a celebration of intellectual trespassing by a retired "social scientist" as he tries to make sense of the world.....
what you get here
Friday, October 16, 2009
making bureaucracy transparent and accountable
writing to make sense of things
The format of prescriptions is evidently a good one – at the very least in disciplining the thoughts of the writer. But seven-ten prescriptions, however, seem to be as many as people can handle.
I do not know at this stage what do’s and don’ts will emerge from the reflections I'm drafting about the lessons from my work of the past 40 years.
Another thing about writing and books is that it is contextual. At University, I initially found it difficult to read Hobbes “Leviathan” but, when I understood more about the times in which it was written, I became more interested. It’s the same for me about poetry – I wish there were more comments from the poets about the context in which they had written these tight, concentrated stanzas.
I have identified three key stages[3] – the initial encounter with bureaucracy and politics and the shaping of a reform position (1968-1974); the period of “strategic leadership (1974-1991); and “nomadic consultancy” (1991 - the present).
The focus for the first 2 stages was a combination of “social exclusion” and “managing change” – at a time when these were not the disciplines they have become. I quickly saw how deadly party government was - and, with the help of community workers and their thinking, "went native". Curiously, however, that removed me from the faction fighting which was the essence of the Labour party then - I was seen as belonging to no faction and therefore a good second vote in internal elections to positions of power. For 18 years I therefore triumphed in the bi-ennial elections to the key postion of Group Secretary - and had my pick of positions.
For the last 2 decades, the focus of my work has been more generally that of “building administrative capacity” – of state bodies in “transition countries”. And, again, I was in at the beginning of a venture for which there were not then the writings and tools apparently now available. For example a paper on public sector reform on a website recently established by the EC - http://capacity4dev.ec.europa.eu/concept-paper-public-sector-reform-introduction
Also on the website is a useful paper on capacity development
For each stage, the draft paper on my website describes context and events - and then some lessons are drawn. Generally these are the lessons I felt at the time – as reflected in a piece of writing.
I notice that the text is fairly personal initially – but becomes less so from 1990 when my role changed from being an “insider” to an “outsider”. Although I consider that I have always been a bit of an outsider! I have always been inter-disciplinary – working in no-man’s lands[4], building bridges - but remember vividly the central European joke about bridges – “in peacetime, horses shit on them - and, in war-time, they get blown up!”
Part I uses the language in which the various issues of social exclusion, community development, managing change, capacity building are normally discussed. Part II tries to see the commonalities of these disparate languages. I remember being puzzled in the 1970s by the separate path education and social work people in the UK took to the discovery of the importance of the social process of learning – with two completely different (and rival) disciplines (community work; and community education) being established.
[1] in Banishing Bureaucracy; the five strategies for reinventing government (Addison 1997)
[2] in Administrative Argument (Aldershot 1991)
[3] There are supposed to be seven stages to life! See also Bridges (Transitions) etc
[4] the social scientists in the Tavistock Institute coined the phrase "reticulists" for those of us who straddled the boundaries of party, NGO and academia....
Brecht and Candide
One of my favourite poems has been Brecht’s “In Praise of doubt”
The "best of worlds" reminds one of Voltaire's Candide - or rather the Panglossian philosophy which the book derides. In our post-modernistic hubris, it'seasy to forget that so much of what we think are profound new insights have been said before - and in a better way (see the Eliot quotes in the previous post). Hans Christian Andersen's "The Emperor's New Clothes" remains for me one of the most inspiring stories (about groupthink) - and Tolstoy's fable "Three Questions" about the importance of living in the present. I was amazed to find that theme in Marcus Aurelius' Meditations! Perhaps, instead of drafting my own lessons, I should simply quote from these older texts....??Deafened by commends, examined
For his fitness to fight by bearded doctors,
inspected by resplendent creatures with golden insignia,admonished by solemn clerics who throw at him a book written by God Himself
Instructed by impatient schoolmasters, stands the poor man and is told
That the world is the best of worlds and that the hole
In the roof of his hovel was planned
by God in person
Truly he finds it hard
To doubt the world
There are the thoughtless who never doubt
Their digestion is splendid, their judgement infallible
They don’t believe in the facts,
they believe only in themselves
When it comes to the point
The facts must go by the board. Their patience with themselves
Is boundless. To arguments
They listen with the ear of a police spy.
The thoughtless who never doubt
Meet the thoughtful who never act
They doubt, not in order to come to a decision but
To avoid a decision. Their heads
They use only for shaking. With anxious faces
They warn the crews
of sinking ships that water is dangerous....
You who are a leader
of men, do not forget
That you are that because you doubted other leaders
So allow the led
Their right to doubt
O lucky man!
- what can government systems realistically do to deal with the huge problem of social exclusion?
- whether a new type of public management can be created which is more sensitive to citizen needs
- the role of external adviser in countries trying to create pluralist systems
Since 1970 I’ve tried to make sense of the challenges I’ve been involved with in various countries by writing about them – relating the various projects to the wider literature in the field – and generally being lucky enough to have the results published. This way I have certain “reality checks” on the way I was seeing and thinking about things along the way.
