Question : “PPPs serve too many parties and too many interests … to be focussed.” Identify in the context of the statement, the parties involved in Public-Private Partnerships and their conflicting aims.
(2015)
Answer : PPP is a collaborative effort between the private players and the government. It is essentially private money for public purpose. Different parties here as government, public and society, private party - foreign and domestic, environment, banks etc.
The parties involved in Public-Private Partnerships and their conflicting aims can be sexplained through the latest news event as….
Context: recent attacks on toll collection booths, Supreme Court order for CAG audit of PPPs, conflicts in profit sharing with reliance.
The ....
Question : How does the Strategic Contingencies Theory of organizational design deal with problems arising from sub-unit centrality and non-substitutability?
(2014)
Answer : Tasks that need to be done in the form of problems to be solved, thus de-emphasizing personality is focussed in Strategic Contingencies Theory. Problem solving skills of a person is given more importance than his Charisma in an organisation.
The leader is in demand as only he can solve the problem and deal with future uncertainties. Dependency to central leader for the information is due to the non availability of knowledge of other subunits.
When there is ....
Question : “Delegation to independent agencies has taken place in an interdependent process driven by emulation.” Discuss in the context of independent regulatory agencies in the modern regulatory State.
(2014)
Answer : Services and processes are becoming more complex in the modern world. Work load of all the branches have increased tremendously, with increasing complexity.
Services cannot be better in absence of laws, and in absence of proper grievance redressal forum, these services cannot be efficient. So it is clear that these all ....
Question : “To talk about the regulatory framework is to talk about short governance.” Analyze the statement in the context of public private partnership and identify the elements of regulation.
(2013)
Answer : There is no independent PPP regulator in India currently. In order to attract more domestic
and international private funding of infrastructure, a more robust regulatory environment, with
an independent regulator, is essential. Regulator must look at issues like Lack of information, Project development, Lack of institutional capacity and financing availability.
The PPP program lacks a comprehensive database regarding the projects/studies to be awarded under PPP. An online database, consisting of all the project documents ....
Question : “A variety of different organizational arrangement can be used to provide different public goods and services”. Explain the theory underlying this proposition and its potential contribution.
(2013)
Answer : Organization designs vary from rigid bureaucracies to flexible matrix systems. Most theories of organization design take either a universal or a contingency approach. A universal approach is one whose prescriptions or propositions are designed to work in any situation. The classical approaches are all universal approaches. A contingency approach, on the other hand, suggests that organizational efficiency can be achieved in several ways. In a contingency design, specific conditions such as the environment, technology, and ....
Question : (i) ‘The essence of the contingency theory paradigm is that organizational effectiveness results from fitting characteristics of the organization, such as its structure, to contingencies that reflect the situation of the organization.’ Give your reactions to this statement.
(ii) In the light of your discussion on above, also show where and how this ‘fitting’ differs essentially from the ‘coping’ with ‘stress’ from the environment emphasized by the systems theory of organization.
(2012)
Answer : (i): Contingency theory paradigm underlines that environment is of two types:
1.Static 2.Dynamic
Static environment is that one where flow of information is very slow while dynamic environment is where flow of information is very fast. Contingency theory suggest that organizational structure should be developed according to the nature of the environment. Mechanical bureaucracy is suitable for static environment while flexible organization is needed for ....
Question : The Systems Approach is relevant .even today for organisational analysis. Discuss how Chester Barnard and David Easton adopted this approach in their respective areas of study.
(2011)
Answer : Chester bernard’s Theory predominantly favored Behaviorist Theory but at the same time he emphasized over the System Theory. In his book ‘The Functions of The Executive’, he sets out a theory of organization and of the functions of executives in organizations.
In this, barnard saw organization as a cooperative system. Every human is constrained due to physical, psychological and biological reasons. So, collection or group of person is required. That’s why he views organization as system ....
Question : ‘To claim that a company or a corporation form is always more effective than a departmental form of organization is an outdated view. The real test of a sound structure is its capacity to balance decisional autonomy and operational flexibility with optimal accountability.’ Critically examine this statement.
(2008)
Answer : There is no ideal form of organizing public enterprises. No well-defined principles have been followed in determining the form of such organization. In general, three main forms of organization, each with significant variations, are now utilized for the administration of public enterprises, namely, departmental concerns, government companies and public corporations.
Departmental Concerns: The main characteristics are:
Question : “The widening gap in the emoluments of government employees versus the public sector corporations and private sector employees has a strong bearing on the motivation and ability to work.” Comment.
(2007)
Answer : The difference in the performance of public sector and private sector undertakings has a strong correlation with the salary and emoluments given to their employees. In the post reform era, this gap is nothing but widening.
The salary and emoluments to any employee refers to his pay in cash, dearness allowance, medical allowance, house rent allowance, share in profits or dividends and all other allowances. The salary and emoluments have become primary concern in post reform ....
Question : “Autonomy and accountability in Public Enterprises can not walk together”. Explain.
(2006)
Answer : Public enterprise in India are organised into four major patterns with each having different degrees of autonomy and accountability. There is Departmental undertakings and Government companies which have more accountability and lesser autonomy whereas there is public corporation type where autonomy is more and the government does not interfere with their day-to-day administration.
