Summarize the major plans that impacted the creation of the Assignment

Summarize the major plans that impacted the creation of the Constitution - Assignment Example th the other Plan of New Jersey, which called, after all, the states to possess unbiased representation in the congress as to the Confederation articles. The third plan brought about the New Jersey and the Virginia plans as tools for exhibition in the existing houses of Congress. It led to an equal representation in the Senate and balanced in the chamber. The New Jersey Plan was initially an answer to the Virginia plan, and it was displayed at the constitutional convention. Through this plan, the Congress had some extra powers of tax collection and setting. State laws were weak towards federal statutes. The New Jersey Plan called for the selection of the executive council by the Congress, to serve for a period of one-year long term. The term was subject to recall by the governors of the state. The executive appointed the judiciary and was accompanied by a lifetime service. The plan called for equal representation of the states and the small states feared that the bigger states would become very powerful. This plan tried to give the small states similar powers to those with larger states in the congress. The third plan of Connecticut compromise mixed the New Jersey and the Virginia plans as replicas for state exhibition in the houses of Congress. The Connecticut plan was put forward by Roger Sherman during the constitutional convention. The Great Compromise also goes by the name compromise, solved many issues related to representation in Congress. The plan mixed the other two plans (New Jersey and Virginia) as a tool of display in the houses of Congress; the states should be depicted on equal terms in the Senate. The states also should be represented proportionately in the representatives’ house. The plan called for counting of every five slaves to be done as three for the purposes of population determination (this though did not offer the votes to the slaves). Almost all the proposed laws related to fundraising would have to come from the representatives

Role Model Considerations Essay Example for Free

Role Model Considerations Essay Through the discussions and readings, I gained extensive insight on the many aspects related to teaching. A teacher holds a respectable position in society and he should always try to maintain this through his conduct. A teacher’s primary duty is to teach. But in order to successfully do his duty, it is not just sufficient to be excellent in one’s subject. His class performance is judged not only on the basis of how he is teaching but also on the basis of how he is interacting in class. He should also try to be honest in other activities of school apart from teaching. I can confidently say that the readings and discussions have helped me in successfully achieving the three learning objectives of this week. It is extremely important to identify the potential impact of controversial personal conduct on employment and licensure. To be an honest teacher does not just imply an honest dissemination of knowledge but also points towards the rules and regulations set by the school authorities that a teacher should follow at any cost. Even if one is a good teacher, if he is dishonest in other activities of the school he should be considered unfit to continue with his job. This implies in the areas relating to boundary violations between teacher and students and issues relating to appropriate and inappropriate forms of communication with students as well. If a teacher’s character is not good, the students do not respect him. Ultimately if things go out of hand he may not only have to face a lot of shame for his misconducts but he might even get fired from his job. In my future endeavors I would make use of the facts that as a teacher one should be well versed with the rules and regulations of the institution he is teaching in. He should know the areas in which a student should be reprimanded and the issues in which the students have full rights. He should keep a check on his conducts and should never intentionally or unintentionally cross the line that is supposed to be between a teacher and a student. If a teacher is able to achieve all this he always remains in the hearts of the students long after they have passed out. A teacher should try to be an inspiration and not someone who is criticized and made fun of.

Has Globalisation Changed The Disposition Of Music Cultural Studies Essay

Has Globalisation Changed The Disposition Of Music Cultural Studies Essay To begin with the globalisation of music, we will have to understand that Intuitively, globalization is a process fuelled by, and resulting in, increasing cross-border flows of goods, services, money, people, information, and culture (Held et al. 1999:16). Sociologist Anthony Giddens (1990:64; 1991:21) proposes to regard globalization as a decoupling or distanciation between space and time, while geographer David Harvey (1989) and political scientist James Mittelman (1996) observe that globalization entails a compression of space and time, a shrinking of the world. The discourses over globalization of music constructed over these debates of Giddens and Harvey. When we talk about globalisation, we are in a sense talking about unity of the states across the globe. How this unity is brought up? Then how does it link the states together? What are the major contributors in this unification process? Along with a myriad of intellectuals I will also sum- up with an answer, global- culture. However, it is one of the measures required for the unification process. One set of theorists, who are pro-global- culture say, that the global culture is making the world closer and more united. The people of the world are combining their differences and being more cooperative towards one and other. This process of emerging global culture can be seen in times of need when everyone has pulled together to strive for peace and freedom. Although, there exists a wide range of religions of which people are becoming tolerant, forming a homogenised society. If we say that the global culture is the synonym of the common culture, then there are wide range of opinion on it. Wight uses the term common culture so loosely that it is unclear whether he has in mind a deep, historic sense of culture, or the more superficial agreed rules that compose a contractual society. (James 1993: 277-8) Alan James, System or society?, Review of International Studies 19: 3, 1993. I argue that to certain extent global culture is a common culture among the people of the world. Worldbeat is a term for various styles of world popular music, or pop, that are practiced outside the European-American mainstream. The Popular music (music produced and marketed on a mass-commodity basis) first emerged in the early 1900s, during which time numerous distinctive popular music styles began to develop around the world. The rise of such genres was linked to dramatic transformations-especially urbanization and modernization-occurring throughout the world. Such changes disrupted traditional attitudes, lifestyles, and forms of artistic patronage, while creating new urban social classes with new musical tastes. As per Terence Lancashire, The term world music usually conjures up images of musics from remote corners of the world. However, that remoteness is not always geographical and can. The formal emergence of world music in 1987 as a commercial gloss denoting a body of music which hitherto defied conventional categorisation namely musics other than popular and classic forms from North America and Western Europe or, alternatively, the incorporation of such musics into Western popular genres, has met with a variety of responses from musicologists/ethnomusicologists seeking to clarify the dynamics that underlie the production and reception of world musics and the related and sometimes indistinguishable genres of new age and healing. Regional case studies and overviews (e.g. Frith 1991; Keil and Feld 1994; Taylor 1997) often draw attention towards the relationship between the West and the rest where production and presentation of non-Western music has often meant some form of Western control in terms of discovery, production, marketing and distribution. Accusations of cultural exploitation and appropriation have, therefore, often run central to the debate on what appears to be yet another dimension of that unbalanced and uneasy relation between the first and third worlds. In reality, the question of who is exploiting whom is often a complicated one as non-Western musicians find access to markets hitherto only dreamt of. Nevertheless, in order for such musical projects to be realised, financial backing is essential and it is here that resources are, more often than not, concentrated inthe West. Thus, a music flow from south to north and east to west seems to define the world music equation. Yet, there are other players who, through cultural ambiguity, occupy an alternative arena less easily defined. Economic development in the Far East, coupled with rapid modernisation, has meant the emergence of countries which share similar economic goals, cultural interests and perce ptions with the West but, resulting from other cultural differences, most obviously language, are not so often included in debates on musics both popular and world. (Lancashire: 21) Globalisation, which generally implies westernisation and the Asianisation of Asia, is often posited to be a culturally, economically, technologically and socially homogenising force in the distribution of music, whilst localisation refers to the empowerment of local forces and the (re)emergence of local music cultures. These two notions of globalisation and localisation seem to be mutually contradictory, posing a fundamental dilemma for the understanding of the transformation of popular cultures into global forms. As argued by Law (forthcoming), the debate between globality and locality, or between homogeneity and heterogeneity in globalisation discourse, could be regarded as a product of similar antagonisms in the literature of development concerning theories of modernisation, dependency and world systems. Although there is no clear definition or model of globalisation (Hirst and Thompson 1996), its discourse attempts to theorise the phenomenon in terms of The temporal and spatial compression of human activities on the globe, to recognise, explore and explain the interaction and interdependence of economics, politics and cultures beyond local, regional and national boundaries, and to predict possible influences on human activities (Law, forthcoming, also see, for example, Featherstone 1995; Comeliau 1997; Poisson 1998; Jones 1999; Crawford 2000; Croteau and Hoynes 2000). Cohen (1995) suggests that locality could be most usefully used in popular music studies to discuss networks of social relationships, practices, and processes extending across particular places, and to draw attention to interconnections and interdependencies between, for example, space and time, the contextual and the conceptual, the individual and the collective, the self and the other (p. 65). In this respect the local is defined by reference not only to a community, but also to a shared sense of place within global culture. Globalisation promotes the meeting of musical cultures, whilst sim ultaneously encouraging regional differences. Local popular industries perceive their potential audience in international terms, and local pop markets are now awash with global sounds, since, as Wallis and Malm (1984) maintain, globalisation encourages popular musical practices to look towards global styles for possible inspiration, whilst also looking inwards to (re)create national music styles and forms. For decades, critics have depicted the international circulation of American and British pop as cultural imperialism. Yet US-American and British youth have increasingly been shaped by Asian cultural. Similarly, there is wide-spread recognition of the willingness amongst popular musicians to create novel forms that express a widespread experience of dislocation (Jenkins 2001, p. 89). For example, contemporary Afro-pop sometimes combines the electric guitars of Western rock and roll with melodies and rhythms of traditional African music, whilst Western rock drummers have long adopted a tradition from Africa whereby the sounds of different drums are combined (Croteau and Hoynes 2000, p. 333). Jenkins (2001) describes such musical eclecticism as the product of third culture youths, who fuse elements from mixed racial, national or linguistic backgrounds. Although the big international music companies affect local production, their markets are also influenced by particular local cultures. So, globalisation signifies more than environmental interconnectedness, and the meaning of musical products with global features strikes at the heart of the major social and political issues of our time. This is how Bennett (1999) represents the attempts to rework hip hop as a localised mode of expression by Turkish and Moroccan youth in Frankfurt. Economic globalisation is often con sidered to undermine the local foundations of the popular culture industry. The flow of capital through transnational monetary tems and multinational companies means that words, ideas, images and sounds of different cultures are made available to vast networks of people through the transmission of electronic media. Among the most prominent multinational electronic media companies are two Internet partnerships MusicNet, involving AOL, RealNetworks, EMI, BMG and Warner; and Duet, incorporating Yahoo!, Universal and Sony. The two most recognised online music providers so far, Napster and MP3.com, have also linked up with record companies (Source: http://www.grayzone.com/ifpi61201.htm). Furthermore, the international division of labour and the global circulation of commodities have ensured that processes of production and consumption are no longer confined to a geographically bounded territory. Consequently, economic globalisation has been characterised as the deterritorialisation. ( H o: 144) (Appadurai 1996) or denationalisation (Sassen 1996) of nation-states. Global economic forces reside in global networks that link different nations and cultures in profit-maximising webs of production, leading to the transformation of all sectors of all state economies and their mutual accommodation in the global context (Crawford 2000, pp. 71-2). Negus (1999) maintains that the global market is a concept that has to be constructed in a particular way to target the most profitable categories of music within the recording industry (p. 156). However, as we have seen, the (re)emergence of local cultures competes with global factors in a process that Morley and Robins (1995) refer to as the new dynamics of re-localisation in The attempt to achieve a new global-local nexus, about new and intricate relations between global space and local space (p. 116). Levitt (1983) explains that localisation is practised by multinational companies insofar as they must have a committed operating presence in the markets of other nations. However, electronic communications have also enabled the global broadcasting of messages of universal peace and love, and, in the case of www. indymedia.org, have even served as anti-capitalist noticeboards. Anderson (1983) suggested that the nation depends for its existence upon a sense of social- psychological affiliation to an imagined community, which was facilitated by the emergence of the mechanical printing press and consequent capital investment (Negus and Roman-Velazquez, 2000, p. 330). Similarly nowadays, global electronic communications can evoke a sense of a trans-national imagined community. In music, an example can be well illustrated by the 11 September 2001 tragedies in New York and Washington D.C. The US-American national anthem was thundered Not only all over the States but also in other countries, such as at St Pauls Cathedral in London. Whitney Houstons record company intends to re-release her version of the US-American national anthem that was produced ten years ago during the Gulf War. International popular artists such as U2, Britney Spears, Limp Bizkit and Destinys Child, worked together for the album Whats Going On, the market profits from which will be donated to funds for the relief of the families of victims of the tragedies of September 11. John Lennons Imagine, which evokes a world free from all state boundaries, has now become popular even in some non-English speaking regions, and was sung by all the artists involved in the Carlsbergs Rock Music Concert held in Hong Kong on 24 September 2001, who also prayed for those who died in the disaster two weeks earlier. Globalisation and localisation are in a dynamic dialectic. Globalisation is a process of local hybridisation that determines a great number of processes that change and even transcend the regional and national characteristics of popular music. Current debates about globalisation in popular music show that local actors become increasingly involved in global flows of meanings, images, sounds, capital, people, etc. Through the technology of global networks, new affinity group formation emerge, centring on particular musical styles and ways of expression. Economic globalisation always has cultural effects on the localisation of popular music. (Ho: 146) Hudson and Cohen bring out the detail of local musical cultures, the way in which music, produced through and producing space, may act as social glue.(431) Does globalisation of music produce convergaence? The very first argument for the present paper is the consequences of the globalisation of music as to the convergence of societies towards a uniform pattern of cultural organization. AS expressed in modernization theory, the spread of markets and technology is predicted to cause societies to converge from their preindustrial past, although total homogeneity is deemed unlikely. The sociologists reject the convergence debate by arguing that globalization homogenizes without destroying the local and the particularistic. For example, Viviana Zelizer (1999) about the economy that it differentiates and proliferates culturally in much the same way as other spheres of social life do, without losing national and even international connectedness. Robertson (1995:34-35) sees the global as the linking of localities. Issues of music getting de-territorialised Other argument is that the original is getting lost in the wake of globalisation. Other sets of arguments which emerge from this view are : How do listeners identify music with a particular place? The evolution and geographic distribution of instruments, use of specific melodies or scales, and existence of common rhythms are some key characteristics that help define and limit the territorial range of a music. How common traits can provide telltale clues about where a form of music originated and how it spread? How can music retain its association with certain places in an increasingly global society? If these questions could be answered the music could be retained as intact. IDENTITIES: Music and its origin Other argument flows that in a globalised village, where is the identity of the music? Four basic positions are highlighted in the successive integration of both MUSIC and identities, from separation to fusion: demonizing exclusion, primitivist polarization, diversifying hybridization and normalizing assimilation. Lomax also states that due to the widespread distribution of industrialized music and the loss of music that exemplifies cultural aspects and characteristics, civilizations are not maintaining a sense of national pride and identity. Without these distinguishing lines, Schiller states that at one time it was cultural diversity that flourished, and now we are witnessing the diffusion of such a process, if such a process of cultural breakdown were to keep evolving, we would have to face a global consumer monoculture. AMERICANISATION: Westernisation or polarisation of music Another argument of the discourses on the globalisation of music is that the music which is going global is by and large Americanised. One of the major fears associated with the globalization of music is the creation of a global monoculture. Barlow investigates how the global monoculture has infiltrated every corner of the earth. He feels that North American corporate culture, including the music industry, is destroying local tradition, knowledge, skill, artisans and values. Specifically artisans have been affected through the fact that the product that they have tried to market has been outdated and overrun by the popstar garbage that has taken over the world and destroyed cultures. The premise of Barlows argument finds that this is corporate America is not only destroying traditions, but it is burying a cultures overall identity. As best said by Nawal Hassan, a Egyptian artisan activist, This is an issue of identity. All our civilizations has ceased to be spiritual. Our civilizati on has become commercial. (Barlow 2001) I came up with the view that People arguing over the loss of a nations cultural identity, the terror of westernization, and the reign of cultural imperialism. Through topics such as these we explore the possibilities or the existence of hybridization of cultures and values, and what some feel is the exploitation of their heritage. One important aspect that is not explored that such influences can also be more than just a burden and an overstepping of bounds. These factors can create an educational environment as well as a reaffirmation of ones own culture. With the music being the highly profitable, capitalist enterprise that it is today, it is no wonder that it is controlled and regulated by a few large conglomerates. COMMERCIALISATION: Consumerism of music Another issue of debate is that the transnational corporations are making money on music, whether the music is twisted or re-mixed. So it is a kind of threat on the originality of the music. Growth of a profitable and varied music services industry producing everything from remixes to music marketing strategies. Standing at the forefront of this growth industry are a large number of firms attempting to combine in innovative ways music and ICT. This can take a variety of forms, for instance: selling and distributing music over the internet; web design and computerised advertising services tailored to music products; software design focused on multimedia products and virtual instruments; high-tech post-production and mixing services; and virtual centres and communities of music industry actors. Brunnette in empirical studies of market concentration in music (1990, 1993),reports that seven corporations together controlled no less than 50 percent of market share in any country where they had operations and up to 80 percent in some countries (199:104-5).The seven corporations, with their nation of origin and reported 1990 sales, are:Sony (Japan, $3 billion), Time/Warner (U.S., $2.9 billion),Polygram(Netherlands/Germany, $2.6 billion), Bertelsmann Media Group (Germany, $2 billion),Thorn/EMI (U.K., $1.88 billion),MCA(U.S., $1 billion), and Virgin (U.K., $500 million), total 1990 sales $13.88 billion (1993, pp. 141-143).With no. such as these it is nearly impossible to deny the fact that these companies do not have a great affect on the influence of music and media that they distribute. Conglomerates not only run the market for music,but determine which music is to be distributed and to where, therefore pushing an idea or culture onto a nation. Seeing that westernization has beco me a industry term for many businesses it is surprising that recently much of the profit that has been received from music conglomerates has been non-U.S. artists. The contemporary music industry The making of music is not only a cultural and sociological process but an economic one. However, economic geography perhaps because of a lingering productivist bias has yet to undertake a serious appraisal of the dynamics of the music industry (see Sadler 1995). Trends of globalization, internal corporate restructuring and global-local relations are, however, as evident here as in other sectors. In 1992, the music industry generated worldwide sales of US$29 000 million, dominated by just five major global corporations: Warners, Bertlesmann Music Group, Polygram International Group, EMI-Virgin and Sony. Seventy per cent of world record sales were generated in just five national markets, each dominated by the majors which between them captured 73 per cent of sales in the USA (31 per cent of the global market), 60 pe cent of sales in Japan (15 per cent), 90 per cent of sales in Germany (9 per cent), 73 per cent of sales in the UK (7 per cent) and 87 per cent of sales in France (7 per c ent) (Monopolies and Mergers Commission 1994). (Leyshon. Mayshell, Revill: 427) Music and traditions? The music is a tradition? It is another issue of debate. Because there are other instances which suggest that sometimes the popular music of a place was against the traditions. In some cases, as with jazz, Greek rebetika, and the Argentine tango, the emergent popular music styles came from the colorful underworlds of urban taverns and brothels. As such styles grew in sophistication, they came to attract the interest of cultural nationalists and middle-class enthusiasts. Eventually these styles shed their less reputable origins and developed into dynamic national genres. Powne (1968:vii-viii) referred to a debased or Westernized music in Ethiopia, and Price (l930a; 16) to the slovenly and immoral music called jazz, which he regarded as crude, negroid in form and vulgar. Even the sensitive scholar Kunst referred to the partially Western-derived genre of Indonesian kroncong as a monotonous and characterless wail,listing it as one of the causes why the native is either dying away or dege nerating (ibid.) Some writers have indulged in a romantic zeal to save traditional music everywhere from the contamination that was often supposed to result from musical contact between the West and the non-West. Fryer (ibid., 482) laments cuts in musical education, For Fryer, the environment of pop is an anti-culture with universally commercialized African rhythm undermining the universal cultural standards of the classical wester canon. For Bunge, the new and global is to be celebrated because it is popular and young; Fryer (ibid, 482) chastises a resurrection by a professed radical of the discredited economic doctrine of consumer sovereignty. (Leyshon. Matless, Revill: 424) Caroline Bithell says, The world music marketplace opens up a new area of representation of a culture by its own participants, while the high density of recording in its turn stimulates an increased preoccupation within the culture with questions of musical identity, all of which provides fertile ground for ethnomusicological research. The ensuing detective work is aimed not at flushing out cases of inauthenticity, but at uncovering ever more pieces of a multi-dimensional jigsaw rich in unexpected meetings and happy accidents and documented in different ways by field recordings and commercial recordings alike. While some of the groups identify themselves completely with the notion of the tradition, regardless of what they are actually doing in practice, others are quite clear that they are simply doing what they want to do and resent the imposition of the spectre of tradition as a restrictive framework (e.g. Minicale interview 1994). They do not in any case view the tradition as some thing fixed this can only lead to ossificationbut as a continually evolving organic entity which needs to find contemporary forms of expression (e.g. Poli interview 1995). (Bithell: 61) They feel that they should not be held to ransom by the notion of tradition or More precisely by other peoples perception of their tradition. (They remain concerned, nonetheless, that they should be seen as being grounded in the tradition.) What is at stake is not what is done but the way in which the traditional label is appropriated. At the same time, the concept of tradition itself is clearly flexible and contested and does not necessarily imply either great age or superior status. (The alternative designation popular does not share this problem but, in the modern media age, creates new difficulties. It also fails to bestow a sufficiently elevated aura.) There is also a danger of idealising or romanticising the workings of the oral tradition where songs were passed down directly from one generatio n to the next. In reality, the process did not always run smoothly. Some older singers were jealous of their repertoire and reluctant to pass on their secrets to younger singers. In many places, singing remained the prerogative of the older men (Sarrocchi interview). The availability of commercial recordings means that some of these human difficulties can be by-passed and the younger generations of singers can empower themselves as and when they are ready to do so.( Bithell: 62) Globalisation of music J. Mc Gregor Wise : Music is a landscape in which people negotiate their identities. There is prevalent a view that the growing ease with which capital and commodities cross international boundaries will serve to erode and perhaps even obliterate that which might be considered local. This particular conviction invokes a range of starkly different political responses. On the one hand, there are high modernists like Anthony Giddens who foresee that individuals will be enabled increasingly to transcend the strictures of the local in order to participate in what is understood as the rather richer environs of a global community forged out of the communications revolution (Giddens 1991, pp. 1467; 1998, p. 36). On the other, there is a swelling band of critics who fear that globalisation entails simply the homogenisation of cultural practice and taste. These anxieties are captured best perhaps in the lucid polemic of Naomi Klein (2000). While the contention that trans-national forces are inexorably eroding that which is particular to given societies exercises considerable a ppeal, it has of course been challenged in various quarters. Some social scientists have sought to suggest that the process of globalisation will not in fact impose homogeneity but rather will illuminate and foster the local. This particular reading of contemporary social trends finds an especially keen illustration in a new book by Andy Bennett. In Popular Music and Youth Culture we encounter a distinctive conception of the ways in which the social world is experienced and understood. The author sets out to challenge the view that popular music constitutes a cultural text that has a meaning independent of its audience. Social actors are not Bennett insists mere cultural innocents who passively consume the wares of the music business. On the contrary, he argues, people are in fact reflexive agents who interpret and appropriate popular music in ways that are critical and creative. As a consequence, the meanings of musical texts should be acknowledged not as singular and given but r ather as plural and contested. The particular reading advanced within Popular Music and Youth Culture insists not only that social actors engage critically with popular music but that they do so principally in the context of the local. This is defined throughout the text not as a demarcated physical space but rather as a set of discourses. The specific discursive practices through which the local is called into being are, Bennett asserts, intimately associated with the production and consumption of popular music. Those musical texts that originate elsewhere are routinely read through sensibilities that emerge out of a specific understanding of place. These particular sensibilities are themselves, however, heavily influenced by exposure to musical texts that originate else- where. Looking at musicalised forms of social practice would seem to suggest, therefore, that the relationship of the global to the local is a complex one not of dominance but rather of dialogue. (See Willet : rev iew) African American musical adaptations formed the roots of blues, jazz, and other genres of modern music in the United States. But elsewhere in the Americas, especially in the Caribbean and Brazil, drums remained integral to the black musical tradition. In these areas, African music has mixed with both indigenous and non-African traditions to produce a variety of musical styles, including calypso and reggae. Further Andrew Leyshon, David Matless, George Revill, talk about universal and national music. Shepherd, the assumed fixed criteria against which all music can be judged are rooted in the musical languages of ruling groups privileging the classical over the popular and the masculine against the feminine. Such cultural distinctions were brought to bear both within and beyond thewest.n Leppert and McClary (1987, xviii) show how such formulations have legitimized western sophistication and complexity against the primitive and suggest that ethnomusicological questioning of music and society has been acceptable only when applied to other cultures: recognizing that other musics are bound up with social values does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that our music likewise might be: more often it simply results in the chauvinistic, ideological reaffirmation of the superiority of Western art, which is still widely held to be autonomous.

Gallium :: essays research papers

Gallium 1871 Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendelev predicts the existance and properties of the element after zinc in the periodic table. He Gives it the name "eka aluminium". 1875 Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovers gallium. Its properties closely match those predicted by Mendelev. Gallium, atomic number 31, is very similar to aluminum in its chemical properties. It does not dissolve in nitric acid because of the protective film of gallium oxide that is formed over the surface by the action of the acid. Gallium does however dissolve in other acids, and alkalies. Gallium was discovered (1875) by Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, who observed its principal spectral lines while examining material seperated from zinc blende. Soon after he isolated the metal studied its properties, which coincided those that Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendelev had predicted a few years earlier for eka-aluminium, the then undiscovered element lying between aluminum and indium in his periodic table. Though widely distributed at the Earth's surface, gallium does not occor free or concentrated in independant minerals, except for gallite. It is extracted as a by-product from zinc blende, iron pyrites, bauxite, and germanite. Silvery white and soft enough to be cut with a knife, gallium takes on a bluish tinge because of superficial oxidation. Unusual for its low melting point ( about 30 degrees C, 86 degrees F ), gallium also expands upon solidification and supercools readily, remaining a liquid at temperatures as low as 0 degrees C ( 32 degrees F ). Gallium has the longest usefull liquid range of any element. The liquid metal clings to glass and similar surfaces. The crystal structure of gallium is orthorhombic. Natural gallium consists of a mixture of two stable isotopes: gallium-69 ( 60.4 percent ) and gallium-71 (39.6 percent ). Somewhat similar to aluminum chemically, gallium slowly oxidizes in moist air until a protective film forms, and it becomes passive in cold nitric acid. Gallium has been considered as a possible heat-exchange medium in nuclear reactors, although it has a high neutron cross section. Radioactive gallium-72 shows some promise in the study of bone cancer; a compound of this isotope is absorbed by the cancerous portion of the bone. The most common use of gallium is in a gallium scan. Gallium scans are often used to diagnose and follow the progression of tumors or infections. Gallium scans can also be used to evaluate the heart, lungs, or any other organ that may be involved with inflammatory disease.

Public administration Essay

‘Ethics’ is a difficult term to define. The meaning, nature and scope of ethics have expanded in the course of time. ‘Ethics’ is integral to public administration. In public administration, ethics focuses on how the public administrator should question and reflect in order to be able to act responsibly. We cannot simply bifurcate the two by saying that ethics deals with morals and values, while public administration is about actions and decisions. Administering accountability and ethics is a difficult task. The 1 levels of ethics in governance are dependent on the social, economic, political, cultural, legal-judicial and historical contexts of the country. These specific factors influence ethics in public administrative systems. This Unit will discuss the meaning, evolution, foci and concerns of ethics. It will bring out the different dimensions of ethics and their relevance for public administration. The significance of an ethical code for administrators will be analysed and the nature of work ethics will be discussed. This Unit will also examine the obstacles to ethical accountability. 21. 2 ETHICS: MEANING AND RELEVANCE ‘Ethics’ is a system of accepted beliefs, mores and values, which influence human behaviour. More specifically, it is a system based on morals. Thus, ethics is the study of what is morally right, and what is not. The Latin origin of the word ‘ethics’ is ethicus that means character. Since the early 17th century, ‘ethics’ has been accepted as the â€Å"Science of morals; the rules of conduct, the science of human duty. † Hence, in common parlance, ethics is treated as moral principles that govern a person’s or a group’s behaviour. It includes both the science of the good and the nature of the right. The ethical concerns of governance have been underscored widely in Indian scriptures and other treatises such as Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagvad Gita, Buddha Charita, Arthashastra, Panchatantra, Manusmriti, Kural, Shukra Niti, Kadambari, Raja Tarangani, and Hitopadesh. At the same time, one cannot ignore the maxims on ethical governance provided by the Chinese philosophers such as Lao Tse, Confucius and Mencius. In the Western philosophy, there are three eminent schools of ethics. The first, inspired by Aristotle, holds that virtues (such as justice, charity and generosity) are dispositions to act in ways that benefit the possessor of these virtues and the society of which he is a part. The second, subscribed to mainly by Immanual Kant, makes the concept of duty central to morality: human beings are bound, from a knowledge of their duty as rational beings, to obey the categorical imperative to respect other rational beings with whom they interact. The third is the Utilitarian viewpoint that asserts that the guiding principle of conduct should be the greatest happiness (or benefit) of the greatest number (Hobson, 2002). The Western thought is full of ethical guidelines to rulers, whether in a monarchy or a democracy. These concerns are found in the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Penn, John Stuart Mill, Edmund Burke, and others. Rawl’s theory of justice revolves around the adaptation of two fundamental principles of justice, which would, in turn, guarantee a just and morally acceptable society. The first principle guarantees the right of each person to have the most extensive basic liberty compatible with liberty of others. The second principle states that social and economic positions are to be: (a) To everyone’s advantage, and (b) Open to all. A key issue for Rawls is to show how such principles would be universally adopted, and over here his work borders on general ethical issues. He introduces a theoretical ‘veil of ignorance’ in which all ‘players’ in the social game would be placed in a situation, which is called the ‘original position’. Having only a general knowledge about the facts of ‘life and society’ each player is to make a ‘rationally’ prudential choice concerning the kind of social institution they would enter into contract with. By denying the players any specific information about themselves it forces them to adopt a generalised point of view that bears a strong resemblance to the moral point of view. This view point revolves around moral conclusions can be reached without abandoning the prudential standpoint and posting a moral outlook merely by pursuing one’s own prudential reasoning under certain procedural bargaining. 2 The gist of wisdom on administrative ethics is that the public administrators are the â€Å"guardians† of the Administrative State. Hence, they are expected to honour public trust and not violate it. Two crucial questions raised in this context are â€Å"why should guardians be guarded? And â€Å"Who guards the guardian? † (Rosenbloom and Kravchuk, 2005). The administrators need to be guarded against their tendency to misconceive public interest, promote self-interest, indulge in corruption and cause subversion of national interest. And they need to be guarded by the external institutions such as the judiciary, legislature, political executive, media and civil society organisations. These various modes of control become instruments of accountability. 21. 3 EVOLUTION OF ETHICAL CONCERNS IN ADMINISTRATION It is essential to recognise that the discipline of Public Administration has been broadly influenced in the initial stages of its growth, by Political Science and the science of Management. While the philosophical premises of Public Administration were influenced primarily by Political Science, its technological facet was designed by Management Sciences. The early Political Science was taught as Moral Philosophy and Political Economy, while its current curriculum is the product of secular, practical, empirical and scientific tendencies of the past century. The American students of Political Science, in the early years of the last century, were dismayed at the inadequacies of the ethical approach in the Gilded Age. As a result of their interaction with the German universities and the influence on their thinking by scholars such as J. N Burgess, E. J. James, A. B Hart, A. L Lovell, and F. J Goodnow, they sought to recreate Political Science as a true science. They became increasingly interested in observing and analysing ‘actual governments’. Natural and Social Sciences substantially influenced their ideas and approaches. Later, Logical Positivism of the Austrian School influenced scholars such as Herbert Simon and thus there emerged a booming faith in developing a Science of Politics and a Science of Administration that would be able to `predict and control’ political and administrative life. As Dwight Waldo comments, the old belief that good government was the government of moral men was thus replaced by a morality that was irrelevant and that proper institutions and expert personnel were the determining factors in shaping good government. `The new amorality became almost a request for professional respect’. The eminence of Behaviouralism until the mid-1960s further marginalised the ethical issues in the study of Political Science and Public Administration. It was only after the advent of Post-behaviouralism in Political Science and of the accent on New Public Administration in Public Administration that the scientific methods of Behaviouralim and humanistic (read `ethical’) values struck a homogenous chord with administration and the dispute between facts and values was resolved substantially. The current discipline of public administration accords primacy to the `values’ of equity, justice, humanism, human rights, gender equality and compassion. The movement of Good Governance, initiated by the World Bank in 1992, lays stress, inter alia, on the ethical and moral conduct of administrators. While the New Public Management movement is more concerned with administrative effectiveness, the New Public Administration focuses on administrative ethics in its broader manifestation. Both the movements are complementary to each other. This complementarity of foci 3 is as truer today as it was a hundred years ago when the industrial world was experiencing the rise of Scientific Management amidst a strong acceptance of the notion of administrative responsibility. John Kennedy, during his Presidency (19611963) had averred: â€Å"No responsibility of government is more fundamental than the responsibility of maintaining the higher standards of ethical behaviour. The ideal-type construction of bureaucracy, propounded by Max Weber also highlighted an ethical imperative of bureaucratic behaviour. Weber (1947) observed: In the rational type, it is a matter of principle that the members of the administrative staff should be completely separated from ownership of the means of production and administration. Officials, employees and workers attached to the administrative staff do not themselves own the non-human means of production and administration†¦. These exists, furthermore, in principle complete separation of property belonging to the organisation, which is controlled within the sphere of office, and the personal property of the official, which is available for his own private uses†. Weber’s analysis underscores the need to prevent the misuse of an official position for personal gains. Although his ideal-type construct on bureaucracy is not empirical, yet it has an empirical flavour, for it appears to have taken into account the existential reality of bureaucratic behaviour. From a normative angle – knowing that Weber was not normative in his ideal type constructs – also, the message is clear: Don’t misuse official property for personal benefit. Most critics of real-world bureaucracies, including Harold Laski, Carl Friedrich, Victor Thompson and Warren Bennis, have criticised bureaucrats for violating the prescribed norms of moral conduct. Even Fred Riggs, while discussing the traits of a prismatic society like `formalism’ and ‘nepotism’ points out the yawning gap between the `ideal’ and the `real’ in administrative behaviour. The deviations from the norms and mores have been too glaring to be ignored. Immoral behaviour thus has become an integral component of `bureaupathology’ 21. 