But we have a saying - “Those who can, do – those who can’t, teach”. And it’s certainly true that leaders of organisations do not make good witnesses about the whys and wherefores of the business they’re in. Most political and business autobiographies are shallow and self-serving. Even with the best of intentions, it seems almost impossible for an active executive to distance himself from the events which (s)he’s been involved in to be able to explain properly events – let alone draw out general lessons which can help others.
And, on the other side, can the teachers actually teach? Academic books and articles about the reform of government have churned from the press in ever larger numbers over the last 50 years. Do they tell a convincing story? More to the point, do they actually help the aspiring reformer? Or do they, rather, confuse him and her – whether by style, length or complexity? Indeed, how many of them are actually written to help the reformer – as distinct from making an academic reputation? And quite a few give the sort of directions an Irishman is famed for giving some tourists who stopped to find the way – “Sure and if were you, I widna start from here!”
what’s the question?
In the first 20 years of my work (in Scotland), my questions related to structures of power in local government – between officials, politicians and community activists. How could we structure better dialogue to produce results for marginalised groups? Some of the answers I felt I had by the mid 1990s can be found at section 6 below. I was, however, fighting against the tide in Thatcher Britain – whose agenda for change was rather more brutal. Truth be told, I had some sympathies for her approach – there was too much complacency in the various professions but she did throw the baby out with the bathwater....I sometime say that I was a political refugee – from Thatcher’s Britain – since she was emasculating the local government system to which I was committed (if ever critical) and I was happy to accept an invitation in 1990 from the Head of WHO (European Public Health) to help WHO try to build constituencies for reform in public health in the newly-liberated countries of central and east Europe.
In the last 20 years, the questions for me have been even more fundamental – how to create a language for reform? I have, since 1991, been living and working in countries where English was a foreign language; and in which there were few shared professional concepts. To those, however, who argued that I could not understand the local context I simply replied that I recognised so well the bureaucratic syndrome from what I had seen and worked through in the West of Scotland in the 1970s. In that sense, my life has been a fight against bureaucracy. My first book was written to throw light on the workings of the new system of Scottish local government in 1976 – it was called “The Search of Democracy”. It’s sad that – 30 years on – people seem still to be looking for it!
For the longer draft, of which this is the opening section, see "key papers" on my website
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
snow
Less than 5 months after the last heavy snow, it's back! It's not quite as thick as shown here but this gives an idea of what it will be like within a few weeks here at 1,300 metres.
The weather broke while we were in Sofia - a superb run down from Bucharest on Sunday with the sun blazing down. I thought of giving Sofia a miss and driving another 5 hours to Thassos on the Aegian for swim! We ate in the open air on Sunday evening - and walked happily on Monday - through to after midnight. But during the night, the wind rose and the temperature dropped to zero!! But the drive back was good - sorry to leave Bulgaria which we love so much. Both nights we dined with friends....
Friday, October 9, 2009
close to nature
Difficult to find an image which can convey the beauty of this place - at this time.
But living close to nature is... back-breaking. For example heating - no easy turn of a switch. You need to find and order wood; transport, store and protect it; cut it; keep the power saw maintained; carry the logs to the boiler; make the fire; oversee the dials which are like ParaHanda's Puffer; fill the logs every 6 hours; clean, clean and clean.....endless....No wonder I cheat - and use the electric heater whenever I can get away with it
Thursday, October 8, 2009
two new paintings
virtual auction
Although this is a new blog - I've been blogging for some months on a larger (professional) site - with papers I;ve uploaded - which has, however, a very unsexy name -
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
bulgarian paintings
I've always enjoyed art galleries - but have been slow to appreciate let alone buy paintings. I bought a few in Romania and Uzbekistan - but it was Bulgaria which really started me on my passion. During my year there I bought about 30 - even commissioned one (of my father - from a balck and white picture). It's their painters of the mid century I really love - they were (thanks to the Turks) slow to the art form - and therefore were in the last century still celebrating the beauty of landscapes and pastels. There is an auction tomorrow in Sofia - and I have an eye on a few paintings - including the above. Painted 60 years ago, the asking price is 400 euros....
the search for the holy grail
I'm not an academic - so I can't be satisfied with critiquing ideas - I'm looking for what works!
And Toyota have gained a reputation for working! And so, inevitably, the reformers and consultants in the public sector seek to identify the essence of that success and transfer it into a message of reform for the public sector. So the last Amazon delivery here contained 2 books - by Jeffrey Liker - on their principles and operations. I've started the first - and can relate to it. It tells stories - amazing stories - about a different way of doing business which one idealistically imagines should be seen in the public sector. The ideas may be radical - but the company is well-known for being conservative - taking time to think things through - but implementing fast.
This is what is needed in the UK where ideas are valued - but not implementation.
At the same time I dip into an academic study of the application of business reengineering ("big-bang")principles to a UK hospital - Reengineering Health Care - the complexities of organisational transformation by Mc Nulty and Ferlie and reel away, appalled and injured by the jargon and complexity. See for yourself here.
Ricardo Semler is the MD of Semco which has turned traditional management principles on their head - he writes about this in 2 books Maverick and The Seven-Day Weekend. There is a link here with cooperatives - the underrated organisational principle.....