Who is going to benefit anyway?

HBR published reams of paper on Balanced Score Card application in performance management and competency management and suddenly this – “The government today cleared a proposal that would allow it to provide reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in promotion in state jobs. The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved the proposal for making provisions for quotas for SC/STs in promotions in government jobs.” (Source: ET)

So you know one thing for sure it is not only Obama & Romney who are preparing for the elections. After all 2014 is not too far away!

But then the question is who is going to benefit anyway? Even if it benefits few individuals, isn’t the larger question about performance management? At a larger level isn’t the issue all about managing organizational performance? Will such a strategy help to improve the individual performance and consequently the organizational performance? And if not, then would such a scenario endanger the existence of such an organization? And if the organization collapses, who is going to benefit anyway?

In her paper ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Unavoidable: Improving the Public Service in Poor Countries’, Merilee S. Grindle notes that – “…Contrasting conditions of sloth and efficiency, indifference and responsiveness, stasis and reform characterize public sectors in many poor countries. Talented people can be drawn to public service in such countries and significant reforms can be introduced to set the bases for improved performance. Despite many good experiences, however, governments in most poor countries continue to perform poorly. Improving this bad situation is essential. Like their U.S. counterparts discussed elsewhere in this volume, public sector reformers in developing countries need to consider changes that directly address performance incentives and management practices. But even with such changes, the unavoidable reality of inefficient, ineffective, and unresponsive government is likely to persist for some time to come. Just as in the historical evolution of the public sector in the U.S. and other now developed countries, good public sector performance ultimately depends on the development of political societies that expect and demand efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness from their governments.”