Course Reflection of Organizations in Public Administrations
Question
How has this course changed, improved, and informed your theoretical and practical
understanding for the study of complex organizations in public administration?
Your exploration of the assigned readings, the quality of your academic journal writing, and your class participation will largely inform
how you answer this question. Include Tulenko & Vervoot article as the Covid-19 presentation.


Solution
Course Reflection of Organizations in
Public Administrations
The
course has changed, improved, and informed me on how to understand
organizations in public administrations in a theoretical and practical way.
Public organizations vary from nonprofit and private organizations because of
their democratic institutions, relationship to the state, citizenry and
constitutional heritage, and commitment to the rule of law. It has informed me
how the separation of powers system of the American government has a thorough
contact on the way public organizations provide the work and the state to
promote its constitutional culture. Judicial, legislative, and executive
branches of government are taken responsibility by the civil servants and
public agencies. (Kickert et al., 2013) Public organizations serve a wide range
of important services at all levels of government where together with
organization theory, behavior, and change serves people with high intelligence
to figure out the failures and success of the organizations. It also reinforces
the understanding of getting methods to boost or strengthen organizations to
authorize their goals successfully. They develop mechanisms that help the
people in charge like managers know the challenges impacting behavioral
dynamics at all heights of an organization.
According
to the representative bureaucracy, a theoretical understanding allows for
various views, such as the methods of sex, ethnicity, and race. It is essential
because it reflects the values of the communities the public agencies represent
and how the community looks like. (Bradbury & Kellough, 2011) The
bureaucracy can be represented either in passive or active representations.
Passive presentation is applied once an organization invites specific people
from categorized associations which include; ethnic and racial minorities and
women who belong to its ranks. Therefore, bureaucracy can be said to be
passively representative where it goes to the extent of employing women and
minorities in details where they are proportional to their shares of the population.
The second representative, which is active, implies that the bureaucrats are
supposed to act in two ways: unconsciously or consciously to know the hierarchy
of the specific people who give identities of their groups are not omitted when
the policy decisions are made. Thus the theory of representative bureaucracy
recommends that beliefs, attitudes, values, and function are what the
bureaucrats exercise discretionary have formed on the evidence of their social
cultures.
Social
equity is the effective commitment to equality, justice, and fairness in
establishing the distribution of public services and public policies. It
focuses on the measures designed to boost the well-being of minorities and
political power. It has changed my way of thinking ad showed me that everyone
has equal rights and should receive the same treatment. In advancing social
equity, due process and procedural fairness are important. It is a concept that
can be perceived through various approaches whereby it covers a large range of
problems. Moreover, the use of pedestrian crossing appliances for the
physically disabled is a measure of social equity. (Mckown, 2012) Studies in
different dimensions show that citizens should have equal and fair
opportunities in the administrative process to achieve public services. There
is a difference in social equity between private administrations and public
administrations. For instance, in public organizations, one has to be patient
to be served, unlike the private organizations' people who the money will be
served first where they do not promote equality.
Cultural
competency is a way to understand and respect diverse cultural and ethnic
associates, their traditions, histories, value systems, and beliefs in the
distribution of services. It is also relevant, timely, and essential where it
is a good characteristic of government. For their organizations and managers to
be effective and more relevant, they are usually substantively rather than
merely significantly influencing the responsiveness of public services. To
hardness and embrace the power of various to address social issues, cultural
competency goes beyond understanding, accommodating, and tolerating diversity.
The examples that give shape to the cultural competency include; age, place of
birth, religion, family, crime, and other social service areas. The national
center for cultural competence shows that cultural competency is a way of
having the skills, knowledge, and values to do work effectively to adopt
institutional policies and a diverse population, hence professional practices
to adhere to the specific requirements of the client populations. It has also
informed me that cultural competency serves more than ensuring government
federally associations are protected from discrimination.
The
issue on covid-19 has underscored the interdependence of administrations and
politics, determination and information of scientific research and systems for
employing that research to government's obligations to shield public health.
