К вопросу о вреде избыточного документооборота

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of redundant paperwork and unnecessary reporting which have overwhelmed state-funded organisations of modern Russia and lead to huge time and effort loss of public sector employees. The purpose of the research is to analyse the causes and results of redundant paperwork using mathematical modelling and to consider the possibilities for its regulation. The model is based on the following assumptions. An agent (employee of a state-run organisation) cannot evade performing a task issued by an official, which provides for drawing up a certain document in the form of a report, plan or programme. An official (a representative of a superior organisation or state governance body) has an uncontrolled possibility to demand the subordinate organisation’s performing the entrusted task within the appointed period. The paper shows that if an official uses such documents for personal purposes he/she is interested in unlimitedly increasing the labour intensity of the reporting burden imposed on the agent. Under the paperwork pressure, the agent has to reduce his/her efforts to comply with the officially prescribed paid duties up to minimising them to a level which completely excludes any activity and initiatives. The obtained results show that there is no reason, nevertheless, to accuse an official seeking to maximise his/her utility function of any hostile intentions. The article discusses four practical measures to limit and regulate the official’s paperwork activity: 1) compensation of efforts of the controlled organisation employees to draft the required documents; 2) imposing an adjustment tax upon the controlling organisation on the use of the controlled organisation’s labour resources; 3) the controlling organisation’s staff reduction with the preservation of all functions and the wage fund; 4) introduction of legislative restrictions on the number, types and volume of documents the controlling organisation has the right to demand from the controlled organisation.