David Osborne
He is Senior partner at The Public Strategies Group, a consulting firm. Also author of five books including the New York Times bestsellers Reinventing Government and Banishing Bureaucracy.
The Difference he makes Advices public organisations on how to develop and implement strategies to improve their performance.
Key Insight “You can’t skip the steps of controlling patronage, corruption and creating an independent judiciary that ensures the rule of law.”
What has changed about 21st century governance?
Why do things need to change? Bureaucracy stood for centralised, hierarchical decisions made at the center at the top; deliver standardised services to mass market. They build the same roads, same education, and offer uniform services. They are built to do that and control that through rules and regulations and ignore results. Customers of bureaucracy have no power, their customers can’t go elsewhere, and they are often monopolies. During the industrial era bureaucracy was the best way for public administration. At that time there were no computers, workforce was not educated, and communication was not as good.
What are some of the things governments can do to build result-oriented governments?
Competition. It makes them compete. Another powerful strategy is you make public organisations earn revenue in a competitive market place, like say in schools that focuses them. Third is performance management system that pushes them to be results oriented: Rewards for success, punishment for failures; financial bonuses for organisations that improve performance. Or change the management of the organisation; if a school is failing year after year, it’s not unusual for the district to go and take over the school in the US.
While talking about change management, anything you do differently in government vis-à-vis business?
In business you can take rational steps that are painful – like layoffs or close down a part of the business and justify to owners that we have to survive.
(This story appears in the 19 February, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
It is heartening that Shri Osborne and other fine minds outside India are applying themselves to issues of good governance. In the culture of profiting from deceit and dysfunctionality that has developed in India, the problem is that even while the Indian political leadership spins technicolour dreams of 21st century superpowerdom, its "politics" are mired in the medieval anachronisms of what I have called the "patronage paradigm - the paradigm of shoddiness, irresponsibility, cronyism and corruption, that has cretinised us all" In India today any "aspiration" for integrity, innovation or excellence, in the "common man" can quickly get "him" ostracised if not brutally killed. The "common woman" does not even exist ! The recently exposed Ruchika Girhotra case and my own experience indicate that checks and balances have collapsed and coalesced into one corrupt predatory ruling class. Very little difference between the judiciary, the administration, the legislature and the press. They all know that while being "goody-goody" - can quickly mark you out for destruction, bad, perverse, dysfunctional behaviour is the capital with which money and power, beyond all dreams of avarice, are accumulated. My fear is despite the fantastic growth figures, India is fast deteriorating into an administrative nightmare and a bit of a basket case. Transparency and accountability are the mantras that will create the necessary paradigm shift into an autonomous, functioning society. The Right To Information Act 2005 is a brilliant piece of legislation. But count on the bureaucrats to racketeer on this too. Even as we speak, Dr Manmohan Singh’s Office, “Daredevil” Pratibha Patil’s Rashtrapathi Bhavan, Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, State Information Commissioner CD Arha are all in an obvious criminal conspiracy of silence to deny me justice. The Andhra Pradesh High Court has misbehaved egregiously. If you would like to know about the sheer impossibility of living a sane, unexploitative, equitable life in India, you and your esteemed visitors may want to visit and participate at sathyagraha.blogspot.com Andhra Pradesh High Court’s Pernicious Rebellion Against The Law .05/29/09 RTI Act 2005 Abuse In Andhra Pradesh- SIC Cheats! Chief Secretary Lies!05/07/09 Prejudiced CIC Laps Up PMO Lies 05/05/09 Divakar S Natarajan and Varun Gandhi Cannot Both Be Wrong ! 01/28/09 And India’s editorial class will not report the story! Divakar's Sathyagraha News and views from Divakar S Natarajan’s, “no excuses”, ultra peaceful, non partisan, individual sathyagraha against corruption and for the idea of the rule of law in India. Now in its 18th year. India's Home Minister has called on civil society to speak out against Maoist depredations. Will he kindly let me know why Rashtrapathi Bhavan and the Prime Minister's office have not taken appropriate action on the representations made on my behalf by the former Home Minister Shri Indrajit Gupta, Padma Vibhushan Kaloji Narayana Rao and others ? Even as the Prime Minister's Office maintains a baleful and ignominious silence in my case, it appears to have jumped through hoops to heap honour on a businessman alleged to be a serial swindler .
on Feb 18, 2010David Osborne's perspective on governance in developing countries is more pragmatic then prophetic. The whole ideology of democracy becomes farce when the rot is deep. It is rather unfortunate that in a country like India, where one can exercise some of the most vital rights, is still drenched in massive corruption. <br /> Consequently, even the basic needs like food and shelter remain a far cry for those on the lower rungs of the society. Osborne has rightly pointed out the development models of Singapore and Mexico. There are indeed some high-sounding models that India can boast of. E-governance being one of them. It is only natural that corrupt officials leave no stone unturned to be on the defensive and use such models to their advantage. <br /> Fair practices can only be triggered through public-private partnership. Corporate Governance is the need of the hour as also a responsible judiciary which can bring the crooks to book within a stipulated time and give hope to the justice-starved common man.
on Mar 3, 2010