Managing Transition
Bal Krishna Prasai
August 6, 2015
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Presentation Outline
 Concept/Context Setting
 Transitional Management Strategies and Government’s
Initiative
 Role of Public Servants in Transition Management
 Challenges
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Concepts
 What is transition?
 Transition-the process or a period of changing from one state or
condition to another (Oxford Dictionary)
 Transitions are times of crossing or traveling from something old
and familiar to something new and unfamiliar. Most transitions are
small and pass by almost unnoticed. Some, however, involve major
disruptions in routines and force us to re-examine our values and
lifestyle.
 Transitions range from changes that affect everyone
(social/technological advances and natural disasters) to more
personal transitions that affect one's career and relationships. They
may be voluntary, like moving to a larger home, or involuntary, like
an accident, a disability or an illness. They may be predictable or
unpredictable.
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Cont…
 William Bridges, in Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes,
lists three stages of transition. The first stage is fall. We see grass
turn brown and leaves fall, which means another year is coming to a
close. The second stage, winter, comes when the soil lies fallow and
uncultivated. This is a time for quiet and waiting. The world around
us appears lifeless, dead, or in hibernation. When spring -- the third
stage -- arrives, green leaves re-emerge from the dry brown twigs of
winter. The earth bursts forth again with life. If we view changes in
our lives like the changing seasons, we can feel more comfortable
with transitions.
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Cont…
 What is management?
 F.W. Taylor - “Art of knowing what you want to do and
then seeing that it is done the best and cheepest way”.
 Henry Fayol – “To manage is to forecast, to plan, to
organise, to command, to co-ordinate and to control”.
 Peter F. Drucker –”Management is work and as such it
has its own skills, its own tools and its own techniques”.
 “Management is the art of getting things done through
and with people”.
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Cont…
 Transition Management can be defined as the planning,
coordination, implementation and reporting process required to
successfully restructure a portfolio. The objective of this process is
to minimise the costs and risks associated with the restructure and
provide a smooth and orderly transition.
 Transition Management seeks to guide the gradual, continuous
process of transformation of socio-political landscapes, sociotechnical practices and “the structural character of society” from one
equilibrium to another. In its application, transition management
seeks to steer the outcome of change to lessen inherent uncertainty,
produce desirable social outcomes and enhance resilience during the
transformation of socio-technical systems.
 Transition is about the process of systematic moving from the old
and ensuring successful new beginning.
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Why Transition Management is needed?
 Progressive restructuring of state shall be made with inclusive
democratic federal system of governance by doing away with the
centralized and unitary structure of the state so as to end
discriminations based on class, caste, language, gender, culture,
religion and region (Interim Constitution: Part 17, State
Restructuring).
 Nepal has been a federal, democratic, inclusive and a republic state
since 2008. It is now shifting from:
Centralized (Unitary) System of government-Federal System
Constitutional Monarchy-Republic
Non-Secular- Secular
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Cont.
State Restructuring (Draft Constitution)
 One federal state, 8 provinces, 75 DDCs, 191 municipalities and
3276 VDCs
 Three Tiers of Government-Federal (Executive, Legislative,
Judiciary) , Provincial (Executive, Legislative, Judiciary), Local
(Executive, Judiciary, Legislative)
 Each level of government has exclusive and concurrent functions.
 Public administration has to be tuned with state restructuring.
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Cont.
Powers of Federal Level (Centre)
 Exclusive Powers (31)-Defense, central police, foreign affairs,
central banking, monetary matters, international trade and so on.
 Concurrent (26)-Education, health, infrastructure
 Residual function
 Power to supervision and control
 These devolution demands restructuring of the federal government
institutions.
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Cont.
Powers of Provincial Level
 The state powers proposed to be devolved wholly (26) or in part
(26) are: provincial civil service; police administration and law and
order; banks, financial institutions and cooperatives; radio and
television; several types of provincial taxes; provincial and local
level development projects; health services, universities and
educational services; trade, insurance and transport; land, forests,
water resources and mineral management; provision of basic
services to citizens; preservation of culture, language and so on.
 The provincial government-is completely a new tier of the
government, which entails creation of the new infrastructure,
institutions, legal framework, additional human resources,
procedural innovations and linkages with central and local
governments.
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Cont.
Powers of Local Level
 The state powers proposed to be devolved wholly (24) or in part to
local level include: local service; municipal police, community
police, local taxes, royalty from natural resources, primary and
secondary education, basic health and sanitation, local
infrastructure, local court, disaster management etc.
 Local level structure has to be retuned to be able to perform the
assigned tasks.
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Cont.
State Restructuring
 Involves re-defining roles, responsibilities and processes (e.g., organizations,
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individuals, relationships),
Reallocating state powers and resources (e.g., vertical, horizontal),
Re-assessing capacities (e.g., local level, national level, adaptation to
technological innovations),
Reviewing incentives (e.g., political, organizational, financial), and
Re-aligning with fundamental goals (e.g., inclusion, representation, partnerships).
Transition management
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Transitional Management Strategies
 There should be a transition management plan that encompasses all
components of transition (clear-cut assignment of tasks to each level
of government, legal framework and institutional arrangement,
management of human, financial and physical resources).
 A separate independent constitutional body needs to be established
for some time to look into all matters related to transition
management with clear-cut mandate to seek political support and
participation. It should be provided with adequate resources.
 The period of transition should not be long.
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cont…
 Strong commitment both at political and bureaucratic level is
needed to make federalism success.
 Federal government should be very supportive to provincial and
local level governments.
 Adequate resources should be provided to provincial and local
levels to perform their functions.
 There should be adequate incentives-both monetary and nonmonetary, to public servants, with prospect for career progression
and assurance for job security.
 Professional capacity of public servants has to be enhanced to yield
higher performance.
 Public administration should be made more efficient, effective,
transparent and accountable. Anomalies of existing public
administration such as corruption should not be inherited.
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Draft Constitution, 2015
Transitional Provisions (Part 35, Article 286-294)
 CA to be converted to Legislature-Parliament
 Provisions relating to the President and Vice President (within one month)
 Provisions relating to the Formation of the Council of Ministers (within 7 days)
 Provisions related to Speaker and Deputy Speaker(within 20 days)
 Provisions related to Judiciary
 Provisions related to Constitutional Bodies and, Officials thereof
 Provisions related to Local Bodies
 Existing laws to remain in force
 Power to remove difficulties
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Government’s Preparation in Federalizing Public
Administration
 Administrative Restructuring Commission, 2064
 High-level inter- ministerial body (Public Administration Restructuring Steering
Committee under the leadership of the Prime Minister)
 Formation of Technical Restructuring Committees
 Administrative Reform Recommendation Committee, 2069
 Functional Analysis (OPMCM, MoGA)
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Roles of Public Servants in Transitional Management
 Effective enforcement of constitutional provisions, including
fulfilling fundamental rights of people
 Functional analysis of tasks across different level of governments
 Revision of existing laws, formulation of laws, rules, procedures,
directives, norms, standards
 Development and establishment of political and adminstrative
structures/institutions at different levels of government
 Resources management (human, financial, physical) and their
allocation
 Improving quality of public service and level of performance
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Challenges of Transitional Management
 A major challenge for the federalization process-managing
overlapping functions across three levels of government,
establishment of legal and institutional framework for political and
administrative institutions, norms and standards of public service
delivery.
 Allocation of human, financial and physical resources to different
levels of government
 Weak capacity of government
 Inadequate resources
 Lack of commitment of the political and bureaucratic leadership
 Lack of coordination, cooperation between different levels of
government
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 Resistance of public servants to change
Thank You
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