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w10-Creating E ective Rules through Green Tape (:red_flag:rule…
w10-Creating E ective Rules through Green Tape
background
In short, e ective rules in public organizations are vitally important== require focused managerial time and intention
Green tape theory is applied to the five-second rule, a legally doomed informal policy of Mis- souri police in the wake of the 2014 Michael Brown shooting.
Reconceptualizing Rule Effectiveness
Organizational purposes must be front and center
voluntary cooperation
Interaction
When to Write a Rule
organizations respond to problems by creating more rules
rules increase over time, but at some point their growth rate slows down
problem that we’ve dealt with collectively, and people are still coming into my o ce with problems, that’s when I have to write a policy.
rule-writing also depends on the clarity of organizational goals and the availability of technical knowledge for problem-solving
unwri en rules are well-suited for unimportant problems and unclear solution sets
Rule Stakeholders
Cooperative behavior is essential for e ective rules
logical starting point : Involving stakeholders
911-no one asked them how things were going, and of course overworked and poorly paid people were hardly going to volunteer information, especially when they were likely to get blamed for whatever was wrong.
catch single step when designing an effective rule: solicit the input of people most a ected by the rule, whether those people are employees, businesses, or citizens.
Folle is arguing that organizational rules will work be er if employees are involved in rule design.
2.close the design-implementation gap
mismatch of expertise.
potential for greater compliance from rule-followers
This greater degree of involvement increased their commitment, and hence, their compliance”
not every rule stakeholder will want to participate
:red_flag:rule formalization, rule logic, consistent application, optimal control, and rule understanding.
Employee-driven policy design is a form of procedural justice through which employees perceive policies as fair, in part because they are given a voice in the process.
5 rules
The term “green tape” was chosen to pro- vide a language for expressing e ective rules in contrast to the red tape concept.
effective rules have technical and social components.
Rule Formalization
process and outcome of pu ing rules into writ- ing—is expected to increase the technical and social merits of an organizational rule.
the more workplace rules are documented in writing, the more they are perceived as being e ective
rule formalization triggers in-depth thinking
relative superiority of wri en over unwri en rules
Rule Logic
exmple
ask airline passengers
two questions: (1) Has anyone unknown to you asked you to carry an
item on this fl ight?; and (2) Have any of the items you’ve been traveling with
been out of your immediate control since the time you packed them?.
The rule was not necessarily stupid as much as it
was questionably illogical.2
core of rational thinking and a necessary att ribute of green tape
and contributor to the organizational dimension of rule eff ectiveness.1 The rationality
of any organizational activity can be evaluated as to whether there is a logical
connection between the activity抯 design and its purpose
Consistent Rule Application
avoiding systematically exempting specifi c people or
groups from the rules intended to cover them.
“Why me/us and not her/them?”
rendering behavior predictable and coordinated in the pursuit of
organizational goals
informs rule behavior
people make decisions based on past behavior by themselves or others.
serves as a shortcut for decision- making.
out: public works managers
who were told that a rule was consistently applied by fellow supervisors
were more likely to follow that rule, regardless of whether the rule was writt en or
unwritt en
:check:most eff ective public organizations must be fl exible, agile, and responsive.
4.Optimal Control
rules minimize discretion and standardize organizational behavioral but in
the process trigger ineffi ciency, morale problems, and counterproductive work
behaviors
rules as residing on
a continuum, from inadequately controlling to excessively controlling, with the
sweet spot of optimal control somewhere in the middle
At the other end of the rule continuum lies over- control, which is a catalyst
for red tape
over- control is ineffi cient and requires more constraint than necessary
for achieving rule objectives
:check:Between the extremes of under- control and over- control lies optimal control,===green tape
promises effi ciency, signals sincerity
in achieving rule purposes, and tells employees and other rule followers that they
are trusted enough to not be micromanaged
Understood Rule Purposes
Perceptions matt er. It is not enough that you follow
the law, you must also confi dently explain the reasons you took police action to
the people with whom you interact.
employees who are psychologically connected to the organization
are able to locate themselves fi rmly within its mission
facilitates compliance
Promises and Pitfalls of Green Tape
advantage
holds promise for strengthening the relevance of public management
scholarship to managers,
based on a range of hierarchical perspectives
provides a theory- based practical
guide for creating eff ective organizational rules.
chinks:
rules emerge from prosocial motives
pertains to the micro nature of green tape and the specifi c conditions
based on a diversity of employee perspectives but is writt en for the public
manager.
tapes: both from ualitative research, Both concepts use rule control, design logic, and compliance as explanatory variables.
2red tapes
rule evolved
rules that go
bad and become irrelevant over time, due to fl awed implementation or shift ing
circumstances
rule- inception
“rules born bad
Green tape: green tape : focused on attributes of rule design and implementation
distinction:
rule formalization,
Red tape= defi ned by ineff ective writt en rules
Red tape theory
casts a wide theoretical net to predict bad rules.
Red tape theory incorporates some types of individual behavior but largely casts ine ective burdensome rules as a system problem rather than a people problem
red tape strongly correlates with centralization, or the need to secure verbal permission
Red tape : people problem gives hope.
a rule can be both at one time
both useful
create rules: consider:
if a a written rule is truly needed
Organizational purposes must be identi ed
green tape is mostly likely to arise from rules that are wri en, logical, consis- tently applied, optimally controlling, and understood.