Koodam – Breaking hierarchy, building democracy - Paper published in Integral Leadership Review

The paper published in the Integral Leadership Review argues that hierarchy and bureaucracy are two of the most common features of governance systems that play a determining role in shaping the organisational culture, systemic response and human relations that prevail in government institutions.

Thus, the more rigid and formal the hierarchy, the greater is the consciousness of status and authority that in turn creates closed human relations systems dominated by feelings of suspicion, formalism and a discomfort with anything ‘personal’. Bureaucracy, or rule boundedness, determines how open the organisation is, not just vis-à-vis the outside world, but even inside the government system itself, encompassing relations between and amongst different sub-systems or departments.

The governance systems during the colonial rule

The paper informs that in countries like India with a colonial history, government and governance systems were tools to aid the colonial state to control the local populations and assert its powers. The rapacious colonial state needed a bureaucracy, which would ensure that there was no social or political challenge to its rule while the subject population remained subservient.

At the same time, the colonial ‘extracting’ state also needed to ensure that all government systems functioned efficiently to enable ‘exploitation’ of all available resources for repatriation to the colonial masters. Unquestioning submission to authority, uncritical acceptance of commands and unswerving dedication to rules were accompanied by a deep rooted reluctance to share power, suspicion of demand for transparency of information and unwillingness to encourage innovative and independent thinking or action.

The colonial roots of present governance systems

The paper argues that the governance systems in India that exist in present times have their roots in the colonial times and these have remained unchanged. There is nothing new in the present governance structures beyond the replacement of the ‘gora sahab’ (white officer) with the ‘kalaa officer’ (black official). Extremely divisive, people-suspicious, power concentrated bureaucratic mores, hierarchical practices and institutional cultures still continue.

Hostility to demand for transparency, opposition to ensure equitable participation, unwillingness to share power and continued insistence on impunity, which not only became the anchoring reflections of the bureaucratic value system, but also its determining ethic, continue even today, argues the paper.

Concept of koodam to challenge/break hierarchical systems

In this context, this paper shares the experience of using a Tamil cultural concept called the ‘koodam’ as a tool to enable free interaction and critical engagement amongst people from hierarchical systems, who are intent on transforming the bureaucracy into a more people-responsive, individual friendly, risk encouraging and vibrant social system.

A copy of the paper and a presentation on the concept of the koodam can be downloaded from below: