Soon after ascending the throne, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman introduced a new trend in the Kingdom. The massive Cabinet’s reshuffle and changes in the top official hierarchy were unprecedented in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, all power was vested in a minister or some top official and little authority was delegated to various departments. The minister used to be in-charge of everything and was the sole decision maker. In case of any problem, the minister used to react by firing some of his staff or transferring them from one post to another. However, today’s vision and approach are completely different: The minister — not his subordinates — is fully responsible for any failure of a project or task.
We have previously suggested that there are some ministries in the Saudi government, other than sovereign ministries, that shouldn’t in any way place all powers in the hands of the minister as a person, because this process is rigidly bureaucratic in nature, which is detrimental to public work and hinders growth.
What makes these ministries effective is to believe that the ministerial post is in fact an operational and executive function, and not merely a political representative assignment. From this perspective, most powers should be entrusted to committees chaired by the minister’s deputies or his assistants.
This process cannot be imposed formally on these ministries through decisions by the Council of Ministers, or by royal decrees, but it is rather a policy that every minister should follow. He should be aware of his ministry’s vision and mission and should prepare development and action plans accordingly.
Once we do away with the outdated management practices, we will move to a stage where the ministerial work becomes more professional and institutionalized. It does not harm a minister to claim that all decisions are not his, but are taken by various committees that are formed in accordance with well-established procedures.
King Salman’s vision requires that the ministers should do two important things: To move a step forward, achieve additional positive results and avoid lack of inertia and repetition. The message of the country’s leadership to the public servants and the citizens is crystal clear: Everybody must change for the best or leave.
