Journal and Essays
Abiodun Giwa
There are final essays. Some classes have just a final essay, and others have more than one essay. Others also have journal notes. I will devote a page each to some of these journals and essays. They have become handy for me as a resource of vital informative knowledge beyond my years at Rutgers University.
This page serves as a cover for this section. There is a journal from the Managing Public Organizations class, an essay from the Human Resources Management class, one essay from the Public Policy Process class, two essays based on newspaper reports from the Introduction to Public Administration class, the Administrative Ethics class, two essays each on the Fundraising and Grant Making classes.
The academic journal for the Managing Public organization appears on this page, while other essays appear on other pages devoted to essays.
Professor Stephanie Newbold
Managing Public Organizations
SPAA, Rutgers University, Newark
Fall Semester, 2020
ACADEMIC JOURNAL FOR MANAGING PUBLIC ORGANIZTIONS (1)
: The entire text in Chapters one and the Subchapters two, three, four, five, six and seven of Classics of Organization Theory by Jay M. Shafritz, J. Steven Ott, and Yong Suk Jang, being my first reading for the Journal compilation for this class, is interesting and educative. At first instance, I was wooed by the Jethro’s reported instruction to Moses in the book of Exodus, and followed by the Socratic philosophical dialogue, Henri Fayol’s inclination to ethical side of the scientific management rendition.
After I read both Fayol and Frederick Winslow Taylor, I came off with thoughts that Fayol’s treatise was on the side of Ethics and Taylor on the side of Human Resources. And as propounded by Taylor, I grasped the idea that the principle of scientific management is an evolution. In Taylor’s words, “Scientific Management is no new set of theories that has been tried on by any one at any step. Scientific management at every step has been an evolution, not a theory. In all cases the practice has preceded the theory, not succeeded it. In all cases, one measure after another has been tried out, until the proper remedy has been found. That series of proper eliminations, that evolution, is what is called Scientific Management. I disagree with Taylor on his premise that the practice comes before the theory.
For example, in the case of Jethro and Moses, the practice did not precede the theory against Taylor’s explanation that “in all cases the practice precedes the theory.” The dictionary definition of ‘theory ’describes ‘theory’ as a set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based.
Taylor’s definition of Scientific management by elimination and evolution compelled me and considered Jethro’s advice to Moses in the book of Exodus as part of the eliminations and evolutions in the Scientific Management. And that as a theory, Jethro advised to Moses, as a warning for the sake of Moses’ good health and wellbeing for him to divide the work of leading the Israelis among proved elders for Moses to avoid wearing himself out. There was no prove that Jethro had practiced what he told Moses to undertake. However, Moses obeyed his father in law and benefited along with his team and through him and the children of Israel, the theory of what Jethro told Moses came into practice.
I agree with Taylor that developments in the Scientific management have been evolutionary and competitive. It makes me to look once more at how Jethro and Moses came into the history of the Scientific Management through the initiative of Jethro and its acceptance by Moses gave birth to collaboration, first between Jethro and Moses, and later between Moses and the leaders that he chose to work with him. Before the time, the work was between Moses and an unseen power telling Moses what to do. According to Fayol, initiative is the power of thinking out and executing, and freedom to propose and execute, and that at all levels of organizational ladder, it augments the zeal and energy of employees and represents a great source of strength for business, combined with some tact and integrity required to inspire and maintain the initiative within the limit imposed by respect for authority and for discipline.
The idea that is inspiring to me here is that the human or workman is the first resource in an organization, and that it is the human who owns the initiative to begin a concern. I am blown away by the use of the words in the dialogue between Socrates and Nicomachides about the need to be careful about resources, because it is necessary for whatever work or position one finds himself of herself to be attentive and industrious and that fighting is what is not common to both a chorus leader and a soldier.
There is a lesson imparted about the role of philosophy in business in the discussions about division of labor. It is awesome to see the role that religion and philosophy have played in developments and in the study of Scientific Management. There is also an undeniable similarity between philosophy and the “Science of research” when the use of ‘observation’ in research is considered. “Those who are called philosophers or men of speculation, whose trade is not to do anything, but to observe everything, and who upon that account, are often capable of combining together the power of the most distant and dissimilar objects.”
In the Superintendent’s Report, there is a repeat of a gain I have made in the “Health Care Management” class about the prevention of recurrence of errors, the need to prevent them from ever occurring and to never follow up on errors. In the Superintendent Report, readers are advised to adopt a system which will enable the GS to detect errors immediately, and to also point out the delinquent.
