Wednesday, June 26, 2013

New Technologies (ICT - Information & Communication Technologies) Employed In Public Systems Management For Better Results In Governance

_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________

The 21st Century that we live in is described quite aptly as the "Information Era".  It is an era of Connectivity, Information sharing and Participation between the Public and the respective State/Governments the world over. This leads to a thriving and vibrant Democracy.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) aims at bringing the above mentioned objectives to life along with transparency, accountability, responsiveness in Public Governance and sustainable growth for the people.

The fruitful presence and boons of ICT in Public Systems Management (inter governmental/Intra Governmental, Govt. to business/Govt. to Citizens) is well evident and obvious to each one in the society. It is also regulated from time to time via the laws laid down in the IT Act (2000) to stop nefarious activities routed through the ICT medium.


Let's look at a basic definition of ICT :
Stands for "Information and Communication Technologies." ICT refers to technologies that provide access to information through telecommunications. It is similar to Information Technology (IT) (which focuses mainly on information access), but ICT primarily focuses on communication technologies which includes use of the Internet ( E-mail, Instant Messaging, etc.), wireless networks, cell phones(SMS services), and other communication mediums between two parties.



INDIAN CASE STUDIES ON ICT INITIATIVES IN STATE GOVERNMENTS:
1) Sachivalaya Vahini: It is the ICT Package made by the National Informatics Centre, Bangalore and employed by the State Secretariat in Karnataka in all its 40 departments connecting 1000 computers and answering the needs of the 6000 employees viz. E-Governance by facilitating policy and decision making process.
Since the State Secretariat is the apex decision making body in the state government therefore it needs to maintain utmost efficiency and accuracy as there is too much at stake ( Public Welfare & limited resources). And to maintain the same, the state Secretariat needs to hold enormous amount of communication, maintaining and processing large volumes of data files or other formats,etc. All this was being done manually in the Karnataka state Secretariat prior to Sachivalaya Vahini stepping in and that is why the work there was very slow and inefficient.

Sachivalaya Vahini's various components are:

a) Patra - Letter Monitoring System - Receives and scans letters received by the Secretariat and transfers to relevant departments of the state Secretariat for its review and action and final disposal.

b) Kadatha - File Monitoring System - maintaining and speedy disposal of files.

c) Mokaddame - Court Case Monitoring System

d) Aayayaya - Budget Monitoring System - Helps estimate Budgets and funds allocation to departments and its monitoring.

e) Sibbandi - Personnel Information System - Maintains all information pertaining to each Personnel working in the Secretariat.

f) Customer Support System - Helps in resolving technical issues of the employees regarding the software and network.





CASE STUDY OF ICT IMPLEMENTATION - INDIAN JUDICIARY (E-JUDICIARY) :
1) COURTIS (Court Information System)- Launched in 1990 for the benefit of the entire legal community and commissioned for streamlining registries of various courts in the country. All High Courts and the Supreme Court of the country have been successfully armed with the following applications through NICNET:

a) Case Status - Helps provide tracking of all pending and disposed cases statuses that can be accessed by advocates as well as litigants and legal scholars.

b) Judgement Information System ( JUDIS) - It is a CD-ROM encompassing complete texts of all reported judgements of the Supreme Court of India from 1950 to 2000. Judgements from 2001 onwards are available on the Internet. NIC markets these CD-ROMs on a membership basis. The Internet display judgements are available within 24 hours of passing of judgement.

c) Cause Lists on the Internet - Displays schedules of cases to be heard b the respective Court the following day.

d) Daily Orders on the Internet - Displays the daily orders of the SC and HC as soon as the orders are signed by the respective Judges.




CASE STUDY OF ICT IMPLEMENTATION - E - PANCHAYAT IN INDIA :
The Govt. of Andhra Pradesh has introduced the E-Panchayat software in Ramachandrapuram Gram Panchaat, Medak District as part of its E- Governance initiatives that is user friendly and citizen centric. This pilot e-panchayat project comprises nearly 20 main modules and nearly 150 sub modules in line with the 30 sectoral functions of the Gram Panchayats. It has been rolled out in several pilot villages and is to be expanded majorly to all of Andhra Pradesh's Panchayats and a National roll out plan for its implementations is also being taken up . It aims to cover all information requirements of the village Panchayat administration.





INTERNATIONAL ICT IMPLEMENTATION CASE STUDY - MALAYSIAN E-GOVT PROJECT:
The Multimedia Support Corridor's advent in Malaysia has helped the Public Service there leverage the potential revolutionising service delivery through seamless and integrated govt. via its e-govt. flagship applications. Smart partnerships between local and international consortia working together with the govt. in developing leading edge e-govt. solutions has produced the first set of e-govt. pilot projects that have been implemented successfully which include: e-services, e-procurement, electronic labour exchange, generic office environment, human resources management information system and project monitoring system.

