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Reforms – or why we pack municipalities?
Changes are the only constant thing nowadays. They have become modern world’s obsession and there is also a special term defined that names the way to deal with managing changes occurring around us – CHANGE MANAGEMENT. In this context, for the changes happening now in decentralization to be sound and successful, they need to be managed. So we talk about reforms management.
But why are the reforms so slow? By definition they cause resistance and annoy someone or something. In addition, there is inertia, as reforms’ bad lover. Communities, that is societies are like pudding, after you mix them, they still intend to return to the original shape.
In Macedonia basically we have experience with unsuccessful reforms and there is most often the feeling that they have been imposed. In order to be successful, reforms need to be managed. In a centralized country, as Macedonia still is, changes cannot be initiated from inside. Those that can implement reforms, the government and the administration, most often lack interest and political will for changes, and those that want changes, the citizens, do not know how to use mechanisms to achieve changes that would improve their life. In the end, the civil sector and the international community remain the only interested factor. All transition researches show that the need for changes is inverse to the reforms stagnation, that is, the more we are stuck in reforms, the less is the awareness for the need for reforms. During the change of the political system in the ‘90s, there was not any change of the Macedonian citizens’ mental matrix. Few days ago people from an Ohrid village blocked the road Ohrid-Skopje with basic requirement from the government to find a way to sell the potatoes they had produced. It is the Macedonian mental reality in 2005.
Why change when you do not feel the need for changes? In spite of so many strikes and protests, have you heard about anyone seeking reforms with strikes? Changes, above all, carry uncertainty. It is a serious mental process. Then why shall we change when we think of ourselves to be the smartest, the most hard-working and the best. Facing with ourselves is necessary. There is a need for change in substance.
Reforms cannot be imposed from above. Power is not a method of implementing reforms because democratic legitimacy is lost in that way and such reforms are not made with propaganda, since propagandists most often do not know the words that motivate and they do not have the objective in them.
Implementation of such reforms is possible only laterally, indirectly, by offering examples, pointing out facts and explaining door-to-door, to everyone. Reforms are changes that lead to better. If citizens’ support is required, it should be explained to the citizens what they get with those changes and how they will live better with the contributions from these processes. Thus obstacles are removed, examples are shown that have moved something and an atmosphere for changes is created. Good explanation is the basis of good management.
How to change, how to pack municipalities?
It is about concepts and models how to get to faster local development through reforms. Everything starts and finishes from the people. When we talk about reforms, practically we most often talk about how to change people and their behavior. It means change in substance, that is change of the way the organization functions, or translated – the one who will manage to solve the mystery called desk and will manage to get a smile from the famous desk operators, shall not have any problems for that municipality. Everything is measurable, there is not a thing in this world, an administrative operation, that cannot be given a time to be carried out and it is most often measured in minutes. It means efficient public administration that can communicate with its citizens.
Just to remind you, municipalities have to be as organizations that are on the market, that offer services and depend on satisfied customers, the citizens, who pay the services by paying the tax. Municipalities need to be well organized and the principles of modern management need to be applied while being run. Municipalities should certainly be profitable, i.e. to have investments and be interesting for tourists. It is the only way for that company’s clients – the citizens to be content.
(the author is a cyclist, member of the civil society organization OHO)
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