The “Engineer as an Economist” leads me to questions like “Aren’t we all engineers and economists by our ability to initiate new ideas, make income and manage same? I believe that without human initiatives and the ability to sustain the ideas, there can be no new ideas and businesses. I believe that to engineer is to initiate. The definition of ‘Engineering’ as the science and technology of designing and building attests. It is highly educative to learn how the divisions in the works of shop management have happened with distinct work for the chief executive, the accountant, and the mechanical manager.
The connection between the division made in shop management in Towne’s days notable most modern business organizations have three major departments that are largely run by the chief executive, assisted by the accountant, and the mechanical engineer, is notable, as part of the gains of the Scientific Management. Fayol begins where Towne stopped about the functions of materials and machines, the soundness of good working order, preference for principles and not meaning rigidity.
According to Fayol, principles are flexible and capable of adaptation to every need, requiring intelligence, experience, decision, and proportion. And that as society grows, new organs develop destined to replace the single one performing all functions in the primitive state. Having moved away from the primitive state, the object of division of work becomes production of more and better work with the same effort.
I view Fayol’s treatise as falling under the Administrative Ethics or a reminder for me about the knowledge I have acquired from the administrative ethics’ class. If division of work is not part of ethics, Leadership and Responsibility is. So, also is Discipline and Unity of Command, Subordination of Individual Interest to General Interest. He veered into mixture of human resources and ethics with the compensation of Workers, Scalar Chain, Order, Equity, Stability of Tenure of Personnel, Initiative, and Esprit de Corps.
Equity and equality of treatment as an aspiration to be taken-into-account in dealing with employees is a quick reminder of the ‘Appreciative Inquiry’ knowledge acquired from the Administrative Ethics class. The Esprit de Corps’ is also a reminder about a divided house that cannot stand. A great lesson is imparted by the advice to use verbal communication in most cases than written communications to avoid slow speed and gain, clarity, and harmony. So much for the reason given for the bureaucratic cogs in government organizations, where everything must be done in written communication.
I have also gained from acquisition of the knowledge about the code that Fayol gave as the CODE of acknowledgement truths that represents the sum in commerce, industry, politics, religion, war, or philanthropy.
Taylor’s “The Principle of Scientific Management” labor saving methods is linked to division of labor, specialization and the wealth derived from the concepts. I love the concept about how soldiering - an absolute rule by workmen who rely on trade unions and quarrels, was overtaken by the evolution of a superior idea that enabled average workmen to produce double the output by individual. I love the competitiveness of the Scientific Management as presented by Taylor in addition to the idea for a mental revolution, teamwork, training, and collaboration.
Journal (2)
One beautiful aspect of the neoclassical Organization theory is its proponents’ criticisms of the classical organization, establishing the empirical aspect of the arguments over development and evolution of various of organization theories. Manifestly, this critical nature has gone through all the phases through to the Open System theory that seems to have seems to have gained preeminence over the human relations theory.
I love criticism and I detest the lack of it. I do not view criticism as an attack, but a way to search and arrive at the truth. I love the classical writers as much as I love the neoclassical writers, though the neoclassical writers in their criticisms did not develop a body of theory to replace the classical theory, they nevertheless helped the modification, addition and extension of the classical theory and they saved the classical theory.
Neoclassical writer became important precursors the human relations theory that emphasizes modern structural, systems, power and politics, and organizational culture perspective of organization theory. I love their ambitious nature that leads to cooperation among people in organizations. I love the idea that cooperation holds an organization together.
I love Chester Barnard’s description of the responsibility of an executive: 1. To create and maintain a sense of purpose, and a moral code for the organization. 2. To establish system of formal and informal communications and 3. To ensure the willingness of people to cooperate. I agree with Herbert A. Simon that organizations cannot exist as self-contained islands isolated from their environments.
It is true, based on human nature, that it is impossible to describe and design organizations in a purely rational manner, and that organizations consist not both human whose goals and that of the organization do not agree. Therefore, the idea of cooptation to avoid creating elements of threat to the organization.
It is also true that incentives lead to the contribution of personal efforts that are the energies of organizations. Incentives are important in conscious effort to organize. The teaching about the role of incentives makes Barnard win my heart with The Economy of Incentives. I am open to discussing the idea of changing the state of mind, attitudes, and motives, but I do not think it is a positive idea. I believe an organization efforts are necessary for its existence by the objective inducement it provides. I like the listing of various methods of incentives and the comparison of coercion to slavery in the methods of persuasion. I embrace the condition of communion, social compatibility, and integration.
