July 06, 2014
As an undergraduate student of business administration,
I remember how our management textbooks talked about McGregor’s Theory X and
Theory Y. Theory X denoted the coercive style of management, where leaders
perceived their subordinates to be lazy, needing constant close supervision.
Theory Y, on the other hand, was a participatory leadership style, a belief in
the value and ability of employees who simply needed encouragement and positive
reinforcement. If employees are treated with respect, fairness and equity, they
will become committed to the organization, and they will do what it takes to
excel at work. In the real world, it turned out not to be that simple,
especially in our Egyptian public service organizations.
What would it take for our overstaffed bureaucracy of
approximately seven million employees to operate under Theory Y? Would Theory Y
solve all our problems?
Several prerequisites come to
mind that may be inter-linked. I believe that if the bundle of these changes
were implemented, employees would start feeling differently about their work,
and the quality of government services may improve.
Minimum Wage:
Right after the January 25 revolution and its call for social justice, a
stronger demand was raised for a revised minimum wage in government. A monthly
starting salary of 1,200 Egyptian pounds would barely cover the basic food
needs for a family of five. Yet the minimum wage has still not been fully
implemented, and it is not applicable to the state-owned enterprise sector.
Fair Compensation: Average
salaries are way below the market rate. Demand is still high for government
jobs because of perceived security, tenure and social status. Because of the
shorter work day, government employees can take on private sector jobs on the
side. In Singapore, government compensation is compatible with the private
sector and exceeds that found in the U.S. civil service. No surprise, the best
and most qualified calibers are retained in government.
Fighting Corruption:
Corruption is rampant in the Egyptian bureaucracy. According to the 2013 report
by Transparency International, Egypt ranked 114th out of 177 countries in the
Corruption Perceptions Index.
Transparency:
Following the model of other developed nations in posting government job
vacancies and even employees’ salaries online, increased transparency in
recruitment and in compensation will help curtail corruption and nepotism.
No to Nepotism: Egyptian public service is
witnessing the institutionalization of nepotism. Government officials have
always managed to appoint relatives and friends, but since the 2011 revolution
they are demanding this as a
right.
Reducing Power Distance: According to Geert Hofstede, the Dutch social
psychologist who compared work cultures around the world, Egypt is a country
high in organizational power distance. Egyptians accept that managers higher up
in the hierarchy should be treated differently, addressed formally and given
more power. I remember visiting the Ministry of Planning during Hosni Mubarak’s
era and being astounded to see junior employees making it a point to place a
larger chair at the head of the table for the minister, and even smoking the
corridors with incense so the minister would enjoy a sweet smell as he passed.
Rightsizing: Over
and over again multiple ministers of state for administrative development and
heads of the Central Agency for Organization and Administration have stated
that we can do without half the existing number of employees in our public
administration system. Yet, the government succumbs to populist pressures and
keeps on appointing additional staff to government. In the year following the
2011 revolution, more than 300,000 employees on contractual appointments were
given tenure. Employees do not have a real job, or space and desks, and become
demotivated.
Decentralization: Egypt as an agricultural nation has always been exceedingly centralized.
Attempts at implementing a greater degree of decentralization have been debated
and piloted in limited areas and sectors, but never taken seriously.
Accordingly, government employees do not have much discretion in performing
their jobs and have to go back to their superiors, who in turn have to check
with headquarters.
Adopting
a Public Service Notion: A culture of public service is
needed. The term khedma
amma is not even commonly used in the Arabic language. A government employee
considers himself a master not a servant of citizens.
We need government employees who are willing to work.
It is not at all simple, but if we do not work on attaining some necessary
prerequisites, we will be very far from a true implementation of Theory Y.
Committed employees are what we need to move on.
Laila El
Baradei is the acting dean of the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at
the American University in Cairo.