The bureaucratic mind
By
Mohamed Rabie
While bureaucratic shortcomings are everywhere they are nowhere so harmful as in educational institutions and business concerns. That it is the bureaucratic mindset that is in control prevents universities, research institutions, companies and organisations from being creative or innovative.
Those in charge are loath to delegate even the smallest of responsibilities despite the fact that no boss can ever possess the knowledge needed to control every single thing and every situation.
The dominance of the bureaucratic mind undermines critical thinking, free speech and creativity, while the figure of the enlightened bureaucrat that some people try to promote is nothing but a fiction. He is, in many ways, the equivalent of the benevolent dictator promoted by many Arab intellectuals in the 1960s.
Subordinates, after all, are not supposed to think. But since every superior, with the exception of the very few on the top, is also a subordinate, the entire bureaucracy is in no position to think, let alone take innovative initiatives. New ideas are rarely encouraged, let alone appreciated.
Employees, with the exception of very senior management, management, become mercenaries whose primary objective is to preserve their jobs, and whose primary job is to follow instructions.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is professor of International Political Economy at Al-Akhawayn University, Morocco.
