Organisations

Answer : The difference in the performance of public sector and private sector undertakings has a strong correlation with the salary and emoluments given to their employees. In the post reform era, this gap is nothing but widening.

The salary and emoluments to any employee refers to his pay in cash, dearness allowance, medical allowance, house rent allowance, share in profits or dividends and all other allowances. The salary and emoluments have become primary concern in post reform era as the salaries have risen considerably in last few years. The facilities, the physical work conditions, the opportunities to grow in career, the accommodation, the training and skill development opportunities are certain other things which have taken their due in calculation of salary and emoluments to an employee whether it is public or private undertaking.

The initial salary and emoluments act as primary attractions when a graduate comes out of university and stands on a cross roads i.e. whether to join public undertaking or private. When this fellow see the oceanic gulf between the salary and emoluments of two sectors, his natural choice becomes private sector undertakings.

Even after getting into service, the performance appraisal system in private sector is far more quick, effective and employee friendly in comparison with public sector. Here a performer gets good rewards instantly whereas in public sector the promotion occurs at a fixed time with hardly any difference taken between a good performer and a bad one. This creates a huge impact upon the performance of an employee. Thereby, impacts his motivation and ability to work.

In private sector, the increment can be a whopping hundred percent than last salary drawn while in public sector, it is only few hundred rupees. In fact, this greatly reduces the motivation level of employees in public sector which reflects in form of bad performance or organisation and heightened level of corruption.

There is also a difference in the physical working conditions in a public sector and the private sector. The government employees have to resort to excessive paper work with very less use of applications of Information and communication technology. Their chains, tables, register, files, record keeping have always been in a very bad shape. While on the other hand the physical working conditions of private sector employers are very attractive and charming. They get air-conditioned rooms to work in. There has been exemplary use of Information and communication technology in private sector forms. Apart from that, there have been chances of improvement, with easy approval of changes and improvements. Generally the public sector show very healthy and adaptable attitude towards the changes.

This difference in attitude of public and private sector keeps a huge gap between the ability and performance of employer of public and private sector. Moreover, it is said that the potential performers of public sector tend to develop this attitude because of their constant interactions with the same environment. Infact, it is also said that the bureaucracy is the last one to change.

Here, we can not blind ourselves towards the historical colonial impact that public sector carries with itself. There is also difference in the responsibility towards society. The change of weaker section’s position in society lies primarily with public/government sector only. The private sector moves ahead with the already influential class only.

But these views, reflect only one side of the coin, as the public sector has different orientation in socialist, mixed type of economy in all developing third word countries. The public sector bears more than one responsibilities e.g. the promotion of weaker section, which have been neglected since centuries. For this the provision of reservation is being given in the constitution and is widely in practice.

The public sector has to invest heavily in defence related organisations which are entrusted with the responsibility to preserve national integrity and security.

The public sector owns a responsibility in cases of disaster and calamity. The programmes for poverty alleviation and employment generation comes exclusively under the purview of public sector.

Apart from all these excuses, the entry into public sector requires a sense of service and determination towards public. Only people with high sense of duty, high moral values, intact integrity are expected to join the public sector. Moreover, the choice to enter or exit any service i.e. whether public or private sector is totally voluntary.

Further, the service conditions have improved considerably after the fifth commission for pay for public sector undertakings and are expected to improve more after the acceptance of recommendation for the sixth pay commission.

Answer : Public enterprise in India are organised into four major patterns with each having different degrees of autonomy and accountability. There is Departmental undertakings and Government companies which have more accountability and lesser autonomy whereas there is public corporation type where autonomy is more and the government does not interfere with their day-to-day administration.

The performance of public enterprises depends largely on autonomy and accountability both of which cannot go together. Autonomy means freedom of taking initiatives and decisions. It is essential for new innovations – where the public enterprises are seen on commercial lines and where they have to survive the cutthroat competition of market the autonomy is a must. If any enterprises is made accountable then it can not take big decisions on their own. The workers and officers of that enterprise are reluctant to import new innovative idea because of the fear of failure and because of the fear that they will be held accountable.