(Tulenko & Vervoot, 2016) The government should recognize the institutional
obligations and responsibilities of the administrative state to the citizenry
it obliges. It is to my understanding that public health is one of the
essential missions of government. The leadership of executives in the federal
system is strengthened where the implications of chaotic, disjoint, and
confusing statements are addressed by the federal agencies, therefore building
a clearer understanding of the complications of "transactional federalism."
The government depends on public management challenges and opportunities where
conflicts, collaborations, finances, and capacities are important to immediate
answers to catastrophes like the pandemics (covid-19). I have learned that
cooperation and communications are essential, just like the capacities.
In
the case of covid-19, bureaucracy is professionally approached as a solution,
specifically the public health agencies and the hospitals. There should be
cooperation, responsibility, and allocation to explore. (Tulenko & Vervoot,
2016) During the pandemic period, it is essential to use social equity for
everyone to have the same rights and get the proper help needed. Learned that
there is a need to fight the racists that enhance its influence on Native Americans,
blacks, and other groups. The other group, the victim of the pandemic, faces
abuse and domestic violence, which has increased in some societies and should
be taken with precautions to help the victims. Politicians may deny that there
is more increase on covid-19 through infections, the trend of fatality rates,
and the dangers of community transmissions as an important area of public
health. The coordination effort at a national level is required rather than a
fragmented city, local or regional effort.
Organizations
are advised to apply effective lessons around the globe to learn different
tactics from their neighbors. (Tulenko & Vervoot, 2016) The organizations
see themselves as unique or their immediate associates. However, the
experiences of public managers and governments in familiar conditions
internationally have a big deal to appreciate as problem-solving innovations,
and the data is available on the web at any cost, backed by public
professionals eager to divide their accomplishment. After examining covid-19
strategies, it is confirmed that there are two critical factors: national
culture and institutional arrangements. Residential committees accomplish
assembled citizens to agree with self-organizations and restrictions shares
informal channels for citizen methods against the virus. The non-governmental
organizations have been failures and disappointing in sharing health system
requirements with citizen donations.
Professions
in public health have dedicated their lives to gaining knowledge and authorizing
the teachings from the pandemic and other crises. The highest levels of
government have ignored and denied the fact that there was the removal of the
specialists who looked into the case of the pandemic at the beginning. It is
argued that evidence-based management should address the pandemic issue and
consider its impacts on public health. For the strength of evidence-based
analysis, the policy capacity should be enhanced through public managers and
coproduction. (Tulenko & Vervoot, 2016) The government neglected the other
pandemic cases where they even failed to use the evidence-based analysis where
it contained natural disasters and from the experience of the other countries.
The local government should be able to make scientific and independent decisions
in an emergency since evidence-based decision-making may not be simple.
Therefore, there have been three core establishments: collaborations,
reflective improvement, and data analysis, which can simply be used to get the
evidence in case of an emergency.
During
the course, I also learned about the classical organization theory. It was one
of the organizations in the early 1930s where it still exists today and has its
impacts. It includes; industrial engineering, mechanical, and economics. It is
based upon the following; where the organizations exist to influence economic
goals and production-related. Through labor and specialization, production can
be increased and deals with the structure or anatomy of formal organizations.
(Shafritz et al., 2016) The classical organizations are also based on four
arcades: structure, division of labor, scalar and functional processes, and
span of control. A span of control is essential in the area for the forms of
the organization, which starts through growth. It controls the theory related
to the data of assistance a manager can adequately supervise. The scalar and
functional processes focus on the organizations' horizontal and vertical
measures accordingly. The scalar process can be determined as the chain of command,
unity of command, and authority delegation.
