The Africa National Congress (ANC) Essay Example for Free

The Africa National Congress (ANC) Essay The Africa National Congress (ANC) was the first party in South Africa to win under democratic elections. One of the major reasons of its resounding victory in 1994 was its promises to improve the living standards of majority to almost 85% of total population. From many problems which were facing South Africa, when combined formed a package of strategy known as Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) macro-economic strategy. The strategy was introduced in June 1996. Even though there has been achievement in some areas, from its overall goals it is a failure. Indeed, most of the Black South Africans are now worse off materially than they used to be during Apartheid. In additions, there has been vanishing of hundreds of thousand jobs and increase in the cost of basics such as food, water, and rents. Only minority are better than they used to be during apartheid. Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR)                  From different ideologies, not all failures are of its own doing .There is also claim that much of ANC failure are associated with its founders from South National Convectional party. However, this was not enough for â€Å"justification,† many of critics arouse from the ANC governance as the government of South Africa. Despite many oppositions and critics, once in power ANC government came up with tight monetary policy and orthodox Macroeconomic policy with the aim of deficit reduction all combined with trade liberalization. All these combined, they had a major purpose of facilitating growth, Employment and redistribution programme, the package known as GEAR. The target of GEAR, introduced in 1996, was to accelerate the economic growth with rate of about 4.3% programmed for 1996-2000.Towards mid-term of the programme; the GEAR achievements were below its target. According to Ludman (2004) this failure can be because of excessive rise in interest ra te and fiscal contradiction, this is opposed to the idea of W. J. (2003) that it was because of unfavorable external factors. Following five years of GEAR functioning towards the target of average 4.2 percent growth rate for 1996-2000, South Africa Ministry of Finance announced the carried out the analysis of the budget. Following the budget, it was determined that GDP had expanded at by 2.3% over the past two years, since ANC had took over in power. Moreover, from the budget it was determined that, GEAR, having functioned for two years after the end of the regime whose policies on economic growth sought to accrue the economic benefits to minority white men had marked little growth in equal distribution of resources. Although may differ with the observation perhaps because the growth with a slight improvement, there is need to consent that it was different with that of last decades of apartheid. Looking back from 1980 through 1993, perhaps would give us insight in judging the achievements or failures of ANC. During this period, there were major problems in South Africa economy. Only four years of this period that the gross domestic product (GDP) raised .Moreover, only the year 1984 that marked slight improvement in annual average decline of (GDP) by one percent. This was associated with many problems in the mid-1990s. South Africa had become a largely demanding society. For instance, the industries were greatly affected poor agriculture from the conversation of peasant agriculture and migrant workers .From the destruction of peasant agriculture, many problems arouse such as permanent unemployment and poverty. These problems were more among the black Americans as compared to â€Å"White.† It was devastation that about 65% of the total population lived under poverty .Thuynsma (2012) also explains that there was a huge disparity between unemployment rises in South Africa as compared to the rest places in Sub Saharan Africa, where peasant agriculture is believed to be strong. The most striking problem was unemployment among the youths in South Africa. Comparing it with that in sub-Saharan Africa with about 11.9% and North Africa with 23.7%,it was a huge difference South Africa with whopping 48.1% cases of unemployment of all young people ranging between (15 – 24) of age .All this research was carried out by the South African Institute of Race Relations. From these problems, it necessitated prompt responses, some of them include, and increase of investment rate stimulates to modernize production and increase of economic growth rate. From above definitions, the government, through GEAR policies aimed to bring about equality in the distribution of income, increased wage employment, better