SECTION B
Essay
125 marks
There are better practices to 'best practices'.
WRITE IN
90 min
1,000–1,200 words
Reading the topic
The topic questions the culture of copying 'best practices': solutions that worked in one place are often transplanted without regard to context and fail. The examiner expects an essay arguing for context-specific, adaptive and locally owned solutions in governance, business and development.
ThesisPractices succeed because they fit their context, so the better practice is to learn the reasoning behind a success and adapt it locally, rather than copy its form.
Dimensions to cover
- 1Governance: schemes copied from one state to another often fail without matching administrative capacity and local politics
- 2Development: international prescriptions applied uniformly across countries have often ignored local institutions
- 3Urban planning: transport and housing models from other cities succeed or fail depending on road widths, density and demand
- 4Business: management fashions borrowed from another firm or country work only when the underlying culture is adapted
- 5Education: imported curricula and pedagogy need local language and context to work for children
- 6Innovation: 'best practice' suggests a finished answer, while continuous improvement treats every practice as provisional
Counter-view
- A counter is that best practices save time and avoid reinventing the wheel, and many have spread successfully. The essay should accept this but stress that successful diffusion happens only when practices are adapted to local conditions, which is the 'better practice'
Open and close
- Open: Open with two cities that built identical bus rapid transit corridors: one became a model studied by others, the other was dismantled within a decade amid traffic jams and public anger
- Close: Conclude that the best practice is a habit of learning, testing and adapting, not a template, and governance should reward that habit
Where marks usually go
- Rejecting all best practices as useless, which is extreme and ignores successful diffusion
- Writing a management essay with no reference to governance and public policy
- Listing schemes as best practices without examining why they did or did not travel
Examples that fit
- ThinkerMatt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock argue that developing states often copy the form of successful institutions without their function, and recommend problem-driven, iterative adaptation.Building State Capability, Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock (2017)
- ThinkerRichard Feynman described 'cargo cult science', imitating the outward form of research without its substance, a warning against copying without understanding.Cargo Cult Science, Richard Feynman, Caltech commencement address (1974)
- CaseDelhi's Bus Rapid Transit corridor was dismantled in 2016, while Ahmedabad's Janmarg BRTS continued to operate, showing that the same model fares differently in different contexts.Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd; Government of NCT of Delhi transport decisions (2016)
- CaseThe Aspirational Districts Programme, launched in 2018, ranks districts on their own progress over time instead of imposing a single template.NITI Aayog, Aspirational Districts Programme
- HistoryKerala's People's Plan Campaign of 1996 devolved planning to panchayats, letting local bodies design their own priorities rather than follow uniform schemes.Kerala State Planning Board; Local Democracy and Development, T.M. Thomas Isaac with Richard Franke