Structure
deals with the logical relations of the objectives in an organization arranged
to influence the company's policy carefully. It also accomplishes the pattern
and system. The classical organization theory primarily deals with two basic
designs, staff and the line. Organization designs are naturally based on the
direction of specialization of duties in the company. (Shafritz et al., 2016)
The division of labor is undoubtedly the cornerstone among four elements where
they grow as corollaries. For instance, functional and scalar growth requires a
departmentalization and specialization of functions. Classical organization
theory is determined by using hierarchical levels of coordination and authority
and horizontal differentiation between units. The structural theories of the
classical organization include; Adam Smith, Henri Fayol, Fredrick Winslow
Taylor, Max Weber, and Luther Gulick. It was stated that Taylor enlarged the
work of Smith by determining the increasing output by the use of scientific
approaches to detect the most efficient, fastest, and least fatiguing
production ways.
The
essential of their work was the collective signs of progress which explained
the efficiency of work and what organizations meant. There was the use of
scientific management and established bureaucracy to serve students; when the
new organizations developed, the students' demands for service diversified and
increased. (Shafritz et al., 2016) The ideas of workers and how they can
develop them are not considered in this theory. Their main focus is to increase
efficiency to reach their financial mission or goal. Specialization is another
way in the theory, which is now in production. The specialist is the one
allowed in the production process whereby replacing craftsman who works in the
production before producing products. The basic intermediaries for
organizations are the structures used to accomplish bounded rationality, the
main object. Classical organization theory shows the organizational specialties
are rational and impersonal; the basic principles, organizational structure
designing, and the basic management function of organizations. The citizens
lost their humanity in the community and lost their initiative in work due to
the machines.
Adam
Smith discussed parts of how the division of labor increased production,
leading to the factory line factory, which diminished the need for educating
employees where agriculture was seen to be the exception. (Berry et al., 2013)
Emphasized the free market and invisible hand and remained a dominant economic
model until the great depression. On his experiences and observations, the
theorists and practitioners focused on the managers on how they would control
and organize the work process to increase the advantage of division of labor
and work specialization. He changed my way of thinking through his assumptions.
The great development of the quantity of work, whereby in the effect of the
division of labor, similar data of citizens can perform which owes three
circumstances; to the saving of the time which is generally lost in the passing
from one species of work to another, the increase of skill in every specific
employee and lastly, the invention of a great data of machines which abridge and
ease labor, and allows one person to work supposed to be done by doing.
Fayol
discussed the French management theorist, showing where the ideas became
largely influential in the early 20th century and the general and
industrial management. He talked about management principles, including order,
equity, discipline, division of work, initiative, unity of command, and
centralization. He also believed in certain concepts like; financial,
technical, security, commercial, managerial, and accounting. According to his
principles, there were more details. (Godwin & Johnson, 2017) The unity of
command discussed how in all the human groups, commerce, industry, army, dual
command, home, and state is the major origin of conflicts, which had a specific
claim on the attention of superiors of all the ranks like the organizations.
Division of labor produced great and more work with the same type of effort. It
is the most identified way of individual and group of people, which reduces the
effort and attention that should be directed.
Discipline
occurs to show obedience, energy, and application, which shows us respect
between the employees and the owner of the organization. The agreements among
them will determine the behavior towards each other and the respect they give
one another. (Godwin & Johnson, 2017) It determines their formalities of
discipline, either the superior or the minor. Without the act of discipline in
the organizations, there cannot be quality and smooth work at a time.
Therefore, discipline is what an individual makes it. Order means placing
things into their particular place for easy identification. Or placing people
into their perspective areas for easy identification. Equity is a way of
showing equality by showing or giving them the rights, they deserve without
being racists, unlike justice, where it uses the method of execution and does
not treat everyone equally. Centralization shows how work is divided where
every work, animal, or social is all sent out in parts or groups in the
movement.
