Democracy As Myth Essays - Human Resource Management, Corporatism

Democracy As Myth Each of us is aware that change is everywhere we look. No segment of society is exempt. We as the public are dealing with the advent of continuous and ever increasing change. Change in technology, change in resource availability, change in national demographics, change in workforce diversity, change in simply every facet of the organizational environment and context in which public institutions must operate. Change, as the saying goes, has truly become the only constant. The challenge for organizations is whether they can become flexible enough, fast enough. And will they do it on terms set by the organizational culture, and then adapt and succeed in the face of it or will they challenge the status quo and attempt to transform the prevailing culture. What follows is the story of a public organization, which is trying to change the context under which it performs rather than be changed by that context. In the realm of Philosophy, as Erasmus of Rotterdam, the first truly great humanist of the modern age once said, "The intent suffices in a great design". Erasmus, no doubt was right. However, beyond simple intent, or to phrase it in the current vernacular, vision, action is required to bring the vision to life. In any age, there are those individuals willing to challenge the status quo, whether it is in the field of politics, science, business, or public administration. If these individuals are to enjoy a measure of success, they must be willing to take an inordinate amount of risk and withstand criticism, indifference and cynicism from every quarter. Most importantly, they must have the capacity to envision a great design and then transform that vision into action. A skeptic would find little or no relationship between philosophy and the modern practice of the public. A purist would probably go further and find offensive the very idea of comparing these two seemingly opposed disciplines. One, grounded in the metaphysical pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, and the other, a pragmatic and practical effort to conduct the public's business, appear to be at opposite ends of an intellectual continuum. Closer examination reveals that both disciplines share similar characteristics and both pursue parallel aims. Philosophy and public administration seek to understand human motivation, philosophy for the sake of pure knowledge, and public administration to harness this understanding to practical ends. Human apprehension and resistance to change is but one aspect of this understanding that is shared by both disciplines. The idea of a flatter, more horizontal organization, one with a minimum number of organizational layers separating the front line employees from senior management is by no means new. Organizations, if one can call them that, in the early years of the industrial revolution consistently reflected an absolute minimum number of layers. Indeed, a face to face relationship often existed between ownership or management and the employee or worker. As methods of production grew increasingly complex and the principles of scientific management were applied, more and more layers of organizational structure were created. Organizations being ongoing entities, these layers tended to become permanent features of the organizational landscape, often well beyond the time where they're original intent and usefulness has become obsolete. The private as well as the public sectors has found that the pressures of operating successful enterprises in an ever-changing competitive world, demand new management approaches. A realization has emerged that a principal impediment to the rapid response to a changing environment is organizational structure. Cultures Slowly at first, and with increasing intensity as the weeks went by, a document that was to serve as an organizational blueprint began to take shape. Five propositions were to serve as the guiding principles: We will treat all human beings with respect and dignity. Sharing is not a weakness. No one will lose compensation. No one will lose his or her job. A high priority will be given to training employees in new skills. The organization, which was to emerge, was to strive to become boundaryless, free from the confines of the hierarchical past, and organized around processes rather than functions. We desired to become a customer-oriented, fast, focused, flexible, friendly and fun organization. But here again the government felt as though they need to step in. We carefully blended concepts from a diverse variety of management thinkers. As we met in community meetings, every idea and suggestion that complemented our vision of the future organization was documented on video and considered. If we valued the people as assets, then we had to come to respect them.

