"Change" and the various approaches to change

Change in the context of public administration means finding new answers, both theoretically and practically to the existing problems by the management of public administration. It signifies "creation" as opposite to "destruction". This refers to actions in order to attain the following objectives:

• Organizational structures are improved;
• Managerial acts are quite flexible as opposed to being rigid;
• Methods of working, processes and adapting to different laws;
• Taking risks in using these changes in improvising specific features so that administration is eased.

As per Flynn, "change" is the foundation of "new public management" that is essentially driven by "reform" in three broad areas namely:

• Managerial;
• Organizational; and
• Structural changes.

New Public Management ("NPM") refers to new ways of :

• Supplying public services;
• Reforming the planning systems of administration; and
• Centralizing decision making process so that, there is a reform from traditional means of performing the above functions.

The aim is to model the public services management based on establishing direct contacts with market. As per Stefanescu, this change is implemented by permanently training the managerial team and public servants. The main challenges that is faced by the public administrators during this "reform process" are as follows:

• Establishing a link between between political decision and administrative decision, assuming that, the same public administrator might make a decision that is a mix of both, in order to avoid conflict of interest; and
• Maintaining autonomy while dispensing responsibility is difficult because even public administrators have an economic and social life that is separate from "national interest".

For the purpose of understanding different approaches to change, I have considered the example of Romania, which is a south eastern European country. The different ways in which "change" has been understood are as follows:

• Improvising the information system by enhancing the quality of services that is supplied.
• This is achieved by free flow of information via modern means of communication.
• Furthermore, having open source that provides citizens' access to the database of public administration goes a long way in information exchange.
• For instance, automating a few operations, computerization of public administration in phased manner has strengthened the "breadth" of functions that is performed by the government.

From a philosophical perspective, an individual is required to go through qualitative changes that were not conceived / apprehended by him / her earlier in life as per Burgoyne and Hodgson in 1983. This enables an individual to increase its capacity to adjust when its situations change. Eventually this results in making the individual more experienced as opposed to making it more mature as per Ribeaux and Poppleton in 1978. The impact of change can be felt via "conscious attention" wherein the learner's emotions, nerves and muscles are involved. The main motivation behind needing for change from an individual's perspective is the act of retrospection and assessment about self-esteem.

It is to be highlighted that one's response makes it much easier for individuals to learn and develop. Daloz argues that, learning and development is a familiar world. It moves through "confusion, adventure, great highs and lows, struggle and uncertainty towards the new world", wherein nothing is different, yet everything is transformed.

Essentially the meaning changes profoundly. It is argued that learning is separate from development even though a combination of both is important for "change" at a micro - scopic level for an individual. Training and inculcation of right skills becomes secondary to enabling personnel to be conversant with "work requirements" that are required to keep pace with change.

Being conversant means acquainting employees with thinking that is work oriented. The overall objective is to modulate the behavior of employees in order to orient them on how to think, what to think, when to think and why to think.

The circumstances surrounding such behavior is to push the organization on the path of development. This would require keeping the concept of "quality" in the center. From a flexibility standpoint, employees need not be given "daily defined tasks", rather they must be treated as asset that requires their participation and constant involvement.

From a lay person's perspective, rigidity is opposite to flexibility. The assumption that the rules, regulations that were formulated in the past do not require constant revisiting of the norms and practices that were pre-set correct.

Last but not the least, from regulator's perspective, a human rights approach is important, because there is a difference between the ways in which men and women perceive this issue.

L'equivalenza dell'assistenza sanitaria e del diritto alla salute è un principio che si applica a tutti i detenuti, che hanno diritto a ricevere la stessa qualità di assistenza medica disponibile nella comunità. Tuttavia, questo diritto è raramente realizzato nelle carceri, dove solitamente i servizi sanitari sono estremamente inadeguati. I servizi sanitari nelle carceri sono quasi sempre gravemente sottofinanziati e carenti di personale e talvolta inesistenti. Il più delle volte sotto la responsabilità dell'autorità responsabile dell'amministrazione penitenziaria, i servizi sanitari carcerari lavorano in completo isolamento dalle autorità sanitarie nazionali, compresi i programmi nazionali per l'HIV e per la TB. Le esigenze di salute specifiche delle donne sono raramente affrontate.

Il diritto alla salute include non solo l'accesso a cure sanitarie preventive, curative, riproduttive, palliative e di supporto, ma anche l'accesso ai determinanti della salute sottostanti, che includono: acqua potabile sicura e servizi igienici adeguati; cibo sicuro; nutrizione e alloggio adeguati; servizi sanitari e dentistici sicuri; condizioni di lavoro e ambientali sane; istruzione e informazione in materia di salute e parità di genere.

