FACULDADE DE CIENCIAS SOCIAIS E HUMANAS
CURSO DE LICENCIATURA EM ADMINISTRACAO PUBLICA
Disciplina: ENGLISH
This research work will address the main challenges in public administration and
possible solutions to mitigate them, looking at the horizon of our country. It should be
noted that there are numerous problems in public administration, but first I will focus on
excessive bureaucracy in the processing of processes in Mozambique and the
corruption in public administration.
Excessive bureaucracy in the public administration in Mozambique is often criticized
for its excessive bureaucracy, which delays administrative processes and creates a
barrier to economic and social development. The slowness and complexity of
administrative procedures discourage investment and make life difficult for citizens
Dayvid Alan (2022), Bureaucracy, previously seen as an organizing element of public
service, became lost in excess, creating long routines, endless procedures, various levels
of responsibilities and the thought that public service is slow by nature.
Today, it represents an obstacle to the progress of processes and often hinders the
delivery of services to taxpayers, frustrating employees and harming citizens.
This is especially due to some factors:
Excessive demand from the public body;
Obsolete systems and anachronistic methodologies;
Servers not trained to handle the processes;
Processes carried out physically, manually and in person.
Acorrding to Dmitri Krakovsky, Christiano Lucena, Ivan Santos et all (2022), dives
ways to reduce Excessive bureaucracy : Empower the team: It is the role of leaders to
keep up to date with every step taken and every decision made by their team. However,
this cannot translate into dependence on employees. Only in this way is it possible to
carry out actions quickly, without necessarily having to go through a long process of
prior approval from your superiors.
In other words, employees need a certain level of autonomy. However, it is important to
remember that a team can only be self-sufficient if it is properly trained to do so.
Therefore, invest in constant training so that each member of your team is able to make
the right decision independently.
This way, concrete and quick results emerge. Furthermore, it is possible to solve small
problems without having to deal with excessive bureaucracy.
Optimize time: Dayvid Alan (2022), As we said at the beginning of this post, every
company needs to follow a series of protocols to stay organized and avoid bureaucracy.
However, more than ensuring that each step is completed effectively, it must be ensured
that all of them are carried out in an appropriate time.
To do this, define feasible deadlines for each phase, from approval of an action to its
execution. This way, you prevent important actions from being held up for longer than
is strictly necessary.
It is also necessary to define the right times to take certain actions, dividing your day
into practical blocks of activities. For example, establish that part of your day will be
dedicated to sending documents to clients, another to direct contact with the team and a
third to developing projects. This way, you already know in advance what your journey
will be like and what processes you will go through.
Review processes frequently: Each company process must be analyzed and reformulated
according to day-to-day reality. Therefore, this process management work needs to be
constant and take into account some basic aspects. To do this, answer:
Does my current process have an adequate response time?
Does the process involve more people than necessary?
Are current actions leading to increased productivity?
Is a certain process negatively impacting another?
By carrying out this analysis at each stage of the team's work, you will be able to define
which employees increase bureaucracy in the company, instead of improving its
productivity.
Automate processes: bureaucracy can be positive when it helps to keep the business
structure organized. However, when it creates obstacles, it must be reviewed. This is the
case with manual procedures. In addition to being time-consuming and inefficient, they
generate significant expenses with office materials (such as paper and printer ink),
rework and errors.
Process automation helps organize routine and reduces the risk of errors. Likewise, it
optimizes team time, which can focus on strategic activities. Therefore, the technology
can be used for different sectors.
Avoid paperwork: when we talk about bureaucracy in the company, it is almost
impossible not to imagine drawers full of papers and folders. This happens for a very
simple reason: paperwork is one of the main signs that the company is facing problems.
However, have you ever thought that forms, authorizations and documents require a lot
of time and dedication to be structured, completed and subsequently analyzed?
If your company only works based on written documents, you and your team are
probably wasting precious time. Just don't get it wrong: we are not saying that no
process needs a physical document to be validated.
Dmitri Krakovsky, Christiano Lucena, Ivan Santos et all (2022), Set priorities
apparently, bureaucracy has nothing to do with setting priorities. However, they are
related. As? The answer lies in employees carrying out tasks. When they perform what
is not the main thing, they waste time on activities that will not help achieve the
strategic objectives set by the company. Likewise, tasks will take longer to complete.
Furthermore, setting priorities is directly related to the organization. Therefore, when
putting this tip into practice, ask yourself what the three main objectives are to be
pursued at the moment. From there, determine which actions will help you get there.
For example, if the proposal is to automate processes and the process of hiring
suppliers, software that makes electronic signatures available is essential.
Set clear goals: every company needs to have a clear goal to achieve. It must be shared
with all employees. After all, this is the only way they will know what to pursue, what
the priorities are, how their role contributes to the company, etc.
More than that, these goals need to be constantly updated. It is still important to define
deadlines and steps that will help achieve them. This makes it easier to monitor the
project and prevent everyone from getting lost in bureaucratic processes.
Dmitri Krakovsky, Christiano Lucena, Ivan Santos et all (2022), Use technology to your
advantage: you already know that, to reduce bureaucracy in your company, you need to
optimize your time, improve processes and avoid accumulating paperwork. What you
should learn now is that it is possible to do all this with a good help from technology!
Solutions can range from applications to organize the work routine (such as digital
diaries or daily activity managers), through management systems and up to the use of
electronic signatures, which optimize the way the company sends, receives and signs
documents, shortening the entire process. Everything in a simple way, with legal
certainty and maximum efficiency.
Each of these technological tools helps your company automate processes, reducing
human error and optimizing response time. Furthermore, they also gather essential
information about the business on user-friendly platforms, facilitating an important step:
decision making.
Flávio S. Firmino (2013), corruption in public administration however, when
we refer to bribery between actors, users and officials customs, as an object of
sociological reflection, is that it, before being a reality objectively, it is a practical
activity, in the ethnomethodological sense, preceded by a practical reasoning of the
same actors, in an isolated, specific context of production of this reality.
For the proper mitigation of this challenge in public administration, there must be
serious penalties for those involved in bribery, we refer to public service providers and
users. It is also the responsibility of the authorities to act continuously without giving
exception to cases of bribery, applying public reprimand and dismissal according to the
seriousness of the act committed.
Looking at the Mozambican justice system, there is a weak performance, which is why
cases of bribery have to increase more and more, a call for attention to the supreme
justice bodies to show excellent work in their field of activity.
Looking at public administration in Mozambique is often criticized for its excessive
bureaucracy, which delays administrative processes and creates a barrier to economic
and social development. The slowness and complexity of administrative procedures
discourage investment and make life difficult for citizens
Bureaucracy, previously seen as an organizing element of public service, became lost in
excess, creating long routines, endless procedures, various levels of responsibilities and
the thought that public service is slow by nature.
References
[Link]
date of issue:18 Jan, 2024 ● 9 Minutos
Dayvid Alan (2022). Excessive bureaucracy
Dmitri Krakovsky, Christiano Lucena, Ivan Santos et all (2022), Burocracia excessiva
no sector publico como virar esse jogo?.
Max Weber (1922), Economy and society.
