RTI. The customer is always right.

I am a strong proponent of the theory that the customer does not always know what he or she wants. Look around you. Did you think you needed ipods before Apple made them? How about Google search? Innovation does not come from user groups or customers telling what they want. They don't know what they want. Even if they know, they can't communicate it. Its not their job to innovate. Its R&D's responsibility. Another post on that later.

Coming back to the topic, what prompted me on this post was an interesting article where the author talks about how assuming the customer is always right results in bad employee morale. Bad employees lead to bad customer service and lose of business. Instead, if the employee is treated well, happy customers will be a natural fallout and what can be better for the business than happy employees and happy customers.

What does this got to do with RTI (The Right to Information Act)? A lot I think. The RTI is aimed at empowering people so that the government employees perform their duties. I want to take a step back and ask why do we need to have access to the documents? Why as citizens would we want to take the trouble of chasing down the relevant documents, read them and follow up with the authorities, go to the court, fight for justice when all we care about is getting things done? Is it because the authorities don't do what they were supposed to do? Then why aren’t they doing what they are supposed to do? May be bad leadership. Bad compensation. No motivation to do the right thing. Their leaders who seem to be indifferent to their actions and inactions.

So, instead of addressing those issues, why is the government instead trying to put the onus on the citizens to enforce what the system should be doing? And more importantly, why we as citizens want to take upon our self the responsibilities of ensuring the government officials perform their duties.

Saying anyone can come and look at the document is like the leaders saying to the government official, see I don’t trust you. The system is broken as well. The leaders don't have the time or inclination to fix any of it. So, as a fix, the general public, who are the customers, are required to directly fiddle with the officials. They can ask anything and you got to answer them. Its going to make the government employees all the more grumpy and not want to do anything.

My comparison to this a company letting its customers to talk to any of its employees, saying that’s the only way we can ensure good service to the customer. That’s total crap. Nothing can be worse to the employee moral than that. And disgruntled employees lead to bad customer service. How in the hell is this supposed to help us get things done when we are not required to be bothered with where the document is when, who should have done what and why and other intricate details of the process? As a customer, I expect those details to be hidden from me. I don't want to know. I just want things done. If things aren’t getting done, fix the system. Don't put more burden on the customer and ask him to go after the documents, the process. Do we have the infrastructure to implement this? Is there anyway I can access the documents without going through the officials who are the very reason things are not getting done and hence I am looking for the relevant documents? Plus, would that not slow done the system further because of the additional processes? Well that would depend on the volume on enquires. If it is high, it would be a burden. If it is'nt high, it would be close to status quo and hence practically ineefective. As if the government system is not already overburdened already and filled with laws left unenforced.

I know a lot of people feel very passionately about the RTI act. I could be a big thing in the sense it could be the thing that fixes a lot of the corruption. May be this is a far more practical way to go and a good first step than the mumbo jumbo idealistic fix the system talk. Lets see.