The debate on generalists and specialists is kick-started with rising demands for lateral entry into civil services.
Also, the changing nature of government creates the need for a reassessment of the nature of civil servants involved in administration.
What is the need for specialisation?
Changing nature - The Indian Administrative Service(IAS) was modelled on the colonial era Indian Civil Service as a generalist service.
It was conceived primarily to deliver the core functions of the state such as tax collection and maintenance of law and order.
But with the evolution of public administration and economic reforms changing the State's role, there is a higher demand for domain knowledge at policy level.
Drawbacks - IAS, as generalists, tend to over-weigh their experience of the process and form over understanding of policy content.
Generalists heading specialised areas seems to be an inefficient arrangement at times.
There is also a misconception that only generalists who have a breadth of understanding and experience can provide best leadership.
All these have raised questions about the role and relevance of the generalised IAS.
What could be done?
The Constitution Review Commission 2002 suggested the “need to specialise some of the generalists and generalise some of the specialists”.
However the task of managing specialisation needs the consideration of many factors:
When - From generalised field postings in the initial decade of service, an IAS gradually moves to policy formulating positions.
This mid-career level transition provides the ideal marker for beginning to specialise.
How - Possibly, complying to the demands of behavioural attributes and aptitudes, ministries could be broadly categorised into three groups - welfare, regulatory and economic ministries.
Secondly, specialisation process needs to be flexible according to the preference of IAS officers.
Given this flexibility, it is also essential that the government make the process more predictable and transparent to avoid favouritism.
Thirdly, once allocated to specialist positions, officers should be provided study and training for deepening their domain knowledge.
In addition to these, the specialised lateral entrants should be required to “generalise” through field postings.
The nature of policy-making at present demands that specialist expertise has to go with generalist experience.
Thus, proper cadre management that provides for a right proportion of generalisation and specialisation can improve the efficiency and relevance of civil services.