Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed :
It is difficult to precise definition of bureaucracy or civil service. The evolution of civil service in different countries has been influenced by different stages of political development of countries concerned. However, in general, the modern civil service is created on the basis of ideals of permanency in carrier, recruitment strictly based on merit through competitive examination and political neutrality. These ideals are essentially British creation. However, through different administrative reforms in some post-colonial societies old traditions of permanency have been replaced by performance- management system.
Today bureaucracy has been termed as an interest group. Almond and Powell describes ‘interest group’ as “a group of individuals who are linked by particular bonds or concern or advantage and who have some awareness of these bonds.” According to the writers, the bureaucracy forms part of institutional groups which are “formed organisations, composed of professionally employed personnel with designated political or social functions and other interest articulation.” The writers further point out that this group may articulate their own interest or represent the interest of other groups in the society they have a powerful position in the society. Because of the strength provide by their organisation base.
Traditional bureaucratic traits apparently go against the spirit of transformational leadership that looks for vision, takes a long term perspective, takes a view at the horizon and challenges the status quo. Transactional leadership traits, on the other hand, are not desirable in a modern day fast changing globalised complex world, go more with the concepts of bureaucratic practice. Merton, therefore, quite logically criticises the Weberian concept of bureaucracy. He sees bureaucratic adherence to the roles that transforms into an end instead of means. There is, therefore, the displacement of goals, which develops into rigidities and inability to adjust readily. Strict adherence to rules and regulations induces timidity, conservatism and technicalities. Max Weber has also talked about the consequences of bureaucracy like it develops a system of authority, which is indestructible, and an entrenched bureaucracy can serve any interest its allegiance is only to the authority above it even if political changes have taken place. Since bureaucracy relies strictly on rules and hierarchy, it tends to become rigid which resists any change in the status quo as opposed to transformational leadership.
Bureaucracy plays dominant role in the development of the society and it is the cornerstone of modern society. Bangladesh has seen bureaucrats playing continuous role in policy formulation and policy implementation. The bureaucracy, in present Bangladesh originates from the bureaucracy in British India. The bureaucracy in this portion of the subcontinent has experienced several ups and downs throughout the three distinct periods of British, Pakistan and Bangladesh era. The bureaucracy in Bangladesh is repeatedly apparent with the issues of corruption, nepotism, inefficiency, lack of accountability and transparency, etc. It is sometimes represented bureaucracy as an undesirable rather progressive facilitator to the progress of the country. Still bureaucracy plays traditional role and calls for a better system to meet the changing needs of the society.
Moreover, Bangladesh being a post-colonial country, inherited a highly centralised and bureaucratic administrative system. During the subsequent post-independenceperiod this system had not undergone any substantial change, as such, decision-making has remained highly centralised, not only in policy making but also in policy implementation. Executive agencies like directorates or departments and also the socalled autonomous bodies, are thus subjected to detailed controls by the ministries and are largely deprived of the functional autonomy they are supposed to enjoy. This centralised administrative system, reflective of the post-colonial nature of the Bangladesh state has been further reinforced by greater involvement and the role played by the state in the process of economic development due mainly to the lack of weakness of the private sector in the economy. Bureaucracy thus gets more prominence and power. With the centralised administration system, it is the top bureaucrats who occupy the most important positions in decision-making.
The elite civil services of Bangladesh are the lineal dependences of the civil service of Pakistan, with all of the values and orientations it implied. There is no change in the attitude of bureaucrats who still follow the footprints of their Pakistani predecessors. Bangladesh’s potentials are well recognised but due to its management deficiency or lack of relative competence and somewhat attitudinal disorientation of its civil bureaucracy, Bangladesh’s potentials could not be fully realised. Its civil society, however, is emerging although still not a sufficient pressure group to bring about the changes/reforms like the executive and the separation of judiciary from decentralisation and institutionalisation of local bodies as stipulated in its well-articulated Constitution. However, civil society can definitely play a catalyst role in bringing about the reforms. Along with it a thorough revamping and reorientation of Bangladesh’s bureaucracy is a necessity for the reforms as mentioned although it is likely its entrenched interests may still work as a resistance force.
The Constitution of Bangladesh demands that the civil servants are accountable to the Constitution, which the final expression of the will of the people. The internal mechanism follows the organisational structure with divisions of hierarchical authority where decisions are taken based on well-defined systems, procedures, rules and regulations this function is influenced by the management culture and that culture is to play save and push the cases upward in order to avoid responsibility. There is a fall in the ethical standards of the civil service. The regular system of inspection and monitoring has also gone into disuse. Currently, the civil service is plagued with a plethora of problems including low quality poor remuneration, weak accountability and corruption. Consequently, service quality is low and bureaucracy is a serious hurdle to the efficient functioning of all the public and private sectors and the socio economic condition as well.
Is present day bureaucracy committed to good governance? According to UNDP and World Bank, Good Governance has eight principles/characteristics. These are: – Participation, rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, consensus oriented, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency, accountability. The current situation shows that without effective leadership and good governance at all levels in private, public and civil organisations, it is arguably virtually impossible to achieve and to sustain effective administration, to achieve goals, to sustain quality and deliver first-rate services. There is a direct link between good governance, effective leadership, time management and economic prosperity. Managing changes in times must be emphasised and prioritised. Effective leadership and good governance are two sides of the same coin. The two have many elements in common. Without an effective leadership we may not envisage good governance in its totality, in fact good governance may not be achieved in its totality because of cultural, psychological, social and sociological impacts and differences. Its implementation and perception also varies in line with the level of development and demands of the society. Due to this, the practice shows that very few countries and societies have come close to achieving good governance in its totality. As the leadership is the leadership of influencing people to strive willingly for mutual objective and leadership refers to the quality of the behaviour of individuals whereby they guide people of their activities in organised effort, so without good leadership governance and good governance is absurd and impossible. The increasing complexities and requirements arising from the constant change in society, coupled with the constant push for higher levels of productivity, require effective and ethical leadership. Good governance and effective-ethical leadership are the essential requirements for an organisation to be considered successful in the eyes of all stakeholders in the 21st century.
So, bureaucracy needs to be reformed. In this regard, the field administration should have a new set up for a short tenure. The post or appointment like DC and TNO should be changed. These names may have substituted as Upazila coordinating officer and District coordinating officer and they should belong to any efficient and effective cadre officials. Besides, the Upazila Parishad should have a setup of representatives coming from different political platforms. If the administration system is properly reformed, the country will achieve the desired goal and development will be ensured.
Many of our bureaucrats play the role of flatterers with the senior and establish a culture of fraudulence in the working arena of bureaucracy. They cannot control the greed towards illicit earnings. They act more of oil massaging agents than that of thought provoking agent. They remain busy in dirty competition among themselves. As a result, dissatisfaction and division among themselves hinder the prevailing accepted system. A forceful, dictatorial and group interest formula prevails and ultimately people suffer and state’s interest is hampered. Nowadays our bureaucrats are politically motivated and used for the government regime’s interest of a party. All the governments present and in the past in their tenure, they used a using police force and other government agencies with their absolute authorities. For which, nations administrative mechanism and machineries do not go above corruption and controversies. With the change of the regime bureaucrats are changed. However, their mindset should not be changed, this is the problem for which our country is suffering for a long time. So, for the sake of nation’s interest a strong and ethical bureaucracy is a need of the day.
(The writer is former Deputy Director General, Bangladesh Ansar & VDP).