wages for those in employment and greater equality in the wealth, however there was no achievement. In fact, the economy of South Africa dropped by 5% and it was from this that ANC set broad framework .The primary goals of ANC since 1994 were therefore clear; to come up with new government’s social and economic policies. The first goal being economic growth little achieved during 1993-1995 with slight improvement of one percent as compared to negative rate of the previous years but below the population growth. During the period between 1994 and 1995, per- income did not fall; towards the end of 1995, there was per capita income increase outside the margin of statistical error. The ANC’s political misfortunes                  Looking at ANC’s misfortunes it would be necessary we look back to its founding to get a clear picture. Many at times ANC associate it is failures with 1908-1909 founders for they could not invite the representatives of ANC to convectional meetings or used to delay the negotiations whenever called upon. However, ANC is altogether accountable for crating the bad lack and its founders are not the first bad omen as they claim. According to Ludman (2004) perhaps Nelson Mandela was right when said, â€Å"Prepare for armed struggle immediately after the end 1952 Defiance Campaign.† In fact, if ANC representatives followed the advice, it would have won earlier because of its adversary (National Party) was not well prepared to withstand much of struggles and other form of resistance. The result of the party not heeding to the advice had far reaching consequences, by the time NP could consent to have conversation with ANC ,they were negotiating from the point of ANC weaknesses .Further, they continued to undermine ANC performance in their efforts to transform South Africa.According to Bond (2003), it is also failure of ANC to have negotiation settlement in 1993 that lead to 1994 elections. It would have been better if this conversation had happened in 1909 when both Africa nationalists and Afrikaner had been brought together by British, with the aim to rule South Africa nation together. Later the British conclude that, it would be better if the mining interests of South Africa were protected through policy of divide and rule, which GEAR strategies failed. Political elite                  By the time National parties in South Africa had reached the agreement in sharing of powers ,South Africa Society had already gone transformation .This time both economic influence and political power had decreased ,economic muscle had also a minimal power. This marked the inability of ANC to bring about transformation in South Africa in making it equitable society and more dynamic. The 1994 settlement, created a political elite that was seen to control the state but not the economy. The previous elite, which used control both economy and the political power, was seen to lose grip in political power though it retained control of the economy. This was seen as the mix up because, those in control of the economy would live in fear of being overtaxed or having their assets seized by the elite that controls the political power. In fact, the case in South Africa, through black economic process empowerment, usually compels the company owners to give some percentage of their assets to the political elite. The major benefit by the black political elite in the year 1994 was to have access of revenues from the government and distribute among themselves through corruption by giving high salaries. They were also seen to engage in redistribution of wealth, through free government services and social grants .Despite of inability to control the Nation productive resources, the ANC can be said to be far much lucky. Having came from industrialized Asia, the ANC government was able to achieve what we can call slight pain in wealth redistribution .Immense increase sale of minerals in Far East was also marked as one of ANC success. Conclusion                  In conclusion, there are only few signs of achievement of ANC in South Africa since it’s victory in 1994. According to Nell Van (2003), even some that remained are reaching dead end. Although there is sense from above in ANC making great efforts to improve the society, only few progress can be marked through closer examination of progress based from employment by the government ,rise in wage of civil servants ,growth in credit and replacement of Afrikaners in the South Africa though emerging of middle class black Africans. The weakness of the strategies used by ANC is that they are not based from windfall of profit from industrialization. Instead, they are accompanied with shrinkage of the employment in South Africa productive sectors .Therefore, looking at the ANC governments Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) macro-economic strategies, is a failure as compared to the unchanged conditions in South Africa. In fact, is a slight success it its goals has been achieved .As a result ANC’s luck is running out even from the protests from the service that have been happening some few years ago. References Bond, P. (2003).  