Organizational behavior can be viewed from a traditional, a modernist, or a postmodernist perspective. Choose any one topic in organizational behavior and discuss different approaches to that topic that would come from a traditional, a modernist, or a postmodernist perspective.
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Organizational behavior is an incredibly complex and dynamic field of study. Not only are there a number of different avenues of study but within each focus lies a multitude of theories and perspectives. Bolman and Deal (2008) suggest that the best way to traverse this maze is through different lenses or perspectives of the organization (Bolman & Deal, 2008).
While the lenses that Bolman and Deal propose (structural, human resource, political and symbolic) and very useful for a practical approach to organization understanding and management, there are other perspectives that may be more useful from a more theoretical and scholarly approach. These perspectives are the traditional, modernist, and postmodernist approaches to understanding organizational behavior. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: interpretivism, postmodernism, postmodernity, power, public administration
Brandon C.
PAF 602 (Fall 2008)
Farmer, David J., (1995), The language of public administration: bureaucracy, modernity, and postmodernity, The University of Alabama Press.
Abstract
In The Language of Public Administration, David Farmer argues that the modern language of public administration, by which its scholars understand and approach the field (bureaucracy in particular), is limited. He suggests that the language of public administration can be expanded through the advent and acceptance of postmodernity and provides justification through the analysis of distinct characteristics in modernity and postmodernity. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: bureaucracy, David Farmer, deconstruction, deterritorialization, open-source, postmodernity, public administration, rationality
Brandon C.
PAF 602 (Fall 2008)
Abstract
Stivers, C. M. (2002). Bureau Men, Settlement Women: Constructing Public Administration in the Progressive Era (Studies in Government and Public Policy). University Press Of Kansas.
Camilla Stivers’ Bureau Men, Settlement Women is a historical reconstruction of the early days of public administration with a particular emphasis on gender influences. Focusing on the Progressive Era, Stivers dichotomizes municipal research bureaus and settlement houses as distinct yet complimentary forms of governmental reform organizations central to the rise of the administrative state. Research bureaus, focused on objective and procedural efficiency in administration, are identified as masculine; while settlement houses, focused on substantive social improvement, are seen as feminine. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: abstract, efficiency, Progressive, public administration, reconstruction
Brandon C.
PAF 602 (Fall 2008)
Abstract
Denhardt, R. B. (1991). In the Shadow of Organization. Regents Press of Kansas.
Robert Denhardt’s In the Shadow of Organization focuses on the impact of individuals within organizations and how organizational efficiency or rationality is encroaching into our individuality. Modern organizations and organization administration have heavily borrowed principles of rationality and objectivity from the sciences. This has resulted in a one-sided focus of placing the rational goals of the organization above, and often in place of, those of the individual members of the organization. This, according to Jung, inhibits the necessary individualization required by people to become whole and balanced beings. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: abstract, bureaucracy, domination, morality, objectivity, Organization, public administration, rationality, Robert Denhardt
Brandon C.
PAF 602 (Fall 2008)
Abstract
Ostrom, V. (1989). The Intellectual Crisis in American Public Administration. University Alabama Press.
Vincent Ostrom’s The Intellectual Crisis in American Public Administration is an argument against bureaucratic administration in favor of democratic administration. Ostrom sees a fundamental dichotomy in the field of public administration and presses for a paradigm shift in classical Kuhn fashion. This shift is away from the traditional theory of public administration as layed out by Woodrow Wilson, Max Weber, and others. Drawing upon Alexis Tocqueville, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and others, Ostrom argues that fragmentation of authority and overlapping jurisdiction allow for less abuse of power and greater efficiency in administration. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: abstract, abuse, critique, efficiency, power, public administration
Brandon C.
PAF 602 (Fall 2008)
Abstract
Simon, H. A. (1997). Administrative Behavior, 4th Edition. Free Press.
Herbert Simon’s Administrative Behavior is an extensive analysis of decision making in organizations. Relying heavily on the work of Chester Barnard, Simon analyzes organizational decision making from the flawed classical “administrative principals” to a new interpretation of decision making through the use of elements of modern human psychology. Simon’s central argument seems to be that an organization can be defined through its decision-making processes and that the gauge of success is the achievement of objective organizational goals. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Barnard, critique, decision-making, efficiency, expertise, government, objective, public administration
This is the first in what I hope to be a series about my experiences and challenges as a doctoral student. Enough intro, let’s go!
So here I am 6 weeks in and how are things? Let me just say this, it’s difficult to even find time to take a $#!*. At this point, I’m reading more than a book a week and writing an abstract for each book. We’re not talking about the leisurely books you find from Borders (I wish). Think more like 200-300 pages of social ontology, political theory, and seminal classics…each week. That’s just one class. For my other class I have roughly 3-4 chapters of quantitative and research methods, not to mention chapters on statistical analysis including: ANOVA, regression, multiple regression, least squares, etc. I’ve already written probably 30 pages and we’re not quite half way through the semester yet. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: journal, PhD, public administration
