This article thoroughly explains the concept of "lying flat cadres"!, Discipline Inspection Commissions in Multiple Regions Take Action to Rectify Party Members and Cadres | Cadres | Discipline Inspection Commissions

On the stage of the 2023 Spring Festival Gala, the sketch "Pit" sarcastically satirized a "lying flat cadre" who was "irresponsible, unwilling to do anything, and also dared not do it, rolling up his sleeves while watching", causing a strong response.

Since the beginning of this year, multiple disciplinary commissions have taken action and publicly announced the punishment of a group of "lying flat cadres".

Today, Decision Magazine shared a research report by the Director of the Public Management Teaching and Research Department of the Jiaozuo Municipal Party School in Henan Province, which deeply analyzed the "lying flat style cadres". Let's take a look together.

Typical manifestations, causes, and governance strategies of "lying flat cadres"

Chen Changsheng

01

The manifestation of "lying flat cadres"

"Lying flat" was originally an online term, but now it is used to indicate that some people are indifferent to competition and actively pursue a low desire life. This negative attitude may seem like enjoying a stress free ideal life, but in reality, it is irresponsible, inactive, lacking the courage and motivation to work hard and start a business. In summary, "lying flat" cadres mainly have the following manifestations.

1. A "lying flat cadre" who lives aimlessly. These types of people are mostly department deputies or senior colleagues, who are getting older and approaching retirement. They rely on their past status, qualifications, and relationships, living a mediocre life with a mentality of not striving for progress, not striving for self-improvement, and being passive in their work. They enter a state of early retirement, where they can handle their work as soon as possible, and have a low regard for personal achievements, honors, etc. They do not lose their jobs, and their salary is their bottom line. Compared with other age groups, party members and cadres aged 50-59 are the most likely to experience the phenomenon of "lying flat" in their daily lives.

2. A lying down cadre who takes advantage of opportunism and cheats. This type of person is picky and picky in their work, afraid of the heavy. Those who have advantages rush to do it, while those who have disadvantages walk around. They are not proactive in their work and do not let go of their achievements. As a township cadre once said, these people are not focused on their work and are subjectively unwilling to do things. They rely on "performance" to serve the people, "only shouting slogans without pulling fibers, rolling up their sleeves while watching." When implementing their work, they use empty words as their head and empty words as their leader, treating what they say and what they do as their own. They only seek to live up to it and not strive for excellence.

3. A "lying flat cadre" with connections and backgrounds. This type of person is a small number of "background" related households in the unit or department, who rely on having "people" behind them, are confident and fearless, unwilling to do things, do not want to do work, and the unit or department leaders dare not assign them work. This type of person doesn't need to do much, but promotion and promotion are not affected, and their salary and benefits are not much, "lying flat can still win"!

4. A lying down cadre who doesn't know how to do things. This type of person has low efficiency in handling tasks, is unable to do things when faced with problems, and cannot solve them. They are also willing to do things subjectively, but their work ability is relatively insufficient. Most of these people are older and have a lower level of education. They are not easily receptive to new things and are unwilling to learn new knowledge and skills. Therefore, their understanding of policies is poor, their execution ability is weak, and their work efficiency is low. They seek approval and report on all major and minor matters, but they are always unable to grasp the essentials of their work and are unable to effectively perform their duties. When dealing with such people, unit or department leaders dare not and are unwilling to assign important tasks, gradually turning them into "lying flat" people.

5. A "lying flat cadre" who is afraid to do things and unwilling to do them. These types of people were originally motivated, willing to do things, and able to do things, but some made serious mistakes or mistakes in a certain job and received disciplinary action. Some encountered failures, setbacks, and setbacks during promotion, which seriously dampened their enthusiasm and initiative to work and start a business. After experiencing setbacks or setbacks, these people either feel anxious and fearful at work, or feel discouraged and discouraged. Their enthusiasm is dampened, and they feel that "it's hard to find flaws when not doing anything, and they don't take risks when not doing something." They gradually become "lying flat" people who are afraid to do something and unwilling to do it.

