Assignment Code: BPAC-131/ASST/TMA/2022-23

Course Code: BPAC-131

Assignment Name: PERSPECTIVES ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Total Marks: 100

Assignment A

Answer the following in about 500 words each.

1. Discuss the principles and characteristics of Scientific Management. 20

Ans) Taylor, who laid the groundwork for the Scientific Theory of Management, thought that an organization's management should be based on fixed laws, and that the Scientific Theory of Management should study the relationship between a worker's physical and physiological nature. The scientific method focused on the smallest level of organisation (Shop Floor). He thought that there was "one best way" to do and plan the tasks. So, the Theory focused on empirical analyses of different processes and worked to make sure that results were achieved quickly and well. Taylor thought that in order for an organisation to become more effective, it needed to develop technical competence, rationalise, and specialise.

Taylor kept studying organisations and how they are run. As he did so, he noticed that workers tend to put off their work and limit how much they can do. He called this being a soldier. He was talking about how workers will cut back on their work if they are paid the same amount even if they do a lot of work. Taylor divided soldiering into two types: natural soldiering and systematic soldiering. Natural soldiering is when workers take it easy and don't try to do too much. Systematic soldiering is when social and organisational factors cause workers to limit their output. Taylor thought that the best way for the organisation to do more work was to use scientific techniques to reduce the number of soldiers. So, Taylor, in his book Scientific Theory of Management, thought that scientific principles should be used to improve how an organisation works. They were also important for getting the workers to do more work. and being a manager.

Taylor came up with some methods of Scientific Management while he was talking about what Scientific Management is. These methods are applications that could help a group move closer to the Scientific Principles. These things:

Functional Foremanship

Taylor's idea of "functional foremanship" said that each worker should have eight "functional foremen" to watch over and guide them (i.e., specialised supervisor). Taylor noticed that planners and a planning unit were needed under the idea of Functional Foremanship. He didn't like the idea of a single foreman, which would mean that the workers would only get orders from one boss. So, when he came up with the idea of eight foremen, he put them into four groups: I Order -of- Work and Route Clerk, (ii) Instruction- Card- Clerk, (iii) Time - and - Cost- Clerk, and (iv) Shop Disciplinarian.

Time Study

Through time and motion studies, this method was made to find out how long work usually takes. It made it easier to plan out what to do each day.

Differential Piece Rate System

After coming up with the time and motion studies, Taylor worked on coming up with ways to pay for these services. He said that workers should be paid by the piece, based on the standards set by the time and motion study. So, the piece rate system was made to encourage workers to work harder so they could make more money. Those who worked hard made more money and made more money overall. So, both the workers and the supervisors had to work together in the same direction to make money.

Exceptional Principle

Under this Principle, Taylor said that since work standards and rewards for meeting goals had been set, managers had to encourage outstanding work and not just focus on standard performance.

2. Write a note on postmodern trends in Public Administration. 20

Ans) We can say for sure that the field of public administration will never be as certain as the natural sciences. This is because people and society are always changing. It could be said that Postmodernist scholars didn't agree on a single theory and told other scholars not to look for one right way to do things. They thought that there couldn't be a single dominant paradigm or rule that would hold a complex field together. White (1999) told people who study public administration how to use the right methods based on the research questions they want to answer.

First, he says that "explanatory research" could be used if the research question is about "why" something happened the way it did and if it tries to explain what happened and predict "how" it will happen in the future. Second, "interpretive research" could be used if the research is about "what is going on here." Third, critical research could be used when the researcher needs to deal with ambiguities in ideology, psychology, or history. In short, White (1999) says that "no matter what question we're trying to answer, we should choose an approach that fits the question best." In fact, most postmodern scholars agree that the field of public administration, both now and in the future, will focus on practical ways to solve problems in a situation that is very unstable and has many different parts.

Dialogue and Participatory Governance

Postmodern scholars like action research frameworks in public administration, such as Participatory Rural Appraisal, that encourage dialogue, learning, sharing, and participation (PRA). It is a method that gives women, poor people, schoolteachers, volunteers, young people, farmers, and others in the village a chance to show their problems on paper in the form of maps, symbols, or anything else three-dimensional. Such practises have also been given to the people in charge of villages, like for setting up a baseline survey of farmers' names, crop patterns, soil types, farm tools, and so on.

