Mr. Arpit Arora will present his APS as per the detail below:

Date: September 26, 2022

Time: 1400 - 1530 hrs. 

Venue: CTARA Conference Room No.2, S-17

Topic: Understanding the Performance of Frontline Workers Using Street Level Bureaucracy Theory

Guide: Prof. Subodh Wagle

RPC Members: Prof. N.C. Narayanan, Prof. Pankaj Sekhsaria

Abstract: 

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected people across the globe, paralyzing different spheres of their daily lives. 'Frontline Healthcare Workers' —i.e., people dealing with the pandemic at the frontlines— played a critical role in containing the spread of the disease and treating the patients. These frontline workers are, in fact, the country's last but critical links to the bureaucracy or the public delivery system.

In his theory called the Street Level Bureaucracy Theory, the political scientist Micheal Lipsky termed frontline workers—such as doctors, nurses, school teachers, and others—as "street- level bureaucrats" (SLBs). Described as "public service workers who interact directly with citizens in the course of their jobs, and who have substantial discretion in the execution of their work" (Lipsky, 2010), these bureaucrats (SLBs) liaise between policymakers and clients to implement policy objectives. The defining features of their (SLBs') jobs include making judgments, drawing conclusions, and making on-the-spot choices. While analysing the situation and making such on-spot decisions, these "street-level bureaucrats" encounter multiple challenges from (a) the work environment, (b) power relationships with their peers, superiors, clients, and the administration of their organization, and (c) their attitude towards work, organization, client and supervisors. The SLBs, while implementing the policy-related tasks delegated to them, devise 'coping strategies' for dealing with such problems. These 'coping strategies' impact the performance of delegated tasks and, thus, shape policy outcomes realized from the performance of tasks.

As the pandemic surged, the situation on the frontline evolved on a real-time basis, and often SLBs had no time to think before taking decisions and actions. The importance of these "street- level bureaucrats" increased significantly due to the unavailability of ready-made and well- tested protocols or scripts for actual actions on the ground or of the processes to be adopted while performing tasks.

The research seeks to understand how the performance of SLB-frontline workers dealing with the pandemic is shaped and determined. Using Street-Level Bureaucracy Theory as its theoretical lens, the research aims to grasp various barriers and difficulties faced by these SLB- frontline workers and the strategies devised for coping with them. The fieldwork for the research was carried out in the COVID-19 Control Room established by the district administration of the then hotspot city of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, from May 2020 to September 2020 and January 2021 to February 2021.

This year's APS discusses the research paradigm adopted by the author and revisits the research design (with new additions) for the study. The report introduces the second activity (Contact Tracing) and various SLBs involved in the activity. It also highlights the impact of 'Resource Constraints' as one of the barriers on the SLBs and how they cope with the stresses associated with it.

Event Date: 
Monday, September 26, 2022 - 14:00 to 15:30