From Reactive Bureaucracy to Proactive Management

From Reactive Bureaucracy to Proactive Management
Ph.D., Associate Professor LuminiŃa Gabriela Popescu
National School of Political Studies and Public Administration (NSPSPA)
Faculty of Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania
Email: luminitapopescu@snspa.ro
Tel: 0040-21- 3180885
Ph.D. candidate, teaching assistant Cristina Elena Nicolescu
NSPSPA
Faculty of Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania
Email: cnicolescu@snspa.ro
Tel: 0040-21- 3180897
Abstract
In a world of global competition and rapid changes, public leaders must learn to
respond quickly and effectively to changes in their environment. “The ability to make
consistently good decisions over time, enabling an organization to adapt quickly to changes in
its environment, has become a critical determinant of success”( Strategic management in the
Public Services: A review of the implementation of Key Result Areas 1994-1997Stakeholders’ Perspectives, Wellington, New Zealand, Daphne Brassell Associates, 1999).
Governments need effective systems that help them not only to plan but to steer. The
vision of the future – concept lacking in academic rigor and, therefore, difficult to define, is a
mandatory requirement, which stresses the force of a clear strategic intent and its
irreplaceable role in the development of an effective public action. A visionary manager is
able to work today for tomorrow.
At the opposite pole, there are the managers who look carefully just where they walk,
but never to the sky. They are interested only in the present, completely ignoring the future.
Such managerial behavior demonstrates a lack in strategic vision, which, under current
circumstances, may lead to an obvious lack of performance of public action.
Reacting as a method for responding to the major challenges of the societal
environment, is most often witnessed in the government sector organizations.
The managerial reactions are, as such, more connected to fire fighting, and less
concentrated on (up to neglecting, on long terms) fire prevention. The flexibility and the
degree of adaptability allow government to meet the constantly changing social demands in
real time.
1
From this angle of approach, the managers of public organizations need to
demonstrate a complex of skills which enable them to “decrypt the future” and formulate
appropriate responses through implementation of actions in line with the forecasted societal
changes.
As such, adopting a proactive management approach is the opportunity to provide a
real time response to any environmental challenges. The research focuses on identifying (1)
arguments for denouncing the bureaucratic responsiveness in favor of adopting a proactive
management approach and (2) organizational changes that are necessary for implementation
this type of approach.
The research was conducted for almost one year (2008-2009) and refers to Romanian
public organizations. It is based on a complex methodology that includes research methods
and techniques for collecting additional data, respectively qualitative processing and
interpretation of statistical outcomes. The research conclusions intend to cover both
quantitative and qualitative aspects of (non) performance of national public organization.
Keywords: reactive bureaucracy, proactive management approach, organizational
changes, adaptability, harmonized organization.
Résumé
Dans un monde de concurrence globale et des changements rapides, les leaders publics
doivent apprendre à répondre rapidement et efficacement aux changements dans leur
environnement. "La capacité de prendre les bonnes décisions au fil du temps, permettant à une
organisation de s'adapter rapidement aux changements dans son environnement, est devenu un
déterminant critique de succès"( Strategic management in the Public Services: A review of the
implementation of Key Result Areas 1994-1997- Stakeholders’ Perspectives, Wellington, New
Zealand, Daphne Brassell Associates, 1999).
Les gouvernements ont besoin de systèmes efficaces qui les aident mais pas seulement
à planifier mais aussi pour guider. La vision du l’avenir- concept qui manque de rigueur
académique et, par conséquent, difficile à définir, est une exigence obligatoire, ce qui souligne
la force d'une intention stratégique claire et son rôle irremplaçable dans le développement
d'une action publique efficace. Un directeur visionnaire est capable de travailler aujourd'hui
pour demain.
Au pôle opposé, il y a des directeurs qui regardent attentivement seulement là où ils
marchent, mais jamais vers le ciel. Ils s'intéressent seulement au présent, en ignorant
complètement l'avenir. Ce comportement démontre un manque de direction dans la vision
2
stratégique, ce qui, dans les circonstances actuelles, peut conduire à un manque évident de la
performance de l'action publique.
Réagir, comme la méthode pour répondre aux grands défis de l'environnement de la
société, est le témoin le plus souvent vu dans les organisations du secteur public.
