After the discussion yesterday by Sir Nemenzo, I've come up with a thought about the members of the bureaucracy, the BUREAUCRATS. I think, bureaucrats, in general, are not open to reforms or changes in their work or in the processes in the bureaucracy. But I still believe that this can still be changed, not by changes in policy or structure, but through changes in values.
Sir Nemenzo discussed the Russian bureaucracy, especially the case of the bureaucrats of the central economic planning agency. Although the central planning agency was the one behind the extremely fast industrialization and rise to economic prowess of Russia, it was also the very reason why the Russian economy stagnated and had a fast downturn. The economic managers from the central planning agency did not cope with the changing environment, i.e. the imbalance in the outputs of the various factories and industries being micro-managed by the planning agency. In the end, it created a lot of wastage in huge volumes.
And then, he shared his experience during his term as UP President, when he learned that a permit to travel needs at least 2 weeks before being released. This was because the computers were used by the 'permit processors' as a typewriter for the permits and they type the permits one by one, instead of saving a template in the computer.
From the two aforementioned conditions where bureaucrats are involved, I've come to think and believe that this is also happening now, especially in the government. And that they are the stumbling block to achieving changes in the very bureaucracy they belong to. Why did I come to come up with this belief?
It is primarily because the aspects of bureaucracy that are targeted for changes or reforms has become heavily incorporated into the routines of bureaucrats, that sometimes, some of them even treat it as a norm or tradition. An interesting case in point would be some government offices in the Philippines, especially in city halls and municipal halls. Government employees usually take their lunch breaks by 12 noon. So, if a person arrives in a government office by 11:30 am, then he/she should still be attended to by the government employee in that office. But, this doesn't happen. Instead, they (government employees) would strongly advice that person to just come back after the lunch break (which is at 1 p.m.) because they already spend the 30 minutes before their break time to put on make-up, chit-chat with their co-employees, or to surf the web using the office computer. Whenever they are asked why they do this, most of the old-timers will simply answer that it's the norm in the office. While for the newbies, they use the excuse of such practice being somewhat like a tradition in the office, to justify why they also practice such. And this is something that is not exclusive to government offices. This also happens in private offices where a bureaucratic pattern of management is implemented.
We are aware (or should be aware) that one of the hardest things to change or even permanently stop are those that have become the norms or traditions of a group of people or of a certain place. This is the reason why fraternity hazing, which is believed to be part of the "tradition" of fraternity brotherhood, is not totally eradicated by simply enacting a law against hazing. Also, this is the reason why despite the great opposition of the Philippine Catholic Church to the self-flagellation done by 'devotees' in a Pampanga town every Good Friday, they still go on and perform what they believe to be their tradition. And maybe, this is the reason why even if President Aquino tells us with full conviction that his administration will be different from the previous one, we can still trace similarities of the two. But this doesn't mean that problems rooted in traditions, norms or values, that have been already in place for so long, have no solution anymore.
Reforms in rules, policies, processes and structure of bureaucracy, or even imposition of a leader's political will, will not necessarily mean that positive and drastic changes will be seen and that the old conditions of the system will readily cease to exist. The problems are in the values system of those who are in the bureaucracy. These values systems can't be easily changed overnight. There will be strong opposition to it, just like in societies where the old order is replaced by a new one. It takes time before they are changed. Just like in the Russian central planning agency, their values system did not change until they have realized that their prolonged inaction to changes in the environment has already taken its toll on the economy. No one knows when that time will come until it shows itself.
Sir Nemenzo discussed the Russian bureaucracy, especially the case of the bureaucrats of the central economic planning agency. Although the central planning agency was the one behind the extremely fast industrialization and rise to economic prowess of Russia, it was also the very reason why the Russian economy stagnated and had a fast downturn. The economic managers from the central planning agency did not cope with the changing environment, i.e. the imbalance in the outputs of the various factories and industries being micro-managed by the planning agency. In the end, it created a lot of wastage in huge volumes.
And then, he shared his experience during his term as UP President, when he learned that a permit to travel needs at least 2 weeks before being released. This was because the computers were used by the 'permit processors' as a typewriter for the permits and they type the permits one by one, instead of saving a template in the computer.
From the two aforementioned conditions where bureaucrats are involved, I've come to think and believe that this is also happening now, especially in the government. And that they are the stumbling block to achieving changes in the very bureaucracy they belong to. Why did I come to come up with this belief?
It is primarily because the aspects of bureaucracy that are targeted for changes or reforms has become heavily incorporated into the routines of bureaucrats, that sometimes, some of them even treat it as a norm or tradition. An interesting case in point would be some government offices in the Philippines, especially in city halls and municipal halls. Government employees usually take their lunch breaks by 12 noon. So, if a person arrives in a government office by 11:30 am, then he/she should still be attended to by the government employee in that office. But, this doesn't happen. Instead, they (government employees) would strongly advice that person to just come back after the lunch break (which is at 1 p.m.) because they already spend the 30 minutes before their break time to put on make-up, chit-chat with their co-employees, or to surf the web using the office computer. Whenever they are asked why they do this, most of the old-timers will simply answer that it's the norm in the office. While for the newbies, they use the excuse of such practice being somewhat like a tradition in the office, to justify why they also practice such. And this is something that is not exclusive to government offices. This also happens in private offices where a bureaucratic pattern of management is implemented.
We are aware (or should be aware) that one of the hardest things to change or even permanently stop are those that have become the norms or traditions of a group of people or of a certain place. This is the reason why fraternity hazing, which is believed to be part of the "tradition" of fraternity brotherhood, is not totally eradicated by simply enacting a law against hazing. Also, this is the reason why despite the great opposition of the Philippine Catholic Church to the self-flagellation done by 'devotees' in a Pampanga town every Good Friday, they still go on and perform what they believe to be their tradition. And maybe, this is the reason why even if President Aquino tells us with full conviction that his administration will be different from the previous one, we can still trace similarities of the two. But this doesn't mean that problems rooted in traditions, norms or values, that have been already in place for so long, have no solution anymore.
Reforms in rules, policies, processes and structure of bureaucracy, or even imposition of a leader's political will, will not necessarily mean that positive and drastic changes will be seen and that the old conditions of the system will readily cease to exist. The problems are in the values system of those who are in the bureaucracy. These values systems can't be easily changed overnight. There will be strong opposition to it, just like in societies where the old order is replaced by a new one. It takes time before they are changed. Just like in the Russian central planning agency, their values system did not change until they have realized that their prolonged inaction to changes in the environment has already taken its toll on the economy. No one knows when that time will come until it shows itself.
"Time is the measurer of all things, but is itself immeasurable, and the grand discloser of all things, but is itself undisclosed."
CHARLES CALEB COLTON, Lacon
