unbearable, unaffordable and unsustainable. Let us hope that the people of Pakistan have reached that point of intolerance to have the ability to initiate a process of renaissance.

The writer is an analyst, consultant and information Secretary of PTI Punjab and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com