Analysis of an Issue Sample Topic (GRE)
A successful and productive administration of any company or even a state requires the collective and progressive participation of all the incumbent elements involved in the fortification of it. It is quite difficult or somewhat impossible for one central authority to look after all the matters pertaining to a company or a state, without the involvement of any other elements of the enterprise. I shall present arguments favouring the idea of collective involvement of teams in which everyone makes decision, shares responsibilities and duties by refuting the idea of one man’s authority.
Collective decision making can solve many problems as different types of responsibilities are shared among different groups. It also enables the companies and states to think out of the box & to open new vistas of opportunities. One person’s authority can only think in a particular way because the thinking of a person is secluded or confined by the environment in which he lives. I would like to quote the example of “District Government System of Pakistan”. This system comprises of a person having all the central authority called “District Nazim”. He has the responsibility to look after all the aspects of a city’s life including; planning, development, education, general administration, budget, human resource management etc. How come a person can manage such mammoth tasks with a rudimentary education of only “Matriculation” & with no prior experience of administration? There is no authority in this “District Government System”, which can question the authority of these demigods. The result is in front of our eyes i.e. “complete anarchy”. According to a report of ICG (INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP), district government system is blamed to be the most corrupt system among all the incumbent local government systems throughout the world (ICG report 2003) .
On the other hand, if we look after the example of collective decision making then we can see a much efficient administration setup. I would again like to quote the example of Pakistan in a different way. Before the advent of “District Government System”, Deputy Commissioners were responsible to look after all the districts along with their team of professional officials, trained to perform their well specified tasks. DCs were accountable to Commissioners. Commissioners were accountable to Chief Secretary and chief secretaries worked in coordination with Chief Minister and so on everyone was responsible in that system. I would not say that the system was infallible but I can say one thing for sure that even a small official was somewhere involved in decision making with its hierarchal setup. Due to its efficiency & a setup of accountability, the government is again thinking to replace the “District Government System” with this “District Management Group” system.
If we look at a small business or a private enterprise then we can see that the collective efforts of all the members can enhance the company’s profile and hampers the top management to enforce its dictatorial views. It is a matter of great surprise that many engineers left Microsoft & joined Google because in Microsoft they were not included in decision making despite of the fact that they were given quite handsome pays.