We will focus on the E-Services Project here in this case study.

E-services is the capability that enables citizens and businesses to conduct transactions through a one-stop service window and provides easier access to govt. agencies such as the Road Transport Dept.,Ministry of Health and utility companies.
It provides the citizens with a multiple delivery channels with 24 hour access that is available anywhere at their convenience;citizens are no longer limited to conducting these transactions at agency branches and utility offices. It also caters to the various languages spoken in Malaysia and is extremely user friendly even to the elderly and physically and visually challenged.
All this has helped in making services more efficient, corruption free and people becoming more participative and responsive as well as sincere in terms of paying bills on time,etc.
A large part of this success comes from the Malaysian government's aggressive encouragement of wider ownership of personal computers,tax deductions and providing IT facilities in rural areas such as the Internet.



PROBLEMS IN ICT APPLICATION:
1) Minimal Internet Penetration n rural areas
2) Computer illiteracy in urban areas
3) Untrained or improper training given to employees working on these softwares in govt. systems and organisations.
4) Govt. not implementing schemes to help the rural areas develop affinity with ICT via services like tele-medicines, tele-marketing and e-commerce.
5) Lack of will to share and disclose information with citizens/beneficiaries of schemes for them.
6) Inadequate infrastructure, language barriers, lack of capacity building initiatives, absence of grievance mechanisms, non-availability of information and variations in utilisation of information.


_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Monday, May 6, 2013

Public Systems Management : Socio - Economic Context

_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________


PUBLIC SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT IN INDIA- SOCIETAL CONTEXT:

A country's political life, Constitutional laws, and Administrative rules and regulations and relations are greatly influenced by its societal traditions, culture and values. In Indian society, many Public systems/ Public Organisations are created especially to manage and relate to it with special reference to :

1) RELIGION

2) CASTE

3) LANGUAGE

4) JOINT FAMILY SYSTEM

5) WOMEN

6) GROWING VIOLENCE

7) RURAL - URBAN INTERFACE




PUBLIC SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT - ECONOMIC CONTEXT IN INDIA:

1) AGRICULTURE - BASED ECONOMY

2) POVERTY

3) UNEMPLOYMENT

4) INDUSTRIAL POLICY RESOLUTION AND MONITORING

5) MIXED ECONOMY

6) WEEDING OUT CORRUPTION



_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Public Systems Management : Constitutional Context

_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________


Fred Riggs so forcefully advocated that Public Administration should be sensitive to the environment it functions in and should develop methods of administration that would alleviate the latter of its issues, as only that would be a successful administrative setup that would lead the country on the road to development.

Therefore Constitution or the law of the land is of utmost importance which is to be studied and its directives and principles followed to the tee by the Public Administrative setup of that country in order to fulfill its true objectives of public welfare and development since the constitution is framed by the political class who are basically the representative of the people of that land and thus know their needs intrinsically.

The following parts of the Indian Constitution determine and direct the functioning of Governance and Public Systems in India:

1) PREAMBLE - The Preamble is the key to the minds of our freedom fighters and Constitutional founders and thus introduces the reader to the overarching philosophy of Constitutional governance specifying the source of authority , the system of government , the objectives to be attained by the political and administrative systems. It has been declared as a valuable part of the Indian Constitution and if one wants to understand the spirit of the Indian Constitution then this has to be read.

2) PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY - In this form of Government, the executive is an integral part of Parliament and is responsible to it.

3) FEDERATION WITH STRONG CENTRE - India is a Union Of States which is unique federalism and may be aptly described as a new experiment in this area for ensuring national unity and growth on one end and regional autonomy at the other.

4) FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES - It is very necessary for any Public Administrator to understand these Fundamental citizen rights and duties before embarking on its course of work else it would end up in litigation perpetually.
Refer in detail:
Fundamental Rights And Fundamental Duties - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_Rights,_Directive_Principles_and_Fundamental_Duties_of_India

5) DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY - It indicates the Responsibilities of the State/ Government in promoting the rights and benefits of the individuals while formulating policies and also in translating the basic values of the Constitution in real life.
DPSP in detail, refer - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directive_Principles_in_India


6) INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY - The terms and conditions of the judges are regulated by the Constitution and not at the whims and fancies of the Politicians, hence it remains out of their clutches and autonomous, non biased and just.

7) JUDICIAL REVIEW - It implies the powers possessed by the courts to pronounce Constitutional validity of the acts of Public Authorities, both executive and legislative.

CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITIES - To carry out the objectives enlisted in the Constitution which have independent power given by the latter in order to perform impartially and uninfluenced executive:

1) Comptroller And Auditor General: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comptroller_and_Auditor_General_of_India

2) Finance Commission: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finance_Commission

3) Election Commission: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_Commission_of_India

4) UPSC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Public_Service_Commission

5) Attorney General: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_of_India

6) National Commission for Scheduled Castes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Commission_for_Scheduled_Castes

7) National Commission for Scheduled Tribes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Commission_for_Scheduled_Tribes

8) Official Languages Commission: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Languages_Commission

9) Special Officer for linguistic minorities: http://www.advocatekhoj.com/library/bareacts/constitutionofindia/350b.php?Title=Constitution%20of%20India,%201949&STitle=Special%20Officer%20for%20linguistic%20minorities



10) Administrative Tribunals: Refer to a post on this blog :  http://publicadministrationtheone.blogspot.in/2012/08/administrative-law-meaning-scope-and.html


OTHER IMPORTANT COMMISSIONS:
These are not Constitutional but created by an Act Of Parliament but of great importance and power:

1) National Commission For Women: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Commission_for_Women

2) National Commission For Backward Classes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Commission_for_Backward_Classes

3) National Human Rights Commission & State Human Rights Commission of India: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Human_Rights_Commission_of_India



_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Difference Between Traditional Public Administration And Public Systems Management

_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________


Differentiation Points of Traditional Public Administration And Public Systems Management -



TRADITIONAL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

1. Public Service is considered an exclusive task performed by the government.

2. Citizen avoiding and secrecy in governmental business.
3. Public – Private Distinction.
4. Rigid, rule – bound and hierarchic model.
5. Process accountability.
6. Anonymous bureaucracy.
7. Structure – oriented.
8. Emphasis on rationality in decision making process.
9. Adoption of centralised strategy.
10. Authoritative approach.
11. Politics – Administration Dichotomy.
12. Focus on Structures and Processes.
PUBLIC SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

1. Public Service is considered as a collaborative exercise involving Government, NGOs and Private firms, etc.
2. Citizen friendly, transparent and accountable.
3. Public – Private partnership.
4. Flexible Organisational Design and Practices Model.
5. Result Accountability.

6. Accountable Bureaucracy.
7. People – Oriented.
8. Emphasis on bounded rationality in decision making process.
9. Adoption of decentralised strategy.
 10. Participatory approach.
11. Politics – Administrative confluence.
12. Focus on performance and results.



_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________
 

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Public Systems Management : Concept , Nature , Scope And Characteristics.

_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________

The Contemporary Global Developments in the world's socio - economic arena is undergoing a huge change courtesy Liberalisation-Privatisation-Globalisation and Public Administration inevitably has to reflect this change along with the State's role change.

Public Administrators are expected to be more entrepreneurial, risk taking and managerial in their approach. Therefore, Public (read - Govt.) Systems (read - Organisations) Management is a new emerging concept in this field of study and work. There is a mood of changing the Traditional Public Administration to a newer and trendier as well as effective process termed aptly as Public Systems Management.

PUBLIC SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT - CONCEPT , NATURE AND SCOPE:
Before embarking in detail on the concept of Public Systems Management one should make clear in his/her mind that there is no attempt at making the conservative mistake of assuming Public and Private Management as one and the same. Private Systems Management is a way of working where Profit motive drives each and every aspect of it, whereas, public Systems Management is only concerned with the designing and operation of Public Services and the effective functioning of the above and the executive Government. It makes them "business - like" but not "business" as the goal and missions of the Public systems would be implementation of the Govt policies and Public welfare always however it looks to do the same through better and more effective practices as practiced by the Private systems/organisations.

CONCEPT:
As one would note that there is now a paradigm shift in Public Administration's nature and character that is more managerial, efficient and in keeping with the times throughout the world since the New Economic Policy was espoused by the UN and its allies International Monetary Fund as well as World Bank via the Brettonwoods Conference. These are:
1) Privatisation and Deregulation
2) Establishing Market like Mechanisms.
3) Decentralisation
4) Debureaucratisation


The theoretical foundations of the abovementioned change are listed below:
A) New Right Philosophy: Beginning in the 1970's, this school of thought propagated the idea of non-interference by the Govt. in economic activity as it created distortions in the market producing adverse outcomes. According to this philosophy, the Govt. should play the role of a regulator and producer. Thus it can be deduced that it advocated deregulation and privatisation, reduction of inflation,lower taxation, increasing role of the market in providing public services and institutional and constitutional reforms that would lead to reduction in lobbying and interest groups and impose a Constitutional upper limit on public expenditure as a proportion of the GDP.

