Fundamentals of Public Administration MPA - 406

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Fundamentals of Public Administration

MPA - 406

FACILITATORProf. Dr. Mohammad Majid Mahmood

Reflections

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Max Weber (1864-1920)• Max Weber gave following main characteristics of the Bureaucracy.

• General Characteristics of Bureaucracy:

• Hierarchy of authority

• Impersonality

• Written rules and documents

• Promotion based on achievement

• Specialized division of labor

• Efficiency

In Classical School, we discussed in our previous lecture about major contributors namely:

Henri Fayol gave following 14 General Principles of Management:

1. Division of work

2. Authority & Responsibility

3. Discipline: respect for agreement

4. Unity of command: receive order from one superior only.

5. Unity of direction: each group of activities with same objectives must have one head and one plan.

6. Subordination of individual interests to the general interest:

7. Remuneration:

8. Centralization:

9. Scalar chain (line of authority) or chain of command

10. Order:

11. Equity: justice and fairness on the part of managers

12. Stability of tenure of personnel

13. Initiative:

14. Esprit de corps: (teamwork)

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Reflections

Contributors of Human Relations School:• The main contributors to human relation schools were Elton Mayo, Chester I. Barnard and

Herbert Simon.

Hawthorne Studies:

• Elton Mayo, and others undertook the famous experiment at Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company at Cicero, Illinois, USA, between1927–1932.

• Hawthorne studies emphasized that organizations are not just machines & tools but are also social systems.

Chester I. Barnard:

• Chester I Bernard wrote the most influential book entitled “The Function of the Executive”.

• His analysis of the manager was that the manager has to understand the behavior of people in organization and maintain a system of cooperative effort in formal organizations.

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Reflections

Human Relations SchoolHerbert Simon (1916 – 2001):

• According to him group behavior requires not only the adoption of correct decisions, but also the adoption by all members of the group of the same decisions.

Behavioral School: • The Human Relation School and Behavioral School have many things in common.

These are:

1. Both focus on motivation of people

2. Both emphasize on clarity of communication

3. They emphasize interpersonal relationship

4. Both look at individual and group behavior

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Reflections

Main Contributors of Behavioral School1. Douglas McGregor – Theory X, Theory Y

2. Abraham Maslow – needs hierarchy

Traditional Functions of Government:

1. Maintain law and order

2. Tax collection

3. Defence

4. Printing of notes & coins

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Reflections

Evolution of Public Administration

Continuing our discussions on Evolution of Public Administration, today we will talk about Power and Politics School.

The main contributors of Power & Politics School are:-

1) Harold Laswell

2) Robert Dhal

3) Antony Jay (reintroduced Machiavelli’s concept of power)

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Power & Politics School• This school attempts to understand the concept of power in organization.

• It defines power as personal characteristics by which one person can influence or dominate another person.

• In organizations, power is the ability of one person or department, to influence other people or departments, in order to bring about the desired results.

• Without power, organizations will not be able to achieve their goals, because managers exert influence to force people to do things that they want.

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Power & Politics School

• Another element in organization is politics.

• Politics is about controlling resources (human, financial, physical, & information).

• It is also about distribution of resources. Who gets what, how, when and where (Harold Laswell 1936).

• Politics is often understood as undesirable, because it is perceived as “maneuvering” and manipulation” by people

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• Power is synonymously defined with authority.

• Authority comes with the job that one is holding, and power and authority are perceived as one, although power subsumes authority.

• “Power and Politics School” views authority as only one of the available sources of organizational power.

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• It may be mentioned that power is aimed at in all directions in the organizations, i.e. the top managements power would be felt from top to bottom sideway as well.

• It can be understood as the presence of an individual being felt.

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There are various types of power that managers use in the organization.

These are:

1. Legitimate Power

2. Reward/Punish Power

3. Expert Power

4. Referent Power

We will discuss these types of powers one by one.

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Legitimate Power

It is the authority given by the organization to the formal management position a manager holds.

