This study investigates administrative reform in seven Arab states, delineates common problems and describes general tendencies via content analysis of official statements.

1. PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Vol. 8, 85-97 (1988)
Administrative reform in developing countries:
a comparative perspective
JAMIL E. JREISAT
University of South Florida
SUMMARY
This study investigates administrative reform in seven Arab states, delineates common
problems and describes general tendencies via content analysis of official statements. The
study deals with reform in three major phases: defining administrative problems and needs;
developing strategies for reform; and developinginstruments of action for implementation.
Appraisal of reform efforts discloses mediocre results based on a poor implementation
record attributable to incongruities of methods and objectives of reform. Among such
incongruities are the conventional limitations of bureaucracy, the copying of Western
administrative rationality in form if not in substance, and insufficient attention paid to
traditional, cultural, religious, and political contexts of administration. Recognizing the
difficultiesinvolved in conceptualizingand implementingreform in any society, the analysis
offers several recommendations to improve the outcome of reform efforts, among them:
encouragingemployee involvementin reform decisions;improvingcollecteddiagnosticdata;
providing special training for employees responsible for managing reform; soliciting
unwavering political commitment; developing incentive systems; and replacing the
piecemeal approach with reliance on a systems perspective.
INTRODUCTION
Administrative reform is a universal claim of contemporary societies, but strategies
of general applicability for achieving such reform are far from being universally
defined. This study seeks to determine how certain developing countries articulate
approaches and strategies for building administrative capacities. Utilizing the
formal record of seven developing countries, this analysis identifies common
features of administrative reform efforts, compares proposed strategies for making
reform a reality, and establishes common patterns and coherent explanations in the
midst of the changing conditions of each country.
The focus of this study differs from approaches that advance various precon-
structed conceptual frameworks on the basis of an a priori value judgement about
current conditions and presumed future targets for developing countries (Hope and
Armstrong, 1980; Caiden, 1978). The analysis seeks a greater sense of realism in
the literature on developing countries, which has been lacking in compatibility and
consistency. At a deeper level this study examines, however tentatively, the
serious, familiar charge that Western theory is invalid, parochial, or inapplicable to
problems and conditions of developing countries (Wiarda, 1983). Consequently,
The author is Professor of Public Administration, Public Administration Program, University of South
Florida, Tampa, Florida, 33620, USA.
0271-2075/88/010085-13$06.50
01988 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

2. 86 J. E. Jreisat
some preliminary evidence may be assessed related to the seemingly contradictory
propositions that the theoretical evolution in developing countries is moving
towards an autonomous standing (Dwivide and Nef, 1982), or perhaps converging
with administrative knowledge in developed countries to form a global experience
(Henderson, 1982).
The countries covered in this study are Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia,
Sudan, Syria, and North Yemen. These states are members of the Arab League
and were participants in the Third Pan-Arab Conference on Development
Administration (Rabat, Morocco, November 1984)’. Each country submitted an
official report to the Conference outlining its administrative reform efforts,
strategies, and the objectives and expectations of such reforms. This study offers a
content analysis of these official statements, which constitute an exceptional source
of applied information, supplied by experts and specialized public offices in each
state. The availability of such ‘country reports’ offers a rare opportunity to study
the goals, values, and methods of action of these countries in dealing with the
critical issue of improving administrative performance.
In this discussion, administrative reform is conceived of as a deliberate policy and
action.to alter organizational structures, processes, and behaviour in order to
improve administrative capacity for efficient and effective performance. The
advantage of this definition is its operational thrust compared with the view of
administrative reform as ‘artificial inducement of administrative transformation
against resistance’ (Caiden, 1969, p. 8). Substantive reforms are usually sanctioned
by the legitimate authority of the system, whether induced by internal organization-
al influences or external environmental forces. Other terms (such as ‘development’
or ‘change’) are used in the literature, in addition to ‘reform’, without clear
denotation of the beginning of one concept and the end of another. In fact,
Chapman and Greenaway (1980, p. 9) observe that administrative reform may
overlap or include administrative change, development, and evolution because it is
doubtful that useful separation is possible. For the purpose of this analysis
‘administrative development’ and ‘administrative reform’ are used interchangeab-
ly, although meaningful distinctions may be established to suit various contexts.
Further, this analysis does not attempt to present a comprehensive view of
admnistrative reform; nor does it claim to incorporate every influence relevant to
the process. A comprehensive approach must necessarily determine who decides
the agenda for reform and who assigns its priority items. It must also address
questions of legitimization of reform, strategies, and instruments of implementa-
tion, progress evaluation, feedback, and review.
The country reports examined here do not offer data on all pertinent questionsof
administrative reform; nor do they follow a common format. To organize data from
these reports in a meaningful and compact form, we identify three major phases of
reform each report addresses (with varying degrees of sophistication).
.
1. The diagnostic phase
At this preparatory stage administrative conditions requiring improvement are
identified. This fundamental process establishes specific operational objectives of
‘The first conference was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (1978) and the second was in Baghdad, Iraq (1980).
The Arab Organization of Administrative Sciences, sponsor of these meetings, reproduced and
distributed the reports used in this study at the Rabat Conference, 1984.The reports are in Arabic, 15-
30 pages each.

3. Administrative Reform in Developing Countries 87
administrative reform that guide and direct the design of appropriate reform
strategies and methods of implementation. Table 1 presents a summary of
administrative needs and problems as depicted in the report of each country.
Such a menu of administrative deficiencies may appear more like a laundry list
than a coherent pattern to be interpreted and explained. Nevertheless, many
common characteristics may be identified. Conspicuous by its absence in all the
country reports are objective measurable data following reliable methodological
Table 1. Diagnosis of administrative deficiencies in selected countries
Countrv Diagnosis
Iraq
Jordan
Morocco
Saudi
Arabia
Sudan
Syria
Yemen
(North)
Many organizational and administrative problems are reported as ‘inherited’
from the pre-revolution regime, such as lack of clear and justified policies,
assignment of conflicting responsibilities, duplication, and lack of standards of
performance.
Lack of philosophy, definition and methods of administrative development.
High turnover of qualified public employees.
Lack of standards of performance.
Low productivity and lack of commitment.
Increased complexity of procedures.
Need to improve bureaucratic performance, professionalism and ethics.
Need to develop closeness to the public.
Need to improve pay and incentives of civil servants.
Problems of scarce economic resources and internal bureaucratic conflicts
Duplication and lack of coordination.
Inflated demands for staff.
Lengthy and complicated procedures.
Lack of criteria for effective use of staff.
Accumulation of paperwork.
Resistance to change.
Neglect of technical training in areas of maintenance and engineering.
Negative effects of certain habits and cultural norms.
Lack of qualified administrative leaders.
Slow processes of decision-making
Low productivity
Inflated organizational structures.
Overemployment.
Shortfall of administrative leadership.
Conflicting laws and rules.
Inappropriate organizational structures.
Limited training and unqualified employees.
Migration of high talents.
Limited financial resources.
Obsolete laws and rules.
Centralization.
Incapability of the administrative structure to understand and interpret political
decisions.
Few resources and ambitious development goals.
Lack of qualified (trained) employees.
Low wages.
Need to-improve collection, classification, and storage of data.
Need to simplify procedures.

4. 88 J. E. Jreisat
techniques, approximating the process commonly known as need assessment. Most
of the reports discuss needs and problems in abstract, isolating them from fast-
changing environmental and contextual elements. All cases indicate low productiv-
ity of public employees, an apparently universal dilemma.
The country reports cite many other shortcomings peculiar to one or more
countries. Jordan reports an absence of a philosophy of reform and clear methods
for achieving it. Iraq’s report conveniently labels its administrative problems an
inheritance from the prerevolution era that ended in 1958. Saudi Arabia, Sudan,
Yemen, and Syria convey shortages of qualified and well-trained employees,
particularly at the leadership level. Other shared, persistent problems include use
of obsolete laws, complicated procedures, excessive centralization, and inappro-
priate organizational structures. Absent from the reports, except Morocco’s, is a
distinct reference to the whole notion of professionalism and its ancillaries of ethics
and responsiveness to public needs and demands.