B) Public Choice Approach: This has already been covered in a previous post on this blog. Refer to post titled " WILSON'S VIEW OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION" http://publicadministrationtheone.blogspot.in/2012/07/wilsons-view-of-public.html.


C) Property Rights Theory:  It is a way of understanding the incentives for performance that exist in private sector and examining whether they can be introduced in the public sector. However, since Public officials cannot claim ownership over Public Organisations via shareholding/property rights therefore Privatisation which entails changes in property rights in favour of private ownership, is thus considered beneficial for the promotion of efficiency.

D) Principal - Agent Theory: The public are the Principal or the owner and the private sector as well as the public sector which are providing the public with services are the Agents who work for the Principal since the former possess the needed skill and expertise to do the job efficiently.

E) Organisation and Management Literature: This takes into account all the Literature that critique the Weberian Model of Administration and promotes the culture of adoption of private sector practices in the public sector particularly in a fast changing and hostile environment.
The effects of these literature are seen almost everywhere nowadays viz. downsizing of bureaucracy, devolution of authority, cost reduction, contracting out to private sector organisations by the Govt. , developing and designing result oriented appraisal system and commercialisation as well as market orientation.

NATURE OF PUBLIC SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT:
1) Greater flexibility in tailoring the organisation to circumstances, instead of necessarily following a rigid Weberian model.
2) Focus on results.
3) Greater attention on strategic planning.
4) Private sector personnel practices to be adopted like incentivisation,etc.
5) Steering role of the Govt. instead of direct involvement.
6) Orientation to needs of the customers and provision of the same timely and efficiently.
7) Use of market mechanisms in those activities of the public sector which cannot be privatised.

SCOPE OF PUBLIC SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT:
As mentioned above and to further explain it's scope one can see that it affects almost every aspect of functioning of the Public Sector today like increasing Productivity, Service orientation, Decentralisation, Policy efficiency, Accountability on results.


CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT:
1) Concerned with delivery of high quality services valued by citizens.
2) Considers citizens as active consumers and serious attempts are made to find out their expectations and needs.
3) Provides greater flexibility in working conditions and permits more expertise and employee creativity.
4) Creates conditions for more positive and productive managerial leadership by simplifying organisational structures and flattened hierarchies.
5) Develops rigorous performance measurement of individuals and organisations.
6) Receptive to competition and adopts an open minded attitude towards management of public organisations.
7) Adopts collaborative and networking approach to work with public, private and voluntary sectors in solving community problems and providing public services.
8) Advocates decentralisation of authority embracing participatory management model.
9) Prefers market mechanisms to bureaucratic mechanisms.
10) Takes steps to prevent administrative problems rather than tackle them after they arise.
11) high levels of transparency and accountability instead of mere adherence to rules and regulations,etc.
12) Extensive use of IT for all operations.
13) Decentralisation.
14) New role for civil servants - exercising technical competence, managerial skills with policy making capacities.
15) Fosters a new work culture in public system/ govt. organisations with incentive systems, performance evaluation, pay differentials, etc.

_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Monday, February 11, 2013

Informative & Useful Public Administration Lecture-Videos Courtesy IGNOU School Of Social Sciences



In continuity to the last post, here are a few more extremely useful links being provided viz. the study of Public Administration, courtesy IGNOU School Of Social Sciences, for the benefit of this blog's readers.

_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________


1) Citizen And Administration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAFOMskg9Xk&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=45


2) New Public Management:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu3jDF7rwD4&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=61


3) Indian Budgeting System:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0jsvBqHGhs&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=74 & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCO6lEpz-nw&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=73


4) Public Policy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xix525xWEzE&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=136 & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8hMqV1FGDI&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=96 & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvxjU1fnVEc&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=102 & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsqrwNobU7E&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=101


5) Policy Implementation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrIIuKojExs&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=130 & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unGFrjeYysM&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=98


6) Modernization And Globalization:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63ro5AfHvfU&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=40


7) Civil Society:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHkjNHoY4es & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS6FpLJzbpQ&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=42


8) Disaster Administration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlP73Lf6pUY&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=26 & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfLN-fpPUJ4&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=199


9) Research Methodology Conceptual Foundation - Public Administration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6CmfbWwRTU&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=69


10) Administrative Responsiveness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOqTusxNMN8&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=129 & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7BvQgKLsDc&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=128


11) Systems and Behavioural Approach Views of Chester Barnard & Herbert Simon  :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7CxsO8DYus&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=142


12) Public Choice Theory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsKQ1BS14FU&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=143