4 CONTEXT OF ETHICS AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Ethics, whether in an entire society, or in a social sub-system, evolves over a long period of time and is influenced, during its nurturance and growth, by a variety of environmental factors. Administrative ethics is no different. It is the product of several contextual structures and it never ceases to grow and change. Let us now look at some of these contextual factors that influence ethics in the public administrative systems: The Historical Context The history of a country marks a great influence on the ethical character of the governance system. The Spoils System in the USA during the initial phase of the American nation vitiated the ethical milieu of the American Public Administration. â€Å"To victor belong the spoils† asserted American President Jackson. Things would have continued the same way had not a disgruntled job seeker assassinated President Garfield in 1881. Garfield’s assassination spurred the process of civil service reforms in the USA, and the setting up of the US. Civil Service Commission in 1883 was the first major step in this direction. India has witnessed a long history of unethical practices in the governance system. Kautilya’s Arthashastra mentions a variety of corrupt practices in which the administrators of those times indulged themselves. The Mughal Empire and the Indian princely rule were also afflicted with the corrupt practices of the courtiers and 4 administrative functionaries, with ‘bakashish’ being one of the accepted means of selling and buying favours. The East India Company too had its share of employees who were criticised even by the British parliamentarians for being corrupt. The forces of probity and immorality co-exist in all phases of human history. Which forces are stronger depends upon the support these get from the prime actors of politico-administrative system. What is disturbing is that a long legacy of unethical practices in governance is likely to enhance the tolerance level for administrative immorality. In most developing nations having a colonial history, the chasm between the people and the government continues to be wide. In the colonial era, the legitimacy of the governance was not accepted willingly by a majority of population and therefore, true loyalty to the rulers was a rare phenomenon. Although the distance between the governing elite and the citizens has been reduced substantially in the transformed democratic regimes, yet the affinity and trust between the two has not been total even in the new dispensation. Unfortunately, even the ruling elite does not seem to have imbibed the spirit of emotional unity with the citizens. The legacy of competitive collaboration between the people and the administrators continues to exist. The nature of this relationship has an adverse impact on ‘administrative ethics’. The Socio-cultural Context Values that permeate the social order in a society determine the nature of governance system. The Indian society today seems to prefer wealth to any other value. And in the process of generating wealth, the means-ends debate has been sidelined. Unfortunately, ends have gained supremacy and the means do not command an equal respect. A quest for wealth in itself is not bad. In fact, it is a mark of civilisational progress. What is important is the means employed while being engaged in this quest. We seem to be living in an economic or commercial society, where uni-dimensional growth of individuals seem to be accepted and even valued, where ends have been subdued by means, and ideals have been submerged under the weight of more practical concerns of economic progress. Can we change this social order? Mahatma Gandhi very much wanted to transform the priority-order of the Indian society, but there were hardly any takers or backers of his radical thinking that was steeped in a strong moral order. To put it bluntly, ever since Gandhi passed away, there has been not a single strong voice in independent India challenging the supremacy of ‘teleology and unidimensionalism’. Neither have our family values questioned this unilinear growth of society nor has our educational system made serious efforts to inject morality into the impressionable minds of our youth. We have starkly failed on these fronts. The need is to evolve fresh perspectives on what kind of the Indians we wish to evolve and how? Till then, efforts will have to be focused on the non-social fronts. The issues of morality may or may not be rooted in the religious ethos of a society. Indian religious scriptures do not favour pursuit of wealth through foul means. Interestingly, Thiru Valluvar’s Kural, written two thousand years ago in Tamil Nadu, emphasises that earning wealth brings fame, respect and an opportunity to help and serve others, but it should be earned through right means only. Can this dictum form the basis of our socio-moral orientation? The level of integrity among Protestants and Parsees is believed by some to be relatively higher when compared to other religions and one can find the roots of such integrity in the well-ingrained mores of these religions. Nevertheless, it is only one point of view, as there are several other religious and secular groups, which are known for their high moral conduct. The cultural system of a country, including its religious orientation, appears to have played a significant role in influencing the work ethics of its people. For instance, the stress on hard work, so characteristic of the Protestant ethics, has helped several Christian societies to enhance their per capita 5 productivity. While Judaism has valued performance of physical labour by its followers, the Hindu and Islamic societies, on the other hand, have generally considered physical labour to be of lower rank than the mental work. Work ethics may or may not be linked with religious moorings. These are subjective issues but make for an interesting study. The family system and the educational system are influential instruments of socialisation and training of the mind in its impressionable years. If the values inculcated through the family and the school have underscored honesty and ethics, the impact on the mind-set of citizens is likely to be highly positive and powerful. Legal-judicial Context The legal system of a country determines considerably the efficacy of the ethical concerns in governance system. A neatly formulated law, with a clear stress on the norms of fair conduct and honesty, is likely to distinguish chaff from grain in the ethical universe. Conversely, nebulous laws, with confusing definition of corruption and its explanations, will only promote corruption for it would not be able to instill the fear of God or fear of law among those violating the laws of the land and mores of the society. Besides, an efficient and effective judiciary with fast-track justice system will prove a roadblock to immorality in public affairs. Conversely, a slow-moving judiciary, with a concern for letter rather than the spirit of the law, will dither and delay and even help the perpetrators of crimes by giving them leeway through prolonged trials and benefits of doubt. Likewise, the anti-corruption machinery of the government, with its tangled web of complex procedures, unintendedly grants relief to the accused who are indirectly assisted by dilatory and knotty procedures. In India, there is hardly any effective anticorruption institution. As we have read in Unit 7 earlier on in this Course, the Lok Pal is yet to be established, Lok Ayuktas are feeble and toothless agencies, while the state vigilance bodies are low-key actors. The consequences are too obvious to warrant any explanation. The Political Context The political leadership, whether in power or outside the power-domain, is perhaps the single most potent influence on the mores and values of citizens. The rulers do rule the minds, but in a democracy particularly, all political parties, pressure groups and the media also influence the orientation and attitudes on moral questions. If politicians act as authentic examples of integrity, as happens in the Scandinavian countries, or as examples of gross self-interest, as found in most South Asian countries, the administrative system cannot remain immune to the levels of political morality. The election system in India is considered to be the biggest propeller to political corruption. Spending millions on the elections `compels’ a candidate to reimburse his expenses through fair or foul means – more foul than fair. While fair has limits, foul has none. It is generally argued that the administrative class – comprising civil servants at higher, middle as well as lower levels – emerges from the society itself. Naturally, therefore, the mores, values and behavioural patterns prevalent in the society are likely to be reflected in the conduct of administrators. To expect that the administrators will be insulated from the orientations and norms evidenced the in society would be grossly unrealistic. The argument, propounded here, has a convincing logic, yet there can be a counterpoint that the rulers are expected to possess stronger moral fibre than the subjects. Since there are hardly any instrumentalities to protect and nurture administrative 6 morality vis-a-vis the general social morality, such an expectation remains at the most an elusive ideal. Hence, there is an obvious need to go deeper into the problem. The behaviour of politicians has a demonstration effect on civil servants. Besides, the capacity of the less honest political masters to control civil servants is immense. It is ironical that the moral environment in a country like India is designed more by its politicians than by any other social group. The primacy of the political over the rest of systems is too obvious to be ignored. If the media is objective and fearless, its role in preventing corruption can be effective. It can even act as a catalyst to the promotion of ethical behaviour among administrators. Hence, those who own and manage the media should understand their wider social and moral responsibilities. The trend in this direction is visible now with many television channels regularly airing their ‘expose’ on malpractices in the system. This role of the media is important if performed with intent of social responsibility rather than sensationalism. The Economic Context The level of economic development of a country is likely to have a positive correlation with the level of ethics in the governance system. Even when a causal relation between the two is not envisaged, a correlation cannot be ruled out. A lower level of economic development, when accompanied with inequalities in the economic order, is likely to create a chasm among social classes and groups. The less privileged or more deprived sections of society may get tempted to forsake principles of honest conduct while fulfilling their basic needs of existence and security. Not that the rich will necessarily be more honest (though they can afford to be so), yet what is apprehended is that the poor, while making a living, may find it a compelling necessity to compromise with the principles of integrity. It is interesting to note that with the advent of liberalising economic regime in developing nations, there is a growing concern about following the norms of integrity in industry, trade, management and the governance system on account of the international pressures for higher level of integrity in the WTO regime. This is what Fred Riggs would call `exogenous’ inducements to administrative change. 21. 