Good Heavens! Did I say that?

[Edward R Weick]

In a posting a few days ago I commented on accountability in the public service.  I must have been in a very grumpy mood because I made public servants - all public servants - look like ciphers who are expected to do nothing but follow rules that have been laid down for them.  The better they follow these rules, the better their accountability etc.  I even used Adolph Eichmann as an example, perhaps extreme, of this kind of thing.   On reflection, what I did was what I've sometimes accused others of doing.  I over-generalized, and did not allow that there are many different kinds of public servants doing many different kinds of jobs.  Many of these jobs do require strict adherence to the rules of accountability.  Others concern modifying the rules themselves in an effort to make the system function better.  Still others concern the premises and policies on which the rules are based.  Together, all of these various lines of work bear on the accountability of the public services to the public and the public's political representatives.   What the public service does, and how it is organized, depends on the policies and laws which have been implemented in response to problems which politicians perceive to exist in society.  That the public service does not, at times, appear to be doing something useful is not so much a sign of incompetence on the part of public servants as a signal that the policies and laws are outmoded or flawed or perhaps just plain wrong.  In a democracy, policies are responses to public perceptions and pressures.  People's perceptions are quite often misconceived, but if they are widely held, politicians will respond and even use them to get themselves elected.  (I hear a collective "You don't say!" at this point.)   The foregoing is not an apology to public servants, though it is an admission that I was a little harsh on them.  Because they work for large organizations which can only speak from the top, they are easy to kick around.  And yes, they do try to keep their asses covered, preserve turf and shift blame, but that is part of surviving in any large organization.   Ed Weick (613) 728-4630   Visit my website: http://members.eisa.com/~ec086636