But, what about stress and how to manage it ?

Stress can be defined as any type of change that causes physical, emotional or psychological strain. It is the reaction of one's body to anything that requires attention or action.

The main sources of stress include work, finance, relationships, parenting and day - to - day inconveniences. From a response perspective, stress can generate two types of reactions, namely, " fight or flight" response. It can be defined as the degree to which one feels which one feels over-whelmed or are unable to cope as a result of pressures that are un manageable.

India is an under developed country, which have accepted accidents and occupational diseases as a part and parcel of the lives of employees. The concept of using "preventive and control" in order to minimize / eliminate risks in workplace is still a distant dream. The absence of concrete health and safety philosophies in the form of an oversight department such as corporate health and safety leads to an unstructured approach in identifying hazards, in evaluating them and controlling such risks. This is important because the Government of India is of the view that social justice and economic growth are important for attaining safety and health at work.

However, the reality of a country like India is tied to the following phenomenon, namely:

• Changing patterns in jobs;
• Changing working relationships;
• Rise in entrepreneurs / self and sole proprietorship models;
• Increase in sub contracting of work from establishments;
• Out sourcing of work;
• Large number of employees being able to work away from establishment and rather preferring to work from home which make it difficult to manage the safety and health associated risks.

The following highlights the ancient Indian approaches to managing stress:

• Provision of health services to employees that range from providing first aid equipment to complete medical care;
• Maintaining well equipped dispensaries that have full time doctors or part time doctors and full time compounders or nurses.

These are important because it is obligatory on the employees to ensure that the health of workers is maintained as per the provisions of the Factories Act, 1948.

Apart from legal requirement, there are innumerable factors that can be kept in mind, while reducing stress. Karl Albrecht, in his book, "Stress and the Manager" highlights the following points that can be kept in while reducing stress in the forms of

• Anxiety, depression and anger as human consequences along with physical consequences such as cardio vascular diseases, headaches and accidents at an individual level;
• At an organizational level, the natural consequence is to reduce the quantity and quality of job performance, increased absteeism, increased grievances and health care costs.

Stress results in problems such as alcoholism and drug abuse. In a job scenario, factors such as :

• Overwork;
• Relocation; and
• Constantly on calls with customers.

The causes of stress are:

• Work schedule;
• Pace of work;
• Job security;
• Travelling to and from work; and
• Number and nature of customers / clients.

The different ways that should be ideally followed by employers in order to reduce stress are as follows:

• Build relationships with colleagues and employees that is rewarding, pleasant and cooperative;
• It is not advisable to have more work in one's plate than one's appetitie;
• It is important to build a relationship with one's boss that is effective and supportive;
• Negotiating with boss on deadlines that is realistic is critical especially on important projects;
• Making a constructive "worry list" that includes solution for each problem is important;
• It is important to sideline the problems that is distasteful;
• Limiting interruptions during work is important;
• Jobs include a lot of trivia and thus it is important to reduce this amount of trivia;
• Whenever possible, it is wise to delegate the routine work;
• Unnecessary noise must be cancelled; and
• Taking walks around office space keeps one's body refreshed and alert.

Supportive supervisors and fair treatment of employees are important in identifying stress and reducing stress.

However, when it is a family that is concerned, then one should be mindful of the following things, namely:

• Be supportive
• Be caring and loving
• Be helpful
• Provide emotional security
• Provide financial security
• Provide health security
• Remove loneliness
• Give respect
• Stop abuse / neglect

From a policy lawyer's perspective, what would be the role of the government ?

• It is advisable to involve the older people in the decision making through their associations;
• They should be considered at the stage of formulation of policies and programs
• One has to draft special provisions for them and then arrange for special services
• This might shift the priority in the existing nature of social and health care
• It is also advisable to encourage spirituality and exercises like yoga through media
• It is also advisable to enhance media activities that is related to positive old age issues.

However, at a certain point in life, one seeks detachment from their family and moves to contribute to senior citizen associations, namely:

• One needs to become proactive. However, it is doubtful if it may act as a substitute for family or siblings.
• One can encourage fellow residents to organize meet ups in order to improve connectedness.
• One can become a counselor or an advisor and organize virtual meetings & teleconferencing.
• One can assist in different ways, namely help in procurement of things.
• One can also help in the delivery of mobile services. It is not clear as to how one can do so.

Note : This is a part of Viral Notes Series ("VNS") authored by me. This also includes the lessons from a class on well being during the pandemic.