Direct Citizens’ Participation

Social audit is a tool that grassroots activists in India use to fix the corruption problems in the rural employment sector. Due to the innovative work of MKSS, social audit was successfully added to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), so that people can keep track of how money is being misused. So, the rise of civil society as a force and partner in development made it possible for government to be more open and accountable.

From Nation-building to Networking

If building up a country was the main focus of Traditional Public Administration, then networking is the main focus of Postmodern Public Administration. Frederickson (2015) has noticed that action-building could be replaced by societies that find meaning in connections and associations, where the networks are as important as the individual. He has also said that even the most powerful countries won't be able to help their people in a Postmodern world. With the help of information and communication technologies, time and space are squished together. This makes it more important to find new ways to connect people. To show this, in 2001, when the Bhuj earthquake hit Gujarat, there were no social media like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc. that could be used to share news. By the time the Uttarakhand cloudburst happened in 2015, social media was an important part of how people responded to disasters, helping them find resources, connect with loved ones, alert authorities, and show support. In places where cell phone towers fell, social media filled the gap and helped the government figure out who the victims were. These kinds of events give us new ways to think about networked governance.

Assignment B

Answer the following in about 250 words each.

3. Briefly discuss the Henry Fayol’s views on Administrative Management Approach. 10

Ans) People think of Fayol as the person who came up with the Administrative Management Approach. He was born in 1841, and he worked as an engineer. In 1888, he was the managing director of a mining company where he worked. When he was running the company as managing director, it made a lot of money.

Hierarchical Structure

This Administrative Management principle puts the focus on how an organisation is set up in a formal hierarchy. Under this plan, the organisation should be set up so that there is a clear line of authority and responsibility from the top down.

Division of Work/Labour

The second most important organisation principle is dividing work clearly and well between departments, branches, and sections. This means that each part of the organisation has a specific job to do in order to reach the goals of the organisation as a whole.

Loyalty

The main idea is that people should be loyal to the organisation. The principle says that the organization's needs should come before the needs of an individual or group of individuals. The implication is that the goals and interests of the whole organisation should always come before the goals and interests of any one person or group.

Payment of Fair Wages

Payment of Fair Wages to the workers for the work or service they render or provide.

Unity of Direction

Each part of an organisation that is responsible for doing its own tasks should be led by a single manager who follows a single plan.

Discipline

Fayol says that an organisation can't succeed if its workers aren't disciplined. This is because discipline makes it possible for all workers in an organisation to work together (Mc Namara, 2011).

4. Describe an appraise of Human Relations Approach. 10

Ans) Several scholars have found fault with the Hawthorn studies, which are the most well-known research on management and are the basis of Human Relations Theory. These have to do with the following:

1. The way the Hawthorne experiments were done has been called into question. Carey (1967) thought that the studies didn't add anything to science. Scholars have pointed out some of its methodological flaws, such as theoretical limitations, situational bias, and a lack of evidence about workers' home lives, among other things.

2. In terms of how the research was done, several scholars, including Carey, have pointed out that the group of five to six women who were chosen for the experiments is not a good enough sample to generalise from. Briefs (1940), for example, has questioned the external validity of the sample because the women formed relationships that they might not have formed if the sample size had been larger.

3. The Hawthorn studies didn't look at how technological factors can make people more productive.

4. The focus was more on making decisions as a group and less on making decisions as an individual.

5. Amitai Etzoini has noticed that Human Relations theorists tend to focus more on informal relationships between workers and between workers and their bosses and less on formal relationships.

6. People's motivations are complex, and it is said that Human Relations theorists couldn't fully understand this.

7. Grodzine (1951) was one of the harshest critics. He said that the Hawthorne studies encouraged manipulative methods that were meant to keep workers in line. The idea that applied scientists, like Human Relationists, came up with did not help humanity in any way.

5. Discuss the conceptual framework of New Public Management. 10

Ans) In the 1970s, when oil prices went up a lot, it caused economic problems in the West. This led to the rise of neoliberal ideas. In 1976, the UK moved forward with the SAP. It took out a loan from the International Monetary Fund and had to sell off public companies, cut government spending, and other things to pay it back. Slowly, other countries did the same thing. People thought that poverty and slow economic growth, especially in developing countries, were caused by the government getting in the way of market forces. It was thought that structural adjustment and a smaller role for the government in economic growth were necessary.