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buy custom Employee Handbook essay It is becoming increasingly important for organizations to have an employee handbook. Not only it addresses the general rules and guidelines which are applicable to all the employees present in the organization, it is actually helps the employees against law suits and gives them legal protection. The presence of a handbook is a benefit for the employer as well as the employee (HRSentry, 2010) An employee handbook outlines the policies, procedures and general guidelines of an organization. For any relationship, effective communication plays an important role. In case of the employee and employer relationship, this handbook acts as a mode of communication outlining the expectations of the employer and his guidelines which he wants to be followed. In order to make this relationship work, the employee has to follow these guidelines and rules and act according to the policies mentioned in this handbook. It gives an opportunity to both the employer and employee. The employee has an opportunity to know his organization and employer in a better way and the employer are able to develop a connection between himself and his employee. An employee handbook however, does not lay down the policies and standard operating procedures, rather gives a general outline or a general philosophy behind the current policies and standards. It also answers several questions which en employee might h ave for example: To whom should I report a problem? What if I have a conflict with someone? Whom should I report to? What is the attendance policy? What is a work week? These are general questions which employees might have but would not know whom to go to. Therefore, a handbook solves this problem by giving the employees a way of communicating with their employers (Morrissey, 2010). The detail present in an employee handbook is dependent on the complexity of the organization and what it wants to include in its handbook. The mission, size and location of the organization might also affect the contents of the handbook. However, as mentioned above that the employer should consider it as an opportunity to present his organization in a positive light and communicate with the employees, the employers tend to present many things which might be beneficial for the employees in the future. Organizations include statements for anti discrimination policies, equal employment policies and harassment policies. The explanations of these policies and whom to report to in such an instant are given. More complex organizations might also include family and medical leave acts or statutes concerning health insurance. Below are a few important things which an employee handbook might cover: Absences Military Service Attendance Payroll Attire Requirements Performance Review Breaks Personal Time Off Communication Policy Probationary Period Confidentiality Resignation Continuation Of Medical Benefits p>Retirement Plans Dismissal Safety And Accident Rules Dress Code Salary Paid Employees Drugs And Alcohol Separation From Employment Employment Classification Sexual Harassment Equal Opportunity Sick Leave Exit Interview Smoking Family Medical Leave Act Substance Abuse Health And Life Insurance Termination Holidays Time Off Hourly Paid Employees/Overtime Use Of Company Computers Immigration Law Compliance Use Of Company Property Jury Duty Workman's Compensation Layoff And Recall Vacations Lunch Periods Maternity Leave and more. An employee handbook is actually aimed to protect the employees from any kind of pitfall of mishap. Any promises made in the employee handbook re to be followed by the employer. If the employer is unable to provide a handbook, the employees might not know the general guidelines or behavior he should exhibit in the workplace. For example; In Arizona an employee had a law suit against the employer. This law suit was placed due to severance by the employer. However, the employee did not read the handbook and therefore was unaware of many general guidelines which the employer wanted all the employees to follow. One of such rule was the prohibition of using companys computers for personal mails. Moreover the handbook also stated that the employer at any time might access the computer and has the complete right to see any information present on the computer as this computer is for business use and not for personal use. The employee was constantly communicating with his lawyer about the law suit via the computer present in his office without any knowledge about this prohibition against persona use of computers. The employer who accessed the computer found out what the employee was up to and therefore the employee then had to drop his lawsuit, as he was himself doing something wrong. Had the employee read the employee handbook and had known that it was unlawful to use companys computers for personal use; he could have mailed his lawyer form elsewhere and therefore would have been able to get justice. However as he was doing something wrong himself, he was not able to do anything about the employer (DiLorenzo, 2010) The above example reflects the importance of the presence of an employee handbook but most importantly the importance of reading and understanding this handbook. Many employees think that the handbook is actually made to help the organization avoid lawsuits if it does anything wrong. The employer can merely fir anyone without any reason and would not be sued as it was in his policy. However this is not so, the employee handbook is actually for the bennefit of the employee more than the benefit of the employer. A employer has to follow various state and government rules and regulations before printing any rules of his own. The employer cannot say that he does not hire black people because that would be discriminatory and hence against eh anti-discrimination laws of the government. Therefore, the employer actually ahs to follow many guidelines of the government before putting any policies and making any generalized rules for his employees. The employee on the other hand has full benefi t of this handbook. For example; if an employer does not give a paid funeral leave, however it has been mentioned in his handbook that a funeral is something which is difficult for an employee to miss therefore the organization will give full paid funeral leave, this employee can then sue the company. However, this is only possible if the employee has read the employee handbook clearly because there are certain things which might affect this rule. For example; a funeral leave is only available if the relative is a close one, for a very distant relatives funeral the employee might get a leave however might not get full pay. SO there are various complications too and it is only after reading an employee handbook that employee will be able to understand the general rules, guidelines presented by the organization. The employee can also place a lawsuit if the employer is unable to follow his own policies presented in the employee handbook. In one case according to Farell (2008), an employer had a very descriptive and effective handbook; however when an employee filed a sexual harassment complaint against another employee, the manager was not able to conduct a proper investigation. The employer did not know about this as he himself did not investigate whether proper steps had been taken to ensure that the employee was satisfied and correct action has been taken. The employee then took the employer to court, where the judge considered it as an indifferent attitude and ordered employer to pay a hefty amount to the employee as a compensation for what he went through in his organization. Hence it can be seen that when if the handbook is present, it is essential for both the parties to read and make sure that they understand every aspect of the policies and guidelines presented in the handbook. As per the United States equal employment opportunity commission in 2005 various companies had to pay a sum of almost $378 million in order to compensate for various lawsuits which the employees placed against their employers. According to EEOC in 2007 it had received a total of 87,792 complaints from employees against their employers (David, 2008) On the other hand, an employee handbook also saves an employee from lawsuits which he might be subjected to. If an employee has read the employee handbook properly, he will know his rights and will know whatever he is doing in the organization is right. He will act as per the guidelines and neither the employer nor any customer can sue him for doing anything wrong. There has been much increase in the number of lawsuits filed against employers and employees both, due to this miscommunication between both parties. Moreover, negligence, indifference and merely skimming through the report affect the understanding of organizational policies. Buy custom Employee Handbook essay

Mudering Mckinley Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mudering Mckinley - Essay Example his longtime competitor William Jennings Bryan a year earlier before his death in 1901.His steadfastness in solving the crisis that the united States in the 1893 experienced earned him candidacy in Democrat and populist party in 1896.Strikes, riots, increased taxes and factories, closed. His presidency was so timely that he worked hard to safeguard the worsening situation such in a few weeks time; his achievements were identifiable. During his campaigns, though he did not move around looking for votes but allowed the citizens to visit him in his ohio state, he promised to restore prosperity. Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of United States of America became the president after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901. He was experienced in handling public services after serving in public offices as a governor of the New York and secretary of the Navy Department in McKinley’s first administration from his vast experience and rising political career in the New York. He fought for the freedom of Cuba from Spain in 1898 and together with Leonard Wood organized the rough Riders, which was the first U.S Calvary. The aftermath of the war left United States in the acquisition of Spanish empire and the Caribbean. Moreover, the United States gained protectorate over Cuba and gave it overseas possession dominance. Roosevelt was unique in his approach to progressive achievements as a leader. 1 Mckinley managed to win the presidency in March 1897. As promised, the factories were opened, workers returned to work and this earned him credit. Rauchway (2003) believes that in 1898, The United States became an international colonial empire. During the short war with Spain, the president had not wanted colonies; however, the German power would dare and despoil them. The president was so prayerful and at one time he confessed his prayers before he went to sleep. God’s presence was felt and in the next election, with his able running mate, Roosevelt Theodore, who had