This goes on to show that in case of public enterprise, autonomy and accountability both cannot walk together. Today we can see that the public corporations, which have a higher degree of autonomy in matter of finance and personnel administration, are doing well whereas the departmental undertaking, which are subject to rigid, financial and other controls are not doing so well. The reason is that they do not have the flexibility and they are fully accountable to their respective departments. Examples of these are Doordarshan, All India Radio or postal and telegraph etc.

But there is other benefits of accountability. It reduces the misuse and losses. It can be used for social purposes which is of immense value in a country like India. In a democracy where the public exchequer’s money is put in the government companies and departmental undertaking, its imperative for the government to make them accountable to the political representatives chosen by citizens.

Autonomy and accountability they both although cannot walk together but they both are the best in their own spheres. There should be a healthy and harmonious blend of both depending on the situation.

Answer : Coordination means negatively, the removal of conflicts, working at cross-.purposes, and overlapping from administration. Positively, its aim is to secure co-operation and team work among the numerous employees engaged in the work of the organisation. Without coordination, no organization could have consistently moved towards its goal, for the activities of it’s different members would neutralize and cancel out one another.

According to Mooney, coordination is the first principle of organization and includes within itself all other principles, which are subordinate to it and through which it operates. Not only that, but coordination also expresses the sum total of the purposes of an organisation, i.e. of the internal purposes.

The need for coordination arises from the natural tendency of the members of any large group, when left to themselves, to drift away in different directions thus giving rise to conflicts.

From whatever cause the conflicts may arise, it is obvious that they must be removed if the organisation is to work properly. Co-ordination is a technique to remove them. According to some thinkers co-ordination is not so much a problem of organization as of management or command.

Coordination becomes difficult, for example, in a disintegrated organisation and is greatly facilitated in an integrated one.

Answer : Organizations arise for the attainment of some purpose or goal. The mechanistic approach views organization primarily as a formal design or plan, which can be drawn up by the experts according to certain well-understood principles, just as the plan of a building can be prepared in advance by the architect according to the principles of his science. Organization should enjoy a reasonably free access to all files and documents pertaining to the governmental operations, decisions and transparency in the functioning of government. Thus, it is antithetical to secrecy in public administration.

Investment in information and information system by different organization do not make sense because— (1) the administration are not accountable to people (2) It increases the gap between administration and people. (3) It does not facilitate better delivery of goods and services to people by civil servants. (4) It is not able to facilitate intelligent and constructive criticism of administration. (5) It does not increase people’s participation in administration. (6) It is not able to promote public interest by discouraging arbitrariness in administrative decision-making.

Thus, it is correct to say that, organization today seem to invest in information and information system, but their investment often do not seem to make sense.

Answer : Hierarchy was emphasized by all classical thinkers like Weken, Fayol, Gulick, Unwick, Mooney and Reiley as an important principle of administration. Fayol referred to it as the ‘Scalar chain’. Whie Mooney and Reiley called it the scalar process. Mooney stated that hierarchy is a universal phenomenon.

Literally, the term ‘hierarchy’ means the control of the higher over lower. In administrative phraseology, it means an organization structured in a pyramidical fashion with successive steps interlinked with each other from top to bottom.

In organizing the organization of any organizational unit, three principles are followed to organize functional units in a pyramidical term. They are:

1. Principle of ‘Through Proper Channel’, that is all commands and, communications should pass through a Proper Channel. No intermediate level can be skipped in transacting business.
2. Principle of ‘correspondence’, that is, authority and responsibility should be equal at all levels. It is believed that authority without responsibility is dangerous and responsibility without authority is meaningless.
3. Principle of ‘unity of command’, that is subordinate should received orders from one superior only.