The Proverb of Administration: I believe that the defense of the problem with bureaucracy by holding its ethical demand for conformity as scapegoat is not acceptable. I agree with the trained incapacity aspect of the bureaucracy and the red tape concept, the impersonal treatment. I quite agree that most people do not know that bureaucracy does not apply to only government organizations, but to all huge organizations. However what I believe separate private huge organizations from government huge organizations is that the former strive to make profit and balance its account, while the latter rarely cares until recently that evaluation to account for tax payers money has become a public issue.
Apparently, the real problem of administration is not to specialize, but to specialize in something that lead to efficiency and positive outcome. Therefore, making a subordinate to attend to bosses does not give the picture of a unity of command. It will lead to conflict. The span of control concept and keeping minimizing levels an issue must travel before action seems to have addressed the issue. I disagree that restricted span of control produces excessive red tape. Waiting for a particular superior is the cause of red tape.
It is a bit difficult to have grip of Herbert Simon’s The Proverb of Administration concerning purpose, process, clientele, and place, and why the advantages of three must be sacrificed in favor of the advantage of the fourth. Is it plausible for all lawyers, engineers, and statisticians, to be in a single department? It leads to the choice of process.
The Approach to Administration
I agree that purpose is an end of an activity, process as a means of achieving the purpose. There is ambiguity here. I agree with Gulick purpose brings together in a single department all aiming to render a service, and that a single activity may lead to several objectives, concurrently the purpose for a process. The Approach to Administration is great. I like the connection that the diagnostic of administrative situation leads to the administrative man taking his place along with the classical economic man to rationally maximize the achievement of certain ends and that good administrative behavior leads to efficiency.
MOTION STUDY/Frederick Taylor
The principle of efficiency as definition of administrative behavior; skills, values and knowledge a worker has as factors that maximize the accomplishments, and also determine the level of efficiency, and why the principle of administration must be concerned with physiology of the human body and the laws of skill training and habit.
Foundation for the Theory of Organization
Rational ordered instruments for the achievement of stated objective. This is a journey into unveiling the organization, taking us through the interrelationship between rational and non-ration aspects of an organization and usefulness to the existence of the organization and the need for overall adjustment because of the inadequacy of the formal structure to fully reflect the whole organization. The same is applicable to the formal and informal aspect of an organization. The ideas are useful because they reveal how both affects operation of an organization and what should be done to manage the conflict arising from one upstaging the other. Delegation. Interchangeable of the individuals to avoid a person being indispensable. Indivisibility of control and consent and cooperative system.
.
This page serves as a cover for this section. There is a journal from the Managing Public Organizations class, an essay from the Human Resources Management class, one essay from the Public Policy Process class, two essays based on newspaper reports from the Introduction to Public Administration class, the Administrative Ethics class, two essays each on the Fundraising and Grant Making classes.
The academic journal for the Managing Public organization appears on this page, while other essays appear on other pages devoted to essays.
Professor Stephanie Newbold
Managing Public Organizations
SPAA, Rutgers University, Newark
Fall Semester, 2020
ACADEMIC JOURNAL FOR MANAGING PUBLIC ORGANIZTIONS (1)
: The entire text in Chapters one and the Subchapters two, three, four, five, six and seven of Classics of Organization Theory by Jay M. Shafritz, J. Steven Ott, and Yong Suk Jang, being my first reading for the Journal compilation for this class, is interesting and educative. At first instance, I was wooed by the Jethro’s reported instruction to Moses in the book of Exodus, and followed by the Socratic philosophical dialogue, Henri Fayol’s inclination to ethical side of the scientific management rendition.
After I read both Fayol and Frederick Winslow Taylor, I came off with thoughts that Fayol’s treatise was on the side of Ethics and Taylor on the side of Human Resources. And as propounded by Taylor, I grasped the idea that the principle of scientific management is an evolution. In Taylor’s words, “Scientific Management is no new set of theories that has been tried on by any one at any step. Scientific management at every step has been an evolution, not a theory. In all cases the practice has preceded the theory, not succeeded it. In all cases, one measure after another has been tried out, until the proper remedy has been found. That series of proper eliminations, that evolution, is what is called Scientific Management. I disagree with Taylor on his premise that the practice comes before the theory.
For example, in the case of Jethro and Moses, the practice did not precede the theory against Taylor’s explanation that “in all cases the practice precedes the theory.” The dictionary definition of ‘theory ’describes ‘theory’ as a set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based.