Because of this, the Washington Consensus came to be. It was mostly made up of the reforms that the Bretton Woods institutions, the US Congress and Treasury, and a few think tanks pushed for to deal with the economic crises in the 1980s, especially in Latin American countries. This was also called the Structural Adjustment and Stabilization Programme (SA and SP). It stressed the need for good macroeconomic and financial policies, trade and financial liberalisation, privatisation, and less government control over domestic markets.

Over time, this became a part of NPM's neoliberal policies, which grew out of the interaction of several factors. It tried to offer a mix of policy solutions and administrative ones. People were very sure that the government needed to change by using business practises and procedures. As a collection of ideas, techniques, and practises based on management and economics, NPM assumed a form of administrative improvement that was right for each country. In the end, it led to a wide range of organisational and structural changes all over the world. It touched on many policy areas, such as education, health, communication, etc., and made a dent in the way public administration is taught and done.

Assignment C

Answer the following in about 100 words each.

6. What is the difference Programmed and Non-Programmed Decisions? 06

Ans) In programmed decisions, it's important to have habits, skills, and know-how about the problem. When making these kinds of decisions, math models and computers can help people make smart choices. For example, in an organisation, routine tasks like dealing with financial rules, human resources, etc., happen over and over again. If a set of rules are made for how to handle it, it will be easy to decide things like payrolls, employee attendance, etc., with the help of a computer and the rules in place. On the other hand, non-programmed decisions are made to deal with things that are "new, unstructured, and unusually consequential." Training in job-related skills and the ability to think outside the box become important and relevant in order to build the ability to make good decisions.

7. What do you mean by Organisational Equilibrium? 06

Ans) Organizational equilibrium is the balance between what members of an organisation do and what the organisation does to help the members reach their own goals. There should be a balance between what employees get out of the organisation (money, status, recognition, etc.) and what they put in (time, knowledge, discomfort, production, etc.). Barnard has also thought about the ideas of being efficient and doing a good job. When a person in an organisation works to reach the goals of the organisation as a whole, that person's work could be seen as effective. In the process, the activity could be seen as effective if he meets his own needs and achieves his own goals.

8. Write a short on Easton’s Views on Public Policy Approach. 06

Ans) David Easton's work is a big reason why political science focuses on policy (1965). He made a model of the political system that had a big impact on how the new study of policy (outputs) in the 1960s thought about the relationship between how policies are made, what they do, and their larger "environment." The main feature of the Eastonian model is that it looks at the policy-making process in terms of inputs, which are flows from the environment and are mediated by input channels (parties, media, and interest groups), demands within the political system (with inputs), and how these are turned into policy outputs and outcomes. Most of the textbooks that made up the "normal science" of policy analysis came from the combination of Lasswell, Simon, and Easton's models of decision making and the political "system" (Kahn, 1962).

9. Define the term Governance and Good Governance. 06

Ans) Technically, the word "governance" comes from the Greek word "Kybernan," which means to steer or pilot something or to be in charge of it. It was first used by Harlan Cleveland in the mid-1970s when he said, "What the people want is less government and more governance." Over time, the World Bank made governance a bigger part of its agenda by giving it certain traits and calling it "good governance." The World Bank thought that predictable, open, and well-thought-out policy making, a bureaucracy with a professional ethic that works for the public good, the rule of law, transparent processes, and a strong civil society that takes part in public affairs were all signs of good governance.

10. Differentiate between ‘gender of governance’ and ‘governance of gender’. 06

Ans) People think that male dominance and patriarchy are normal, unbiased, and everywhere. Sheila Rowbotham said in 1973 that women have been "hidden from history." Feminist scholars have tried to figure out why there aren't more women in well-established political structures. Many people think that the lack of women in politics is due to the "macho" way that politics are thought of. The Feminist writers not only show how the Administrative State favours men, but they also look at how the Administrative State and its policies affect both men and women. They try to show that an Administrative State, which is a gendered hierarchy, creates inequality, gives men and women different chances in life, and reinforces material realities that oppress women.