UNIT 29 GENERALISTS AND SPECIALISTS

Structure
29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 Objectives Introduction Generalists and Specialists: Meaning Relationship Be,tween the Generalists and Specialists 30.3.1 Arguments in Favour of the Generalists 30.3.2 Arguments in Favour of the Specialists Recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission Bridging the Gulf Between the Two Let Us Sum Up Key Words References and Further Readings Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

29.4 29.5 29.6 29.7 29.8 29.9

29.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying this Unit, you should be able to: Explain the meaning of the term 'generalists' and 'specialists'; Review and assess the roles of generalists and specialists in administration; Discuss the impact of the relationship between generalists and specialists on administration; and Outline the recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission on ,this issue and review their follow-up.
\

The administration of any country requires different categories of personnel to cany out its functions. The personnel ought to have the necessary knowledge, skills and qualities to be able to perform the various administrative functions. There are horizontal and vertical divisions in administration. The horizontal divisions are marked according to the temtorial or regional levels at which the personnel are located. The vertical divisions, on the other hand, are demarcated according to the functions or tasks allotted to the employees or their groups. The vertical divisions are further conceived to belong to the generalist and the specialist categories. These are not as such formally defined categories. Functions and tasks are just the basic units of the classification or categorisation of the administrative personnel in government. In this Unit we will discuss about the functions of the generalists and specialists, nature of their relationship and its impact on administration. The Administrative Reforms Commission's recommendations to improve the relationship between the two will also be dealt with.

A generalist is considered an administrator with no technical or specialist qualifications. In India, a member belonging to .Indian Administrative Service (IAS). as well as a member of Administrative Service in Britain is a generalist.

A generalist entrant to the civil service would have graduated (passed B.A., B.Sc., B.Com., B.Tech. or M.B.B.S.]in literature or history or social sciences, or physical or biological science or mathematics, or commerce or accountancy, or a technical subject like engineering, or medicine. On the strength of hisher subjects at graduation, which may be different from the specialisation needed for job offered, hetshe is not fit to be posted in a particular department engaged in performing specific function such as agriculture, health, social service, etc. The posting of a generalist civil servant in a department or at a regional level of administration has nothing to do with the subject of histher education or of further training or administrative experience. Hisher selection to the civil service through a competitive examination open to all graduates in any discipline, such as, arts, social sciences, sciences, commerce, engineering1 technology, medicine, is adequate to entitle hidher to occupy a position in a department or at a regional level such as a district or a division, (a group of districts) or in the secretariat. A generalist usually performs the POSDCORB functions (planning, organising, supervising, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting). A specialist is an expert, who is confined within a specialised area or department and occupies the technical positions in administrative hierarchy. They are entrusted with the task of providing technical advice to the generalist administrator. Spicialists are those civil servants who have acquired proficiency in terms of their . education and experience in administration of specific subjects. They include medical doctors, engineers, scientists, etc. Generalists are selected in administration on the basis of their having obtained a University degree irrespective of the subjects at it. They are selected, unlike the specialists, for having reached a certain (minimum) level of education per se indicating the essential minimum extent of intellectual and mental development. The Generalists are not chosen in administration for their proficiency in a particular discipline or branch of study or for further training or experience in that branch. It is said that administration per se becomes a matter of specialisation of the generalists. In any department or the government secretariat or any other administrative institution such as a public enterprise or a university or a local body, as one goes higher and higher in the level of responsibility, say from the clerk to the superintendent to the officer-in-charge of an office and further to the executive officer leading to the secretary of a department or ministry, functions become more and more generalist in nature. Even in technical or functional departments such as irrigation and power, agriculture, medicine and health, the secretary to the departments and the head of the executive department performs the generalist functions of policy-making, control of the administrative machinery, direction, supervision and control of the employees, coordination within and outside the organisation under control, and public relations. The technical or functional departments are no doubt suffused with the substantial content of the subject matter of the respective departments. In modern times the functions of administration have become varied and complex. The state, besides maintaining law and order and looking after regulatory functions is engaged in multifarious economic and welfare functions. The state has been entrusted with the task of setting basic industries like steel, mining and heavy electricals. The state also looks after the welfare of the physically challenged, the health of the infirm, the old and the children. Not merely that, the production of nuclear energy, conductmg scientific research and introduction of innovations in technology are a must for the modern state. In a country like India where the