Taylor’s definition of Scientific management by elimination and evolution compelled me and considered Jethro’s advice to Moses in the book of Exodus as part of the eliminations and evolutions in the Scientific Management. And that as a theory, Jethro advised to Moses, as a warning for the sake of Moses’ good health and wellbeing for him to divide the work of leading the Israelis among proved elders for Moses to avoid wearing himself out. There was no prove that Jethro had practiced what he told Moses to undertake. However, Moses obeyed his father in law and benefited along with his team and through him and the children of Israel, the theory of what Jethro told Moses came into practice.
I agree with Taylor that developments in the Scientific management have been evolutionary and competitive. It makes me to look once more at how Jethro and Moses came into the history of the Scientific Management through the initiative of Jethro and its acceptance by Moses gave birth to collaboration, first between Jethro and Moses, and later between Moses and the leaders that he chose to work with him. Before the time, the work was between Moses and an unseen power telling Moses what to do. According to Fayol, initiative is the power of thinking out and executing, and freedom to propose and execute, and that at all levels of organizational ladder, it augments the zeal and energy of employees and represents a great source of strength for business, combined with some tact and integrity required to inspire and maintain the initiative within the limit imposed by respect for authority and for discipline.
The idea that is inspiring to me here is that the human or workman is the first resource in an organization, and that it is the human who owns the initiative to begin a concern. I am blown away by the use of the words in the dialogue between Socrates and Nicomachides about the need to be careful about resources, because it is necessary for whatever work or position one finds himself of herself to be attentive and industrious and that fighting is what is not common to both a chorus leader and a soldier.
There is a lesson imparted about the role of philosophy in business in the discussions about division of labor. It is awesome to see the role that religion and philosophy have played in developments and in the study of Scientific Management. There is also an undeniable similarity between philosophy and the “Science of research” when the use of ‘observation’ in research is considered. “Those who are called philosophers or men of speculation, whose trade is not to do anything, but to observe everything, and who upon that account, are often capable of combining together the power of the most distant and dissimilar objects.”
In the Superintendent’s Report, there is a repeat of a gain I have made in the “Health Care Management” class about the prevention of recurrence of errors, the need to prevent them from ever occurring and to never follow up on errors. In the Superintendent Report, readers are advised to adopt a system which will enable the GS to detect errors immediately, and to also point out the delinquent.
The “Engineer as an Economist” leads me to questions like “Aren’t we all engineers and economists by our ability to initiate new ideas, make income and manage same? I believe that without human initiatives and the ability to sustain the ideas, there can be no new ideas and businesses. I believe that to engineer is to initiate. The definition of ‘Engineering’ as the science and technology of designing and building attests. It is highly educative to learn how the divisions in the works of shop management have happened with distinct work for the chief executive, the accountant, and the mechanical manager.
The connection between the division made in shop management in Towne’s days notable most modern business organizations have three major departments that are largely run by the chief executive, assisted by the accountant, and the mechanical engineer, is notable, as part of the gains of the Scientific Management. Fayol begins where Towne stopped about the functions of materials and machines, the soundness of good working order, preference for principles and not meaning rigidity.
According to Fayol, principles are flexible and capable of adaptation to every need, requiring intelligence, experience, decision, and proportion. And that as society grows, new organs develop destined to replace the single one performing all functions in the primitive state. Having moved away from the primitive state, the object of division of work becomes production of more and better work with the same effort.
I view Fayol’s treatise as falling under the Administrative Ethics or a reminder for me about the knowledge I have acquired from the administrative ethics’ class. If division of work is not part of ethics, Leadership and Responsibility is. So, also is Discipline and Unity of Command, Subordination of Individual Interest to General Interest. He veered into mixture of human resources and ethics with the compensation of Workers, Scalar Chain, Order, Equity, Stability of Tenure of Personnel, Initiative, and Esprit de Corps.
Equity and equality of treatment as an aspiration to be taken-into-account in dealing with employees is a quick reminder of the ‘Appreciative Inquiry’ knowledge acquired from the Administrative Ethics class. The Esprit de Corps’ is also a reminder about a divided house that cannot stand. A great lesson is imparted by the advice to use verbal communication in most cases than written communications to avoid slow speed and gain, clarity, and harmony. So much for the reason given for the bureaucratic cogs in government organizations, where everything must be done in written communication.
I have also gained from acquisition of the knowledge about the code that Fayol gave as the CODE of acknowledgement truths that represents the sum in commerce, industry, politics, religion, war, or philanthropy.
Taylor’s “The Principle of Scientific Management” labor saving methods is linked to division of labor, specialization and the wealth derived from the concepts. I love the concept about how soldiering - an absolute rule by workmen who rely on trade unions and quarrels, was overtaken by the evolution of a superior idea that enabled average workmen to produce double the output by individual. I love the competitiveness of the Scientific Management as presented by Taylor in addition to the idea for a mental revolution, teamwork, training, and collaboration.