Les réactions directoriales sont, en tant que telle, plus liés à la lutte contre l'incendie,
et moins concentré sur la prévention des incendies (jusqu'à les négliger, à long terme). La
flexibilité et le degré d'adaptabilité permettent au gouvernement de répondre en temps réel
aux demandes sociales constamment changeantes.
Sous cet angle d'approche, les directeurs des organisations publiques doivent
démontrer un ensemble de compétences qui leur permettent de "décrypter l'avenir " et de
formuler des réponses appropriées à travers la mise en œuvre des actions en ligne avec les
changements prévus de la société.
Comme tel, adopter une approche proactive de gestion est l'occasion d'apporter une
réponse en temps réel à tous les défis de l'environnement. La recherche se concentre sur
l'identification (1) des arguments pour dénoncer la réactivité bureaucratique en faveur de
l'adoption d'une approche de la gestion proactive et (2) des changements organisationnels qui
sont nécessaires à la mise en œuvre de ce type d'approche.
La recherche a été menée pour presque une année (2008-2009) et se réfère à des
organismes publics roumains. Il est basé sur une méthodologie complexe qui inclut des
méthodes et techniques de recherche pour recueillir des données supplémentaires, le
traitement qualitatif et, respectivement, l'interprétation des résultats statistiques. Les
conclusions de la recherche visent à couvrir des aspects à la fois quantitatifs et qualitatifs de la
(non) performance d'organisation public nationale.
Mots-clé: bureaucratie réactive, approche de la gestion proactive, changements
organisationnels, adaptabilité, organisation harmonisée.
1. Introduction
The mutations occurred in the social-politic and economic environment on the
dynamic background of certain new requirements, pressures or transformations from society
impose that the public organization must anticipate, intervene and solve society’s needs,
promptly and efficiently.
Public organization seen from both perspectives of its dual meaning, activity and
structure, is an intrinsic part of social life, with which it harmonizes its dynamics, undertaking
the same evolutionary tendencies we find in society.
3
The new social coordinates outlined by phenomena such globalization, European
integration, decentralization, integration of the new technologies, constitute challenges whose
impact reflects in the structural and process adaptation of public organization to the evolution
of the duties entrusted upon it.
The public organization is attempting to identify an adequate model of organization,
management, functioning, human resources, as a consequence of the transformations it sees
itself subjected to, as a result of the evolution of society.
On the competitive background of competences redistribution among the public and
private actors, public organization must demonstrate that it has a new perception on issues,
new types of analysis, innovative measures ( Daddah, T.O, 2004, p. 2) indispensable for the
administrative activity.
This attitude we find in the different forms taken by the changes of institutional or
procedural order. It is the case of the legal and strategic forms it uses in order to reach its
objectives, through different mechanisms, such as partnership or association or joint venture
with private or non-governmental organizations (Ballart, X., Ramió, C., 2000, p. 23) or the
recent introduction within the public management forms of different management themes used
in the private sector: informatization, reengineering, networking or diminishing of the
hierarchic levels (Mercier, J., 2007, p. 5).
2.
Bureaucracy and Change. Public Value.
The new political and social orders require the discovery and exploitation of the
efficiency and effectiveness of new approaches and solutions, the knowledge, definition,
elaboration, implementation and active monitoring of certain policies, objectives, strategies,
decisions and actions that can solve the problems faced by various societal segments. It takes
a huge intellectual and experience potential to participate in selecting priorities and setting
directions for the implementation of changes.
The persistence of restrictions on the institutional capacity limits the speed and
efficiency of changes and, of course, the political viability of reform.
From this perspective, the success of the reform is directly dependent of the quality of
public value provided to citizens.
The aim of managerial work in the public sector is to create public value, just as the
aim of managerial work in private sector is to create private value (Moore, M., 1995, p.28).
4
A public service organization generates public value when it delivers a set of social
and economic outcomes that are aligned to citizens’ priorities in a cost-effective manner. By
increasing either outcomes or cost-effectiveness, an organization is creating value. By
increasing one at the expense of the other, an organization makes a trade-off between the two
fundamental means of creating value. A decrease in both levels represents a clear reduction in
public value. (Cole, M., Partson, G., 2006, p.4).