Generalists and Specialists

Emerging Issues

peasantry forms the bulk of the population besides the above-mentioned functions, the state is also concerned with assisting them with finances, technical information and other inputs. Literacy rate is very low in the country. All this has cast heavy responsibilities on the government. The functions of administration have become enormous, varied and complex. This tendency has been visible in the west especially after the first world war, and in India after Independence. To take care of the diverse functions in a welfare state, specialists are appointed in administration in growing numbers at various levels and in different departments and ministries. A specialist is a person who has special knowledge in a specific field. To systematise the working of the specialists in administration, they are recruited in cadres, i.e., groups of public services like engineers, medicos, statisticians, agricultural scientists, computer scientists, etc. The number of generalist administrators at supervisory or directional levels has not grown to the extent to which the number of specialist officials with higher responsibility has increased. Clerks, typists, stenographers, accounts clerks, etc. are appointed in all departments at all territorial levels. But they do not perform duties of direction, supervision, control, coordination and public relations, which are the managerial functions of an administrator. So these employees or officials with lesser and routine responsibilities are left out in the discussion on the roles of the generalists and the specialists here. Specialists are also posted as advisers, special/administrative assistants and researchers to the chief executive, viz., Prime Minister, Chief Minister or City mayor. Here they operate as a staff agency, and not as a line agency. In line agencies, i.e., departments or public enterprises also, specialists like the lawyers or statisticians assist the administration.

293

RELATIONSHIP BETWEENTHE GENERALISTS

AND SPECIALISTS

The system of administration in India which has largely been. generalist dominated has been due to the impact of administrative philosophy of England during 1 9 ' ~century where generalists formed the basic principle of administration. Later the Northcote-Trevelyan Report on the organisation of Permanent Civil Service (1854) and the Macaulay Report on the Indian Civil Service (1854) also favoured the generalist dominated administration. This continued even after independence also. The issue of the relationship between the generalists and the specialists has come to the fore on account of various factors. In the first place, they are organised in separate hierarchies, i.e., groups having supervisor-subordinate relations between various levels. That is why, the generalists and the specialists have lost contact with each other, and they look to each other with a kind of envy and suspicion. In the second place, the tasks of policy-making, control of administrative machinery and management at highest levels are allotted largely to the generalists in preference to the specialists, excluding few exceptions. In the third place, generalists are moved from one department to another, from one type of job to another, from a department to a public enterprise or local government and back, without hindrance. The specialists, on the other hand, are transferred or promoted within their respective departments. These contrasting situations have given rise to a feeling among the generalists of being 'administrators' per se and par excellence, and an inferiority complex and a feeling of being neglected among the specialists. Posts of secretaries in the government departments, and-even of

heads of most executive departments are reserved for the generalists. There are also salary differences in favour of the generalists. This privileged position of the generalists tends to offend the self-image of the specialists, and in result their morale and confidence. The generalists and the specialists also function in the private sector industries and business. But their relations do not suffer from bitterness or envy, as in Public Administration. This is so because in private administration specialists like engineers, accountants also occupy managerial and executive positions.

Generalists and Specialists

In India, gradually, the basis of liberal university education in arts (including social sciences) and sciences for the recruitment to the Indian Civil Services has been broadened to include graduates in engineering, medicine and technology. So, the old Macaulayan premise of liberal education based university graduates as "flowers of the earth" being the most suitable for selection as civil servants does not hold good in India today. The members of the Indian Administrative Service(1AS) occupy higher posts in various departments both in the field and the secretariat except those which are too technical, i.e., specialists that are occupied by the members of the Central Services. Apart from the Central Services which are included among the specialist services, scientists, legalists, engineers, economists and other cadres are also termed specialists. The IAS incumbents like those in the Indian Police Service(1PS) and the Indian Forest Service are posted in the State administration as well as in the Central administration. But, strictly speaking, members of the Indian Police Service and the Indian Forest Service are not generalists; the IAS is really considered the only genuine generalist civil service in India. The members of the 1AS begin their career in a State administration as an assistant collectorlcom~nissioner and rise to hold headship of an executive department like agriculture, sociat welfare, saIes tax, etc., and secretaryship of a department in the State secretariat. After a stint of 10 years or so in the State administration, some of the IAS civil servants are transferred to the Central Secretariat, and in sonie cases finally elevated tq secretaryship of a department, ministry there. Some of these are again deputed at times to the Central public enterprises RS managing directors andlor Chairmen. But this trend is diminishing in recent times.
Specialists occupy different positions in their own departments in the field and the Secretariat, A few of them rise to the secretaryship of the respective department. ~ h ; tis said here about the specialists in the Central administration applies to those in the State administration.