5 ISSUE OF ETHICS: FOCI AND CONCERNS An important question arises in connection with the moral obligation of an administrative system. Is the administrative system confined to acting morally in its conduct or does it also share the responsibility of protecting and promoting an ethical order in the larger society? While most of the focus on administrative morality is on the aspect of probity within the administrative system, there is a need to consider the issue of the responsibility of the governance system (of which the administrative system is an integral part) to create and sustain an ethical ambience in the socioeconomic system that would nurture and protect the basic moral values. Moral political philosophy assumes that the rulers will not only be moral themselves, but would also be the guardians of morality in a society. Truly, being moral is a prerequisite to being a guardian of wider morality. Both the obligations are intertwined. It is a truism that the crux of administrative morality is ethical decision-making. The questions of facts and values cannot be separated from ethical decision-making. Thus, the science of administration gets integrated with the ethics of administration. And in this integrated regime, only that empirical concern is valued, which respects the normative concerns in the delivery of administrative services. 7 Which are the essential concerns in regard to administrative ethics? There can be a long list of values that are considered desirable in an administrative action. However, in being selective, one has to focus on the most crucial values. Let us now concentrate on the values of justice, fairness and objectivity. Woodrow Wilson, â€Å"The Study of Administration† (1887), in his inaugural address averred that justice was more important than sympathy. Thus, he placed justice at the top of value-hierarchy in a governance system. Paradoxically, there has been a lot of discussion on the formallegal aspects of administrative law since then, but very little analysis has been made of the philosophical dimension of administrative justice. The other two issues of ethical decision-making, viz. fairness and objectivity are, in fact, integral components of administrative justice. When administrators are true to their profession, they are expected to be impartial and fair and not get influenced by nepotism, favoritism and greed while making decisions of governance. Objectivity should not be misconstrued as a mechanical and rigid adherence to laws and rules. From the decision-making angle, it has undoubtedly wider ramifications encompassing a set of positive orientations. Currently, the notion of ethics has expanded itself to involve all major realms of human existence. Let us attempt to outline certain salient aspects of ethics in public administration. Broadly, they could be summarised as following maxims: †¢ Maxim of Legality and Rationality: An administrator will follow the law and rules that are framed to govern and guide various categories of policies and decisions. Maxim of Responsibility and Accountability: An administrator would not hesitate to accept responsibility for his decision and actions. He would hold himself morally responsible for his actions and for the use of his discretion while making decisions. Moreover, he would be willing to be held accountable to higher authorities of governance and even to the people who are the ultimate beneficiaries of his decisions and actions. Maxim of Work Commitment: An administrator would be committed to his duties and perform his work with involvement, intelligence and dexterity. As Swami Vivekananda observed: â€Å"Every duty is holy and devotion to duty is the highest form of worship. † This would also entail a respect for time, punctuality and fulfillment of promises made. Work is considered not as a burden but as an opportunity to serve and constructively contribute to society. Maxim of Excellence: An administrator would ensure the highest standards of quality in administrative decisions and action and would not compromise with standards because of convenience or complacency. In a competitive international environment, an administrative system should faithfully adhere to the requisites of Total Quality Management. Maxim of Fusion: An administrator would rationally bring about a fusion of individual, organisational and social goals to help evolve unison of ideals and imbibe in his behaviour a commitment to such a fusion. In situation of conflicting goals, a concern for ethics should govern the choices made. Maxim of Responsiveness and Resilience: An administrator would respond effectively to the demands and challenges from the external as well as internal environment. He would adapt to environmental transformation and yet sustain the ethical norms of conduct. In situations of deviation from the prescribed ethical norms, the administrative system would show resilience and bounce back into the accepted ethical mould at the earliest opportunity. 8 †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Maxim of Utilitarianism: While making and implementing policies and decisions, an administrator will ensure that these lead to the greatest good (happiness, benefits) of the greatest number. Maxim of Compassion: An administrator, without violating the prescribed laws and rules, would demonstrate compassion for the poor, the disabled and the weak while using his discretion in making decisions. At least, he would not grant any benefits to the stronger section of society only because they are strong and would not deny the due consideration to the weak, despite their weakness. Maxim of National Interest: Though universalistic in orientation and liberal in outlook, a civil servant, while performing his duties, would keep in view the impact of his action on his nation’s strength and prestige. The Japanese, the Koreans, the Germans and the Chinese citizens (including civil servants), while performing their official roles, have at the back of their mind a concern and respect for their nation. This automatically raises the level of service rendered and the products delivered. Maxim of Justice: Those responsible for formulation and execution of policies and decisions of governance would ensure that respect is shown to the principles of equality, equity, fairness, impartiality and objectivity and no special favours are doled out on the criteria of status, position, power, gender, class, caste or wealth. Maxim of Transparency: An administrator will make decisions and implement them in a transparent manner so that those affected by the decisions and those who wish to evaluate their rationale, will be able to understand the reasons behind such decisions and the sources of information on which these decisions were made. Maxim of Integrity: An administrator would undertake an administrative action on the basis of honesty and not use his power, position and discretion to serve his personal interest and the illegitimate interests of other individuals or groups. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ There could be many more tenets added to the above catalogue of maxims of morality in administration. However, the overall objective is to ensure ‘Good Governance’ with a prime concern for ethical principles, practices, orientations and behaviour. There are no dogmas involved in defining administrative ethics. The chief concern while doing so is the positive consequence of administrative action and not just ostensibly rational modes of administrative processes. In the following Section, a few of the salient concerns and foci of ethics are being dealt with briefly. 21. 6 PERTINENCE OF CODE OF ADMINISTRATIVE ETHICS. The concept of ethics has been a latecomer in the realm of public administration. For too long, doing one’s duty well was considered to be an equivalent of bureaucratic ethics. Interestingly, in the United States, the original city managers’ and federal code of ethics placed notable stress on efficiency as ethical concept. In the early 20th century, the perspective began to change. In 1924, the International City/Country Management Association adopted the public sector’s first code of ethics that reflected anti-corruption and anti-politics facets of the municipal reforms movement. 9. In 1958, the US Congress imposed a code of ethics on the Federal Government and in 1978, founded the Office of Government Ethics as an upshot of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978. In 1992, the Office of Government Ethics released the Federal Government’s first comprehensive set of standards of ethical conduct, comprising standards pertaining to gifts, conflicts of financial interest, impartiality, misuse of office, seeking outside employment, and outside activities. Almost all the American states have also promulgated their respective codes of ethics, though compared to the federal initiative, they are less comprehensive. Today, codes of ethics, ethics boards, and ethics training have been accepted as integral aspects of public administration in the U. S. Moreover, ethics education has also permeated the discipline of public administration. The National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Public Administration has made ethics education a required component of a Public Administration Programme for its accreditation and has prescribed that all introductory text-books in public administration should include a discussion on ethics (Browman, Berman and West, 2001). Eminent professional associations of public administration also offer training programmes on ethical conduct for public managers. In India, there are a few training programmes on administrative ethics offered by the Indian Institute of Public Administration and other institutions for civil servants, but there is hardly any similar initiative taken up in the realm of education in Public Administration. The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) had adopted in 1984 a Code of Ethics for its members (comprising intellectuals as well as practicing administrators). It was revised in 1994. Certain salient points of the ASPA’s Code of Ethics are as follows: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Exercise of discretionary authority to promote public interest Recognition and support to the public’s right to know the public business Exercise of compassion, benevolence, fairness and optimism Prevention of all forms of mismanagement of public funds by establishing and maintaining strong fiscal and management controls, by supporting audits and investigative activities Protection of Constitutional principles of equality, fairness, representativeness, responsiveness and due process in protecting citizens’ rights Maintenance of truthfulness and honesty and not to compromise them for advancement, honour, or personal gain Guarding zealously against conflict of interest or its appearance: e. g. nepotism, improper ou.