High
performance
organization
O
U
T
C
O
M
E
S
Low
performance
COST-EFFECTIVENESS
Figure 1. Measure the value created for citizens Source: Martin Cole, M., Partson, G., 2006, p.4
A new vision of how public organizations are managed involves the acceptance of a
new management philosophy that revolves around the quality of public services management
and the quality of public value. Quality is a concept whose development was driven by the
evolution of society itself (see Figure 2).
Public value
quality
Society
development
Citizens’
expectations
Figure 2. The link between society and citizens' expectations, Public Value Quality and Society
Development
The increasingly dynamic and sophisticated needs of citizens determined the
transformation of this philosophy in an approach own to management systems, either public
or private.
5
In "Reinventing Governance", authors D. Osborne and T. Gaebler present substantial
arguments in favor of transforming the bureaucracy in an innovative form.
Addressing pragmatically and lucidly this transformation, the two authors propose
adopting a series of new principles for public services: empowerment of the citizens by
transferring control from the bureaucracy to the community; promoting competition between
public service providers; the own mission must lead, rather than the system of rules and
regulations; performance evaluation should be based on recorded successes / failures and not
depending on the resources used; focus on meeting community needs against those of the
bureaucracy; abandonment of the reactive behavior for a proactive (anticipatory) approach;
focus on earnings and not on expenditure, according to the enterprise model; decentralization
and encouragement of participatory management; the economic market mechanism should be
preferred to the bureaucratic one - centralized. (Osborne, D., Gaebler, T., 1992, pp. 87-90).
Public services are distinctive because they are characterized by claims of rights by
citizens to services that have been authorized and funded through some democratic process. In
other words, public services must put the citizen at the centre of all efforts to provide and
improve upon service. Must public managers at least give lip service to putting the citizen
first? However, it is frustrating, but not surprising, to find that competing interests vie with
those of citizens time and again in locales around the world. (Cole, M., Partson, G., 2006, p.
XVI). In general, the public sector is reluctant to change. To accept the changes, the public
servants must understand the philosophy of the new concepts, and must be able to apply them.
Civil servants who have lived the experience of a centralized and hyper-bureaucratic
administrative system have a rather low availability towards the new market environment,
oriented towards competitiveness and competition.
The low number of specialists able to play a proactive role in implementing changes,
the lack of knowledge and experience on how to operate a modern public sector, the absence
of mechanisms through which to transfer experience and knowledge in decision making, and,
generally, the absence of the tradition of innovative solutions in this sector constitute serious
threats to the transformation of the Romanian society, in its entirety.
In a society that celebrates private consumption more than achievement of collective
goals, values individual liberty greatly, and sees private entrepreneurship as a far more
important engine of social and economic development than governmental effort, the resources
required by public managers are only grudgingly surrendered. So, it is not enough to say that
public managers create results that are valued: they must be able to show that the results
obtained are worth the cost of private consumption and unrestrained liberty forgone in
6
producing the desirable results. Only then can be sure that some public value has been
created. (Moore, M., 1995, p.29)
Transferring public services control to the community, the identification of the best
ways of establishing the state-citizen relationship, listening to grievances, the improvement of
business efficiency, the reduction of budgetary expenditures, the redesigning of access to
public services – are all defining element of changes to come in the current context.
We believe that achieving these goals requires the concentration of managerial and
organizational efforts in the following directions:
the adopted management philosophy must represent a support for all employees
within the efforts to improve public value quality; waiver of isolation characteristic to
rigid bureaucracy and openness to the public, the creation of flexible structures where are
integrated different entities beneficiaries of the public service and whose views are, truly,
taken into account;
the decision-making process, to the highest extent possible, should be based on
rigorous analysis of the current situation and on dates, at the expense of intuitive
decision; to respond effectively to the exigencies demands the development of rigor in the
analysis of the needs and expectations that define the essence of the service provided, in
the design and execution process of the service, but also in defining the responsibilities of
each entity (public servant, employee or subcontractor) involved in providing the public
service;
a new vision in dealing with customers; the expression ‚administration serving the
citizen’ must go beyond form and must reach essence. The Public Value Quality is
defined according to the requirements and the expectations of citizens, national and local
collectivities, etc., those being the only entities able to make judgments relative to the
public service quality.
3.