13) Governance In India:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPpIb8ZHy8U&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=152


14) Planning Commission - Role:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyzrnyuQ700&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=159


15) Public Administration - Theory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncEStUcDF-I&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=162


16) Development Concept & Theories:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbQoRNY0vPU&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=174


17) New Public Administration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRYJY0IzE1k&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=177


18) Public Administration - Ecological Approach:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mDo9gt_YvA&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=178


19) Socio - Psychological Approach:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9CWbzCOhfg&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=181 & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bo1fnexCY8&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=198


20) Civil Society & Public Policy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mxh03_rwxQ&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=211


21) Gandhian Perspective on Development:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4K0qYcmZTA&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=221


22) Police Administration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEjzyiyJpfU&list=UUaIXqbYp2OJ4fdTM4JqZuDg&index=248


23) Concept Of Class In Karl Marx And Max Weber's Writings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQYSXUTNR2Q


_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________


The next post on this blog will deal with PUBLIC SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT.

Enlightening Public Administration Lecture-Videos Courtesy CEC UGC EDUSAT

To all the readers regularly updating themselves of this blog's activities,
Your informative blog is still active and the good news is that new posts regarding Public Administration ( Masters and M.Phil level) will be uploaded regularly from now on. So remain tuned.

_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________


Till then, listen into these enlightening videos by learned professors of the discipline of Public Administration, courtesy CEC - UGC EDUSAT, for the benefit of the readers:

1) Civil Services Exam. : Public Administration (Optional Subject):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJJoG6SrdIo


2) Inclusive Governance - Public Administration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA6J7ExMmpE  &  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R682RfLxuo


3) Development Administration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORWOn8om63M  &   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNbhXSQfeLU

4) Public Administration Evolution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxHVIux5KF4


5) Judicial Administration in India  :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-GtacJCL2g


6) Behavioural Approach - Public Administration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjg2nERHnH0


7) Administrative Behaviour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ1ndV3cDX8


8) Public Administration : Decentralization and Development in India:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tge6OIoPYag


9) Socio-Psychological Approach:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgENEmFVz-U


10) Public Administration in the 21st Century:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7rrlaF_ga0


11) Administrative Theory and Approaches - Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En5qEV28r-Q & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqAaqOvj83I


12) Idea of Inclusive democracy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDwfz9T5LUY


13) The Changing Contour of Administration Part 1 & Part 2 & Part 3 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2XiAchcq-U  &  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6cFUicj3dI & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbRD0z7Mqag


14) Administrative Theory and Approaches - Part 2:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mLmjMrhbbo


15) Mughal Period and it's Adminisration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwCr7E79464


16) Organisational Behaviour Part 1 & Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdlG2DObuvc&playnext=1&list=PLTxEXRyZ5igPtCWdxlBJO8f4UjPCWXa4f&feature=results_video  &  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yb2lUnf-7A


17) Planning In India Part 1, Part 2 And Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv8hK1Wk4c4 &  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sZ6-06drj4  &  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uws3z2GE2wY


18) New Public Management:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu3jDF7rwD4


19) Panchayati Raj System In India:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R87a11rK0FA


20) Politics & Governance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwyD0rZMj10


_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________


Thursday, December 13, 2012

Ethical Concerns In Public Administration

_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________

ETHICS - MEANING AND SIGNIFICANCE:
Ethics is a system of accepted beliefs,morals and values that influence human behaviour. It has been stressed upon in individual life as well as public life through time immemorial through sacred texts and theorists like the manusmriti, ramayana, mahabharata, etc. and Bentham and Rawls as well as Arostotle,etc. respectively.

The Behaviouralist school brought a dichotomy between facts and values in decision making and made it strictly rational like a machine model which was not successful and was questioned all the time. That led to the New Public Administration school of thought that brought back values at the centre stage along with facts and rationality in decision making.

The society,educational institutions,laws and their implementation and family play a large part in inculcating good values and morals in people. The political environment is also of significance as well as the behaviour of politicians directly and majorly affects the behaviour of his/her subordinates and his/her ethics.


MAXIMS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION ETHICS:
 Maxim of Legality and Rationality: An administrator will follow the law and rules that are framed to govern and guide various categories of policies and decisions.

Maxim of Responsibility and Accountability: An administrator would not hesitate to accept responsibility for his decision and actions. He would hold himself morally responsible for his actions and for the use of his discretion while making decisions. Moreover, he would be willing to be held accountable to higher authorities of governance and even to the people who are the ultimate beneficiaries of his decisions and actions.

