Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Gulzar Natarajan applies "Two Bus Theory"

Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner Gulzar Natarajan explains in the post Reforms in Adminstration their experiment with the 'Two Bus Theory' of Jim Collins. Excerpts:
"...Collins' book 'Good to Great', where he argues that to create a good company you need to "get the right people on the bus, wrong people off the bus, right people on right places and then figure out where to drive the bus".
....
A detailed analysis of both departments revealed both administrative excess and human resource deadwood, at the cutting edge. The numbers of sanitation and revenue divisions were found to be on the higher side. Given the difficulty in hiving off or retrenching staff in Government, we decided to have two buses - with all the right people in one bus and all the wrong people in the other bus.

.....
The results have been spectacular. Revenue collection efficiency has gone past 90% (used to be 75-80% previously), and the large private defaulters have all paid their dues. Tax revenues have increased by more than 60% since the experiment has been tried out. The revenue assessment, collection, and monitoring work has become more professional and standardized. The sanitation complaints reflected in a toll free complaints cell, 103, has declined sharply and this has been acknowledged by the City receiving the CRISIL award for sanitation in 2007. "
Read also the comments and his earlier post A recession in the rent seeking economy where he explains that in some situations an incorruptible official at the highest level can make a difference.

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