Reactive vs. Proactive Managerial Approach
The slow real-time detection of the problems increases the response time. As the speed
of unforeseen changes increases, predictability decreases. This means that if the time of
informing regarding changes becomes sufficient to allow the formulation of an appropriate
response, the remaining time may be insufficient for a complete response, before opportunity
is lost.
7
Therefore, there is an apparent paradox: if the organization management waits until
the information is appropriate for a decisive response, it is possible to assist to a crisis; if
vague information is accepted, and their content is not specific enough for a substantial
analysis and consistent response to the problem.
A solution to this paradox is changing the approach of using strategic information.
Instead of waiting for the accumulation of enough information, public managers must
determine what progressive steps in planning and action are feasible in order for the strategic
information to become valid during the threats/opportunities. As the information is vague and
future actions are unclear, the answer will be delayed and "expensive"; it is the case of the
reactive approach.
The reactive approach
The essence of the reactive approach presupposes staying in expectation in front of
potential threats, the response being delayed until this threat becomes real. Managerial
reactions are, in this case, of the nature of firefighting.
Organizations adopting the reactive approach refuse to recognize “the writing on the
wall” of the impact of a novel technology or of a change in consumer preferences, or of major
political realignments (Ansoff, I., McDonnell, E., p. 360).
In such cases, the start of the response is delayed past the rational trigger D by another
period Td, in the manner illustrated in Figure 3, respectively after operating losses become
significant.
Potential losses
Operational losses
Operational losses
D
Costs
TR
TE
Response cost
Figure 3. Reactive managerial approach and costs involved
Source: adapted after Ansoff, I., Mc Donnell, E., 1990, p. 359
8
The total cost of losses associated with the reactive approach (CTP) is expressed by the
relationship:
CTP = CP + P0
(rel. 1)
The initiated management approach is oriented towards implementing a program
which seeks to reduce response time, which will reduce operational losses, including the
remedying, at least partial, of the problems generated by the event occurred. The case when
operational losses become impossible to control expresses the fact that major problems exist,
in connection to the very image and credibility of the public organization. It is obvious that
running such a program requires additional costs. As derived from Fig. 4, in order to reduce
the response time, from T2 to T1, the costs increase from C2 to C1.
Costs
Cos
2
C1
Time
T1
T2
Figure 4. Additional costs associated with reactive management approach
Anticipative managerial approach
Integrating the anticipative management approach in the management of public
services presupposes more precise information gathering and a response which directly
attacks the threat/opportunity and meets difficulties originating, especially, in the obligation
to give up the traditional management schemes, in accepting a different way of managing
public services. These new demands require organizational types based on flexible,
decentralized structures, which to replace the reactive bureaucracy, now entirely
inappropriate.
The superiority of anticipative managerial approach is justified by the focusing both
on the forecasts referring to the identification of the major forces that will matter in the future
changes of the macro-environment, and on the transmission of the message in a real time
interval, which satisfies, as shown in Figure 5, the relationship:
Ti = TD - TR
(rel. 2).
9
Potential losses
Ti
Operational
losses
Operational losses
TE
TR
D
Costs
TD
Response
cost
Figure 5. Anticipative managerial approach
Source: Adapted from Ansoff, I., Mc Donnell, E., 1990, p. 361
Relationship 2 shows the optimal variant, where the deadline foreseen for initiating the
response is observed, and the two variables, moment D (chosen for triggering the response)
and time TR (necessary for the full wording of the response, respectively the time required to
eliminate losses) are kept under control.
Focusing on the macro-environment and on the signals sent by it, as well as the
concern for the continued development of potential resources are defined benchmarks and, at
the same time, the ways of action by means of which the organization succeeds to submit a
response in real time.
In the sense of the foregoing, the comparative analysis of advantages and disadvantages
posed by the two types of approaches reveals the following: the anticipative behavior requires
a prompt response of public service organizations to the messages sent by the citizens,
messages regarding the need to raise the performance level of the standards, which provides
indisputable benefits, both in terms of meeting the needs of citizens and of the costs.
The alternative to ignoring the messages transmitted by the macro-environment,
respectively the management reactive behavior, leads to limit-situations, whose solving in the
fire-fighting manner leads to political dissatisfaction and lack of popularity, while increasing
public spending. In the economic, social and political current context, the issue of reform
competitiveness in the public sector lies in the undertaking of strategic approaches focused on
satisfying the public interest, with the lowest costs to society.