6. Selective "lying flat cadres" who take leadership attitude as the "wind vane" in everything. This type of person is not without ability, but their style is procrastinating, not emphasizing time efficiency, ignoring the demands of the masses, and taking the leadership attitude as the "wind vane" in everything, adhering to the rules and regulations. Accelerate the implementation of work that leaders value; Selective neglect of work that leaders do not attach much importance to; If there are no requirements for leaders and no detailed implementation methods, they will not do it; Pushing and unloading work within the scope of responsibilities can be delayed for a while, ignoring the demands of the masses and selectively "lying flat", resulting in some conflicts and problems that could have been resolved for a long time not being resolved, causing the masses to complain incessantly.

02

The reasons for the formation of "lying flat cadres"

The formation of "lying flat cadres" is due to both subjective and objective factors. Subjectively, it is due to the lack of firm ideals and beliefs among individual party members and cadres, as well as weak political determination. Objectively, it is related to the inadequate division of institutional responsibilities, assessment, evaluation, and incentive systems.

1. Individual party members and cadres lack firm ideals and beliefs, and the concept of "putting the people first" is weakened

Individual party members and cadres lack firm ideals and beliefs, fail to recognize the noble significance of their work, weaken the concept of "people first", view work as a personal matter rather than a matter for the people, always consider personal gains and losses first when facing work, and feel uncomfortable when doing things. Some cadres have serious feudal thoughts and have a biased understanding of their identity, mistakenly thinking that being a cadre is like being an official. They can travel mountains and rivers all day, eat delicious food and drink spicy food. When they encounter difficulties in their work and are unable to solve them, they have a mentality of avoidance, forgetting their ideals and beliefs and the purpose of serving the people. They actively choose to "lie flat", be content with the status quo, live a mediocre life, and do not want to make progress. They deal with everything with a "lying flat" mentality.

2. Individual grassroots organizations have unclear boundaries of responsibilities and unclear job responsibilities

Currently, some grassroots institutions have unclear rights and responsibilities, and the problems of functional overstepping and vacancy still exist; Individual job responsibilities are not clearly defined, and there are situations where one person has multiple positions and one position has multiple responsibilities, which can easily lead to unequal busy schedules.

During the survey, it was found that some grassroots cadres were not strictly divided according to their positions and responsibilities. Instead, they followed the crowd and faced urgent and important tasks, such as epidemic prevention and control, and straw burning bans. A large number of grassroots personnel were transferred from their existing positions to fill the gaps. This means that a considerable number of grassroots cadres are not only fully engaged in their own positions, but also undertake a considerable number of special or temporary tasks outside of their positions. This situation is common in grassroots townships. Unclear job responsibilities and tasks can sometimes lead to uneven distribution of work and leisure, with some being busy and others being idle. Moreover, there are often situations where busy people become busier, idle people become more idle, and fast oxen are whipped. As a township cadre once said, "The more you do, the more tasks you are assigned, and there is always something that cannot be completed when you are busy." People who do not do anything become less and less diligent, gradually becoming "lying flat people.".

3. The imprecise and imperfect assessment and evaluation system affects the initiative and enthusiasm of party members and cadres

For a long time, assessment and evaluation have been regarded as the "baton" of work. The current cadre assessment and evaluation system still has certain shortcomings, which affect the initiative and enthusiasm of party members and cadres.

One reason is that some regions and departments lack effective use of the assessment results. Except for a few outstanding cadres selected according to the prescribed proportion, most of the other cadres are qualified, and there are hardly any unqualified cadres. The assessment content only stays on paper and has not been implemented in specific management work, making it difficult to generate practical and effective performance pressure on the assessment objects.

The second issue is that some regions and departments do not pay attention to performance orientation in their assessments, doing more and doing less, doing good and doing bad, and even have the strange phenomenon of "lying flat and still winning", which seriously affects the enthusiasm and initiative of party members and cadres to work and start businesses.