Taylor
has improved my understanding of an American engineer who uses ideas largely
associated with the progressive Era. Show that if the management were
insufficient or enough, the workers would not be enough either. He was also an
intellectual leader of the scientific management movement. Used positive
effects of labor-saving devices. Benefits and accomplishments of scientific
management and scientific management benefited management and workers. (Golden
et al., 2021) It is evolution through the steps of scientific management but
not the use of theory. The way of elimination, through evolution, is regarded
as scientific management. The way for scientific management to exist needs to
have a complete mental revolution on the part of the employees working under
it, as their task towards themselves and their employers, hence completing
their tasks towards themselves. After many object teachings, the employees see
the management where they know the surplus can be made great by arranging both
sides, which should stop their fighting, pulling part, and starting to push
hard so that there is no room for quarreling.
The
burdens are usually divided into four rightly or wrongly groups. First,
bringing together the science, scientific selection of the employee involves a
complete re-division of the work of the establishment and progressive
development. In scientific management, everything is not small and later
becomes the unit of the experiment, which develops into a law. Moreover, they
increase the individual's output, save money, and make it worthwhile. One of
the principles of Taylor was that no employee would be assigned for work unless
paid a large amount than the old pay. (Golden et al., 2021) In the new
development, the teacher is allowed to teach people and assist them in gaining
knowledge which will help them in their new methods of work, hence earning a
better living for themselves. He also says that scientific management does pay
since it increases its profits. However, the owners of the scientific management
get more profit, and they do not work a lot like the workmen. They can even
call the business's name by their names, making them known legitimately.
Taylor
greatly impacted Max Weber's work on his work on bureaucracy. Weber benefited
through the ideal type approach to extrapolate and the real world. He was also
a German political economist and sociologist.
Major intellectual figure in public administration and sociology.
Dramatically impacted the study of bureaucracy. The characteristics of his
bureaucracy include; the importance of rules in the office, emphasis on written
documents. Governed by-laws, rules and regulations, supervision of lower
offices by higher offices. Key to modern management and the activity demands
the full working capacity of the official. The ways of bureaucracy; major
elements in the rationalization of the modern world, bureaucrats are to be
neutral servants and embody a concept of justice. The position of the official;
office holding is a vacation, and the personal position of the official is
patterned in distinctive ways. (Weber, 2015) The flaws of Weber's theory
include being oppressive, limiting individual freedom, favoring specialists
over generalists, increasing "red tape," and organizational rules
becoming consecrated with moral legitimacy.
In conclusion, I also knew about
representative bureaucracy in the course, which allows for divergent views. It
also shows how the theorists used their knowledge on different kinds of science
and others developed them for their benefit, like the scientific management
where the workmen worked hard just for the owners to get a legitimate way
through the business. There is evidence of how public organizations have
neglected the health of their citizens by not taking the earliest precautions to
shield their citizens. The covid-19 has infected the citizens, transmitting it
through the government denies it.
References
Berry, C., Paganelli, M., &
Smith, C. (2013). Adam Smith and
self-interest [Ebook]. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
Bradbury, M., & Kellough, E.
(2011). Representative Bureaucracy:
accessing the evidence of active representation [Ebook]. Retrieved 18
December 2021.
Godwin, A., & Johnson, F.
(2017). Application of the Henri
Fayol principles in start-up organizations [Ebook]. Retrieved 18
December 2021.
Golden, M., Sonia, T., & Leslie,
T. (2021). Frederick Taylor's
scientific management principles: relevance and validity [Ebook].
Retrieved 18 December 2021.
Kickert, W., Higgs, M., &
Grandia, J. (2013). The management
of change in public organizations [Ebook]. Retrieved 18 December 2021,
from.
Louis, J., & Guthrie, C.
(2013). Henri Fayol [Ebook].
Retrieved 18 December 2021, from.
Mckown, C. (2012). Social equity theory and racial-ethnic
achievement gaps [Ebook]. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
Shafritz, J., Ott, S., & Jang,
Y. (2016). Classics of organization
theory [Ebook]. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
Tulenko, K., & Vervoot, D.
(2016). A call for action: Public
administration, public policy, and public health responses to covid-19 pandemic [Ebook].
Retrieved 18 December 2021, from.
Weber, M. (2015). Bureaucracy [Ebook]. Retrieved 18
December 2021.




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