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Igor Ansoff and Mc Donnell point out that it would be wrong to visualize the pretrigger period as one of watchful inactivity. Moreover, the two authors group these
extraordinary measures into two categories:
1. The first copes with discontinuous changes in the firm’s relationship to the
environment, in its internal dynamics, and/or in its value system. We shall call these changes
strategic measures.
2. The second class of measures stops short of changing familiar relationships.
Nevertheless, they are drastic enough. We shall refer to these as extraordinary operating
measures. (Ansoff, I., McDonnell, E., 1990, p. 365).
The comparative analysis of two types of public organizations: 1) reactive, and 2)
proactive, presented in table 1, highlights the distinctive aspects of these new managerial
tendencies.
Table 1 Two organizational types
The proactive public organization
Strategic answer in real time
Sets the directions
Development of a citizen-oriented vision;
Development of an integrating strategy;
Alignment of public servants
Communicates the new directions
Mobilization
Collecting needs, values and human energies;
The reactive public organization
Copes with complexity
Plans and elaborates the budget
Sets the goals;
Plans in detail;
Assigns resources;
Organizes the personnel
- creation of an organizatorical structure:
- delegation;
- creation of monitoring systems;
Problems control and solving
- monitoring results;
- identifying errors;
- solving problems.
In an overwhelming majority, when facing different and serious problems, the only
reply of bureaucrats consists in creating new institutions and elaborating certain new projects
by means of which they hope to overcome the challenges and solve the problems.
Most often, such an approach does not provide the satisfactions expected, because of
the erroneous circumstances that lay at the basis of initiating the answer, in the sense that they
are trying to solve a behavior problem by means of a structural solution. In addition, there are
quite frequent the cases when institutions wait for the replacing of the existing programs with
new ones, in the running of which, unfortunately, the same “customary” operating practices
are used, practices that favor the same clientele.
11
While the proactive bureaucracies, the so-called learning organizations, are
concerned with creating public value, the reactive organizations become active only in case of
occurrence of the signs regarding the need to give up satisfying the clientele, which had
become traditional. In terms of consequences, it is necessary to give up the old paradigms and
the total commitment, in spirit and in action, in a changing process defined on the long term,
in the sense of the new public management exigencies.
4. From bureaucracy to deliberative governance
Public managers must identify the purposes that the organization is supposed to serve.
This is not simply a process of enlightened reflection leading to a realisation of how
theservice can be perfected. Managers are not charged with making their own judgements
about the purposes that might be seen as publicly valuable. After all, public services are
funded with taxpayers’ money and are subject to a process of democratic accountability.
Public managers cannot behave as Platonic guardians, applying the principle that ‘the official
in Whitehal knows best’. The process of creatively working out what purposes the
organisation has been established to serve is, more than anything else, a process of more
sophisticated engagement with the public. In other words, public value is rooted in a model of
deliberative governance. (Coats, D., Passmore, E., 2008, p.7)
Mark Moore places great emphasis on managing the “external authorizing
environment”. In part this is about democracy and accountability, but it is also about
effectiveness, since managers will have easy access to citizens who can offer useful feedback
about service performance. (More, M., 1995, p.72)
This helps to explain the sophistication of public value. It is not simply a matter of
treating the whole electorate as a compendious focus group, identifying public demands and
then ‘giving the people what they want.
This implies that public organizations evolve (Pollitt, C., Bouckaert, G., Loffler, E.,
2006, pp.5-6.)
a) from a closed, self-centered service provider to an open networking organization
which public trust in society through transparent process and accountability and
trough democratic dialogue;
b) from an internal (resources and activities) focus to external (output and outcome)
focus;
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c) from a classical design-decision-production-evaluation cycle to an involvement of
stakeholders in general, and citizen (as customers) in particular at each and every stage.
This construction represents a potential solution based on co-operation between all the
actors of the governance, aimed at creating innovatory public services.
Cooperative solutions are required, not only in the form of co-operation between
governments but also through co-operation between governments (centrally, regionally,
locally), civil society association and other stakeholders such as media and business (Pollitt,
C., Bouckaert, G., Loffler, E., 2006, p.8).
