Cross Administrative Culture & Values

CROSS ADMINITRATIVE CULTURE AND VALUES

A research report submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for Cross Administrative Culture and Values subject

Presented to: Dr. Aquila

Prepared by: Ester Karosekali PhD Development Administration student

Graduate Studies Business and Management Philippines Christian University Dasmarinas Summer 2008-2009 1

ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE - THE CONCEPTS According to the recently published ENCARTA WORLD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, it means at least nine different things, three of which can be ignored here: they relate to 1. Biology as in a culture for growing micro organisms; 2. The micro organisms grown

in

such

an

environment;

and

3.

Tillage,

as

when

preparing land for growing crops. The six other senses are all relevant to administrative culture, as summarized below. To help us distinguish between them, a distinctive term is proposed for each manifestation of administrative culture. 1. The Arts - music, literature, sculpture and painting. We may

write

Culture,

capitalized,

for

this

concept

and

Aesthetic Administrative Culture for the aesthetic products seen

in

Public

Works

that

glorify

the

achievements

of

a

People and a State - they adorn public buildings, parks, murals, and sculptures, and they promote ceremonial music and public festivals. 2. Knowledge and Sophistication - the result of an excellent education. Preparing humane public officials, such as members of the Administrative Class, who are capable of integrating and implementing complex policies for the general welfare is an example of Educated Administrative Culture at its best. The

tradition

of

generalist

career

bureaucracies

is

as

ancient as the Chinese mandarinate. It reached India via the

2

British Imperial Indian Civil Service, from which it migrated to

the

English

Administrative

Class

and,

radically

transformed, the American career civil services. 3. Shared Beliefs and Practices - the anthropological sense of

a

culture

includes

all

the

distinctive

attitudes

and

behaviours of a community - in this sense we may speak of bureaucratic culture, referring to the characteristic lifeways of public officials, including military personnel as well as civil servants. The bureaucratic culture may be seen as one dimension of a total cultural system that exists in a single

society

bureaucratic societies

-

more

culture

where

generates

or,

the

that

broadly, reproduce

dynamics

distinctive

we

of

find

themselves

governance

cultural

patterns

by

features

in

of

many

officials

that

exist

independently of the local cultural system. 4. People who share a Culture - anthropologists also refer to the community whose members adhere to shared beliefs and practices as a culture. In this sense, bureaucratic cultures pertain

to

Traditional

bureaucracies societies

or,

more

normally

broadly,

have

a

to

societies.

well-established

cultural system shared by all their members of a society, but modern

societies

are

increasingly

heterogeneous

as

global

forces intrude into and transform their ways of life. In this context, across

bureaucracies political

increasingly

boundaries,

both 3

resemble because

each

other

administrative

organizations beliefs

and

actively

spontaneously practices,

borrow

and

and

export

produce also some

their

because of

own

distinctive

public

their

officials

characteristic

features. 5. Shared Attitudes - in a metaphoric sense, we speak of a group's code of conduct as its organizational culture. The code of silence, for example, is a common attitude of public officials who conceal each other's misconduct, perhaps hoping thereby to escape personal responsibility - we may call it self-protective administrative culture. One way to identify this form of administrative culture is to observe the changes in attitude and behaviour of officials when they are on-duty by comparison with how they act when they are off-duty. 6. Improvement - a systematic effort to enhance skills and capabilities as exemplified in programs of physical culture. Administratively, training

and

we

this might

can

take

understand

the

form

normative

of

in-service

administrative

culture as activities that improve the efficiency and quality of

public

training.

administration Normative

through

administrative

research, culture

education results

and from

efforts by political leaders and top bureaucrats to reform (or "re-invent") organizational structure and guidelines in order to achieve more efficiency and responsible governance. No doubt, conscientious public servants also seek to improve

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their own performance - in this sense administrative culture involves the enhancement of administrative performance. Administrative culture marks perception, interpretation and behaviour patterns of publicly official (an inclusive leading official).

An

themselves,

administrative opposite

administrative

new

external

internal

perspective

co-workers

etc.)

aspect

(opposite

(among

and

an

politicians,

citizen, media etc.) can be differentiated.

Culture and Diversity Culture

is

a

system

of

values,

beliefs,

traditions

and

practices which structures and regulates the behaviour of individuals as well as of groups of human beings; as such, culture influences the lives of individuals and collectives. A culture is generally embodied in “its arts, music, oral and written exemplary

literature,

moral

individuals

and

life, the

ideals

vision

of

of

excellence,

the

good

life”

(Parekh, 2000, pp. 143-144). Culture helps citizens to lead their

lives

with

freedom

and

dignity,

which,

over

time,

becomes heritage. The cultural heritage of a nation may be seen as possessing a composite and heterogeneous culture, drawing

upon

represented

by

diverse its

traditions. myths,

A

customs,

culture rituals,

is

also

symbols,

traditions, institutions and the manner of communication. As

5

such,

it

is

not

uncommon

to

see

different

societies

differently interpreting, prioritizing and operational zing their vision of a good life, moral values, myths and customs in

their

represents

respective various

cultures.

cultural

Cultural

communities’

diversity, distinct

then,

ways

of

life, beliefs and practices and their views of the world surrounding them. Human diversity consists of various attributes or markers, such as culture, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, caste, tribe, physical ability, sexual orientation, age, economic, geographical background and status. In this essay, the author concentrates on the cultural dimension of human diversity. There are two main constituent parts of cultural diversity: cultural freedom and multiculturalism.

Has cultural diversity weakened the merit principle in the public service? One of the foundations of the traditional Western public administration system has been the merit principle, which emerged as a main component of the Western administrative culture,

largely

administrative

influenced

philosophy

by

gurus.