Maxim of Work Commitment: An administrator would be committed to his duties and perform his work with involvement, intelligence and dexterity. As Swami Vivekananda observed: “Every duty is holy and devotion to duty is the highest form of worship.” This would also entail a respect for time, punctuality and fulfillment of promises made. Work is considered not as a burden but as an opportunity to serve and constructively contribute to society.

Maxim of Excellence: An administrator would ensure the highest standards of quality in administrative decisions and action and would not compromise with standards because of convenience or complacency. In a competitive international environment, an administrative system should faithfully adhere to the requisites of Total Quality Management.

Maxim of Fusion: An administrator would rationally bring about a fusion of individual, organisational and social goals to help evolve unison of ideals and imbibe in his behaviour a commitment to such a fusion. In situation of conflicting goals, a concern for ethics should govern the choices made.

Maxim of Responsiveness and Resilience: An administrator would respond effectively to the demands and challenges from the external as well as internal environment. He would adapt to environmental transformation and yet sustain the ethical norms of conduct. In situations of deviation from the prescribed ethical norms, the administrative system would show resilience and bounce back into the accepted ethical mould at the earliest opportunity.

Maxim of Utilitarianism: While making and implementing policies and decisions, an administrator will ensure that these lead to the greatest good (happiness, benefits) of the greatest number.

Maxim of Compassion: An administrator, without violating the prescribed laws and rules, would demonstrate compassion for the poor, the disabled and the weak while using his discretion in making decisions. At least, he would not grant any benefits to the stronger section of society only because they are strong and would not deny the due consideration to the weak, despite their weakness.

Maxim of National Interest: Though universalistic in orientation and liberal in outlook, a civil servant, while performing his duties, would keep in view the impact of his action on his nation’s strength and prestige. The Japanese, the Koreans, the Germans and the Chinese citizens (including civil servants), while performing their official roles, have at the back of their mind a concern and respect for their nation. This automatically raises the level of service rendered and the products delivered.

Maxim of Justice: Those responsible for formulation and execution of policies and decisions of governance would ensure that respect is shown to the principles of equality, equity, fairness, impartiality and objectivity and no special favours are doled out on the criteria of status, position, power, gender, class, caste or wealth.

Maxim of Transparency: An administrator will make decisions and implement them in a transparent manner so that those affected by the decisions and those who wish to evaluate their rationale, will be able to understand the reasons behind such decisions and the sources of information on which these decisions were made.

Maxim of Integrity: An administrator would undertake an administrative action on the basis of honesty and not use his power, position and discretion to serve his personal interest and the illegitimate interests of other individuals or groups.


There can be many more, however, the main motive is good governance and ethical practices backed by proper values and principles of public administration.


MEASURES SUCCESSFULLY TAKEN TOWARDS REINFORCEMENT OF ETHICS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION:
1) Establishment of Lok Ayuktas
2) Establishment of RTI Act
3) Citizen's Charters.
4) Ethics and code of conduct for public employees
5) Establishment of Vigilance Commissions
6) Establishment of Panchayati Raj Institutions
7) Partnership of Govt. - Civil Society Initiatives and its growing strength
8) Proposed Whistle blower Protection Act and Judicial Accountability And Standards Bill


OBSTACLES TO ETHICAL ACCOUNTABILITY:
1) Special expertise and Information held by the bureaucrats by virtue of their position is sometimes misused by them to fool the stakeholders as no one can surpass them in this knowledge area. RTI is in place but the poor and needy cannot afford it due to the cost involved as well as the information is sometimes never parted with leading the aggrieved to a harrowing experience leading to  the court rooms.

2) Full time status of bureaucrats make them corrupt, laid back and less accountable.

3) Massive expansion of bureaucracy has made the span of control of its heads/ ministers really cumbersome leading to arbitrary actions on the behalf of the former.

4) Lack of Coordination between established government anti corrupt agencies and institutions as well as their lack of teeth has lead to an even more chaotic situation on checking corruption.

5) Misinterpretation of role and obligation amongst the bureaucrats.Their role and obligation is to carry out policies for the upliftment of society and not towards the politicians for their vested interest or unimpactful policy decisions.

6) Subversion where certain government servants pass on critical secrets to enemies in exchange for pecuniary benefits or for sale of extra territorial loyalty.


ADMINISTRATIVE ETHICS ISSUE - THE WAY OUT:
Manipulation and lack of ethics lead to humongous negative effects and reduce efficiency in an organisation. Therefore the enforcement and development of administrative ethics in public servants in today's welfare state times as well as the sensitive position they occupy is of utmost priority and urgency.
The essentials to ensure the practice of ethics in administration are:
a) Faith,determination towards pursuit of excellence of service in their professional activities via methods of training and sensitisation.
b) Infusion of ethics into politics through trainings,etc so that it is passed on to their sub ordinates that are the civil servants.
c) Relations between citizens and personnel to create favourable opinion of society and people towards public services and servants.
d) Need for character building in public servants through education,adult education and functional or job responsibility literacy.
e) Impartiality should be practiced and encouraged.
f) Political neutrality in civil servants.
g) Education of people and society regarding their rights the work of public servants and redressal mechanisms available to the people against them and the government.

