Bureaucracy and Development : Nature | Characteristics | Requirement

The bureaucracy and Development have been famous and complex terms. These meanings have been controversial. It was in the post war period that and both developments, consciousness and developmental effort are developing independent bureaucracy. The growth of sound Bureaucracy has been considered unavoidable for development. In a developing country like India, both development efforts and bureaucracy have functioned together for over six decades. The role of bureaucracy in development has been controversial and debatable.

There is no agreed meaning of for the development. The simple meaning of the term development found in dictionaries is its end orientation. Development is defined into a better, fuller, higher and mature condition. The main tendency, however among many theorists is to consider development as an endless activity.

For example- Weidner considered development as a state of mind, a tendency, a direction rather than a fixed goal. It is a rate of change in a particular direction. Whereas, Riggs believes that development is a process of increasing autonomy to mean, the ability of systems to choose from the environment as well as to affect the environment.

In simpler words, development in a country or in any other system, when there is an increase in the variety of activities and institutions based on division of labour and specialisation which are well coordinated and integrated and in turn increase the ability of that system to act autonomously in relation to its environment.

Nature of Development  of Bureaucracy

Simply stating bureaucratic/ administration concerned with developmental activity called development bureaucracy. Refereeing to Weidner, it can be safely presumed that Development Bureaucracy/ Development Administration is the process of guiding an organisation towards the achievement of progressive political, economic and social objectives that are authoritatively determined in one manner or another from a comprehensive point of view. Panandhikar believes that the essence of Development Bureaucracy is holistic change undertaken through integrated, organised and properly directed governmental action.

Development of Administration or Administrative of Development can be generally defined as a pattern of increasing effectiveness in the utilisation of available means to achieve prescribed goals. There are two major dimensions of Administrative Development are:

• The re-patterning of administrative structure
• The re-patterning of bureaucratic behaviour

The structure is after all only a facility for human functioning behavioural changes in bureaucratic patterns are obviously more important for development, administration basically means a human man process, increasing effectiveness, mainly that of human resource of administration in terms of personnel of bureaucracy.

Characteristics of Bureaucracy

• Division of  labour
• Hierarchy
• System of rules & files
• Rule Orientation
• Impersonality
• Rationality
• Merit based selection & training
• Full time career based & paid service with a social esteem attached to it.

Requirement of Development bureaucracy

It should have an adequate  and suitable mental framework, knowledge, skills, vision, structures and behaviours required of Development Bureaucracy for discharging the above mention roles.

• Mental Framework: Development Bureaucracy never be conservative. It should have outlook based on progressivism, innovations reformism and even revolutionary in mental attitudes  and approaches.
• Knowledge Required: It should have knowledge of science, technology and social sciences.
• Skills Required: It required conceptual skills, planning skills, technical skills, managerial skills and human skills. The conceptual skills means the ability for innovative problem solving and analysis. Human skills are the means of getting on with men inside and outside the organisations.
• Vision Required: It required a vision of a statesman and not that of either a narrow minded bureaucrat.
• Structure Required: It requires less hierarchic structure and team like commission, boards, corporations, committees etc. It requires wholistic and contingency structures with interferences between agencies, political leadership, technocrats, bureaucratic , decentralised and open administrative structures.
• Behavioural Required: It should posses- action and environment ; responsiveness; responsibility; friendly relationship with subordinates superiors and outsiders ; and commitment to development ideology and goals

Hence, we can say the culture of the bureaucracy i.e the knowledge, values and behaviour of bureaucracy should be suitably changed to suit development. This involves an increase in technical, and social science knowledge , achievement  and social need orientation.This can be achieved through by recruiting personnel having scientific outlook and knowledge of social sciences, training to promote knowledge and values needed for development, a well designed system of motivational incentive and punishment, including an appropriate lateral hire and fire mechanism will aid in this, code of conduct and performance norm should fixed and ultimately a developmental environment should be created. This will make bureaucracy a more capable instrument development environment should be created. This will make bureaucracy a more capable instrument improve its rationality, personal integrity and achievement  possibility of ‘B’ and make ‘B’ more democratic.