In these circumstances the traditional, purely legal relationship between consumer and
provider is replaced by a creative cooperation and collaboration between the actors of the
governance. Moreover, inside this structure, the contradictions between the concepts
“consumer” and “provider” and the cooperation and creative dialogue relationships between
actors should be revealed.
This deep change determined by the principles on which the new type of relationship
develops; from the traditional type where the consumer was “stopped at the gate of the
organization” to the new one, where he becomes co-participant throughout the quality cycle:
co-design, co-decision, co-produce and co-evaluation (Pollitt, C., Bouckaert, G., Loffler, E.,
2006, p.7).
An issue of fundamental importance to the proactive approach is the level of
involvement of stakeholders, particularly service users and citizens, during the entire cycle of
service. The move to an outward looking public sector organization which opens the ‘black
box’ and also looks at output and outcome levels can only be guaranteed in a sustainable way
if citizens are involved in a participatory approach at all stages. In other words, achievement
means giving up old paradigms and accepting some innovative approaches in which services
beneficiaries/users are, at the same time, co-participants in the innovation of the public service
they benefit from.
Moreover, the new managerial approaches impose closer attention paid to results.
Focusing on results expresses the need for the creation of a strategic vision of the
expected outcome, vision which exceeds the orders of the organization and takes into
consideration, on the one hand, making the best out of the positive influences of external
factors, and on the other hand, reducing (eliminating) the threats coming from latter.
Consequently, the innovation of public services according to these coordinates
becomes possible only when a networking structure is envisaged, formed out of the
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organization of public services, beneficiaries/users of public services interested in outputs and
other categories of stakeholders interested especially in results.
As a first conclusion, the configuration of the new constitutive context of public
services implies the need for a new strategic and innovative thinking in the relationship
between the central administration and the local and regional administrative organizations,
between administrations and citizens belonging to local and regional communities, between
administrations and different groups of stakeholders.
Secondly, there is an urgent demand to make the central and local administration
structures more efficient (for them to become compatible with the flexible structure of the
meta-organization) and to limit the decision-making capacity of the administrations by
involving citizens and interest groups representative for the community in the decisionmaking process.
Pragmatically, the achievement the collaborative governance implies implies
overcoming a variety of challenges. On the one hand, are the members of the community
aware of the importance of their commitment? Are they truly motivated to take part in such a
structure? On the other hand, how prepared are political representatives and public authorities
to accept co-operation with different categories of stakeholders?
First of all, believe that organizational culture is one of the binders of the new
building: lack of a new organizational culture that supports a proactive and open approach is
one of the major difficulties to overcome in reaching the success of this construction.
Also, an important role must be attributed a very valuable resource, namely capital
social. The responsibility of both political and public authorities to enable this structure to
become functional must be focused on the development of this type of community resource.
Only when community members become aware of the benefits of the innovation/development
of public services and are willing to commit themselves in different forms, the governance
will be substantial
The social capital implies a notion of capital directly analogue to that of physical
financial capital. It is presumably something that could accumulate, invest, and use efficiently
to produce a surplus possible to appropriate.
Francis Fukuyama finds in social capitals’ underlying logic the key to the cultural
determinants of hole of social progress and economic prosperity. For Fukuyama (1992), of
equal if not greater importance than the economic progress made possible by these
combinations of rational economic action and traditional virtue of civic communitarism, are
the political implications of the social capital.
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The social capital expresses the degree of citizen involvement in community affairs,
which, it argued, powerfully influences the performance of government and social institutions
(Coleman 1990, 1998; Putnam 1993). In recent years, the World Bank and the OECD have
tended to use it as another way of encouraging “community value” and “good governance”.
Civic traditions, in which agreed rules of behavior and trust between participants are
encouraged, generate social connectedness and social participation, enabling participants to
act together more effectively in the pursuit of shared objectives. It is possible then to draw a
distinction between three types of social capital:
•
bonding social capital – characterized by strong bonds(or “social glue”), for example,
among family members;
•
bridging social capital – characterized by weaker, less dense but more crosscutting ties
(social oil), for example, between business associates, acquaintances, etc.
•
linking social capital – characterized by connections between those with different
levels of power or social status, for example, link between the political elite and the
general public (….), ( Aldridge et all 2002) .
