Fixing implementation

With reference to “Three-page notes considered harmful” (October 16), policies, whether administrative, commercial or legal, should not only formulated but also implemented. Policy implementation calls for determination to overcome hurdles in its path. However, there is a large hierarchical system in all institutions with a clear demarcation of authority at various levels for decision-making. Failure in an aggressive approach at any level leads to disciplinary consequences for the one who takes a decision. Out of 10 aggressive strategies two may fail. However, the standard organisational notion is not that eight decisions were successful but why two have failed to fix accountability. Corrective measures should be undertaken to plug loopholes rather than to take punitive action. The absence of this leads to a hesitation to implement policy as safety and security precede dynamism and functional failures are invariably linked to corruption. This applies to other spheres of economic functioning also — administrative, financial or legal.

Procrastination prevails over dynamism and managerial abilities are discouraged from coming to the forefront, with career growth linked more to policy formulation than implementation. No wonder that specialised functionaries are inducted from outside to stem the rot and take the next step forward. Investment in business or enterprise is directly governed by the confidence of the shareholders. The confidence emanates and is retained when budgetary targets are achieved, growth is ensured and profits are obtained. Four decades of socialist economic functioning laid greater stress on job security than job performance. Politics, within the organisation or externally, also prevails in policy implementation as a result of which decisions stop at words and do not convert into action. Such politics may either lie within the organisation or governed by external forces and is better avoided. Thus the basis for economic strengthening should be more towards policy enforcement than a compilation of figures.

C Gopinath Nair   Kochi