The following diagram illustrates the principles of Hierarchy in Administration:

In above diagram, A is the head of the organization. The immediate subordinate of A is B and immediate subordinate of B is C. But C is also subordinate of A through B. This is true of all the other levels in the line that is D, E, F, and G. Hence order from top to bottom, that is, from A to B, B to C, and so on. Communications flow from bottom to top that is from G to F, F to E and so on. The same is true on the other side that is A to Q. The communication between G and Q takes place – through A, that is, it ascends to from G and descends from A to Q in a step by step manner. This is called communication through proper channel. The line of authority (the chain of command online of command) of the entire organization is represented in the above diagram.

Now, organizing units of organization an principle of Hierarchy facilitates following advantages:

1. It serves as an instrument of integration and coherence in the organization.
2. It acts as a channel of communication.
3. It enables to fix responsibility at each level.
4. It prevents congestion of work at top level.
5. It avoids short circuiting by ensuring short adherence to procedure.
6. It facilitates delegation of authority.
7. It promotes disciplines and order in the organization.

Now, taking in consideration benefits derived from principles of Hierarchy, all organization, whether in Private or Public administration, they all give weightage to hierarchy as a technique to organize their respective organizational units.

Taking advantages related to hierarchy does not means that it does suffer from any limitations. Following are limitation of Hierarchy.

1. It causes in ordinate delay in the disposal of work due to red tapism.
2. It discourages the initiative and drive of the lower level personnel resulting in indecisiveness and inefficiency.
3. It brings too much rigidity in administration.
4. It makes the organized tall (over extended). Consequently, the personnel at the top dose touch with personnel at lower levels.

Answer : The government activities may be organized in accordance with some well-known principles or bases depending on the nature of activities. The organization may be of different types, such as department, corporations, companies, boards, commissions, etc. Where the intention is that an organization which has to perform discretionary functions should be independent of ministerial control and it is organized as a commission in such a way that the executive has no control over day-to-day functioning of the organization. In such cases the Members are appointed for fixed terms and can be removed from office only after following a set of procedure. These commissions are very popular in the USA for economic regulations. Example of such commission in India is the UPSC. The members assist in the exercise of discretionary function, in this case, the selection of candidate on the basis of merit and capacity, free from political or bureaucratic influence.

Independent Regularity Commission (IRC) enjoys the status of independence from the executive and has the power to formulate their own policies and control their own finances.

This independence has been, criticized as ‘headless fourth branch’, islands of autonomy etc.

Answer : Communication is one of the most important facilitators of organizational activities. Communication is of course a universal phenomenon not only in organizations but also in every human being. Communication plays effective role in holding organization together through various qualities, which it possesses like decision-making, coordination, planning, relationship, boosting morale and motivation.

Communication is helpful in the planning process in a number of ways. Through communication the executives can interact and provide vital inputs to plans.

Communication affects the quality of decisions made in an organization, because these decisions depend largely on the amount and quality of information available to the decision-makers. It also helps managers to come close to employees, identify their problems and solve them. Communication also makes coordination possible at various levels and processed by different individuals and departments. It is only through communication between them that these internal units can achieve best results.

Communication helps to cement the superior – subordinate relationships. It acts as a lubricant fostering the smooth operation of the management process.

Answer : Policies are formulated at the headquarters of any organization and these policies are implemented through a network of field level officers. The relationship between the headquarters and the field is important as effective control of the field organization has to be combined with adequate decentralization of powers to the field stations to ensure proper implementation of policies especially in a large country like India where regional variations in the environment are large and affected policy implementation.

Field stations are of different types, where the service provided by the field organization is unified and only type of service is provided by the field organization, then the function of central control over the station is simplified. However, if the field service provides various types of service which are of a technical nature, then the question arises as to the right degree of central control over the technical experts in the field stations.

The success of a programme depends on its proper implementation. Implementation is the responsibility of the field and a healthy relationship between the headquarters and field ensures effective implementation of programmes

Answer : Coordination means negatively, the removal of conflicts, working at cross-purposes, and overlapping from administration. Positively, its aim is to secure co-operation and team-work among the numerous employees engaged in the work of the organization. Without coordination, no organization could more consistently towards its goal, for the activities of its different members would neutralize and cancel out one another.