*******************************************************************************
_______________________________________________________________________________

Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Conflict Resolution - A Redefinition

_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________


Loomis and Loomis state that Conflict is an ever present process in human relations. Conflict may define, maintain and strengthen group boundaries,contributing to the group's distinctiveness and increasing group solidarity and cohesion.


CHANGING NATURE OF CONFLICT:
Earlier theories and discussions regarding conflicts were only done with regards to organisations and to a limited extent to the environment of organisations and even these were confined to efficiency and productivity of enterprises. But now, policies are not made in isolation, as globalisation has made it a universal and worldwide process involving all types of stakeholders which are not limited to groups or nations but triggered by ethnic,religious,racial and economic differences as well, therefore conflict resolution has now been redefined or updated to help resolve these issues of international conflicts/disagreements between stakeholders.



PHASES OF CONFLICTS:
1) Potential Conflict Phase : At this stage conflict is present at very low level of intensity. Structural factors and underlying causes create division among groups along socio economic, cultural and political lines. Mobilisation of collective discontentment begins but not organised, thus, preventive action at this point is not risky and has high potential payoff.

2) Gestation Phase: Consolidation of mobilisation is the characteristic of this phase as inter-group relations are politicised and popular mobilisation puts pressure on decision makers to address the issues. Polarisation between groups increase but one must take note that issues are still negotiable though preventive actions may cost initially but the potential payoffs are still much positive.

3) Triggering and Escalation Phase : There is a real and visible change in the group's economic,social or political conditions can trigger the escalation of conflict. Inter elite ties break down and social interactions focus on organised reaction as political exchanges fade and conflicting parties lose confidence in each other and feel they cannot compromise. Intervention at this phase becomes risky as well as costly.

4) Post - Conflict Phase : In this phase preventive interventions aim at reestablishing communication channels between the conflicting groups,in order to avoid a new round of conflict.

These need not occur in the manner laid out and often the lack of information or incentives to act fast are barriers to resolving conflicts.


CONFLICT RESOLUTION AT THE MICRO LEVEL:
1) Intra Organisational Level - These are conflicts occurring within organisations.

A) Task conflict - Disagreement about the Communication or directions from superiors among subordinates as some of the orders may lie outside their " Zone of Acceptance". The leadership should make sure that they substantiate their communications among the subordinates to resolve this and the ways to do this are suggested by Mary Parker Follett:
i) Domination to resolve a conflict- Here only one party wins which is the stronger one. The weaker party remains disgruntled and this will lead to very ugly consequences later. therefore this should be avoided.
ii) Compromise - Where no party benefits but settle mutually for the time being. But this sort of resolution is only a short term one and the conflicts keep building up internally and become more dangerous when it shows its face again and then it might become out of hand to even try to settle it. This method also she did not suggest much.
iii) Integration to resolve a conflict - Follett considers this technique to be the best. As under this method there is a feeling of win-win equation & both conflicting groups see their issues addressed. And this is long term solution.

THE PROCESS OF INTEGRATION(in detail):
This process unfolds in three steps:
a) Surfacing of conflict or identification of existing issue.
b) Analysis of the conflict and development of a solution - A solution should be such that it no way leaves any room for the conflict resurfacing or a new conflict arising and it should benefit all and a circular response should be evoked where every member gets to vent out his feelings so that he feels heard.
c) Anticipation of results.

HINDRANCES TO THE SMOOTH IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROCESS OF INTEGRATION:
a) It requires high degree of knowledge and analysis.
b) It requires high order of creativity and innovation
c) It may require more resources.
d) Superiors may have the tendency to continue domination.
e) True integration may not be achieved as groups may not agree to substitution.
f) Rushing to the application of scheme may create problems as its proper comprehension may require time.
g) Groups may feel inadequately represented but may not show at that particular time when integration is seemed to be achieved.


B) Inter Group Conflict: It deals with relationships among people/teams in an organisation more than a task and it is inevitable, so to manage it for optimal group maintenance, a six step process has been described:
a) Recognition and acknowledgement that conflict exists
b) Analysis of the existing situation
c) Facilitation of communication
d) Negotiation
e) Provision for necessary adjustments,reinforcements,confirmations
f) Realisation of living with conflicts as all conflicts cannot be resolved


C) Procedural Conflict : It occurs when group members disagree about the procedure to be followed in accomplishing the group goal. Solutions are-
a) New procedures may be formulated and a new agenda suggested.
b) Group goal may be modified
 This along with Task Conflict is of productive nature and brings in many reforms in the way of doing things more efficiently in the eyes of the higher management/decision makers.


