Why Decision Paralysis Happens in the Civil Services
The mismatch between the operating methods of the civil service and its structure promotes decision/policy paralysis. One major reason is that post-independence, 4Ps - politics, programme orientation, peoples’ participation, and place characteristics - were introduced in decision-making. Let's explore how this situation has come about.
The civil service comprises a hierarchical arrangement of various posts, each endowed with defined powers arising from the job chart. These posts provide the experience necessary for civil servants to fulfill their roles effectively and prepare them to advance to higher positions. The fundamental requirements include maintaining 'neutrality' in actions and decisions, and aiming for decisions that are 'wholly scientific or technical and wholly right.'
The first change was the launch of the Community Development Programme (CD) in the early 1950s. The CD Programme aimed to enhance agricultural productivity and civil servants encountered the challenges of grassroots mobilization of people and resources to achieve results. The existing rigid structure and operating system, consisting of treating program planning and execution as a "mechanical, merely technical, unvarying" activity and associating political neutrality with program neutrality, was no longer adequate to deliver results.
Civil servants devised new ways to make decisions in the transformed settings and some key ones are outlined below:
Incrementalism - due to limited experience in agricultural extension, civil servants opted for a step-by-step approach where achieving results 'good enough' for immediate purposes became the focus.
Adopting a hands-off role - the creation of Blocks involved local Samiti Presidents in decision-making alongside MLAs. Some civil servants restricted their actions within the boundaries permitted by the political executive.
In the 1970s various poverty alleviation programs under the 'garibi hatao' slogan were introduced and civil servants were tasked with resolving social conflicts and efficiently managing complex tasks. The need for skills to incorporate the 4Ps in decision-making was felt even more and the following additional decision-making methods emerged:
Advocacy - Civil servants began advocating for the interests of disadvantaged groups like SCs/STs and women, actively engaging in political processes to achieve welfare objectives.
People orientation - Communication was seen as an action itself, leading to the development of tools to gather beneficiary feedback (Rapid Rural Appraisal) or facilitate participatory planning (Participatory Rural Appraisal).
Strategic direction - Focus shifted towards goal-oriented approaches involving people and political processes, considering the unique aspects of decision settings.
The opening up of the Indian economy resulted in cross-fertilization of public administration and business administration, leading to the emergence of 'policy entrepreneur' Chief Ministers. Simply, this sort of hybridization led to the combination of public administration's 'what' and 'why' with business administration's 'how'. Some ‘hows’ are given below:
The GeM portal is an online marketplace for governments and represents a contemporary example of enterprising government. Other recent examples include the lateral entry of private sector professionals to enhance government competitiveness, railway ticketing and passport service to provide customer-centric services, Direct Benefit Transfer and scholarships for cost-effectiveness, and rolling out the JAM trinity to usher in Digital Era Governance (DEG).
In response to the changing times, civil services have evolved various decision-making methods. However, the historic structure fails to bring together these diverse approaches toward decision-making. The gap between the structure and operating system creates departmentalism, tunnel vision, and vertical silos, leading to decision/policy paralysis. Recent trends like the Whole of Government (WoG) approach, emphasizing the 'oneness of government' plus DEG, aim to bridge the gap.