Journal (2)
One beautiful aspect of the neoclassical Organization theory is its proponents’ criticisms of the classical organization, establishing the empirical aspect of the arguments over development and evolution of various of organization theories. Manifestly, this critical nature has gone through all the phases through to the Open System theory that seems to have seems to have gained preeminence over the human relations theory.
I love criticism and I detest the lack of it. I do not view criticism as an attack, but a way to search and arrive at the truth. I love the classical writers as much as I love the neoclassical writers, though the neoclassical writers in their criticisms did not develop a body of theory to replace the classical theory, they nevertheless helped the modification, addition and extension of the classical theory and they saved the classical theory.
Neoclassical writer became important precursors the human relations theory that emphasizes modern structural, systems, power and politics, and organizational culture perspective of organization theory. I love their ambitious nature that leads to cooperation among people in organizations. I love the idea that cooperation holds an organization together.
I love Chester Barnard’s description of the responsibility of an executive: 1. To create and maintain a sense of purpose, and a moral code for the organization. 2. To establish system of formal and informal communications and 3. To ensure the willingness of people to cooperate. I agree with Herbert A. Simon that organizations cannot exist as self-contained islands isolated from their environments.
It is true, based on human nature, that it is impossible to describe and design organizations in a purely rational manner, and that organizations consist not both human whose goals and that of the organization do not agree. Therefore, the idea of cooptation to avoid creating elements of threat to the organization.
It is also true that incentives lead to the contribution of personal efforts that are the energies of organizations. Incentives are important in conscious effort to organize. The teaching about the role of incentives makes Barnard win my heart with The Economy of Incentives. I am open to discussing the idea of changing the state of mind, attitudes, and motives, but I do not think it is a positive idea. I believe an organization efforts are necessary for its existence by the objective inducement it provides. I like the listing of various methods of incentives and the comparison of coercion to slavery in the methods of persuasion. I embrace the condition of communion, social compatibility, and integration.
The Proverb of Administration: I believe that the defense of the problem with bureaucracy by holding its ethical demand for conformity as scapegoat is not acceptable. I agree with the trained incapacity aspect of the bureaucracy and the red tape concept, the impersonal treatment. I quite agree that most people do not know that bureaucracy does not apply to only government organizations, but to all huge organizations. However what I believe separate private huge organizations from government huge organizations is that the former strive to make profit and balance its account, while the latter rarely cares until recently that evaluation to account for tax payers money has become a public issue.
Apparently, the real problem of administration is not to specialize, but to specialize in something that lead to efficiency and positive outcome. Therefore, making a subordinate to attend to bosses does not give the picture of a unity of command. It will lead to conflict. The span of control concept and keeping minimizing levels an issue must travel before action seems to have addressed the issue. I disagree that restricted span of control produces excessive red tape. Waiting for a particular superior is the cause of red tape.
It is a bit difficult to have grip of Herbert Simon’s The Proverb of Administration concerning purpose, process, clientele, and place, and why the advantages of three must be sacrificed in favor of the advantage of the fourth. Is it plausible for all lawyers, engineers, and statisticians, to be in a single department? It leads to the choice of process.
The Approach to Administration
I agree that purpose is an end of an activity, process as a means of achieving the purpose. There is ambiguity here. I agree with Gulick purpose brings together in a single department all aiming to render a service, and that a single activity may lead to several objectives, concurrently the purpose for a process. The Approach to Administration is great. I like the connection that the diagnostic of administrative situation leads to the administrative man taking his place along with the classical economic man to rationally maximize the achievement of certain ends and that good administrative behavior leads to efficiency.
MOTION STUDY/Frederick Taylor
The principle of efficiency as definition of administrative behavior; skills, values and knowledge a worker has as factors that maximize the accomplishments, and also determine the level of efficiency, and why the principle of administration must be concerned with physiology of the human body and the laws of skill training and habit.
Foundation for the Theory of Organization
Rational ordered instruments for the achievement of stated objective. This is a journey into unveiling the organization, taking us through the interrelationship between rational and non-ration aspects of an organization and usefulness to the existence of the organization and the need for overall adjustment because of the inadequacy of the formal structure to fully reflect the whole organization. The same is applicable to the formal and informal aspect of an organization. The ideas are useful because they reveal how both affects operation of an organization and what should be done to manage the conflict arising from one upstaging the other. Delegation. Interchangeable of the individuals to avoid a person being indispensable. Indivisibility of control and consent and cooperative system.
.
Comment Box is loading comments...