The performance of public enterprises depends largely on autonomy and accountability both of which cannot go together. Autonomy means freedom of taking initiatives ....
Question : “Organisation is a system of consciously coordinated activities of forces of two or more persons”. Comment.
(2005)
Answer : Coordination means negatively, the removal of conflicts, working at cross-.purposes, and overlapping from administration. Positively, its aim is to secure co-operation and team work among the numerous employees engaged in the work of the organisation. Without coordination, no organization could have consistently moved towards its goal, for the activities of it’s different members would neutralize and cancel out one another.
According to Mooney, coordination is the first principle of organization and includes within itself all other ....
Question : “Organisations today seem to invest in information and information system, but their investments often do not seem to make sense”. Comment.
(2003)
Answer : Organizations arise for the attainment of some purpose or goal. The mechanistic approach views organization primarily as a formal design or plan, which can be drawn up by the experts according to certain well-understood principles, just as the plan of a building can be prepared in advance by the architect according to the principles of his science. Organization should enjoy a reasonably free access to all files and documents pertaining to the governmental operations, decisions ....
Question : Why do all administrative organizations consider ‘hierarchy’ as the many splendoured ‘technique’? Discuss.
(2001)
Answer : Hierarchy was emphasized by all classical thinkers like Weken, Fayol, Gulick, Unwick, Mooney and Reiley as an important principle of administration. Fayol referred to it as the ‘Scalar chain’. Whie Mooney and Reiley called it the scalar process. Mooney stated that hierarchy is a universal phenomenon.
Literally, the term ‘hierarchy’ means the control of the higher over lower. In administrative phraseology, it means an organization structured in a pyramidical fashion with successive steps interlinked with each ....
Question : “The commission form of organization would tend to be a ‘headless fourth branch’ of government”. Comment.
(1999)
Answer : The government activities may be organized in accordance with some well-known principles or bases depending on the nature of activities. The organization may be of different types, such as department, corporations, companies, boards, commissions, etc. Where the intention is that an organization which has to perform discretionary functions should be independent of ministerial control and it is organized as a commission in such a way that the executive has no control over day-to-day functioning of ....
Question : Differentiate between managerial and functional aspects of coordination. How is coordination achieved?
(1998)
Answer : Coordination means negatively, the removal of conflicts, working at cross-purposes, and overlapping from administration. Positively, its aim is to secure co-operation and team-work among the numerous employees engaged in the work of the organization. Without coordination, no organization could more consistently towards its goal, for the activities of its different members would neutralize and cancel out one another.
According to Mooney, coordination is the first principle of organization and includes within itself all other principles which ....
Question : “Headquarters and field relationships determine the tenor of implementation of programmes”. Comment.
(1998)
Answer : Policies are formulated at the headquarters of any organization and these policies are implemented through a network of field level officers. The relationship between the headquarters and the field is important as effective control of the field organization has to be combined with adequate decentralization of powers to the field stations to ensure proper implementation of policies especially in a large country like India where regional variations in the environment are large and affected policy ....
Question : “Communication holds the organization together.”
(1998)
Answer : Communication is one of the most important facilitators of organizational activities. Communication is of course a universal phenomenon not only in organizations but also in every human being. Communication plays effective role in holding organization together through various qualities, which it possesses like decision-making, coordination, planning, relationship, boosting morale and motivation.
Communication is helpful in the planning process in a number of ways. Through communication the executives can interact and provide vital inputs to plans.
Communication affects ....
Question : In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.
(1996)
Answer : In administration, hierarchy means a graded organization of several successive steps or levels, which are interlinked with each other. Hierarchy consists of the universal application of the superior-subordinate relationship through a number of levels of responsibility reaching from bottom to the top of the structure. Every employee in the organization tries to rise his position from bottom to the top. In administration hierarchy means a graded organization of several successive steps or levels also known ....
Question : Although the theory of V.A. Graicunas is admittedly crude, it is useful as a reference against which variation between organizations as well as within organization can be examined.
(1996)
Answer : The principle of control in public administration is related to the concept of ‘span of control’ described in psychology by V.A. Graicunas, the French management consultant. This concept says that there is a limit to the number of things one can attend to at the same time. Thus it follows that there is a limit to the span of control which is nothing but the span of attention applied to the job of supervision of ....
Question : “The interest or power group base provides a member of an organization with negotiable goods that can be cashed in for cognition, status and rewards.” Examine.
(1995)
Answer : There are always two aspects of any administration. One is called the organization and the other one which rests outside the organization is made by those power groups or people who got benefited from the organizational activity. In other word the organization works for those people. In fact the organizational entity is due to those groups. If any organization has a solid base in people then it will be hard to close that organization, as ....
Question : Authority has been defined in part as a “character of a communication in a formal organization.” Comment.
(1995)
Answer : Administration is the process of coordinating and facilitating the work of people in organizations. People formally and informally organize themselves as members of different organizations in a polity.
It is believed traditionally that authority in the administrative system flows from the top to the bottom. The top can be the society at large, or the government or the parliament. It need not necessarily be a particular decision-maker like the minister or a civil servant. On the ....