For example: Power of DCO, Nazim, and Policeperson.

These personnel have power because they hold certain position.

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Reward / Punish Power

The power which stems from the ability to bestow rewards which include benefits like food, allowance, overtime cash allowance and other fringe benefits.

Example: Adults can reward or punish children; managers give cash awards to their sub-ordinates for good performance.

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Expert Power

• It is the power possessed by an individual based on experience, or some skills and ability.

• Example: computer expert, specialist doctor

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Referent Power

• Organizations are always finding ways of using the effective and suitable way of utilizing the experience and knowledge of reputable managers as far as employee referrals are concerned

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Conflict: Natural phenomena

No working place on earth where there is no conflict.

Conflict is a natural outcome of the close interaction of people.

It is defined as difference and disagreement.

When there is disagreement and disagreement, people will have a view point and suggestion that is different.

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Power & Politics SchoolTherefore, individuals and groups will use power and political activity to handle their differences and manage conflict.

Conflict as Positive and Negative Conflict can have positive or negative affect on the organization. The positive affect is when manager agree to some new view points of

the disagreeing group/individual. Conflict can be a positive force because it challenges the status quo,

encourages new ideas and approaches, and leads to change. However, too much conflict can be harmful to any organization. Because

too much conflict can lead to dead lock and things may not move. Some degree of conflict always occurs in all human relationships.

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Reactions of Managers: Most managers have a negative view toward politics and believe that

politics will more often hurt than help an organization in achieving its goals.

Politics is also seen as a negative element. But some kind of politics is always there in organization and if that is understood managers can use it in a positive way.

Political behavior is common to practically all public or private organizations, and should be used positively by involving people in decision making.

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Reactions of Managers: Political behavior is common to people in organization, therefore,

it occurs at all levels, but it is more at the top level.

• Organizational decision-making and problem-solving, is also a political process.

• Organizational actors seek to satisfy not only organizational interests, but also their own wants and needs; driven by self-interest.

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Power & Politics SchoolThree Dimensional Typology

For the purposes of understanding organizational political behavior, Farrell and Peterson (1982) proposed a three-dimensional typology. The dimensions are:

1) Where the political activity takes place -- inside or outside the organization

2) The direction of the attempted influence -- vertically or laterally in the organization.

3) The legality of the political action The purpose of three dimensional typology is to identify if the political

activity is within the organization or outside and where is the influence of politics and are the actions legitimate.

This helps in controlling and managing political behavior in organization.

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History of Public Administration

Indus Valley Civilization In the sub-continent two civilizations of ancient time i.e.

Mohenjodaro and Harrapa were very developed cities between 3250- 2750 BC.

The ruins of these cities tell us that the rulers maintained a good sewerage and water supply system.

In city, bricks were used in the construction of houses.

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Gordon Childe writes: The remains of many well planned streets and municipal

system of drains, regularly cleaned, reflect the vigilance of some regular municipal government.

Granaries at Harrapa were constructed in planned and coordinated manner.

Grain was source of wealth and collected as taxes.”

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The Maurya Empire in early 4th century BC had government official who looked after agriculture improvement, measured land and inspected irrigation system.

During this period government employees were divided into three categories:

1. District Officials were responsible for irrigation, land measurement, hunting, agriculture, and roads.

2. Officials who dealt with military: Army was maintained to defend the borders and it was well looked after.

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3. Capital Management: There were 6 boards, each managing:

i) supervision of factories,

ii) care of foreigners,

iii) births & deaths,

iv) trade & commerce,

v) inspection of manufactured articles and

vi) collection of sales tax.

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REFLECTION

There are various types of power that managers use in the organization.

These are:

1. Legitimate Power

2. Reward/Punish Power

3. Expert Power

4. Referent Power

CONFLICTS

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Thank you for your kind attention!

Thank you for your kind attention!

FACILITATORProf. Dr. Mohammad Majid Mahmood

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Documents

Fundamentals of Public Administration MPA - 406