Check Your Progress 1 Note:

i) Use the space given below for your answers. ii) Check your answers with those given at the end of the Unit.
1)

Who are the specialists in administration?

Emerging Issues

2)

What type of functions are performed by the generalists?

3)

Why has the issue of the relationship between generalists and specialists come to the fore?

29.3.1 Arguments in Favour of the Generaliqts

Traditionally, the Indian p~iblic services have been structured on the British pattern of division of services into the higher "adminibrative class and other subordinate technical services". The originif such dichotomy can be traced to the famous Northcote-Trevelyan Report on "Organisation of the Permanent Civil Service", 1853. The report recommended that the superior posts in the administration should be filled with educated and promising young men by a competitive examination. This administrative class recruited on the basis of literary attainments in recent years has come to be called generalists. The Macaulay report in 1854 laid emphasis on the superiority of generalists over the specialists. This was the basis and the philosophy on which the Indian Civil Service was constituted. This philosophy continued to hold good till Independence. However, due to the increased welfare functions of the government, Trevelyan and Macaulay philosophy has been questioned and challenged seriously: The main idea in the selection of the generalist civil service and the placement of its entrants to the high level positions in any department including the secretariat is that the intelligent young university graduates would occupy these positions with distinction without a formal in-service training. Another idea behind the generalist civil service was that these young entrants would perform the functions of providing advice to the government in policy-making, formulating decisions for execution of government policies, whichever be the subject or function of administration. The technical experts in the respective subjects would help in these tasks. Various points are put forward in favour of the generalists. They have a broad outlook and flexibility of approach, to adjust themselves to any department and position at any level, and to reflect and judge on any issue in administration. As they shift the ability of the generalists to assimilate different experiences functional, public and political, their ability to occupy higher position in any department and post gets strengthened. Besides, it is argued that the generalist acts as a mediator, an umpire between the expert and the politician, the people and the government, the pressure groups and the public interest represented by the parliament/legislature and the political

executive, and the conflicting points of view and aspects. The generalists are said to know the "minister's mind" better than the specialists. They tone down the angularities and extremities of the positions taken by the technocrats or the specialists. The specialists, it is held, favour costly proposals which the generalists can size up.

Generalists and Specialists

29.3.2 Arguments in Favour of the Specialists

During the nineteenth century when the generalist civil service was founded in Britain and India, highly specialised knowledge was not required in administration as its functions were limited to the maintenance of law and order and looking after regulatory activities. The general criticism of the generalists is that they have not developed the essential professionalism or adequate knowledge in depth of the work of any departmewdue to the absence of specialised education or postservice entry training in the work of that department. This has resulted, it is pointed out, in defective policy-making and had made basic evaluation of the policies difficult. The methods adopted for execution of policies are also ineffective. Effective co~nmunicationwith the sources of expert advice in and outside the administration is not established. Because most of the policies and the decisions flowing from them are executed by the specialists or officials under their charge, the generalists are away from the perception regarding the extent of the effective execution of the policies and the decisions and the reasons for it. The specialists technical advice or do not obtain it at all. The feel that generalists misu~~derstand generalists cannot undertake forward planning because they are not equipped with the necessary knowledge of the developments in particular subjects like engineering, agriculture, education, health, etc., as they move from one department to another, and even out of a department to a public enterprise or a university, or an auxiliary body like the National Book Trust or the National Council of Educational Research and 'Training (NCERT). Further, the 'intelligent amateur' theory underlying the constitution ofthe generalist civil service would not be applicable to the recent times when the functions of administration have become complex, more technical, scientifically oriented and subject specific. The specialists advance their case for being placed e ~ a n equal footing with the generalists on various grounds. The shortcomings in the administration by the generalists are cited in their own favour. The chief merit of the specialists claimed by them for occupying the highest positions of headship of executive departments and secretaryship of secretariat departments in advance on the strength of their knowledge and experience of respective specialities. It is also activeIy canvassed by the specialists that, on the one hand, the generalists become better qualified to hold higher positions in different departments because they themselves have fashioned the system in their own favour, and on the other hand, the specialists are deprived of occupying highest positions even though they are better equipped. Scientific training inculcates an objective spirit among the specialists which reduces the alleged functional bias in them. Nor are the generalists completely free from a personal bias in the course of administration. The charge on the specialists of not being cost-conscious and of being too close to own department's clientele, is answered with a similar argument. The dual hierarchical structures of the cadres of the generalists and the specialists respectively not only mar administrative efficiency but also create discontent among the specialists. Easier and more cordial communication between them would result. Better expert advise from the specialists would be evoked. Career planning is necessary both for the generalists and the specialists in the interest of the develop~nentof both and the greater efficiency and effectiveness of the administrative system. Both have to be trained in the managerial functions and techniques. A comlnon body of knowledge useful to both needs to be taught in the course of the post-entry training. Better communication and cooperation between these two components of the administrative system have to be encouraged.