Outside researchers have independently reached similar conclusions about
administrative shortcomings in these countries. Al-Teraifi (1980), for example,
discusses the overemphasis on seniority in the promotion policies and practices of
the Sudanesecivil service in the absence of uniform standards of achievement. The
problem of overemployment in the Saudi government as a result of a policy of
distributing the oil wealth through salaries to artificial positions in the bureaucracy
is noted by Chapman (1974) and by Othman (1979). The centralization of power in
a dominant public sector is noted in Iraq (Jawad, 1981) and in Syria (Mourad and
Al-Ayoubi, 1983).
2. Development of strategies
Determination of the administrative deficiencies of a system of government is a
process preliminary to the delineation of appropriate strategies that set the overall
direction of public policy to remedy these deficiencies. The strategies advanced by
each country to solve its administrative problems are summarized in Table 2.
The basic strategies of administrative reform are highly consistent and similar.
Human resources development and manpower planning are activities claimed by
every government. The view of administrative reform as an integral part of the
comprehensive national efforts of develapment in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria
is a victory for the voices that have been raised against the silence of national plans
on administrative reform. Reliance on developmental organizations, including
universities, indicates growing official awareness of the need for more professional,
expert, and flexible sources for providing solutions to societal problems. Institutes
of public administration operate in every Arab state, with different titles and
responsibilities in some countries, i.e. Iraq’s National Center for Consultation and
Administration, Sudan’s Academy of Public Administration, and Morocco’s
National School of Administration.
3. Instruments of action
Defining adminstrative problems and formulating overall strategies may not ensure
implementation. Operational activities are crucial for the realization of reform
objectives. Each country designates specific instruments of action to implement

5. Administrative Reform in Developing Countries 89
Table 2. Strategies of administrative reform in the selected countries
Country Strategy
Iraq
Jordan
Morocco
Saudi
Arabia
Sudan
Syria
Yemen
(North)
Use of universities and other developmental institutions.
Utilizing manpower planning.
Employing ‘organization and methods’ analyses.
Integration of administrative development plan with the national development
Reliance on a cabinet-level structure to initiate and sanction reform.
Use of manpower planning.
Development of human resources.
Improvements in organization and methods.
Sensitivity to citizens’ concern.
Reorganization of local authorities.
Integration of administrative development within national development plans.
Use of developmental institutions.
Reliance on high-level committees for administrative reorganization.
Development of human resources.
Use of developmental institutions.
Decentralization of local authorities.
Integration of administrative reform plan with national development plan.
Establishing a department for organization and management in the Prime
Establishing a centre for administration and productivity.
Development of human resources.
plan.
Minister’s office.
Employing ‘organization and methods’ analyses.
Support to empirical studies of management problems.
and monitor policies of reform (see Table 3). Incidentally, the separation of
instruments of action from strategy is useful analytically, even when such
bifurcation is not feasible in practice. Under the rubric of the instruments of action
we include various specific techniques, structures, and processes utilized in the
operationalization and implementation of the reform strategy. Availability of these
tools, however, must not be equated with their successful use.
INCONGRUITY OF METHOD AND OBJECTIVE
During the past 25 years administration in the Arab world has had thrust upon it an
unprecented demand for the supply of goods and services, resulting in a
considerable enlargement of administrative structures (Mirel, 1981,Summaries iii).
These structures have proved unequal to the demands of development plans and
expanded needs for regular public services. In fact, inadequate public sector
administrative capacity has been identified as the single most important factor
responsible for the gap between promise and achievement of Arab development
(Sadik, 1982, p. 10). The Arab Organization of Administrative Sciences (AOAS)
forecasts an increasing gap between actual and needed administrative capability for
the implementation of national plans, despite attempts to improve administrative
performance over the past two decades (Jreisat, 1985, p. 1).

6. 90 J. E. Jreisat
Table 3. Instruments of action for administrative reform in the selected countries
~~ ~
Country Instrument of action
Iraq
Jordan
Morocco
Saudi
Arabia
Sudan
Syria
Yemen
(North)
More effective use of staff expertise, study agencies needs of staff, establish
research centres at universities, and review educational curricula.
Changes in civil service laws and rules, training, changes in financial accounting
and monitoring.
Changes in civil service laws and financial accounting and monitoring
procedures.
Computerization.
Establishing the ‘Royal Committee for Administrative Reform’ in 1984,headed
Use of conferences, workshops and task forces.
Improvements in pay and incentives, decentralization, financial controls,
by the Prime Minister.
emphasis on higher professional and ethical standards, and improvements in
operations and procedures.
Establishing Committee for Administrative Reform (1963), Central Office for
Organization and Management (1964), the Institute of Public Administration,
Civil Service Council, and Committee on Training for Civil Servants.
Use of modern technology such as computers and microfilms in agencies.
Training, simplification of procedures, efficiency and effectiveness measures.
Reliance on the Academy of Administrative Science and the universities.
New laws regulating personnel matters and emphasis on inspection and control.
Instituting new rules of finance, accounting, cost analysis, maintenance, etc.
Emphasizing training, administrative research and utilization of the central
Establishing central authorities for monitoring, inspection and financial control.
Use of high-level councils for functional coordination and policy development.
Emphasis on merit system in civil service and changes in personnel functions of
Improving civil service pay, incentives, and efficiency measurement.
Encourage training, research and analysis, and reliance on the Institute of
office of statistics.
job description, placement, selection, etc.
Public Administration and the Civil Service Bureau.
The pattern of administrative reform in the seven countries reflects many
similarities despite divergent socioeconomic-political factors. We find no signifi-
cant autonomous conceptualization of administrative problems in any of these
countries; nor do we discover any unique or innovative solutions to such problems.
A closer look at the definition of needs, strategies and actions developed reveals
significant incongruities between the instruments of reform and its claimed
objectives and expectations.
The first such incongruity is the result of basic assumptions made by reformers
and policy-makers in these countries that provide insufficient attention to
environmental and situational considerations. Bureaucracy is interdependent with
some larger environment and is not an autonomous entity (Thompson, 1967,p. 7).
Environmental influyces mould sentiments, social controls, values and norms as
they incorporate the political system that bureaucracy serves. Therefore, ‘a
comprehensive study of administrative reform cannot be made in isolation from the
many social and political pressures with which it is interrelated and which have
motivated particular changes’ (Chapman and Greenaway, 1980, p. 10).
Attributions of administrative behaviour in the Arab states to social and cultural

7. Administrative Reform in Developing Countries 91
traditions are common. Culture, however, is an all-embracing constellation of traits
that identify a society or people, ranging from the abstract level of ideas and
thought processes to visible activities and artifacts. Some of these cultural traits are
unqiue while others are widespread among human societies. Thus it is difficult to
measure the impact of cultural and religious values on the organization and
management of the societies under focus in this study. The difficulty is even greater
when the analysis transcends conventional imagery of cultural and religious
influences to actual manifestations and impact.
Islam is the dominant religion in each of these countries. Bassam Tibi (1986, p.
34) identifies two different conceptualizations of Islam and its role in society. One
maintains that Islam is a universal cultural system, and therefore is absolute. The
alleged immutability of the Islamic doctrine is interpreted by the adherents to mean
detailed and specific (inflexible) prescriptions to govern individual and organiza-
tional behaviour. According to this perspective, variations among Muslim states in
social, economic or administrative practices are caused by ‘imposed change’,
induced by colonial penetration of this region in the course of its forced integration
into the world market system dominated by the industrial countries (Tibi, 1986, p.
The other view of Islam (by secular, nationalistic and reformist groups) asserts
that ‘Islam is always culturally diverse’ (Tibi, 1986, p. 34). The realities of Islamic
societies, in contrast to the fundamentalist view, provide empirical evidence of the
existence of different local and regional understandings of ‘Islam’. Consequently,
closer examination of the claims of the Iranian Revolution,for example, reveals the
cultural variety of Shiite Islam and Persian identity obscured by claims of universal
ideology.