4. The incentive measures are relatively single and cannot provide effective institutional incentives

For a long time, grassroots cadres have mainly relied on promotion incentives and salary incentives, supplemented by honorary rewards. However, they still face the problem of a single incentive method and insufficient effective incentives.

On the one hand, the "ceiling effect" of promoting grassroots cadres is obvious, which is more prominent at the grassroots level in counties and districts, and some scholars refer to it as the "departmental ceiling" phenomenon. Although the parallel reform of job and rank levels has been carried out, expanding the career development space of grassroots cadres and increasing promotion routes, the problem of insufficient promotion incentives still exists. According to existing regulations, the number of job positions and positions is determined by the level of the unit and the number of personnel. The further down to the grassroots level, the fewer positions there are. In addition, job positions or positions held by leading personnel are also used to solve the treatment of existing grassroots personnel, but the actual number of positions left for ordinary cadres is limited, making it difficult for grassroots cadres to break through the "ceiling effect" in promotion.

On the other hand, according to the current salary and welfare policies, the salaries of grassroots cadres are fixed and cannot be arbitrarily increased or decreased, which cannot reflect the size of the workload. Therefore, for grassroots cadres, doing more does not necessarily mean getting more, and doing more does not necessarily mean doing more. This makes it difficult to mobilize the enthusiasm of grassroots cadres to work and start businesses.

5. The accountability system is not sound, and the exit mechanism for public officials is not smooth

At present, the punishment and accountability system is not yet sound and perfect, and there is a lack of mechanism for eliminating cadres, resulting in poor channels for public officials to exit.

On the one hand, the current disciplinary accountability system is not yet sound and perfect, and there is a phenomenon of generalization and simplification in accountability. The accountability issues are mostly safety production accidents and ecological environment events that cause significant social impact, with less accountability for errors in other fields, and even less accountability for inaction such as "lying flat".

On the other hand, there is a lack of a mechanism for eliminating cadres, and the exit channels for public officials are not smooth. Personnel can go up and down, and it is even more difficult to enter and leave. As long as there are no illegal crimes or major mistakes, it is difficult to lose jobs and there is basically no risk of unemployment. Therefore, the current "iron rice bowl" ideology is still deeply rooted, and some people believe that even if they don't do something, they won't lose their job. The "iron rice bowl" lacking an elimination mechanism is equivalent to a "reassuring pill", becoming a breeding ground for the "lying flat" ideology, causing some party members and cadres to settle for the status quo and willingly become "lying flat cadres".

6. The fault-tolerant and error correction system is not sound, and the space for trial and error tolerance is relatively small

The fault-tolerant and error correction system, as an institutional arrangement to stimulate reform and innovation among cadres, together with the accountability system, constitutes a interconnected and mutually influential institutional chain. However, at present, our fault-tolerant and error correction system is not yet sound, and the space for trial and error tolerance is relatively small. This leads to some party members and cadres seeking benefits and avoiding harm, choosing to do less or even not to do anything to reduce mistakes. The limited fault tolerance space has generated negative incentives for party members and cadres, so some party members and cadres adhere to the principle of "less is better than more", resulting in a bad style of not daring to do or unwilling to do things, becoming "lying flat cadres".

03

Governance strategies and suggestions for "lying flat cadres"

Cadres prioritize work and take the lead in carrying out tasks, which is a fine tradition of our party. At present, the "Ability and Style Construction Year" activity in Henan Province is being deeply promoted. We should take this as an opportunity to help party members and cadres forge their work style, enhance their abilities, actively take action, work hard and start businesses, and refuse to be "lying flat cadres" through various means.

1. Efforts should be made to strengthen the education of ideals and beliefs among party members and cadres, and to supplement the spiritual calcium

The existence of "lying flat cadres" is mainly due to the lack of ideal beliefs, weakened public servant consciousness, and insufficient adherence to professional ethics among some people. This is a subjective reason for the formation of "lying flat cadres". Only by firmly adhering to their ideals and beliefs, and supplementing the calcium of their spirit, can party members and cadres rise from lying flat.

