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The rules of procedure may be construed as a body of standing orders of general application to a given set of cases. According to Waldo, “It is procedure that governs the routine internal and external relationships between one individual and another, one organisational unit and another, between one process and another, between one skill or technique and another, between the organisation and the public, and between all combinations and permutations of these”. The day-to-day work of the government is done through the procedure.
In public administration, procedure plays more vital role than in any other large-scale organisation as it is responsible to the people. For all their activities, public personnel are accountable to some superior and ultimately to the legislature and the public. As such all public acts have to be recorded and kept in files.
Procedures as Institutional Habit
Viewed internally, procedures constitute habits or models of conduct of the organisational unit. They are the repetitive acts that in large measures manifest and shape the personality and character of an organisation. Further, they ensure stability to the daily workings of the organisation‟s units. They make a substantial contribution to the achievement of immediate goals and release energies to deal with what is novel.
Procedures as Physiology of Organisation
Procedure may also be described as the physiology of organisation. It brings the structures of life. Procedure unites the highly developed professional or scientific skills with an organisation and its purposes. It does not, however, substantially affect or reach into the skills or techniques of professional and scientific personnel. Certain operations, viz, sorting, packing and loading are fully subjected to well-developed techniques of procedure analysis and improvement.
Procedures are Laws of Activity
An organisation‟s procedure may also be construed as a body of laws applying primarily to its members in varies degrees and manners depending upon the organisation‟s authority and activities-to persons outside. If the procedures are prescribed by the constitution, statutes and courts‟ decision, they can be described as laws in full legal sense. As such, they are enforceable. Many of the procedures are only models of conduct devised by the organisation with a view to regulate in the working relations of its members. These models of conduct must conform with the law. They cannot be categorized as laws in the technical sense.
155 Procedures may be written or unwritten. Large-scale organisations having specialized organisational units, for analysing and changing procedure, provide written procedural instructions, while small organisations depend upon unwritten customs. It has been rightly contended by Waldo that standard operating procedure may not be necessarily set forth in a manual.
3.2 Types of Procedures
Administrative procedures may be classified as written or unwritten, issued centrally or by field offices, i.e., institutional procedures and working procedures.
Institutional Procedures: Institutional Procedures pertain to staff, house-keeping service or auxiliary functions. Such procedures are prescribed by statute though they vary considerably from agency to agency. The institutional procedures cover mail and communications, meeting and conferences, travel, internal reporting, preparation, issuance and distribution of documents, space, library service, files and records, clerical services, procurement, clearance, and review, budgetary and fiscal administration and all aspects of personnel administration.
Working Procedures: Procedures meant for accomplishing an agency‟s particular objectives are of two types, viz, those publicly issued and those not publicly issued. Publicly issued procedures constitute a body of ground rules for the agency and any individual affected by the statute. They specify the agency‟s sense of the procedural requirements of the law and also its conception of what is contrary, fair and expedient where the law is not explicit. Ideally, they tell all persons what, where, when and how of things. For example, how to lodge a report with the police, get a student admitted to the school, make an appeal against tax-assessment, apply for a post under the government, file a suit in a law-court, submit a tender for a contract, apply for a licence or other concession, and so forth.
3.3 What is Good Procedure?
No simple answer is possible to this question. Good procedure is that which is well adapted to achieve desired ends, what are the desired ends and whether the procedure is well adapted to achieving them, pose big problems. The ends sought by administration are complex and intangible. Hence, it is often difficult to determine which of them is to be served by a procedure and in what proportions.
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However, generally speaking, procedure should be simple and ensuring prompt decision. It should not be too rigid as to leave no discretion in exceptional cases. Its language should be unambiguous, clear and easily understandable by a common citizen. It should try to cut short of channels as far as possible. It should help rather than hinder the progress of the work. It should not be forgotten that procedure is a means to end and not an end in itself. Too much insistence on procedural rule leads to red-tapism and many other concomitant evils.
3.4 Defects of Procedure System
The following are the main defects of procedure system:
Red-Tapism: The time required for answering letters is too long.
Outmoded: The administrative procedures are many and most of them outmoded. All of them necessitate continuing security and some at least require vigorous overhauling
Unimaginative: According to Dr. Appleby, “The Rules of Business, Secretariat Instructions, and office manuals seem to be generally confining, and unimaginative”
Over-emphasis on precedents: Too much concern is shown for precedents. The laying of too much emphasis on the precedents prolongs the process of review and causes irritation to programme agencies. Regarding this concern for precedents, Appleby rightly observed, “It seems a strange thing that this basic concern for precedent has not been challenged by the present government. The primary function of political leadership – and notably by leadership in a revolutionary state – is to incite a departure from precedent for the sake of the achievement of new values”.
Too cumbersome and delaying: The system of review is too cumbersome and delaying. In the words of Appleby, far too many proposed actions are reviewed and that the review is far too often in the useless and frustrating fashion”.
3.5 Recent Reforms in Office Procedure
In order to remove these defects, the Government, at the suggestion of Organisation and Methods (O and M) Division, affect the following reforms in the office procedure.
a. New Type Section: In order to avoid red-tapism and cumbersomeness of procedure, a new type of section system has been set up in some ministries. In this system, the institution of noting by assistants has been abolished. It is rather done by the section officer who decides to which level of decision-making,
157 the paper in question should go, and sends it directly to that level;
thus avoiding the long journey of through paper channels.
b. Delegation of Section Officer: With a view to bringing down the decision-to-decision making level, higher officers are induced to delegate more and more authority to section officers. For instance, under-secretaries and in certain cases even section officers have been empowered to sanction money for contingency expenditure up to a certain limit.
c. Inspections Introduced: To enforce compliance with prescribed procedures and make people efficiency conscious, annual and quarterly inspections of every section in the Federal Secretariat have been introduced. This work is done by the (O and M) officer of the ministry. Each ministry issues annual returns of inspections to the O and M Division.
d. Financial Control System Reformed: The Financial officers linked with the administrative ministries have been re-designated as financial advisers and have been brought nearer to the secretary and other senior officers of the ministry to which they are accredited.
4.0 CONCLUSION
In this unit, we have discussed administrative procedure. Our discussion centres on the following themes: definition of administrative procedure, types of procedures, what is good procedure, the office procedure, defects of procedure system, and recent reforms in office procedure. It is therefore pertinent to say that certain procedural reforms have taken place and have provided adequate opportunities for self-development and self-fulfillment of each government official.
5.0 SUMMARY
In public administration, procedure plays more vital role than in any other large-scale organisation as it is responsible to the people. For all their activities, public personnel are accountable to some superior and ultimately to the legislature and the public. As such, all public acts have to be recorded and kept in files.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
1. Explain administrative procedure and what you think good procedure is?
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7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
Appleby, P.H. (1949). Policy and Administration. Alabama: University of Alabama Press.
Augustus, Adebayo. (2004). Principles and Practice of Public Administration in Nigeria. Abuja: Spectrum Books Ltd.
Marx, F.M. (1949). Elements of Public Administration. New York:
Prentice Hall Inc.
Sachdera. D and Sogani M. (1980). Public Administration: Concepts and Application. New Delhi: Association Publishing House.
Waldo. D. (1967). The Study of Public Administration. New York:
Random House.
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