According to Mooney, coordination is the first principle of organization and includes within itself all other principles which are subordinate to it and through which it operates. Not only that but coordination also expresses the sum total of the purposes of an organization i.e., of the internal purposes. Every organization has two kinds of objectives, external and internal. The former varies from organization to organization, e.g. in case of the army, law and order in case of police and instruction of the people in case of the educational organization. The internal objective, however, is in every sense co-ordination i.e., making the organization work harmoniously and efficiently.

Coordination is achieved through planning, consultation, conferences or through written instructions.

Answer : The principle of control in public administration is related to the concept of ‘span of control’ described in psychology by V.A. Graicunas, the French management consultant. This concept says that there is a limit to the number of things one can attend to at the same time. Thus it follows that there is a limit to the span of control which is nothing but the span of attention applied to the job of supervision of subordinates.

According to the V.A. Graicunas, while the number of subordinates reporting directly to an executive increases arithmetically, the number of potential relationships increases geometrically. This is because supervision is not limited to individual subordinates but also includes the numerous permutation and combinations of their, mutual relationships. The total number of all the relationships to be supervised would direct single group.

Though these exists no unanimity over laying down a definite number constituting the span of control, there is a general agreement among writers on administration that shorter the span, the greater will be the superior-subordinate contact and in consequence, more effective control, supervision and direction.

Answer : In administration, hierarchy means a graded organization of several successive steps or levels, which are interlinked with each other. Hierarchy consists of the universal application of the superior-subordinate relationship through a number of levels of responsibility reaching from bottom to the top of the structure. Every employee in the organization tries to rise his position from bottom to the top. In administration hierarchy means a graded organization of several successive steps or levels also known as ‘scalar principle’. Just as there are steps in a ladder, there are successive levels in hierarchy, which every employee tends to reach irrespective of his level of incompetence

Hierarchy enables to fix responsibility at each level and at each post in the organization. Every employee knows what his position and responsibility are in the organization and to whom he is accountable, and what should he go for to rise his position in the organization.

Answer : Administration is the process of coordinating and facilitating the work of people in organizations. People formally and informally organize themselves as members of different organizations in a polity.

It is believed traditionally that authority in the administrative system flows from the top to the bottom. The top can be the society at large, or the government or the parliament. It need not necessarily be a particular decision-maker like the minister or a civil servant. On the other hand, Chester Barnard views that authority comes from the bottom. According to his argument, authority of a position holder depends upon the acceptance by his subordinates. If he is not accepted, it is seen in the behaviour of his subordinates. It shows the position holder’s capacity to handle authority.

According to Barnard, four conditions are required to facilitate acceptance of authority in an administrative system. First subordinates must be able to understand the communication of the person holding authority. Secondly, the subordinate should feel that his communication is consistent with the purpose of the administrative system. Thirdly, it may be considered that the superiors have no authority, in case the subordinates do not accept the authority. Thus, the subordinates have option of disobeying even legitimate authority if they so choose. Barnard’s contention is that the traditional view of authority is not correct in today’s administrative organizations. This indicates the need for developing leadership skills on the part of administrative personnel to use their authority effectively to achieve the organizational purposes.

Answer : There are always two aspects of any administration. One is called the organization and the other one which rests outside the organization is made by those power groups or people who got benefited from the organizational activity. In other word the organization works for those people. In fact the organizational entity is due to those groups. If any organization has a solid base in people then it will be hard to close that organization, as long as it will keep serving the people.

Same way a member of organization have some interest groups or power groups as base. These groups are served by his work, and they directly get affected by his service. This reputation among those groups provides him with many incentives, or it can be called as negotiable goods – if his working and service that ensures his popularity among the interest groups. This popularity means that the organization will not like to lose him, because if it loses him, it will also be loosing that base in power groups. To keep him with the organizations, he is provided various kinds of favours, rewards or other incentives. That’s why it is normally said that the interest or power group base provides a member of an organization with negotiable goods that can be cashed in for cognition, status and rewards.