One is to effectively strengthen the education of ideal beliefs among party members and cadres. We should regularly organize party members and cadres to carry out theoretical learning, mainly by strengthening the learning and education of the basic principles of Marxism and the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, so that the majority of party members and cadres can understand where they come from, where they are rooted, and where they want to go, strengthen their ideals and beliefs, and supplement the spiritual calcium.

Secondly, we must educate party members and cadres to adhere to the concept of putting the people first and strengthen their awareness of public servants. To firmly establish the belief of serving the people in the minds of party members and cadres, always remember the purpose of serving the people, uphold the original aspiration and shoulder the mission, and continue to shine and shine.

We must educate party members and cadres to abide by professional ethics and adhere to their job responsibilities. Every profession has a certain level of professional ethics, and in their position, seeking their own policies is the most basic principle. As public officials, we must abide by professional ethics, adhere to our job responsibilities, maintain a high degree of action consciousness, and fully implement all central decisions and deployments.

2. To continuously enhance the abilities of party members and cadres, and improve their ability to work and start businesses

The relatively low quality of one's own abilities is also a subjective reason for the existence of "lying flat cadres". To forge iron, one also needs to be hard on their own. Party members and cadres can only be competent in important work positions and shoulder various urgent, difficult, and dangerous tasks with sufficient abilities and skills.

At present, party members and cadres should effectively improve their abilities in investigation and research, scientific decision-making, reform and tackling difficulties, emergency response, mass work, and effective implementation, and continuously enhance their abilities and abilities in carrying out work and entrepreneurship. For this purpose, firstly, we should urge and encourage party members and cadres to learn more from books, be good at learning new knowledge and skills, adapt to changes in the times, improve work methods, and enhance their service capabilities and levels; Secondly, regular education and training should be carried out. We should provide regular, diversified, and systematic training to address the knowledge blind spots, ability gaps, and experience blind spots of party members and cadres, so that they are willing, capable, and skilled in contributing; Thirdly, Party members and cadres should strengthen their learning, reflect more, and summarize more in their work practice, continuously improving their ability to solve problems and their ability to work and start businesses.

3. To optimize the allocation of responsibilities in grassroots institutions and scientifically delineate the boundaries of departmental and personnel job responsibilities

The contradiction of uneven work and leisure among grassroots cadres is rooted in the unclear responsibilities and boundaries of some grassroots departments and positions. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the allocation of responsibilities for grassroots positions, scientifically divide the boundaries of departmental and personnel job responsibilities, ensure that each institution and position has clear responsibilities, full workload, and unified responsibilities and rights, so that grassroots cadres cannot "lie flat".

We need to establish and improve the system for setting up grassroots institutions and managing positions, strengthen the management of the functions and positions of grassroots institutions, and adjust the list of rights and responsibilities of grassroots institutions in a timely manner.

Secondly, we need to promote the standardization and clarification of departmental responsibilities. In the form of a list of responsibilities, sort out the responsibilities and authorities of departments, list and refine legal responsibilities, clarify the boundaries of responsibilities, clarify what matters each department handles and what responsibilities it undertakes, and avoid the phenomenon of uneven departmental busyness and overcrowding. When it comes to matters involving cross departmental responsibilities, it is necessary to clarify the leading and cooperating departments, distinguish the main and secondary responsibilities of work tasks, and reduce buck passing and buck passing.

Three, it is necessary to clarify the job responsibilities of personnel, and provide detailed information such as job names, responsibilities and authorities, job content, work items, job qualifications, and job positions to ensure that grassroots personnel are in their respective positions and perform their duties. By clarifying the boundaries of responsibilities, ensuring the order of grassroots work, and ensuring that everyone has something to do and someone does everything, we can fundamentally reduce the phenomenon of idle people at the grassroots level and eliminate the phenomenon of cadres lying flat.

4. To establish and improve a fault-tolerant and error correction system, so that party members and cadres can dare to take on responsibilities, work, and start businesses

We need to establish a sound system for fault tolerance and correction, increase the space for trial and error tolerance, and let the "reassuring pill" of trial and error provide support and encouragement for party members and cadres, so that they dare to take on responsibilities and work hard and start businesses.