Against global apartheid: South Africa meets the World Bank, IMF, and international finance. Lansdowne, South Africa: University of Cape Town Press. Ludman, B., In Stober, P. (2004).  The Mail and Guardian A-Z of South African Politics: The essential handbook. Johannesburg: Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd. Nell, P., Van, . W. J. (2003).  Democratizing foreign policy?: Lessons from South Africa. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. Thuynsma, H. A. (2012).  Public opinion and interest group politics: South Africas missing links. Pretoria, South Africa: Africa Institute of South Africa. Source document

cold war Essay -- essays research papers

World War II divided Korea into a Communist, northern half and an American-occupied southern half, divided at the 38th parallel. The Korean War began when the North Korean Communist army crossed invaded non-Communist South Korea. As North Korean army, armed with Soviet tanks, quickly overran South Korea, the United States came to South Korea's aid. General Douglas MacArthur, who had been overseeing the post World War II affair of Japan, sent the US forces, which began to hold off the North Koreans at Pusan, at the southernmost tip of Korea. Although Korea was not strategically important to the United States, the political environment at this stage of the Cold War was such that policymakers did not want to appear soft on Communism. The US step in as part of a "police action" run by a UN international peace- keeping force. With the US, UN, and South Korean forces pinned against the sea at Pusan, MacArthur orchestrated a daring amphibious attack on Inchon a port on the western coast of Korea. Having made this landing, MacArthur defeated the North Korean army and recaptured Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Instead of being satisfied with his defeat of South Korea, MacArthur crossed the 38TH Parallel and pursued the North Korean army all the way to the northernmost provinces of North Korea. Afraid that the US was interested in taking North Korea as a base for operations against Manchuria, the People's Republic of China secretly sent an army across the Yalu River. This Chinese army attacked the US/UN/ROK forces. Only after the appointment of Lt. General Matthew Ridgway as commander of ground forces did American the motivation begin to swing against the Chinese Communists. Although President Truman hoped to end the war quickly and pressed MacArthur to be more tactful, the brilliant strategist went against presidential orders and continued spouting incendiary lines about his hopes to reunify Korea. After gaining the support of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Truman relieved MacArthur of command. The move was extremely unpopular in America MacArthur was perceived as a popular war hero. Only the support of the Joint Chiefs of Staff saved Truman from impeachment after the firing. Ridgway took MacArthur's command and held off the Communists with strong forts and entrenchment’s just north of the 38TH Parallel, sending occasional offensives against the Iron Tria... ... terms. Although the United States attempted to keep the war on a very small scale, it quickly snowballed out of proportion, involving China, at times seeming as if it might become a World War III. Looked at another way, though, the Korean War can be considered a success: although the war did at times get out of hand, the US and the USSR were able to avoid direct confrontation, especially since the USSR fought mainly by proxy. Perhaps most importantly of all, though it was fought just five years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, the Korean War was not an atomic war, avoiding both the possibility of immediate nuclear and setting a pattern that would continue throughout the Cold War. The Korean War had a huge effect on the US government. One of the main reasons that the war was fought was to stop communism from taking over the world. The war strengthened our relationship with Britain. This war also let the US avoid a confrontation with the USSR, which would have hurt the economy drastically. If this war would not have happen I believe that the world would have been conquered by communism. Instead of living our lavish US life I believe that we would be living like Russia.

