Democracy and Decision-Making - Book Report/Review Example

? Summary Overview The chapter will be directed towards explaining the organizational theory as a constraint of democracy. Decision making is the most important criteria of a democratic government which will lead to the establishment of ultimate welfare of the individuals in the society. But bureaucracy and its characteristics has developed within the democratic countries of the world and limited the effectiveness of the democracy. The relation between bureaucracy and democracy will be also analyzed and provision for potential solution towards establishment of effective democracy will also be made. Democracy and decision making Involvement with an array of relationship among the individuals (bestowed with the right to participation and vote) and the government can be viewed as the modern concept of democracy. Social scientist Weber acknowledges democracy as the provision of formal rights of equal opportunities (Cox et al, 2011, p.182). But this view is too narrow and contradicted by Sheldon Wolin who analyze democracy as a medium of constituting power which shall not only be subjected to sharing but to be engaged in a cooperative manner directed towards initiating, inventing and implementing ( Cox et al, 2011, p.182). Focus of examinations should be detailed on fundamental elements that guide the decision making in a society. In other words the point of discussion should be centered on the ground which associates the notion of democracy in realizing the decision making of the public organizations (Cox et al, 2011, p.182). Weberian doctrine Weber targeted at the process of understanding the social actions of bureaucracy but the methodology adapted for the study was not confined to the study of bureaucracy. In this line Kirkhart (1971) adapted the methodology for developing and examining the structure of non hierarchical organizations. Weberian methodologies can be fragmented into application of control mechanisms and the purposes which are to be attained. Weber states that association between the structure and values results in the development of actions or practices. Thus structure and values acts as a precursor for fully understanding the behaviors and practices (Cox et al, 2011, p.183). Structural elements of democracy Structural elements of democracy are highly important for the purpose of analyzing the decisions. Three structural elements are required to be considered. Primarily, the practices or the actions are shaped by structure. Secondly, the values are indispensible functions of the structures although they may not be bearing one to one relation among each other. Lastly, the structural elements also overlap and strengthen each other. The structure of democracy will be strongly based upon the role of the government as an organization along with its addressing mechanism. The addressing mechanism of the government should be including the crucial questions of the agents, who must be included, process of dealing with various problems, defining the nature of the society, analyzing the character of the decisions and examining the way in which the decisions of the agents of the society make and to what extent they are public. For the establishment of the values and concerns of the government, there should be a mutual interdependence within the agents of the society and the institutions (Cox et al, 2011, p.184-185). Generation of problem The problem in democracy occurs in the sense that if there is an existence of organizational independence (bureaucracy) then the legitimacy of democracy based on the notion of interdependence becomes highly questionable. The phenomenon of structure is prior to the process and the democratic structure acts as serving device of the abstract goals like that of equality, liberty and participation which becomes mere approximation of the objectives of achievement. Individuality is one of the important characteristics of democratic system. The opportunity for being heard (i.e. disagreement among opinions) must be established. The notion of tolerance is highly necessary and harmony generates from the knowledge and understanding of the views of the others and not by suppressing the views of the others (Cox et al, 2011, p.185-186). Generalist viewpoint and bureaucracy It is often found in democracy that government becomes a platform of severe debate regarding various issues and the basics of generalist view democracy which points at the serving of the common good is not executed. The presence of structure which would be transforming multiple interests into common interests is often not found and emergence of the bureaucratic threat destroys politics as well as the generalist perspectives (Cox et al, 2011, p.186). Weaknesses of democracy and Weber’s opinion People in the society are not able to master all their social problems at a time and they design various schemes, rule of thumb in order to simplify their problems. Present is more focused than the future and sense of impermanence becomes a predominant phenomenon. Proper democracy requires the problem of the society to be re-examined. Although the responsibility is a central part of democracy it is not an ethical element included in it. Democracy declines the notion of complete knowledge to participate yet it requires the agents within its domain to keep forth their views. Complete knowledge is not developed within democracy. The denial of participation threatens the whole decision making process. In democracy it may happen that an arrogant faction rising in majority ignore the listening process, one of the core elements of democracy. In such cases government will be held captive and the general public will suffer. Consensus relies on unanimity but it is exposited in a declining sense in democracy. Consensus is not directed towards gaining a solution, rather it focuses on the definition of a problem and generating potential solutions. Consensus building efforts are synergetic and it recognizes the fact that many heads are better than one not because of more knowledge or perspective in reality but because of the generation of superior problem emerging from such a structure. Weber states that purpose or values signifies the effectiveness of an organization. Weber concerns about the fact that how democratic the government are which are based on the pillars of the equality, legitimacy, community and liberty and citizen responsibility and every individuals must exhibit their unique opinions as in a homogenous society, democracy is meaningless (Cox et al, 2011, p.183). Bureaucracy and democracy Better access creating problems In the last three decades, focus has been on the structural and organizational constraints created by the hierarchies and thus developing the spirits of the bureaucracy into democracy. Robust interference of politics within the realms of administration leads to the weakening of the control mechanisms and that of loss of efficiency. In this world of scientific knowledge though democracy has been existent in a superficial layer, yet it can be stated that the elites possess access to valuable resources and complete information and thus contributing a biased attribute in the decision making process (Cox et al, 2011, p.191). Temporary nature and consensus building The judgments reached by the democratic system are time consuming but the correctness needs to be evaluated. Decisions are not permanent and they are based upon the currently available information. This concept is not at par with bureaucratic decision making style as it makes regularity a difficult process. Ruchelman states that the open organizations tends to promote new ideas which will not be implemented if a consensus as well as pulling together does not take place after the adaption of the idea (Cox et al, 2011, p.194). Consensus building promotes the mechanism for identifying the problem and that of understanding which is an utmost necessary. Efficiency generation is a necessity Bureaucracy is a slow overwhelming politics not confined within the efficiency notion. Bureaucracy is not perfectly distinct from democracy wherein the two cannot be reconciled. Difference between democracy and bureaucracy directs that the democratic decision making is inculcated with more human and more peculiar executions. Hummel states that in controlling bureaucracy the problem lies in the values of the concepts and focusing on controlling bureaucracy leads to misdirection of energies as it only tends towards changing the behavior without providing sufficient reason for this particular behavior (Cox et al, 2011, p.195). Weber opine that efficiency is not a democratic value and efficiency of democracy shall be judged on the structure and values on which they are founded (Cox et al, 2011, p.195-196). Conclusion Democratic government is the promoters of ultimate development of the societies. But it can be seen that the principles of democracies are contradicting each other in applicability. With the development of science and modernism the access to resources have been concentrated in the hands of the elite classes and they have been taking part in the decision making process giving rise to bureaucratic ideologies within the societal structure. Again bureaucracy to some extent may be necessary for attaining rational decisions but the main agenda will be to make bureaucracy more democratic. The values and structure that shape the processes will have to be kept into account. Reference Cox et al., (2011), Public administration in theory and practice. Pearson education Read More