Firstly, it is necessary to clarify the policy boundaries, exemption lists, implementation rules, and error correction processes for party members and cadres to improve the operability of the error tolerance and correction mechanism.

Secondly, it is necessary to distinguish errors from facts, clarify which errors can and cannot be tolerated, and combine motivation, attitude, objective conditions, procedural methods, nature, degree, and consequences to rationally distinguish the nature and details of errors that occur in the work of party members and cadres.

Thirdly, for errors that occur due to lack of experience and prior experimentation, a certain margin of trial and error tolerance should be established to tolerate their mistakes; Accurate accountability should be implemented for intentional and subjective errors; Serious accountability shall be held for intentional violations of laws and regulations, and corresponding responsibilities shall be pursued in accordance with the law and discipline.

Fourth, establish a correction mechanism. Early intervention and necessary remedial measures should be taken to help party members and cadres learn from their mistakes and improve themselves.

5. To improve and perfect the cadre assessment and evaluation system and incentive mechanism, so that party members and cadres are unwilling to "lie flat"

We need to improve the cadre assessment and evaluation system, establish a sound cadre incentive mechanism, and ensure that the evaluation results are accurate, scientific, and effectively applied. We should make good use of the "baton" of assessment and evaluation to make party members and cadres unwilling to "lie flat".

We must improve and perfect the cadre assessment system. We need to refine the evaluation index system, strictly regulate the evaluation procedures, establish a normalized evaluation mechanism, and enhance the pertinence and operability of the evaluation indicators and evaluation system.

Secondly, we must ensure that the evaluation results are accurate and scientific. Annual and regular assessments should highlight performance orientation, adhere to the principle of heroes based on actual performance, and regard work performance as an important indicator for cadre assessment and evaluation.

Thirdly, the assessment results should be fully applied throughout the entire process of cadre personnel management. We should pay attention to the application of assessment results, link them with rewards and punishments, and use positive incentives to break the vicious cycle of doing more and doing less, doing well and doing bad. Promptly reward party members and cadres with outstanding performance and high assessment and evaluation; Necessary reminders or punishments should be given to party members and cadres with poor performance.

Four, design diversified incentive methods to achieve effective incentives. We must effectively implement the system of parallel promotion of positions and ranks, break down barriers to the promotion of grassroots cadres, facilitate promotion channels, and give grassroots cadres a bright future. We must strictly control the number and proportion of "double occupation" and moderately expand the number of job positions for grassroots personnel.

6. We need to establish a sound accountability mechanism and a system for dismissing public officials, so that party members and cadres dare not lie flat

For a long time, the phenomenon of "being able to enter but not leave" and "being able to rise but not fall" has provided some negative incentive for individual cadres to "lie flat", promoting the phenomenon of "lying flat". Although the laws and regulations regarding the normal exit of public officials are clear, and there are laws to follow for resignation, dismissal, and dismissal, some units and departments often turn a blind eye to certain disciplinary violations committed by public officials in their management and choose a moderate approach to handle them.

Therefore, it is necessary to establish a sound accountability mechanism and a system for dismissing public officials, and resolutely break the phenomenon of cadres being able to enter but not leave and being able to rise but not fall. For those "lying flat cadres" who do not cherish their positions, engage in long-term inaction, act recklessly, and are unable to perform their duties, they must not be left unattended. We must resolutely pull down our face, take action seriously, and hit the "board" on specific individuals. The adjustments that need to be adjusted, the accountability that needs to be held accountable, and the punishment that needs to be taken; For those who have repeatedly violated discipline, dereliction of duty, and dereliction of duty and caused adverse effects, it is necessary to strictly follow the relevant system regulations, dismiss them in a timely manner, truly achieve a situation where cadres can enter and exit, and can rise and fall, thereby making them have a sense of crisis, forcing party members and cadres to actively take on responsibilities and not dare to "lie flat".