Multimedia learning proposes Essay

Multimedia learning proposes ways of going beyond the pure verbal messages which have been used in lectures and printed lessons for hundreds of years. Multimedia learning as Thomas Edison predicted has proved to be an effective method of teaching, has revolutionized our educational system and has supplanted the use of textbooks. Multimedia presentations are known to help learners. The newly developed multimedia technologies which incorporate simultaneous presentations of narration, images and text make the possibilities for instruction vast. Yet how should educators use these technologies to ensure that there is optimal learning? The answer is that the multimedia messages should be designed in the best way using the eight principles for multimedia design as a guideline. Background to the multimedia principles: Mayer is known for his research in the field of cognitive theory. According to Mayer, a multimedia instructional message is a presentation which involves words (such as spoken or written text) and pictures (such as animation, video, illustrations, and photographs) in which the goal is to promote learning. Mayer links cognitive learning theory to multimedia design issues, validating three theory-based assumptions about how people learn from words and pictures: the (1) dual channel assumption which is based upon the theory that pictures are seen by eyes and are processed as pictorial representations in the visual-pictorial channel. Spoken words on the other hand enter through ears and are processed in the other channel of human cognition, the auditory-verbal channel. (2) Limited capacity assumption is demonstrated by auditory- verbal overload. Because each channel in the human cognitive system has a limited capacity for holding and manipulating knowledge, presenting too many visuals and a lot of sounds at the same time causes the auditory-visual channel to become overloaded. And the (3) Active processing assumption implies that optimal learning occurs when learners engage in active processing within the channels which include relevant words and pictures organized into coherent pictorial and verbal models and integrated with each other and other knowledge. The discovery of the eight principles of multimedia design was a result of Mayer’s research. Each principle was based on the cognitive theory and was supported by the finding of the research. The multimedia principles discussed with good and bad practice examples: These eight principles are explained as follows in more detail, along with their applications. Multimedia Principle: This principle states that carefully and selectively chosen words and pictures enhance a learner’s understanding of an explanation better than words alone. Mayer tells us that deeper understanding occurs because students mentally connect pictorial and verbal representations of the explanation. A study was conducted in which students viewed a narrated animation about pumps or brakes or simply listened to a narration; the students who viewed the narrated animation scored substantially higher. There are numerous examples of the multimedia principle. Desktop publishing programs and the illustrative capabilities of Microsoft Word and PowerPoint adding pictures to a multimedia presentation has become relatively easy. A good practice example would be to use an animation of how an earthquake occurs to support the textual and/or verbal description: â€Å"when the frictional stress of gliding plate boundaries goes beyond a certain value and causes a failure at a fault line, which results in a violent dislocation of the Earth’s crust. At this point, elastic strain energy is released causing elastic waves to be radiated, leading to an earthquake. † The goal of this principle is best achieved when graphics used are meaningful and illustrative in juxtaposition with text. Images which convey meaning, not simply multitudes of clip art images with no instructional purpose. It would be bad practice heaps of pictures which show destructions caused by earthquakes are used when explaining how earthquakes occur. It would actually be a hindrance in the process of learning as it would take focus off the topic and instead bring the costs of the earthquake into discussion. A good use of this principle would be when pictures and animations are used for presenting instructional content where there are used as lesson interfaces and not for any decorative purpose. Contiguity Principle: The contiguity principle examines how words and pictures should be coordinated in multimedia presentations. This principle states that there is more effective learning when the narration and animation are presented simultaneously rather than successively. Also, words and associative pictures should be close each other and presented at the same time so that when the narration or words describes a particular process or action, the animation or picture shows it at the same time. A good practice example of the contiguity principle would be showing a car assembly procedure where narration and video are presented simultaneously. Students would learn better when the two things are coordinated than otherwise. It would be bad practice if the entire textual description or narration of the car assembly procedure which has 23 stages is presented first, prior to the animation or when the animation is played prior to the verbal description. A good idea is to display the narration and animation in close time proximity so that when words describe the action, the visual depicts the same action at the same time. This will make it more likely for the learner to build mental connections linking the verbal and visual representations. Modality Principle: This principle states that students learn more deeply and effectively when words are presented as narration rather than on-screen text. Using animation and text is a method most people use when designing PowerPoint presentations. According to Mayer when both pictures and words are used are displayed in multimedia, only the visual channel is utilized and it easily becomes overloaded. A good idea therefore is to use both processing channels; the visual/pictorial channel and the auditory/verbal channel. When the narration presented is auditory, it is processed by the auditory channel allowing the visual channel the resources to process the graphical content without it becoming