Discuss the main tenets of the “new public service.” How do they differ from traditional models?
Please answer comprehensively the questions below in an essay format. Incorporate the materials from your readings and other class assignments in your answers. Each question is worth 20 points. The answers should be uploaded on Canvas and should be e-mailed to the instructor. Due date: April 27, 2020 by 11:59 pm.
- Discuss the main tenets of the “new public service.” How do they differ from traditional models?
The New Public Service emphasizes public participation in the political process. One of the best ways to achieve this is through discretion, mostly with street-level administrators. Discretion enacted on this level helps the administrative state become an arm of a country’s democratic demands. For the NPS to administer discretion correctly, an organization must have a free and open form of hierarchy within the organization. The idea allows people who are faced with complicated problems to create unique solutions. The bottom-up approach here lets street-level administrators respond to citizens’ issues directly, rather than moving matters up the chain of command.
The OPM theory of administration, pioneered by President Woodrow Wilson, argues that administrative bodies should be separate from the policymaking process. It claims that administrative functions work best when operating in a strict hierarchical setting. Mostly, administrators have a problem that is described and fixed by their managers. The administrator’s job is to act within the instructions they receive. Under the system of OPM, the American bureaucratic state expanded significantly but also became less responsive at the street-level. This outgrowth of unresponsive bureaucracy caused costs to balloon and people to view services as less effective. The NPM theory was then seen as the answer to OPM’s problems.
- Is power a positive or destructive force? Does it vary based on the situation? Discuss, bringing in relevant examples where appropriate.
The different perspectives of analyzing power depend on how it has been used and how it influences society. Therefore, power can both be positive and negative, depending on the people in authority and those affected. When the people in power observe ethics in administration, the power becomes a vital force that helps in the smooth running of activities and realization of compliance to the set order. On the other hand, power becomes a destructive force when those in authority misuse it and cause losses and destruction to the inferior members. Positive power is a case when a person in jurisdiction provides shelter, food, and clothing to the needy members of society. The move helps to improve the wellbeing of the beneficiaries and hence fulfilling the positive force aspect of power. On the contrary, the same leader may use the same powers to grab land and pocket funds for providing public resources. Such a case, the leader would have imposed negative force on the people they rule, reducing the benefits they are required to enjoy.
- Compare and contrast the different types of teams. Do certain types of teamwork better in certain situations? Discuss, providing relevant examples where appropriate.
Work teams are permanent and have specific skills to perform day to day tasks. Problem-solving teams are temporary, come together in order to solve a specific problem, and usually disband once a problem has been solved, and an example would be student projects. Self-Managed Teams are where team members have decision making power. Members of this type of team are usually trained to perform other team member’s tasks. An example would be different teams in charge of different areas of a business; customer services, bakery, and groceries. Cross-Functional Teams come together to solve a specific problem. This type of team is a team of people with different skills set and can either be permanent or temporary. An example would be oxygen and power, communication systems, providing crew communication and support. Virtual teams are a team of people who are geographically dispersed. They communicate and collaborate through telephone/ video conference or in virtual worlds. An example would be my capstone course, where five students virtually are coming together to work on a compensation project.
- Compare and contrast the theories of conflict. What are some advantages and disadvantages of each? Discuss, providing relevant examples where appropriate.
Conflict Theory and Structural Functional Theory are both theories of social change. They conceive society as an organism characterized by a fair degree of stability. Their parts are postulated to “hang together” in a system of functional interdependence, much like a human body or a relatively smooth-running engine. While different theorists have different positions regarding change, all of them claim that both are theories of social change and capable of altering the fundamental structure of society.
To contrast the two theories, Conflict Theory is attributed to Karl Marx, a German sociologist. Conflict is not random but rather is a systematic product of the structure of society itself. According to Marx there is no social change without conflict because the history of all societies from past to present is a history of class struggles. The social and economic pyramids represent the inequity in a society which results to conflicts between the owners of capital and labor. On the other hand, Structural Functional Theory falls under the evolutionary and equilibrium theories. It asserts that social change is inherent in all societies. It is organismic and conceive of society as a set of mutually interdependent structures that operate in a functional or dysfunctional fashion for one another.
- What is organizational culture? How is it created or formed? What does it consist of? Discuss, providing relevant examples where appropriate. Connect organization change to Lewin’s model of organizational change and explain the dynamic relationship between organizational culture and organizational change.
Organizational culture includes an organization’s expectations, experiences, philosophy, as well as the values that guide member behavior, and is expressed in member self-image, inner workings, interactions with the outside world, and future expectations. It’s a set of shared assumptions that guide what happens in organizations by defining appropriate behavior for various situations.
Organizational culture is formed by the behavior of people in the organization. An organization’s leaders have an especially significant impact on the creation and maintenance of organizational culture. Organizational culture is a set of beliefs shared by the people in an organization. It contains the members’ values, norms, and assumptions.
Organizational culture and organizational change are interrelated in their complex nature that makes them difficult to grasp. Kurt Lewin produced three stages for change to occur that were; unfreezing-change-refreeze. Lewin claims that behavior is “a dynamic balance of forces working in opposing directions.” Organizational culture, therefore, can realize both advancement and impendence, help, and hindrance. Culture is a provision of a sense of belonging to individuals making them subscribe to a vital figure more than oneself. Therefore, an attempt to impose change is regarded as a threat to one’s culture and a sense of identity.