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From Forest Regulation to Participatory Facilitation: Forest Employee Perspectives on Organizational Change and Transformation in India

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  • Jagannadha Rao Matta
  • John Kerr
  • Kimberly Chung

Abstract

Despite the critical role of government agencies in decentralizing natural resource governance, little work to date has focused on the organizational aspects of the responsible government bureaucracies. Based on a qualitative investigation of the perspectives of Forest Department employees involved in India's Joint Forest Management (JFM) program, this paper aims to provide an understanding of these internal dynamics. Elaborating on why bureaucracies with a learning orientation are essential if participatory natural resource management is to succeed, the paper underlines the constraints to transforming forest agencies' hierarchical work cultures. Foresters describe JFM as a radical departure from traditional forest governance, but suggest that corresponding transformation within the Forest Department has not occurred. Foresters cite as reasons: (1) a target-based incentive system that leaves little room for establishing the relationships with local people needed for collaborative management; (2) rigid rules and regulations that prevent the flexibility needed for adaptive, site-specific problem-solving; (3) a hierarchical, top-down style of communication that prevents the upper administration from learning what is happening on the ground and stifles initiative by field staff; (4) the need for a committed leadership to reverse this hierarchical culture. They point to the few such team-oriented leaders as the key to transforming the Forest Department and enabling participatory forest management to succeed. The authors also recommend accompanying changes in training and reward systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Jagannadha Rao Matta & John Kerr & Kimberly Chung, 2005. "From Forest Regulation to Participatory Facilitation: Forest Employee Perspectives on Organizational Change and Transformation in India," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(4), pages 475-490.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:jenpmg:v:48:y:2005:i:4:p:475-490
    DOI: 10.1080/09640560500128335
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Sood, Kamal Kishor & Mitchell, C. Paul, 2009. "Role of foresters' perspectives in orienting agroforestry programmes," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 213-220, July.
    2. Stephen P. Gasteyer & Cameron (Khalfani) Herman, 2013. "Grassroots rural development: models of development, capacity and leadership," Chapters, in: Gary Paul Green (ed.), Handbook of Rural Development, chapter 4, pages i-ii, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Jagannadha Matta & John Kerr, 2007. "Barriers Beyond the Partners: Bureaucratic and Political Constraints to Implementing Joint Forest Management in Tamil Nadu, India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 465-479, November.
    4. Grabowski, Philip & Kerr, John & Donovan, Cynthia & Mouzinho, Bordalo, 2015. "A Prospective Analysis of Participatory Research on Conservation Agriculture in Mozambique," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 198703, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    5. Fleischman, Forrest D., 2014. "Why do Foresters Plant Trees? Testing Theories of Bureaucratic Decision-Making in Central India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 62-74.
    6. John Kerr & Grant Milne & Vasudha Chhotray & Pari Baumann & A.J. James, 2007. "Managing Watershed Externalities in India: Theory and Practice," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 263-281, August.

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