overloaded. A good practice example of this principle would be to present an animation of how a bicycle tire pump works together with the narration of the explanation. Presenting some information in visual mode and some in auditory mode will expand working memory capacity and reduce excessive cognitive load. It would not be a good idea to play the narration after or before the animation. Redundancy Principle: This principle states that students learn far better from multimedia presentations consisting of animation and narration than from animation, narration, and text. The redundancy principle rejects the idea of presenting duplicate instructions in different forms. Unless it is necessary, presenting the same information both in narration and on-screen text hinders the process of learning rather than facilitating it. Some people think presenting the same information in multiple forms is safe and at best advantageous. However we must understand the architecture of human cognition. When dealing with new and technical instruction, working memory is very limited and presenting the same information in narration and on-screen text will mean that not all information will be processed. A good practice of this principle would be when a lecturer uses presentations to deliver his lectures. He can narrate the instructions while his presentations present animation and pictures. It would not be good practice if the lecturer has text heavy-slides and yet continues to try to maintain the attention of the audience. This redundancy causes the learners or audience to become wrapped up in either the verbal presentation or the textual material and miss the other. Even worse the learner may decide to not pay attention at all when he is being bombarded with so much information. Coherence Principle: This principle states that students learn better from multimedia presentations when irrelevant material is excluded rather than integrated. Irrelevant words and pictures, interesting but irrelevant sounds and unnecessary words huts the student’s learning process. Learners throughout the multimedia presentation try to make sense of the material by building a coherent mental representation and any irrelevant information that comes out of nowhere is likely to disturb the process. A good practice example of this principle would be that when discussing the issue of widespread public display of affection and whether there should be laws imposed against it. It would be a good idea to stick to the topic and present points for or against the argument and the reach a conclusion. If however a person is tempted to spice up the presentation, it would be bad practice. Including dramatic stories of politicians engaged in the art of public affection and video clips where couples are seen showing affection in public would be highly entertaining but off topic and the audience might get upset if they do not make out anything from the four hour long presentation. It would also not be a good idea to include any other non instructional material such as unrelated clip arts, background music, sound clips or detailed textual descriptions. Personalization Principle: The personalization principle states that students learn better when words are presented in a conversational style than in a formal or expository style. Students or audience responds better when a more personalized tone is used in narration. A good example of this principle is when explaining how a human respiratory system works, there is a use of ‘your’ instead of ‘the’. For example instead of saying † During inhaling the diaphragm move down creating more space for the lungs† we say † When you inhale, your diaphragm moves down creating more space for your lungs†. Also when addressing community issues using multimedia presentations it is always a good idea to use ‘your community’ rather than ‘the community’. It will help the learners see that it is his community that has issue and not some other community and will provoke him to take action or become a responsible member of the community. Segmenting principle: This principle states that lessons should be divided into manageable segments. When an unfamiliar learner is introduced to a continuous presentation with a lot of inter related concepts which are complex it is easy for the cognitive system to become overloaded. A good practice of this principle would be when a lecture breaks down complex geometry problems into segments rather than present them as a single solution. This helps learners learn at their own pace. Pre-training principle: This principle suggests that people learn better from multimedia presentations when they are familiar with the names and idea of the core concepts. There is a better transfer of knowledge when the audience is trained on the components the presentation would use preceding a narrated animation. A good practice of this example is when explaining the phenomenon of global warming to children, it would work better when terminologies such as green house gases are explained and smaller concepts are built before proceeding to the presentation. This will help the children integrate their built in concepts into understanding the main problem of global warming. It is not good practice to start with the subject before providing the learners with an appropriate start up knowledge neither would it be a good idea to stop in the middle of the lecture to explain some terminology or a hidden concept. Conclusion: Multimedia enhances learning but for learning to be optimal, there should be effective use of animation, narration and on-screen test in multimedia presentations. Techniques to increase working memory by reducing cognitive load have been proposed by many theorists. These techniques improve instructional design, learning efficiency, and effectiveness. Richard E. Mayer and his Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning has highlighted well-established principles of multimedia learning which the research continues to support, including (a) the multimedia principle, (b) the contiguity principle, (d) the modality principle, (e) the redundancy principle, and (f) the coherence principle and (e) the personalization principle. These principles aid users to design effective multimedia presentations. References Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R. E. (2003). e- Learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.

