PS 312
Lecture 5
 Honor- precedes ethics.
o Honor comes before ethics
o A person without honor has no moral compass about what is good or bad
 Three Special Obligations
o Citizens – moral obligation to the people they serve
o Regime Values – Unites States system of government
o Constitution – uphold the constitution of the United States
 Corruption
o Bribery – Individual greed
o Public Scandals – Watergate, Monica Lewinsky, Blackwater
o Lies – common. Outright lies, innuendo, omissions
o Lying for the Public Good – “the ends justify the means”
o Dirty Hand Dilemma – Lying for the public good or committing ethics problems
 4 Kind of Ethics
o Personal Morality
o Professional Ethics – relates to office person holds
o Organizational Ethics – norms within an organization
o Social Ethics – norms or values within a society
 Codes of Honor Conduct and Ethics –
Lecture 6
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Military Heritage of Administrative Theory – Roman military had earliest pervasive
influence on public administration. Kept Roman legions loyal with:
o Regular pay, pensions and pride
o Depersonalized owner-not owned by a monarch or single owner
o Hierarchical Structure
o Use of tax revenue
Theories of Organizations
o Classical Organizational Theory – Organization centered not human center.
 Frederick Taylor’s Scientific Management: measuring specific tasks in
work and breaking them down so employees are placed in the best
position
 POSDCRB
o Neo-Classical –
o Modern Structural Theory – i
 Mechanistic  Organic – organizations evolved with environment
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o Systems Theory of Organization – world is made up of interrelated organic and
dynamic system. Organizations are constantly interacting and reacting with their
environment
 Butterfly Effect: small causes on a system
 Cybernetic: organizations strive for conditions of dynamic equilibrium.
Leadership is instrumental in keeping the organization in that state
 The Learning Organization: orgs adapt and learn from their environments
and survive as organic entities
Administrative Doctrine
o Core Values
o Staying Power
o Flexibility and Growth
o Changing Models
Chapter 7
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Major Understandings of Organizational Behavior
How Groups Decide:
o Group Dynamics: scientific observations of group behavior showed how groups
interacted in organizations. Explains how norms and values can create group
cohesion and stability
o Groupthink: Irving Janis showed how strict adherence to groups norms lead to
over conformity and rigidity and is a pathology of organizations.
o Brainstorming: Alex Osborne suggested that the antidote to groupthink would be
unearthing creative alternatives via the brainstorming process
Groups in Organization: Chester Bernard
Informal Org gives rise to formal orgs from
o Formal Organization: Companies
o Informal Organization: Sub groups in big formal organization
Org Development
o Adaptation to change. Origins in Hawthrone Studies and studies of Kurt Lewin
Impact of Personality
o Chris Argyris suggested conflict between personalities of mature individuals and
needs of the org. Orgs tended to treat employees like children. Seen in
authoritarian structures leads to job dissatisfaction
Bureaucratic Behavior
o Bureaucratic Dysfunction: Bureaucratic structure stresses de-personalized
relationships. Power gained by position, not innovation. Bureaupath
o Bureaucratic Impersonality: Max Weber saw dehumanization as part of the ideal
bureaucracy. Elimination of all personal traits from official business
o Bureaucratic Bashing: During Reagan years bashing was fashionable.
Government was blamed for waste.
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Major Theories of Motivation
o Hawthorne Studies: Workplaces are social situations: that workplaces are social
situations: workers are motivated by peer pressure, attention by leaders, and
other complex factors unrelated to remuneration.
o Needs Hierarchy: Abraham Maslow asserted that a person’s needs are not equal,
but ascend in a hierarchy. At the bottom are survival needs, in the middle are
social needs, and at the top is the need for self-actualization. Once lower needs
are satisfied, they no longer motivate.
o Motivation Hygiene: Herzberg argued that job content factors such as
achievement, advancement and responsibility are motivators as they lead to
growth and self-actualization. Working conditions, on the other hand, such as
pay and benefits, are hygiene factors because they prevent unpleasantness.
o Theory X & Theory Y: McGregor’s Theory X and Y of organizational and
leadership styles shows that managers holding a Theory X vision tend to be
authoritarian, believing that people are lazy and irresponsible. Theory Y
managers believe in the goodness of human beings and that it is natural for
people to work hard and creatively, if there is meaning in work.
Future of Organization-Postmodernism