For Putman social capital in the Italian regions he studied (1993b) was the direct result
of the civic traditions originating in the nineteenth century, and he stresses the older civic
traditions in the United States, which are now under threat (Putman 2000).
However, Coleman (1998) has a more contingent concept of social capital, the level of
which can change over time depending upon interactions between the social actors. Here the
creation and destruction of the social is possible on short run just like other forms of capital,
so it is relatively easy to create either a virtuous cycle of decline or mistrust. This depends
rather upon the nature of a third party influence or enforcement agencies, and the potential
contribution the production of trust (Braithwaite and Levi 1999).
Social capital is a layered concept that includes five main elements, namely trust,
reciprocity and cooperation, social networks, common rules of behavior, social
compromise and feeling of belonging and it is subjected to a set of factors with negative
influence that we can regroup as follows: violence, corruption, weak legislative system,
authoritarianism in solving conflicts and weak citizens participation within initiatives or
projects having as common goal the general interest of the community1.
1
El Balance de la Economía Argentina 2006: una nueva oportunidad, Ed. Eudecor, Córdoba, Argentina, 2006,
p.336.
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5. Social capital - real support of the proactive organizational attitude in Romania?
The answer to this question relies on the results of an empirical analysis whose
methodology includes different techniques and methods of data collection, as well as the
processing and interpretation of statistical results. The analysis had as support2 the study
elaborated by the Agency for Governmental Strategies3 resulted following the performing of
an ample research run for a period of almost one year (2008-2009), together with other
official sources, and covers both qualitative and quantitative aspects regarding social capital
in Romania.
The study involved the performing of a sociological investigation within a
representative group, at the national level, for the adult non-institutionalized population of
Romania.
The object of this empirical analysis targeted the level at which social capital is
present in Romania at this time, since this concept expresses, on the one hand, the degree of
availability of citizens towards the community business, and, on the other hand, emphasizes
the fact that we cannot truly speak of pro-activity of public organization, except to the extent
to which citizens become co-participants of the process of achieving public value.
The analysis of social capital included the quantitative and qualitative analysis of its
main components, as well as of the negative factors influencing it, as follows:
I Analysis of the main components
a. In order to measure Trust, a determinant factor in involving a member of the
community on a collective action, the persons interviewed manifested a low level of
trust, an average of 5.2 on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 means mistrust, and 10 trust.
Most people are not
trustworthy
Most people are
trustworthy
2
Capital social şi participare civică, Agency for Governmental Strategies, 2009.
As a result of re-organization measures, according to Law no. 329/2009 regarding the reorganizing of certain
public authorities and institutions, the rationalization of public expenditure, support of the business environment
and observance of the framework-agreements with the European Commission and the International Monetary
Fund, the Agency became the Direction for Governmental Strategies, within the General Secretariat of the
Government.
3
16
b. In what concerns Cooperation, the perception of the persons interviewed on their own
communities / areas where they live reflect a lack of cooperation, 58% of the
respondents considering that at the level of the area there is openness for helping
neighbors, and 42% considering that there is collaboration between the inhabitants for
improving the area. Still, a percentage of 49% believe that the inhabitants of the area
are not united, this attitude being more frequent among inhabitants of the urban
environment.
The result obtained is also justified by the degree of individualism identified by the
persons interviewed among people surrounding them. On a scale from 1 to 10, where
1 means that the majority is pursuing their own interests, and 10 represents the
statements that the majority are trying to be helpful, the average of answers is of 3.85,
and 21% scored with 1 this statement.
Relating to formal cooperation, only a percentage of 11% of the persons interviewed
know a non-governmental organization, whose activity they consider useful.
c. The analysis of social capital at the micro-social level was performed on the Social
Networks individuals are part of, the networks ensuring access to resources or
different forms of support (material, affective, informational etc.). It is established that
there is a large part of the persons outside such social networks. Thus, 19% of the
respondents state that they have one close friend, 25% that they have no one they can
call upon for an emergency situation when they would need a small amount of money
and 38% have no one to call upon in case they would face a serious economic
problem.