Practice in Correcting Errors in Subject-Verb Agreement

After youve reviewed how to correct errors in subject-verb agreement, including tricky cases, complete the editing exercise below. Several (but not all) of the following sentences contain errors in subject-verb agreement. When you spot an error, correct it. If a sentence is free of errors, identify it as correct. When youre done, compare your responses with the answers below. Example Sentences Music soothe me.Billy bake brownies every Halloween.Peggy and Grace is arguing again.Elsie never takes the bus to work.The people who own that house has no insurance.One of these mechanics have a set of jumper cables.Felix and his brother is mending the wings of butterflies.Both of my essays is brilliant.The pulses emitted by a neutron star recurs at precise intervals.One of my uncles dances at the Rainbow Cafe.Phil and Jeremy has gone to the concert.Both of my daughters are professional dancers.Every one of the workers receive the same benefits.There is two gerbils in my bathroom.This box of toys belong in the attic. Answers Here are the answers below, with the corrected words in bold. Music  soothes  me.Billy  bakes  brownies every Halloween.Peggy and Grace  are  arguing again.CorrectThe people who own that house  have  no insurance.One of these mechanics  has  a set of jumper cables.Felix and his brother  are  mending the wings of butterflies.Both of my essays  are  brilliant.The pulses emitted by a neutron star  recur  at precise intervals.CorrectPhil and Jeremy  have  gone to the concert.CorrectEvery one of the workers  receives  the same benefits.There  are  two gerbils in my bathroom.This box of toys  belongs  in the attic.

Complexities of Normal Behavior - 1913 Words

The concept of being â€Å"normal† is one that is often spoken being the front of conversation, spoken with much defence and controversy. In contrast, this topic is spoken about with great â€Å"hush† because it is seen as a taboo in society; due to the sensitive issue of an individual’s expected behaviour. On the other hand, the topic of â€Å"abnormal† is often given a similar light to the idea of being â€Å"normal†. Many psychologist have tried to explain one of these labels often using the starting point of normality, then any behaviour that deviates away from this is seen as abnormal. However, as many psychologist and theorists have found there is much more complexity behind each label, this is due to diversity of people, cultural relativism and mixed societies within the world all trying to define their own concept of what is â€Å"normal† and â€Å"abnormal† human behaviour. It is very difficult to draw a solid line from where normality begins and finishes becoming abnormal. Through-out time there have been many explanations that try to establish a genderalisable definition for abnormal behaviour. One of which is deviation from social norms, under this explanation behaviour is classed as abnormal if it deviates away from the unwritten customary rules of society that a coordinate our behaviour within a particular society or culture Young, H (2007). Social norms are hugely context dependent and vary heavily through different cultures and religions. The changing of times also has anShow MoreRelatedDifference Between Simulation and Optimization1541 Words   |  7 Pageshowever does not drive to an optimal solution. Simulation also enables a user to visualize real world behavior of an â€Å"optimal solution† derived from the optimization. Simulation models are best suited for decision analysis, diagnostic evaluation, and project planning. Supply Chain Optimization VS. 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Case Study A Plastic Pipe Manufacturer, Was Not An...

