Telling It Without Fear Or Favour: An Element Of 'Real' Power

'Real' power is one's ability to influence others and is demonstrated by acting without fear or favour. It is not always necessarily derived from one's position of authority but largely from having proven performance, accumulated relevant experience and possessing relevant qualifications. One of my posts on my wall 'Why Richard Maru Wield so Much Power in GoPNG Ranks' I briefly talked on how organisational power is perceived and why Minister Maru is in a position of 'real' power and can speak freely.

In one of the dailies, The National, of 30/04/18 is more proof of Minister Maru telling it as it is that the government, that he is a senior Minister and part of, had failed to make direct investments to grow the economy and raise its revenue generation capacity. He is speaking from a position of authority and 'real' power.

Revenue Less Than Spending Is Not A Surprise

Recently the PM has come out hinting that GoPNG will be unable to deliver much of the government basic services because PNG's revenue generating capacity is less than GoPNG's expenditure. But YS MP and Minister for National Planning and Implementation have bravely admitted to this revenue shortfall six months ago. This news now of GoPNG revenue less than GoPNG spending should not come as a surprise especially for those in GoPNG circle. Unless if they are truly incompetent and under the sway of 'groupthink' and are unable to speak freely. Minister Maru wield competent power and have lesser need for affiliation and so he can speak his mind.

Under The Sway Of Groupthink In GoPNG Circle

Our PNG is a resource rich country which will be hosting the APEC meet in November 2018 and our GoPNG perceives a need to be extravagant as the APEC host. This is despite an obvious prevailing and worsening crisis in two of our key service sectors in health and education at present. It has become clear that with the amount of wealth inherent in our country, we can't seem to leverage off it to manage well these two key humanitarian sectors. Increasingly the people are seeing through the in-competencies and in-actions of our MPs, especially those in the GoPNG circle, and are speaking up. An indication of this heighten sense of awareness was the recent voluntary participation in the stay home strike initiated by our OpPNG MPs.

Given this above background scene, one of our MP in the current GoPNG and who is also the Minister for HERST, had reacted before that impending stay home strike with what I think is an insensitive, backward and mocking statement urging us to "think about our sick patients in hospitals and health facilities [and] our learning institutions" and he went on to arrogantly justify GoPNG's extravagance hosting of the APEC meet with "We are a great nation blessed with abundant resources. We need to give our best [to hosting the APEC]...[we can't afford] to provide cheap cars for world leaders."

It would have been better to keep quiet about this then to open his mouth and confirm to the rest of the country and the world of persons of unsound mind we have in our GoPNG circle. As a human, he is expected to leverage off what we all are endowed with: self-awareness, imagination, conscience and an independent will, to give a sensible response that is reflective of the current and true plight of especially health and education in our country.

I tried to understand why this MP and Minister would counter like that and in seeking that understanding, I think back to this topic on 'Groupthink' from one of my text book 'Moral Issues In Business, 12th Edition, pg 20' by William Shaw and Vincent Barry.

"Almost all groups require some conformity from their members, but in extreme cases the demand for conformity can lead to what social psychologists called 'groupthink'. This happens when pressure for unanimity within a highly cohesive group overwhelms its members' desire or ability to appraise the situation realistically and consider alternative course of action [like avoiding responding on this planned strike]. The desire for the comfort and confidence that comes from mutual agreement and approval leads members of the group to close their eyes to negative information, to ignore warnings that the group may be mistaken, and to discount outside ideas that contradict the thinking or decisions of the group...When under the sway of groupthink, group members may have the illusion that the group is invulnerable or that because the group is good or right, whatever it does is permissible. Individuals in the group tend to self-sensor thoughts that go against the group's ideas and rationalise away conflicting evidence, and the group as a whole may implicitly or explicitly pressure potential dissenters to conform. Groupthink thus leads to irrational, sometimes disastrous decisions, and it has enormous potential for doing moral damage."

I hope this explains in some ways why people in a group setting behave, react and respond the way they do.

It is easy to throw the blanket of corruption over such response by the MP and Minister and generalise it as corruption. Understanding and diagnosing such symptoms of 'groupthink' can lead to appropriate strategic measures to counteract it.

Often in PNG Politics such behaviour and response appear more to do with political blackmailing underpinned by lack of economic independence as well as some perceived shortfalls in competencies in the ministerial portfolio role. MPs with ministerial portfolios who have the relevant experience and relevant qualifications matching the portfolio are deemed 'right match' and are in a position to easily consolidate and assert their power.

Provinces and districts that will become economically independent and MPs wielding 'competent' power will have a lesser need for affiliations with the wrong group (and if that wrong group happens to be the national government in Waigani). This will put MPs from those economically independent provinces and districts and those with 'competent' power in a position of power. Those in a position of power will have lesser need for affiliations and can escape from the gravity of groupthink. If a province or electorate becomes economically independent and 'right match' persons become MPs and competent Ministers, it will enable its future MPs to think sensibly, logically and away from the trappings of groupthink to provide true authentic, unwavering and steadfast leadership for our country in this contemporary times and onward.

Why Richard Maru Wield So Much Power In GoPNG Ranks

A possible answer to this kind of question "Why are GoPNG MPs and Ministers supporting a corrupt GoPNG that is destroying our country?" can be attributed to MPs who serve with fear and favour.

Fear and favour are rooted in our in-competencies as managers and leaders. This is subtle but a prevalent truth in any organisation of work that involves the marshaling of people and use of procedures in a process to deliver a desired output.

Incompetency in managing processes stems from not giving due diligence to a process. A process requires understanding, has variables, which must be control, has a capability and requires continuous improvement.

Incompetency in leading people results because we do not have authority and power. Power is the ability to influence others. Subordinates perceived power as having formal authority from position as Minister, having relevant experience and relevant qualifications. This power to influence is embolden by the leader possessing technical skills in the process being managed, interpersonal skills to relate well with other people and conceptual/planning skills to see the 'big picture' and plan strategically.

From the outside looking in, the people see the MP from his position of authority as mandated member of parliament and Minister. But from inside government and among themselves, especially if they do not have relevant qualifications and relevant executive experience and proven performance, their power diminishes greatly among their peers.

That is why Minister Richard Maru wield so much power that he can speak without fear or favour either pro government or against the government that he is part of.