17
d. In what concerns the Common rules of behavior, evaluating the awareness degree of
the persons interviewed with respect to the observance of the common rules, it was
noticed that most respondents consider that there is a lack of correctness in relations
with those around them, the majority trying to breach these rules (average of 4.67 on a
scale from 1 to 10, where 10 represents the highest degree of correctness and 1 the
lowest).
e. The evaluation of the Feeling of belonging indicated that the persons interviewed feel
attached to the same extent to very small territorial or administrative units
(neighborhood or locality) and by the average ones (county, region) or by Romania in
general. 75% of the respondents answered they are attached to a high extent of all
these 5 levels of organization.
18
II. Analysis of the external factors
From the evaluation of two of the external factors, respectively violence and corruption is
emphasized by their extremely strong influence, the interviewed persons situating them on the
list of factors responsible for the current problems existing in Romania.
The analysis of violence within crimes indicated a presence of 16 %, the fear of
becoming the victim of a crime, both in the public and in the private space, being present at
more than 40% of the respondents.
In what concerns the legislative system, there must be mentioned the existence of an
acute absence of a sentiment of political efficacy: 73% do not believe they can influence the
important decisions being made for their locality, and 78% have the same opinion on the
decisions for the entire country. This result is also supported by the Public opinion
barometer4 which indicates a percentage of only 13% in what concerns the trust manifested
by the Romanians towards the legislative institutions.
At the same time, the population’s expectations towards corruption within the state
institutions are preponderantly negative: 54% do not expect to be able to solve a problem
within a public institution without having to resort to relationships or to give bribes, and 60%
4
Accessible on the website of the Soros Foundation Romania – www.soros.ro.
19
do not expect someone noticing an act of corruption or an abuse in such an institution to
complain regarding that act.
The empirical analysis also signals the presence of another negative factor: weak
participation of citizens within initiatives or projects that have as goal the general
interest of the community. In this sense, relevant are figures below:
One of the reasons contributing to the persistence of this factor is the mistrust of
citizens in political efficacy.
The strong presence of this factor will contribute to the occurrence and consolidation
of another factor with negative effects on social capital, namely authoritarianism in solving
social, political and economic conflicts.
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6. Conclusion
The question rises if in Romania citizens make up an environment whose feedback
influences the increase of performance within Romanian public organizations. The results of
the case study in connection to social capital to determine if it can give a real support to the
organizational proactive attitude in Romania are not at all encouraging. Referring to the keyelements forming social capital, the measuring of the level of indicators necessary for their
evalution are situated around the value of 50%, except for the sentiment of belonging
strongly outlined, where the value approaches 90%. Thus, we can state that the other elements
are only cristalyzed and subjected to quite large pressures from the external factors with
negative effect on social capital.
The evaluation of the external factors indicates their high level which, cummulated
with the internal negative effect caused by the weak presence of the main components of
social capital creates the premise of the occurrence of a strong backlash towards the
consolidation of authoritarianism and bureaucracy in the behaviour and actions of the public
organizations.
The solution imposed in viw of consolidating governance in Romsnis is represented
by the implementation of pro-active behaviour within public organizations.
The proactive approach in public services is strictly determined by the existence of a
responsible administration able to accept the idea of client-citizen5, in other words a public
service administration where the concepts of who controls and how they control are definitely
established.
Therefore, the necessity that bureaucracy adopt a series of significant changes should
be put forward again, as the present context, when the old rigid structures and the traditionally
bureaucratic management practices are perpetuated, do not constitute a proper background for
the new imperatives of a responsible administration.
In the bureaucratic hierarchy, activities are carried out according to the general rules
and the preset norms. The main objective of the command and control structures is to ensure
conformity to these rules and norms. In such a system, institutionalizing strategic
responsiveness involve approval of a series of organizational modifications.
In other words, a new kind of management approach is needed, one to be focused on
development of the dynamic capabilities.
5
The individual citizen is part of a social contract, while the client is part of a market contract. The client is
subordinated to the citizen. Now, there is a tendency to overturn this hierarchy through public management Christopher Pollitt and Geert Bouckaert,1995, p6
21
To outline a new entrepreneurial management context based on results first means the
necessity to create new models of inter-relations development between the central
administration and the local and regional administrations; between administrations and
citizens belonging to local and regional communities; between administrations and different
groups of citizens.
Secondly, there is an imperative demand for structural reform within the central and
the local administration, in order to maximize efficiency (so that they become compatible
with flexible structures – network type) and increase the administration capability in decisionmaking through involvement of citizens and representative interest groups for communities in
the process.
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