Being able to increase productivity and revenues has always been the greatest challenge of any manager, and the manager of RL Wolfe, a plastic pipe manufacturer, was not an exception. Because of the low-efficiency percentage RL Wolfe had in comparison to their its competitors, John Amasi, director of Production and Engineering , had no other choice then came up with a new way of improving RL Wolfe production methods. 1) Compare and contrast the new plant to the old in terms of work design. Identify and rank order the most challenging problems and describe possible solutions. John Amasi attempteds to implement self-directed teams in order to increase their productivity. Being able to make their own decisions would reduced the time of production time significantly. But such improvement did not come easy, many impasses showed in his way because of the differences between the way things were made and the way Amasi wanted to be. 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Bureaucracyr Organizational Free Essays

According to Max Weber, ‘Bureaucracy’ means a centrally directed, systematically organized and hierarchically structured staff devoted to the regular, routine and efficient carrying out of large-scale administrative tasks according to policies dictated by, rulers or directors standing outside and above the bureaucracy. Such a staff, as Weber rightly saw, tends to become rule-bound, functionally specialized, elevating impersonality and esprit de corps. But ‘bureaucracy’ has also meant the opposite of organizational efficiency and effective centralized control: red tape, slowness of procedure, reluctance to take a decision, the unnecessary multiplication of people, rules and forms — a connotation achieved by singling out for attention unfavourable secondary features or tendencies of bureaucratic structures. We will write a custom essay sample on Bureaucracyr Organizational or any similar topic only for you Order Now The term ‘bureaucracy’ has been included in, but also contrasted with, the more general concept of administration. Sometimes this is done by seeing bureaucracy as a formal and impersonal mode of administration, sometimes by seeing bureaucracy as that form of administration where administrators (the bureaucrats, the officials) have become the real rulers, arrogating to themselves privilege, power and control. An Organizational structure defines how job tasks are formally divided, grouped and coordinated. The main elements to consider while designing an organizational structure are Work Specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, span of control, centralization and decentralization and formalization. The most common Organizational designs found in use are ? Simple or Flat structure ? The Bureaucracy ? The Matrix structure ? The Team Structure ? The Virtual Organization ? The Boundaryless Organization The paper discusses the major advantages of all the above designs and all are compared with bureaucracy and the real contribution of bureaucracy is arrived at the end of discussion. Then the role of bureaucracy in improving the efficiency of the organization is elucidated. The impact of a low level bureaucracy is then discussed and its role in efficiency is discussed. Then the impacts of high level bureaucracy are discussed. Finally, the paper concludes by stating that a moderate level of bureaucracy is good for increasing the efficiency of the organization. Advantages and Disadvantages of various Organizational designs The simple structure is characterized by a low degree of departmentalization, wide spans of control, authority centralized in a single person, and little formalization. The strength of the simple structure lies in its simplicity. It’s fast, flexible and inexpensive to maintain and accountability is clear. One major weakness is that it is difficult to maintain in anything other than a small organization. The decision making becomes slow as the organization grows in size because of its low formalization and high centralization. A bureaucracy is characterized by highly routine operating tasks achieved through specialization, much formalized rules and regulations, tasks that are grouped into functional departments, centralized authority, narrow spans of control, and decision making that follows the chain of command. The primary strength of bureaucracy lies in its ability to perform standardized activities in a highly efficient manner. One of the major weakness of this structure is that it causes departmental conflicts and highly inflexible always following the rules. There is no room for modification The Matrix structure is characterized by dual lines of authority and combines product and functional departmentalization. IBM adopts a modified version of the matrix structure in its overall operations. The strength of this structure lies in its ability to facilitate coordination and efficient allocation of specialists. The major disadvantage lies in the confusion it creates, its prosperity to foster power struggles, and the stress it places on individuals. The Team structure uses teams as the central device to coordinate work activities. Companies like DaimlerChrysler, Saturn, Motorola and Xerox have made extensive use of self managed teams to improve productivity at the operational level. In smaller companies, the team structure can define the entire organization. For instance, Imedia, a 30 person marketing firm in New Jersey is completely organized around teams. This structure is highly unsuitable for large companies. A Virtual organization is a small core organization that out sources