Emerging Issues

In 1968, the Fulton Committee in U.K. recommended a greater role for the specialists in administration. It favoured fostering professionalism among the specialists through training in management and also specialisation in subject matter.
Check Your Progress 2 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answers.

1)

ii) Check your answers with those given at the end of the Unit. What are the arguments advanced by the generalists in favour of their dominant position in administration?

2)

What are the arguments put forth by the specialists in favour of their position in administration?

29.4 RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION

The issue of the relationship of the personnel of the Indian Administrative Service with those of the specialist services occurs at both the levels central as we11 as the state. The IAS is an All India Service in the sense that its personnel are recruited and appointed by the central government, but serves both the state and the central governments. The role of the IAS in the field administration in the States, in providing manpower for appointment as District Collectors and magistrates and development officers to the posts of Zilla Parishad (Chief Executive Officers1 District Development Officers), is also unique. In the Government of India, the members of the IAS are appointed as secretaries, joint secretaries and deputy secretaries to various departments after having a stint of service with the state governments as a deputy secretary or a secretary. They serve the Government of India on a tenure basis for say five years, and revert to their respective states on completion of the tenure unless their tenure is extended. Prior to the publication of the report of the Administrative Reforms Commission on Personnel Administration (April 1969), the specialists were rarely promoted to the posts of secretaries in the central or state governments. Besides, in the state government members of the IAS are also appointed as heads of departments including technical ones like agriculture, animal husbandry, sales tax, etc. except police or engineering. The differences in pay-scales of the IAS and the other services do exist, vyhich add to the discontent among the members of the specialist services such as thJndian Audit and Accounts, Railways, etc. at the central and the agricultural, engineering and other services at the state level.

There could be no two opinions about the "main considerations for the formation of the Indian Administrative Service" as stated by a Study Team of the Administrative Reforms Commission. These are to: i) provide top administrative personnel to the central government as well as to the state governments; ii) provide opportunities to the central administrative machinery for constant touch with realities and for contact with the people; iii) provide opportunities to the state administrative machinery for acquiring a wider outlook; iv) facilitate liaison between the centre and the states; v) bring about uniformity in the standards of administration; vi) ensure that services are free from communal or party basis; and vii) ensure contentment and sense of security in the services. 'The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) maintained that in view of the complexities of the governmental functions today, it needs a diversity of skills for the administration of various programmes of development; that many of these skills are not available; and that these considerations have a great bearing on the staffing policies of the government. One of the major recornmendations of the ARC was that all posts requiring close and intimate familiarity with a subject matter, i.e., a fhnction should. be put into a separate cadre (i.e., service). These posts should 'form a functional service and should, therefore, be earmarked for the officers of the service. However, the movement of persons at various levels in the functional service is not to be automatic but through careful selection at each level. The unified grading structure recommended by the ARC sought to help the process of selection. 'The ARC recognised however that there would be many posts which would not require subject matter (functional) specialisation but would call for broad conceptual and managerial skills. These are the policy level posts of-secretaries in the secretariat. For these posts no single functional service is uniquely qualified. These posts are very important, so the Commission has suggested that they should not be manned as at present but by a different method. The method recommended by the Commission is to hold an examination to all officers of higher services with 8-12 years of experience in government and test them for their suitability to occupy higher-level policy positions. This examination should be designed to assess the candidate's capacity for communication, clarity of thought, overall managerial ability, power of analysis and comprehension of current social, economic and political issues. The ARC has suggested that after the officers are selected on the basis of this examination, they should be allotted to one of the eight specialities mentioned by the Commission, according to their background and aptitude. These specialities are: (i) personnel and manpower; (ii) economic administration (including planning), (iii) financial administration; (iv) agricultural administration; (v) industrial administration, (vi) social and educational administration; (vii) internal security and defence; and (viii) general administration. After this would be within the selected speciality, but allotment, the careers of these off~cers there would be judicious job rotation of these officers in related areas. Criticisms could be offered on these categories of functional professionalisation of the civil services in India at the higher policy-making level, as also on the mode of examination to be held at the mid-career of the civil servants for selections to this level. But the recommendations of the ARC on-the matter ensured the preeminence of the generalist Indian Administrative Service as well as justice to the highly qualified and experienced among the specialists in respect of their claims to the higher level posts in policy-making. Similar professionalisation and mode of selection was suggested by the ARC at the
state level