The relevance of the absolute vs. diverse conceptualizations to the question of
administrative reform is obvious. Accepting the notion of diversity allows each
society to produce its own framework of governing within its social and historical
circumstances. This argument is fortified by the observation that no specifically
Islamic form of government in history can be displayed for emulation by
modernizing systems.
Fundamentalist rhetoric within these states and proponents of change in line with
the Iranian Revolution and Khumayni’s philosophy have no concrete strategy for
surmounting underdevelopment and achieving administrative reform. Theirs is an
ideological response based on resisting innovative political, economic or adminis-
trative change, unless its aim is to force the establishment of an Islamic system of
government within the fixed Islamic precepts.
Nevertheless, Islam is not uniformly applied in the countries studied here. One
finds greater flexibility and secularism in Syria, Iraq, Morocco and Jordan than in
the rest. Women, for example, who have been historically and universally
subordinate to men in East and West alike, occupy radically different roles in these
countries. Again, in Syria, Iraq, Morocco and Jordan women compete for
administrative positions and other professional careers, vote and get elected, and
serve in the armed services. However, they are denied all these rights in Saudi
Arabia.
Furthermore, social and religious values often appear meshed into the cultural
norms of a society. One has difficulty establishing boundaries or assessing, in a
definitive way, the consequences of religious doctrine and other social structures
33).

8. 92 J. E. Jreisat
such as the family or the tribe. Many studies find the extended family to be a
microcosm of society, inculcating values of age and male superiority, overdepen-
dence on the social context, and helplessness as regards the power-to-be (Sivan,
1985, p. 183). Halim Barakat indicates (in Sivan, 1985, p. 184) that religion is an
important factor in encouraging the Arab individual to accept rather than confront
the situation. It is not surprising, therefore, that Arab political action, national
planning, as well as strategies of administrative reform are generally passive,
idealistic and moralistic, proceeding from visions of the ‘ought’ rather than
knowledge of the ‘is’.
Nakib and Palmer (1976, p. 16) blame the inability of Middle Eastern
bureaucracies to play a more forceful role in the development process on civil
servants unable to divorce themselves from their societies’ values. They describe
Arab bureaucracies as particularistic-putting the needs of the family, the tribe and
the sect before the needs of the state. Such parochial outlooks tend to generate
resistance to innovation and change as they undermine movements towards greater
equity and social justice in bureaucratic decision-making.
In summary, serious institutional tensions and imbalances in the Arab society are
resulting from the incongruity of restrictive cultural and religious influences facing
modernizing cultural transformation everywhere. The charge of ‘Western intru-
sion’ is not as readily embraced as before. By now, Hanifi (1970, p. 163) concludes,
the issue is no longer ‘Westernization’ but ‘modernization’ through institutional
reforms. Bridging the gap between these environmental forces (religious and non-
religious) has not been accomplished. Arab students of administration and
development have not demonstrated creativity in reconciling these incongruities
and in utilizing reasoning processes governed by the discipline of the scientific
method and building upon the foundation of Arabic and Islamic culture.
The bureaucratic system is also intimately associated with the political system
and shares in its characteristics. Hence, comparative and development administra-
tion literatureconsiders the bureaucracy an agent of the state. Heady (1984, p. 407)
concurs when he says: ‘It is almost universally expected that the bureaucracy be so
designed and shaped as to respond willingly and effectively to policy leadership
from outside its own ranks.’
However, the consensus on the conception of political-administrative relation-
ships quickly disappears when one turns to the variations of the practices of such
relationships. These variations include more alternatives than are offered by the
competing models of Communist and Western systems. As Fainsod (1963, p. 234)
suggests, ‘Bureaucracies may be classified in a variety of ways, and the scheme of
classification one adopts will depend on what aspects of bureaucratic behavior one
wishes to highlight and contrast.’ In fact, he identifies five types of bureaucracies:
representative, party-state, military-dominated, ruler-dominated, and ruling. The
first and the last are inapplicable to the seven states in this study. The
representative bureaucracy requires competing party politics that are absent in our
group of states. The ruling bureaucracy assumes nominal political leadership such
as existed during the colonial period.