major business functions. Ancle Hsu and David Ji run a virtual organization. Their firm, California based Apex Digital, is one of the world’s largest producers of DVD Players, yet the company neither owns a factory nor employs an engineer. They contract everything out to firms in China. This is suitable for small and large organizations. The major advantage is the flexibility and the disadvantage is lack of managerial control in key aspects of business. The Boundaryless organization is an organization that seeks to eliminate the chain of command, have limitless spans of control, and replace departments with empowered teams. The discussion of various organizational designs indicates the flexibility and adaptable nature of other designs compared to Bureaucracy. This also reveals that in most situations, Bureaucracy is good when the weaknesses of the designs are studied. Role of Bureaucracy in improving the efficiency of the organization The Primary strength of bureaucracy lies in putting like specialties together in functional departments results in economics of scale, minimum duplication of personnel and equipments, and employees who have the opportunity to talk â€Å" the same language† among their peers. Further more, bureaucracy can get by nicely with less talented – and hence, less costly middle and lower level managers. The pervasiveness of rules and regulations substitutes for managerial discretion. Standardized operation, coupled with high formalization, allow decision making to be centralized. There is little need therefore, for innovative and experienced decision makers below the level of senior executives. This drastically cuts costs for the enterprise and improves the efficiency level drastically by obtaining high levels of economies of scale and spending less on employees. The bureaucracy is efficient only as long as employees confront problems that they have previously encountered and for which programmed decision rules have already been established. Impact of a low level of bureaucracy A low level of bureaucracy results in huge lack of control. Employees are at their will and decision making becomes a very cumbersome task. There will be a lot of outstanding orders and the work schedule will be way below the expected level. This considerably decreases the efficiency of the organization. In very rare cases, employees take up responsibility and achieve targets. Impact of a high level of bureaucracy A high level of bureaucracy is highly detrimental to the growth of the organization. This makes the employees to develop job insecurity and they feel to be continuously monitored. High level of bureaucracy is characterized by issuing orders and a logic to follow. There will be a lot of unwanted works and precious time will be spent in duplication of the same work in various levels of the organization. This curbs innovation and creativity leading to routine jobs and eventually leads to employee boredom. There will be no sort of an employee involvement in this situation. Employees work for long hours but the output will be way below the standards and there will be no motivation mechanisms to support the employees. This finally results in employee turnover. So, a high level of bureaucracy is to be avoided as it may arouse the employees against the management of the company. Weakness of Bureaucracy One of the major weaknesses of a bureaucracy is illustrated in the following dialogue between four executives in one company: â€Å"Ya Know, nothing happens in this place until we produce something, â€Å"said the production executive. Wrong commented the research and development manager, â€Å"Nothing happens until we design something†. â€Å"What are you talking about? † asked the marketing executive. â€Å"Nothing happens here until we sell something†. Finally, the exasperated accounting manager responded, â€Å"It does not matter what you produce, design, or sell. Now one knows what happens we tally up the results! † This conversation points at the fact that specialization creates subunit conflicts. Functional unit goals can override the overall goals of organization. The other major weakness of a bureaucracy is something dealing with the people who work in these organizations: obsessive concern with following the rules. When cases arise that do not precisely fit the rules, there is no room for modification. Conclusion Bureaucracy is efficient to the organization only when a moderate level exists. Both a low level of bureaucracy and a high level of bureaucracy will result in the inefficient operation of the enterprise without fully utilizing the resources of the company. A moderate level of bureaucracy will ensure that control mechanisms are in place and that employees are achieving their targets. This also allows the restriction of imposing rules and procedures to the employees and causing boredom. When a saturation point is reached, bureaucracy contributes greatly to improving the efficiency of the organization to a great level. Reference: †¢ Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behavior, Tenth Edition, Prentice Hall of India. Pg. 425-446, Pg. 523-535. †¢ Garry Dessler, Human Resource Management, Eastern Economy edition. Pg 465-479. †¢ Randy L. Desimone, Jon M. Werner and David M. Harris, Human Resource Development, Pearson education. Pg. 225 – 239 †¢ Cummings Worley, Organization Culture and Change , 2005, page 490 †¢ Merril Ewert D and Jennifer A King Rice. 2002 October. Managing Diversity: HRM Review. †¢ http://www. hrmguide. co. uk/history/classical_organization_theory. htm How to cite Bureaucracyr Organizational, Papers