Daily Times

When wanting to meet a senior government official one is often informed by the office staff, “The boss is in the meeting.”

Meetings in government offices and secretariats are a routine matter. Most of these meetings are held over a cup of tea and knickknacks or followed by a meal. Meetings of the bureaucrats are not new. Even George Orwell in one his books mentioned such meetings calling them, more or less, wastage of time and public tax money.

During most of the meetings, it’s the man on the head chair who thinks himself most important. His ego is pepped up and he feels ebullient, as most of the attendees seem to approve of what the boss said. Agreeing with the boss’s thoughts means winning brownie points.

But what do the employees think inwardly about such meetings is no secret. They consider it a waste of time and an interruption in their day work. Dave Barry, a famous American columnist, aptly defined meetings, “If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.” Barry might have commented in jest but plenty of it holds true in Pakistan.

Agreeing with the boss’s thoughts means winning brownie points.

The factual position, however, is that when those attending the meeting don’t have enough time to focus on their primary duty, their productivity suffers. When they feel their time, which could have been used productively, is usually wasted in futile meetings, not only their motivation suffers but also their job satisfaction. In quite a few cases even those participants are invited who aren’t needed there.

It’s mostly the boss of the organisation who calls for the meeting. Now the meetings called by the vice chancellors of the universities interfere in the cognitive work of the academics. For instance, frequent meetings held in engineering and technical universities distract the professors engaged in research work. The time they could have spent reading, researching and later writing research papers for publication in foreign journals is consumed by unproductive meetings. It surely affects their enthusiasm to work. Noticeably, many participants continue to explore their cell phones when such meetings are in progress. It only shows their lack of interest in the meeting.

Distressing it is to learn that many foreign qualified young PhD doctors are leaving the country and finding jobs in some of the European universities. Foreign universities are out on a talent-hunt and they seem to succeed in attracting our young PhDs disillusioned with the prevailing environment in their respective universities. Even though the salaries are low, which is not the only reason for seeking jobs abroad; it’s the academic culture that lacks the true spirit of research and the sense of achievement.

Moreover, with passage of time as the universities add years to their existence – The University of Punjab, for instance, a culture of ‘normal routine’ devoid of vision to develop further sets in. Same is not true with newly established universities. What Dr Atta-Ur-Rahman has written in one of his articles about the new university set up under his patronage in Haripur is impressive. The Pak-Austria University of Applied Sciences and Engineering, financed by the KPK government, is mission oriented.

According to Dr Rahman, three Austrian, one German and five Chinese universities have taken charge to develop one section of the university. More importantly, exams based on theoretical knowledge are not enough, all students will have to spend about 500 working hours in the industry of high performance to be eligible to get the degrees. There won’t be any chance for the university head to call for time-wasting meetings when monitored by the administrations of Austrian, German and Chinese universities.

It’s a matter of concern that not only young PhD doctors want to go abroad for better prospects, but also other professionals like engineers, bankers, and experts in other fields. But in neighbouring India, the professionals working abroad tend to return home to serve since the working conditions there have improved.

The theme of many of my articles revolves around taxpayers’ money that I consider a sacred trust and it should be treated as such by the government. On the contrary, every government laments that people don’t pay taxes, while the taxpayers contend that the government wastes their tax money on useless pursuits. The time of government employees at all levels is public time during duty hours, as they’re paid out of public funds. When that time is wasted on unjustified meetings, it means wastage of public taxes.

The writer is a Lahore-based columnist and can be reached at pinecity@gmail.com