Consequently, the seven Arab states may be classified under one or more of the
remaining three forms: party-state, military-dominated, or ruler-dominated. Syria
and Iraq, where the Ba’ath Party rules with the help of the military, may be
classified as ‘one-party system’ and ‘military-dominated’ simultaneously. Sudan fits

9. Administrative Reform in Developing Countries 93
the characterization of ‘military-dominated’ for most of its post-independence
history. The others approximate the ‘ruler-dominated’ form in which bureaucracy
is the personal instrument of the ruler ‘who uses it to project his control and impose
his purposes on the people’ (Fainsod, 1967, p. 236).
In the seven states discussed, one may assume that bureaucracy is subservient to
the political leadership in matters that are important to sustaining the regime.
Serious deviations from policies of the ruler are promptly and decisively dealt with.
Political power of appointment and removal from top bureaucratic positions
ensures control of administrative action and personalizes loyalties. However, to
reduce all other types of administrative and organizational behaviour in the society
to submissive and obedient status is to underestimate the power of the bureaucracy
to influence policy outcome and, simultaneously, to protect and augment its
advantages. We find in every state a prominent element of administrative change
that deals with incentives, benefits and privileges favouring civil servants.
Therefore, bureaucracy serves the political regime while exercising crucial powers
of its own as an instrument of change. Conflict between the dormant bureaucratic
power and the manifest political power in these states often results in a stalemate
that inevitably stifles social and economic development.
A second factor contributing to the incongruity of instruments and objectives of
administrative reform in these states is the Western-oriented assumptions inherent
in the reform perspectives. The description of strategies and actions of each country
indicates the adoption of traditional Western philosophy of administrative
rationality and efficiency without sufficient consideration of the influences of
contextual constraints and how they change through time and space.
The copying of Western administrative rationality-in form, if not in substance-
is illustrated in the various processes of administrative reform promulgated by each
state. Focus on organizational structures and procedures, and emphasis on
mechanisms df control and monitoring through further refinements in hierarchy
and rules, are among such illustrations. Reform efforts that attend to civil service
matters often serve the interests of bureaucracy rather than improve administrative
performance. This is especially true of the large resources devoted to managerial
training made in the absence of reliable tests of relevance or reasonable assessment
of impact. Training programmes, converted in many cases to opportunities for
bureaucrats to travel or receive promotions, often advance personal advantages
rather than develop job-related competencies.
In general, most changes in personnel systems to motivate employees have been
preoccupied with issues of security (protection from arbitrary termination) and
economic benefits (wages and incentives). In the absence of serious organizational
and behavioural efforts to set standards of performance, improve evaluation
processes, or develop systematic and reliable methods to improve professional
skills, ethics, and commitment, reform efforts will continue to serve bureaucracy
rather than society.
Thus, reliance on Western norms and techniques of management without
adequate attention to influences of social, cultural, religious and political factors
constitutes a revival of the devalued Western traditional approach of closed-system
analysis, isolating the organization from its environment. This practice is analogous
to a transplantation of an organ without regard to characteristics of the receiving
body, risking rejection and continuation of the ailment.

10. 94 J. E. Jreisat
A third incongruity is an effect of the slow progress made in expanding the
administrative capabilities of developing countries, raising doubt about funda-
mental assumptions that traditional bureaucracy is equipped to deal with the
function of national development. A bureaucracy created to perform the core
functions of government (law and order and regular public services) may not be
well-adapted to the performance of very different functions such as socioeconomic
development (Waldo, 1981, p. 35;Jreisat, 1985, p. 1). (In his examination of public
administration as a catalyst for development in Sudan, Siege1(1984) concludes that
bureaucracy is not really development-oriented, though public servants in general
favour the assumption of such role.)
