1st class summary for "Getting Things Done": Problems with getting things done

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09/08/2014

1st class summary for "Getting Things Done": Problems with getting things done

In my first class session last week, I met 115 amazing Harvard students and we started our adventure thinking about getting things done in development. Apart from discussing administrative and logistical issues, we also spent some time looking at the challenge of getting things done.

We considered some studies showing that many policies and reforms have ben tried but results are often less than we would expect or like them to be. I likened this to a puzzle and we tried to do a 1,000 piece puzzle in 5 minutes (or to learn about the challenge of doing this and the gaps that emerge when doing many interventions in development--like the de facto gap where the final product looks nothing like the picture...or the downstream gap where resources committed in upstream budgets are left unused or moved to other purposes downstream, leaving incomplete projects).

Could you do this puzzle in 5 minutes, when 100 people hold different pieces, other puzzle pieces are included into the mix of pieces, and the context does not really allow you to work together? If not, why do we think developing country governments can do most of the projects they have on their books?

The discussion could not stop there, however, because we needed to note that the weak results were not for projects and reforms that had been done poorly. In many cases projects were considered successful (see the chapters from my own book) and money had been budgeted for projects that were carefully devised (see the study on Nigeria).

Furthermore, the studies showed that people involved in these projects and interventions had tried different interventions to improve the success rate--like giving agents more autonomy and introducing performance targets. Failure rates are still extremely high: In Nigeria over 30% of infrastructure projects the authors looked at DID NOT START. In my work over 70% of administrative and anti corruption reforms fail to gain traction and influence behavior. In work with Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock I find that many countries following 'good governance' reform scripts will likely attain the level of state capability India has in hundreds of years (Singapore is 4 to 5 thousand years away).

The class ended by noting that many ideas exist for getting things done. We looked a little at the way ideas have moved from classical bureaucratic theory through Mayo and others looking at human relations, through systems and contingency theory and to chaos theory, and beyond. The challenge I presented was simple: how do we work out what parts of what theories we should be using in development? Is any one theory right and others wrong?

This led to the final discussion about the biases we all bring to discussions of getting things done. The reality is that most of us have been influenced more by one discipline than any other, and we probably carry the implicit ideas of that discipline into our thinking about management and the challenge of implementation. Drawing on Ghoshal and others, I challenged the class (and myself) to be open to ideas from across disciplines (so that economists might think beyond assumptions of selfish agents open to coercive incentives, for instance). Referring to Nilima Gulrajani's piece, I also raised the importance of us being open to thinking beyond modern managerialism as 'the only' way to get things done.

Here's looking forward to an open and engaged conversation this semester...

Here is my powerpoint for the class:

Download Mld1022014firstclasss

Here is the first class description and reading list:

Class 1. Friday Sep. 5

Problems with getting things done, and a strategy for this course

Class objectives and themes:

To start: Introduce the rationale and structure of the class, including basic rules of the classroom, process of student assessment and grading, and team versus individual work.

Then to discuss the following themes:

We need a new theory of organizations/capability to ‘get things done’ in development.
There are many past theories to work with; any one idea you have is only one of many. The challenge is to better understand why so many theories exist (to organize thinking about these theories) and then to develop a strategy for drawing ideas from theories and turning these ideas into practice.

When you are going over the preparation materials (video and reading as well as reflections on your own experience) please take notes on the following: 1. What kinds of gaps and limits do we see in the achievements made in development to date? (How would you classify these gaps and limits?) 2. What organizational theories exist to help us overcome these gaps and limits? (how would you make sense of the different theories that exist and why do you think there are so many theories?) 3. Is there any organizational theory that you are more open to? Why?

Video preparation (watch before class, taking notes on details):

Theme 1: We need a new theory of organizations/capability to ‘get things done’ in development

Lant Pritchett on The Big Stuck http://buildingstatecapability.com/2014/01/21/bsc-video-capability-trapped-in-a-big-stuck-part-213/

The World Bank’s Ani Dasgupta on the Science of Delivery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R6laWcWJjQ

Theme 2: There are many past theories to work with; any one idea you have is only one of many.

Evolution of Management. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EobeHwOw3S4

Required readings (read before class, taking notes on details…perhaps 15 pages here):

Theme 1: We need a new theory of organizations/capability to ‘get things done’ in development

Rasul and Rogger. Managing Bureaucrats. http://www.ideasforafrica.net/articles/managing-bureaucrats

Wagstaff, A. 2013. So what exactly is the “science of delivery”? blog posting http://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/so-what-exactly-is-the-science-of-delivery

Theme 2: There are many past theories to work with; any one idea you have is only one of many

Calukin, S. 2005. ‘That’s the theory, and it matters…” http://www.theguardian.com/business/2005/oct/02/theobserver.observerbusiness4

Historical and contemporary theories of management. http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/BUS208-2.1-Historical-and-ContemporaryTheories-of-Management-FINAL.pdf

Additional readings (I will refer to these in class):

Theme 1: We need a new theory of organizations/capability to ‘get things done’ in development

Andrews, M. 2013. Chapters 1 and 2 of The Limits of Institutional Reform in Development. New York: Cambridge University Press. (drafts available on the class page)

Roodman, P. 1968. Development administration: obstacles, theories and implications for planning. IEP Occasional Paper 2. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0007/000755/075535eo.pdf

Theme 2: There are many past theories to work with; any one idea you have is only one of many

Ghoshal, S. 2005. ‘Bad Management Theories are Destroying Good Management Practices.’ Academy of Management Learning & Education, 2005, Vol. 4, No. 1, 75–91. http://www.corporation2050.org/documents/Resources/Ghoshal.pdf

Gulrajani, N. 2009. The future of development management: Examining possibilities and potential. Destin Development Studies Institute Working Paper 9/99. http://www.lse.ac.uk/internationalDevelopment/pdf/WP/WP99.pdf

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The Limits of Institutional Reform in Development

09/08/2014