An interesting report on working of CIC’s (Mr Shailesh Gandhi) office. Just other than outlining some of the process innovations around RTI, the report struck me as an account of variability in productivity in government offices – there is no reason to believe that such variability doesn’t exist in other departments/offices, and that the efficiency levels can not be increased by similar levels.
Report On Workpractices At An Information Commission
View more documents from alokmittal.
As I have written earlier, the effectiveness of an office or an institution is (mostly) positively impacted when known by the name of the person heading it. CEC was hardly in the mindspace of masses till Seshan, DRDO, ISRO, Metro are other examples. Innately our system is based on mistrust. There are inspectors and there are cabinets or committees. An office is known by the designation and not by a named individual. We do not empower, rather we mistrust. The cost of managing mistrust far exceeds the risk of trusting individuals. Consensus, in such an environment, delivers only the Least Common Denominator & that, too, at an agonizingly slow pace.
The need for an OD overhaul is staring at all of us. I still await someone to attempt answers to the qusetions posed in my post.