Not a new issue, the suitability of bureaucracy as a medium of development has
always been uncertain. More than two decades ago LaPalombara asserted that a
bureaucracy ‘heavily encumbered by Weberian-derived norms may for that reason
be a less efficacious instrument of economic change’ (1963, p. 12). Massive
intervention by the public sector, such arguments contend, requires a different
breed of bureaucrats, less adhering to forms, hierarchy, seniority and neutrality,
and more involved in policy definition, implementation and evaluation.
Despite criticisms of its inherent characteristics, bureaucracy remains the main
institution for initiating and implementing change. Braibanti (1969) therefore
concludes that the primary requisite for development is a competent bureaucratic
system. Under conditions of a weak private sector, public bureaucracy is an
indispensable instrument of development. Hence, reforming bureaucracy remains
the key to successful development, notwithstanding numerous common obstacles
facing reform from within and without the bureaucracy.
CONCLUSIONS
The dilemma of administrative reform in these countries resides in the mediocrity
of its results. But an administrative reform project is difficult to implement even in
Western systems. Since the 1930s, unheeded administrative recommendations of
various American presidential commissions far exceed the number adopted. Regan
(1984, p. 546) points out the failures of British administration reforms since the
1950s, despite ‘endless royal commissions and other investigative bodies which
have produced reports, explored various problems, and proposed numerous
reforms’. Bureaucracy in Arab states further differs from other world experiences
in that it has not been subjected to the kind of revolutionary upheaval that would
sever its roots, shatter its sratus quo, and dramatically reorient it to the meaningful
influence of citizens (as has happened in China, for example-see Lee, 1984, p.
37). Rather, all reform efforts attempted, and those being recommended, seem
adopted and implemented within existing structures by personnel operating at the
upper limits of their skills, knowledge and acceptance of change.
Many common obstacles to administrative reform come from within the
bureaucracy itself. The list may include resistance of staff and line personnel to
reform ideas, incompatibility with existing systems, lack of adequate commitment
and support, inadequate skills and insufficient data. These obstacles contribute to
the wide gap between proposed and executed administrative change. One is
compelled to ask whether anything can be done to improve the process, and thus

11. Administrative Reform in Developing Countries 95
the outcome. The response has to be affirmative and may be followed by
prerequisites of specifications:
First, a more realistic approach to reform can be achieved through employee
involvement. The prevalent, elitist, rigid approach does not offer employees the
opportunity to actively participate in or influence change. So exclusivist have most
practices been that employees are never told the reasons for change or the rationale
for decisions.
Second, diagnostic data ought to be collected and discussed openly to inform or
allow those affected to become involved in the redesign of activities. Such
involvement through information and feedback mechanisms results in (a) more
constructive attitudes by employees, and (b) improvements in the quality of all
aspects of reform because of the greater validity and completeness of information
and analysis.
Third, personnel responsible for defining reform policy, and implementing it,
often receive only minimal educational preparation before a reform is begun. Lack
of understanding and expertise by those in command of reform processes results in
the diminished quality and impact of the changes made. Extensive training
programmes to familiarize employees with the new order and to develop necessary
skills are crucial for acceptance and implementation of reform.
Fourth, the pronounced support and commitment of the political leadership is
imperative for the success of reform ideas; bureaucracy in the societies in question
responds to serious prodding by the political masters.
Fifth, incentive systems can replace the appearance of threatening change by
making clear what benefits and advantages will result to employees.
Finally, administrative reform in the seven countries must rest on a systems
perspective rather than a piecemeal approach to reshaping contemporary institu-
tions and administrative behaviour. The systems view considers people, organiza-
tions, processes, interactions and relevant external environment in the analysis and
prescriptions for change. This may be the only means available for developing
societies to provide a complete and integral approach to building administrative
capacity and generating indigenous, exploratory theories and practices of manage-
ment. Such theories and practices cannot be imitative, but must be independently
evolving (converging or diverging from Western theories and practices) as their
objectives and criteria dictate.

12. 96 J. E. Jreisat
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