Characteristics of a Good Research Problem

A research problem is a statement that provides the context for a research study.As stated by Brewer & Hughes, (2005).â€Å"Research problems indicate gaps in the scope or the certainty of our knowledge† (Brewer & Hughes, 2005, p. 39).They point to problematic phenomena, observed events that are puzzling in terms of our currently accepted ideas, or current ideas that are challenged by new hypotheses (Dissertation Mentoring Services, 2013).The research problem is the start of bringing to light and introducing the problem that the research will conclude with an answer. Further, according to Ellis and Levy (2008) the research problem is the initial phase in the scientific method. The methodology that is utilized should be applicable for the problem that guides the research. The methodology yields the outcomes of the study, which in turn produces the support required to facilitate the findings (Ellis & Levy, 2008). The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics of a r esearch problem.The focus is on the elements of what constitutes a researchable problem, the components of a well formed Statement of Research Problem, as well as what constitutes a reasonable theoretical framework for the need of the study. As stated by Leedy and Ormrod, (2005) â€Å"The research problem is the axis around which the whole research effort revolves (Leedy and Ormrod, 2005, p. 49). † Viable research cannot be deemed important without a well-defined understanding of why the research has been performed. There are several components that make research of noteworthy importance, such as the research needs to be researchable and manageable in size.Other characteristics include the degree of how the research will influence future research and other researchers by whether or not the findings will make a contribution to the body of knowledge, the explanation of the data and make a difference for others (Dissertation101 Mentoring Services, 2013). Influence of the researc h. Good research should advance the field in which it is geared toward as well as build on the current body of available research. The impact does not have to be huge, but it must be identifiable. The study should reveal how the researcher intends to take a different viewpoint and or direction.According to Leedy and Ormrod (2010) the research should direct the philosophy in different perceptions, as well as inspire further research to be conducted as it relates to the topic (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010). The advancement should reflect how the new methodologies will be used, along with the other current work, to help to better come to a conclusion in order to solve the problem (Brewer & Hunter, 2006). The problem is researchable and manageable in size. It is imperative to select a topic that is doable and that will allow many opportunities to conduct adequate primary research.Limitations such as the availability of answers should also be considered when thinking of a research problem. Addit ionally, time and expenses are of concern. Considering how long it will take to conduct the research is important as is whether or not the researcher has enough background knowledge to carry out the research, which may cause delays. The budget is a major factor and taking into consideration the kinds of tasks that will be needed, any paid assistants, specialized equipment, or software that needs to be created and/or acquired will help in estimating the amount of funds that will be needed to conduct the research.Explanation of the dataSince research requires data, it is important during the planning that the researcher analyzes beforehand whether or not any data related to the research problem can be produced. If not, then the research problem and the question may need to be changed. The decision of whether to use qualitative or quantitative data is important and based on the type of research. Once the data has been collected, the researcher must have a way to communicate the results .The data must be organized in a way that it merges the existing data with the new data to determine the quality based on the guidelines for collecting the data. Components of a Statement of Research Problem Essentially, the problem statement provides the basis for the research. The statement of the research problem reflects the general concern that leads to the specific problem and must be factual and clearly stated. Accordingly, it must be a brief precise description, which sets the premise for the problem to be studied.It distinguishes and states the underlying problems, if any and outlines the hypotheses, along with the research questions (Dissertation101 Mentoring Services, 2013). Precise, factual and clearly stated. Researcher seek to answer a question or to find a solution to a problem. Providing factual information to introduce the problem will change the perspective of what people think or know about the problem. As well the research should speak to the literature that is p revalent and to what is missing from this literature.Therefore, a statement of the problem needs to be precisely stated in one or two sentences that outlines the problem of the research. The statement of the problem should also address the question (Levy & Ellis, 2008). As stated by Levy and Ellis, (2008) â€Å"The problem statement is the statement of the problem and the argumentation for its viability. It should address all six questions, what, how, where, when, why, and who (Levy & Ellis, 2008, p. 27)†. Underlying sub-problems.Often times, research problems are too significant or very complicated be solved without breaking them down into smaller parts. The parts of the big problem are known as the sub-problems. The sub-problems make up a researchable component that will form together to equal the summation of the main problem. Division of the main problem is the fourth characteristic of formal research (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005). Presenting a hypothesis or research questions. The researcher must prepare a hypothesis related to the expectations what will be true of the results and conclusions of the study.The research problem, the goals, and the associated research questions and/or hypotheses are entwined in that a research goal is the main focus of the research that will be used to speak to the problem. Additionally, research questions help to simplify the goals into definite questions that the researcher would like answered (Creswell, 2005). According to Leedy and Ormrod (2005) by obtaining the answers to the research questions, the goals of the research will be satisfied and an impact regarding solving the problem has been made (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005).There has to be a recognizable association between the answers to the research questions and the research problem motivating the study (Ellis & Levy, 2008). A Problem Statement is based on a thorough review of the relevant literature and ongoing research. As stated by Leedy and Ormrod, (2005) â€Å"one es sential strategy is to find out what things are already known about your topic of interest; little can be gained by reinventing the wheel (Leedy and Ormrod, 2005, p. 51). † This provides the basis for a theoretical framework for the foundations and worthiness of the research problem.Theoretical Framework for the StudyTheoretical framework is the theory which enlightens and expounds the problem to be researched. The theory will also be used to observe the results. New theories solve research problems by explaining inexplicable occurrences and by overriding the uncertainty of older theories. The current theory directs researchers in creating and communicating research problems. In determining whether and in what respects a theory is problematic, researchers consider the context of accrued theoretical and experimental knowledge.The theories that appear to be challenging when observed in that context are then researched (Ellis & Levy, 2008). While the findings of research may be u nexpected, the research itself is planned. It is grounded in a theory. There should be a theoretical connection between the problem guiding the research and the research that is being directed to speak to that problem (Ellis & Levy, 2008).ConclusionA research problem statement is a concise description of a problem or challenge that does not currently have an adequate solution available, therefore, making it worthy of research. A problem statement refers to an issue that is focused on by the topic. It is, in essence, a situation that is in need of a solution. A well communicated problem drives the research. A statement of the research problem must be specific but brief and not something that refers to an isolated occurrence.It must be researchable and manageable while addressing the sub-problems and creating a hypothesis and research questions. The statement of the problem should introduce how the research develops from previous theory and how it may be able to add to the development of new theory in which to make advancements, realizing that ultimately, the purpose of research is to add to the knowledge of how the world operates in our quest to improve and expand our understanding.