Generalists and Specialists

Emerging Issues

29.5 BRIDGING THE GULF BETWEEN THE TWO

Of late, certain steps have been initiated towards inducting specialists into administrative positions both at the centre as well as the states. For example, the Department of Atomic Energy is headed by a ouclear scientist, Ministry of Law by a member belonging to the legal pkofessid,n or service. Similarly, scientists preponderate in the scientific research depadents. The Planning Commission is exclusively manned by specialists and professiunals. There is another method in vogue of giving a specialist head of the department exofficio status of JointfAdditional Secretary to the government. For instance, at the union level, the members who are heads of operating departments are ex-officio secretaries in the Union Ministry. At the state level too, specialists are appointed as secretaries - ex-officio or in own right - in departments like law, public works, etc. The Director General of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) is the exofficio Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education in the Ministry of Agriculture. Similarly, the Director General of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is the ex-officio Secretary of Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in Ministry of Science and Technology. An independent Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department has been constituted at the centre in accordance with another recommendation of the ARC. Similarly, imparting of training in managerial techniques and reforms in administration as suggested by the Commission is under way. But the concept of overall career planning and development seems to have been stuck up. In the public enterprises, prior to the report of the ARC on public enterprises, government secretaries most of whom were generalists used to be appointed either in ex-officio capacity as part time ChairnardManaging Directors or Directors or on a full time substantive basis. The recommendation of the ARC to discontinue the practice was accepted and implemented by the Government. Another possible way out to bridge the existing gulf between the generalists and specialists could be the formation of any one of the following hierarchies like: i) ii) Separate Hierarchy: The system is prevalknt in Australia, Sweden where there is common pay and greater respect for specialists. Parallel Hierarchy: This is a system where a specialist will be worEing with a generalist like for example Director General (Specialist) will be working with Deputy Secretary (Generalist). Joint Hierarchy: Here both a generalist as well as a specialist report jointly to a permanent Secretary who is a generalist. Unified Hierarchy: This implies creation 0f.a unified civil service merging both central and All India Services. This requires common competitive examination of uniform standard and uniformity in emoluments and conditions of service. While in India no steps were taken to create such a service, in Pakistan in 1973, unified civil service was created wherein all the services and cadres jn their civil service were merged in one service.

iii) iv)

The generalist Indian Administrative Service, with all its shortcomings, has proved to be an asset to the administration both at the national and state level. Its alleged omniscience, overbearing outlook towards the specialists, its inadequate 'professionalism' and outdated knowledge in scientific and technological sectors of administration are known and have been discussed in scholarly works and current journals, magazines and newspapers. But its national outlook has helped to keep the State administration into the national mainstream. Its integrated approach has kept the national administration alive to the requirements of fostering interrelations among different sectors of administration as well as between the centre and the

At the same time, the value of the specialists' contribution and role in the administration at both the central and the state levels has to be appreciated. India lias progressed tremendously in scientific, industrial, transport, communication, agricultural, educational and other fields. The specialists' role in this multisided national progress and the administrative infrastructure and processes for it, should be recognised. The complexion of administration is undergoing a change with the tasks getting more and more specialised in recent times. The discharge of functions by the administration in present t!mes needs more professionalisation. While in the USA, the public service places emphasis on some specialist inputs, Indian system modelled on the W s h pattern gave importance to generalism. But now the gap between the generalists and specialists is getting reduced through suitable measures. Now ge~ierally a freshly appointkd officer of IAS shall gain experience in the field as well as in regulatory and welfare departments in the initial 11 to 12 years. In the next few years opportunities are being made available to specialise in their areas of preference. Policy formulation, and implementation are the key components of administration. The contribution of generalists and specialists in this process cannot be assessed in rigid watertight compartments. The present times call for a blend of detailed knowledge of administrative activity as well as specialised knowledge along with proficiency in skills of organisation and policy making.