Max The

Weber American

and

other

scientific

management specialists thought that science of administration was an end itself worthy of systematic study and improvement. For

them,

government

administration

was

a

machine

to

be

driven by scientific management theories such as POSDCORB 6

principles, PPBS, MBO, etc. It was also thought that the scientific study of administration led to the discovery of principles of administration analogous to the principles or laws of the physical sciences. And finally, it was assumed that the principles of administration determined the way in which specific administrative values such as efficiency and economy could be realized. In such a scientific environment, the use of merit principle became the main ingredient which sustained the functioning of government administration.

Although the human element was introduced at a later stage, public administration remained a scientific endeavour. The individuality was emphasized in scientific management because the individual was the unit of measurement in relation to output, efficiency and accountability. Such a philosophy was well suited for the entrenchment of the merit principle, which encouraged individual achievement. The merit principle was

initially

used

to

control

political

interference

and

patronage as well as corruption in the government service recruitment

and

appointments.

It

also

meant

that

public

servants would not be permitted to engage in any partisan work.

The

promotion

principle, in

the

when

public

applied

service,

to

recruitment

emphasized

and

individual

suitability to perform a fixed set of duties. Merit, then, involved the determination of an individual’s basic abilities (including

educational

qualifications, 7

training

and

preparedness for the task) and the ability to develop new skills as change dictated.

It was much later, after World War II, which a different philosophy of administration emerged which stated that public service administration cannot be reduced to a science alone because the imperatives of ethics and morality could remain fenced out. Emergent values such as equity, social justice and non-discrimination based on race, ethnic origin, culture, language, etc. started making inroads into the monolithic world of administrative culture. However, the introduction of social

equity

in

the

public

service

(human

resources)

management also created an uncertainty including the fear for loss of objectivity, efficiency, economy and accountability. Thus,

a

tortuous

evolution

occurred

when

the

issue

of

managing diversity (or social equity, as well as affirmative action) in the public service was raised which was perceived as the beginning of the end of the merit principle.

In each of the countries where an affirmative action, equal employment

opportunity

or

a

quota

system

was

introduced,

various objections were raised: a) It was thought that such a social equity programme may not in reality benefit those who were the real victims of discrimination but assist and accelerate the mobility of those in an organization who (because of their race 8

or ethnic origin) were already doing well under the existing system. b) It was also claimed that if the high test scores were to be reduced or waived especially for the disadvantaged, then such a discriminatory practice would get entrenched indefinitely

thereby

weakening

the

effectiveness

of

government operations. c) It was suggested that without a sunset clause to such a practice even after the public service employment has achieved

it

target

level

for

representation

of

the

proportion of disadvantaged groups to the population at large, the practice would be continued. d) Finally, if such a privilege is granted once, it could turn

into

a

fundamental

right

to

those

cultural

minorities for generations to come. These questions are still asked in many countries. These tough questions need to be discussed thoroughly, not because they are raised by those who are the sufferers of reverse discrimination, but mostly because such issues influence the trust of people in the process of democratic pluralism and good governance.

A New Administrative Culture Whether or not public administration moves beyond its current crossroads, it is likely that a new administrative culture will emerge. Public administrators of the future will have to 9

be at ease with complexity, law and flexibility. They will be performance-oriented,

have

boundaries,

and

adroit

resolution.

The

without

be

public

mangers,

administrators

will

in be

a

strong at

conflict

sector Shan

service

will

span

avoidance

increasingly

Martin's

personally

ethic,

phrase.

responsible

and

manage Public

for

their

actions. They will have to be comfortable with change, often rapid change. But some things will remain constant. Public administration will remain interesting, challenging, and a key to a better society and world. In 1926, Leonard White wrote that administration has become, and will continue to be the heart of the problem of modern government. More than half a century later, Dwight Waldo reiterated White's point in words that instruct and remind us of public administration's overarching importance: Whatever the future, accepting only oblivion – no future – public administration will have an important role in it.

Public

administration

joins

two

major

forces,

government and administrative technology. Together they have

been

an

integral

part

of

the

enterprise

of

civilization. They will not disappear unless and until civilization disappears, through decay or destruction, or through transformation into a new human condition. To improve public administration is to improve civilization. The NPR invites everybody to participate.

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We

have

to

do

it

ourselves,

individually

and

through

association with one another. There are people in America who

think

that

any

individual

who

attempts

to

take

responsibility for the common good is hopelessly naïve. There are others who think such actions are dangerously radical. But we are a nation of hopelessly naïve radicals – of people who will not give up the dream of a nation run by its own people.

Administrative Value Administrative value is "the value of records for the ongoing business of the agency records creation or its successor in function". According to Business Dictionary the definition of administrative value is Usefulness of record to its creator or

receiver

in

current

operations.

It

is

also

called

operational value. Administrative

values

are

generally

considered

useful

or

relevant to the execution of the activities that caused the record to be created and during an audit of those activities. Traditionally, archivists have seen administrative value as transient.

For

administrative

records

to

archival, they must also possess other values.

11

be

considered

References Riggs, F. W. (2001). Administrative culture – the concepts. Retrieved on September 10, 2009 from http://www2.hawaii.edu/~fredr/sharma.htm Dwivedi, O.P. (2001). The challenge of cultural diversity for good governance. Retrieved on September 10, 2009 from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UN/UNPA N000573.pdf Retrieved on September 11, 2009 from http://books.google.com.ph/books? id=oAWmUFAYjq8C&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=cross+administrative+cult ure+and+values&source=bl&ots=ib4IplNFUw&sig=JHxGPiA_0xMuPCu4Y4gUSFSybM&hl=en&ei=-v-pSqn6HsBkQX4yM2VBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage& q=cross%20administrative%20culture%20and%20values&f=false

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