That was about Intra - Organisational conflicts or within an organisation conflicts. Now we move on to discussing Intra Organisation Conflicts or conflicts occurring amongst two or more organisations.

INTRA ORGANISATIONAL CONFLICTS:
It has two aspects.
A) Environment of the particular organisation-: Two organisations may be in the same environment but clashing goals. For example - Scheduled Tribes ( Recognition of forest rights) Act 2005, while Ministry of Environment and forests may be concerned about the depleting forest cover by allowing more and more rural people into them for livelihood, on the other hand the Ministry of Tribal Affairs may be tackling the livelihood issues of the tribals. Thus such incompatible goals create conflicts that may lead to jurisdictional conflicts as well as the issue would be the control over areas given to tribals.

B) Institutional Pluralism -: In an effort for efficient governance and government services sometimes many service delivery agencies operate in the same domain, both in the private and public sphere and compete with each other. Conflict and competition may not be confused here as though they both have a common root cause of individuals striving towards incompatible goals, yet the major difference is that interference that hinders attainment of the goal, if done by established rules and regulations is termed as competition but when no rules are followed then it turns into a conflict.



CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AT THE MACRO LEVEL:
i) Policy making as Conflict Resolution,here all interest groups, protest groups and civil society as well as all stakeholders of a policy initiative should democratically contemplate and arrive at policies suitable to all so that conflicts do not arise as far as possible.
ii) Proactive Conflict Resolution. Catch the conflict when it is young instead of letting it escalate.
iii) Integrated Conflict management systems.
iv) Strengthening all government and non government institutions to tackle conflicts.
v) A central coordinating point for all conflict resolution efforts. A very good example of which is the prime minister's office in India where it intervenes between conflicts of ministries.
vi) Strong system evaluation and monitoring mechanisms.
vii) Capacity Building of individuals and institutions.
viii) People's participation as much as possible
ix) Civil society organisations
x) International Organisations of Conflict Resolution ( UNO,ICJ,etc) who work by international treaties and  charters,mandates while negotiating and arbitrating international disputes brought before them

_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Growing Role Of Civil Society Organisations

_______________________________________________________________________________
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________


CIVIL SOCIETY:
Civil society is the arena outside of the family, the state, and the market where people associate to advance common interests. It is sometimes considered to include the family and the private sphere and then referred to as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business.Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon defines civil society as 1) the aggregate of non-governmental organizations and institutions that manifest interests and will of citizens or 2) individuals and organizations in a society which are independent of the government. Sometimes the term is used in the more general sense of "the elements such as freedom of speech, an independent judiciary, etc, that make up a democratic society".
NGO's and NPO's are part of civil society. However there is no unanimous view to define civil society and it keeps changing.
The civil society also does include political parties and professional organisations. They help encourage public interest and participation and helps in formulation and implementation of policies of govt. as well as bring core issues of concern in the eyes of the govt to take care of.

CONTEMPORARY CIVIL SOCIETY & THE IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION:
Since the 1980s, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have emerged as an important force on the world stage working to democratize decision-making processes, protect human rights and provide essential services to the most needy. Underpinning this expanded role in global governance has been a certain disillusionment with the role of the state in facilitating sustainable human development and the belief that more flexible, motivated and decentralized structures have the required skills and responsibility to undertake this role.
In recent years, the arena of NGO action has expanded rapidly from local and national settings to the international level. The institutional transformations that are occurring in the context of globalization have seen international actors — such as United Nations agencies, regional organizations, finance and trade institutions and transnational corporations — as well as inter-governmental "summits" assume an increasingly prominent role in global governance. NGOs have been late-comers to this evolving system of global governance but are now finding ways to influence the international decision-making process associated with development issues.
In this globalised world there is a worry of the accountability of the Global civil society considering there are no longer any barriers between nation states. Refer - http://www.globalautonomy.ca/global1/glossary_pop.jsp?id=CO.0028
Also refer to another interesting read on the challenges to Civil Society in the Indian context - http://openspace.org.in/civilsocietyindia

______________________________________________________________________________ 
Click on ' JOIN THIS SITE ' to get instant updates on new posts on this blog. And also for 'INTERACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS' regarding this blog's posts 'JOIN ITS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY/GROUP' that is mentioned on the right hand side of this page.
_______________________________________________________________________________