Generalists and Specialists

Check Your Progress 3 Note:

i) Use the space given h l e w for your answers. ii) Check your answers with those given at the end of the Unit. 1) What are the recommendations of the ARC regarding specialist services?

2)

How far have the recommendations of the ARC on staffing been implemented?

29.6 LET US SUM UP

Thus, we can say that the problem of smoothening the relationship between generalists and specialist is not an easy task. More efforts have been made to
imnlement them nrnnerlv Manv dennrtments have tried tn give a Int n f incentives

Emerging Issues

to the specialists like appointing them as secretaries ex-officio or in own right in the central secretariat and state secretariats. More developments towards this direction are underway. What has to be realised is that generalists and specialists both have very important roles to play in administration and their contributions ought to be recognised.

29.7 KEY WORDS

Horizontal Division
:

Horizontal divisions in administration are made according to the territorial levels at which personnel are located. The theory which holds the view that person who is not a specialist has a broader view of administrative activities. One uses this word when one wants to emphasise that something is the best possible example of a particular thing. It is a formal expression which is used to say that one is considering a particular subject only from a general or thecretical point of view rather than taking into account the practical aspects, or one's own experiences. Vertical divisions in administration are made according to the functions or tasks performed by the employees.

Intelligent Amateur

Par Excellence

Per se

Vertical Division

29.8 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READINGS

Chanda, Asok, 1968, Indian Adn~inistration, G. Allen and Unwin, London Jain, R.B. 1976, Contemporary Issues in Public Administration, Vishal Publications, New Delhi
Report of the Fulton Committee on the Civil Service, Volume I, 1968, HMSO, London Report of the Administrative Reforms Commission on Personnel Administration, 1959, Government oflndia; Manager of Publications, Delhi
'

Personnel Administration: Implementing the Reforms, Indian Institute of Public Administration, 1970, New Delhi

Sharma, M.P. and B.L. Sadana, Public Administration in Theory and Practice, Kitab Mahal, Allahabad, 1998

29.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1

1) Your answer must include the following points:

L

'2-nciaiict

ic

m n r c n n 11rhn

haa a n n c ; o l L n n x x r l a A n s = in cnma c n n r i G r Gold

To take care of the diverse runctions in a welfare state specialists are appointed in administration.
r r

Generalists and Specialists

They are recruited in cadres, i.e., groups of public services. Their number has increased substantially over the period of time.

2) Your answer must include the.following points:

r r r r

PlanniEg and organising. Supervision and control. Direction. Staffing and coordinating.

3) Your answer must include the following points:

r r r

They look to each other with envy and suspicion. Salary differences in favour of the generalists. Posts of secretaries to government departments and even heads of most executive departments are reserved for the generalists.

Check Your Progress 2

1) Your answer must include the following points:

r

Generalists have a broad outlook and flexibility of approach Generalists are more experienced Generalist acts as a mediator between the expert, i.e., the specialist and the politician, the people and the government, the pressure groups and the public interests.

2) Your answer must include the following points: Specialists have developed the essential professionalism and adequate know ledge. Generalists are away from perception regarding the extent of the effective execution of the policies.
0

Generalists do not have necessary knowledge to take up policy-making.

Check Your Progress 3

1) Your answer must include the following points: ARC recommended that all posts requiring close and intimate familiarity with a subject matter should form a functional service. The movement of persons at various levels in the functional service is not to be automatic but through a careful selection at each level. For policy level posts, no single functional service is uniquely qualified. These should be manned by officers of higher services with 8-12 years of experience in government through an examination. The selected officers should be allotted one of the eight specialists mentioned by the commission. 2) Your answer must include the following points:
.

The ARC'S recommendation regarding the eight-fold professionalisation for selection to the higher policy level posts has not been implemented in India.

Emerging Issues

An independent personnel and administrative reforms department has been constituted at the centre in accordance with the recommendations of the ARC The training in managerial techniques in administration as suggested by the Commission is under way.