Development in Crisis Today Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Development in Crisis Today - Essay Example The worldwide aspiration for development is more than just the desire for economic progress; it is a quest for status, prestige, recognition and social and political modernization. Making the situation more complex is the reality that never before in the history of mankind has people had access to so much information. The knowledge, understandings, and experiences from every sector of society and every human culture (past and present) can now contribute their part in solving the dynamic puzzle of developmental existence. At the same time, never before in history have we faced such complicated and pressing social, environmental, and economic challenges. Now, more than ever, we need action based upon the deepest possible understanding of our global situation, the stakeholders involved, and ourselves (Brown, 2005). The study on the phenomenon of development has led to various theorizing about the concept. Likewise, theories or perspective on the study of society and social realities have been used to analyze the various facets of development. These theories describe society as a system at a particular time or society in its dynamic aspect. They seek to explain the consequences of the development and the cost of development or conditions that can bring about development. Dev Development can be viewed as a goal and an end or a process. But there is no single theory that can explain all the above aspects. Each theory explains only part of the highly complex process of development. Among the approaches to development are (Muhi, 1999): (a) the Evolutionary Theories which include Durkheim's Theory of Social Change, Redfield's Folk-Urban Continuum, Structural Functionalism, and Parson's theory among others; These theories held that society underwent a progressive development or unilinear evolution towards progress. (b) the Economic Theories that are found in the works of Myrdal and Rostow; The economic point-of-view of development maintains that economic progress is a very essential component of development although non-economic factors such as values, attitudes, institutions, and policies are just as important. (c) the Ecological theories such as Hawley's and Odum's; Ecology which is the study of organisms or groups of organisms to their environment has been extended to the study of man's relation to the environment. (d) the Conflict Theories to include Marx and Lenin as well as the Theory of Dependency This class of theories focuses on change as a permanent and inseparable aspect of society with conflict as an accompaniment of the change. In a more recent example of an economic crisis, i.e. the economic crisis that gripped East Asia in 1997, Burkett and Hart (2000) cited the East Asian development process as "highly exploitative and unstable" and "only a Marxist approach" can provide insights into the reality of growth in the area. The authors conclude that Japan's "crisis of human development" will not be solved "as long as they remain within a capitalist framework." They urge the Japanese working class

Human Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Relations - Essay Example Researchers emphasized culture, interpersonal relations, and group coherence as the determinants of worker performance. Before industrial revolution the work was mostly performed by individual workers. Any particular skill was undertaken by an individual and was time consuming. As a result the productivity was low. With the industrial revolution the nature of work and the role of the worker underwent major changes. With the arrival of machines and factories, the production increased. Along with raw materials and capital, labor was also considered a part of the manufacturing process. The employers never considered how productivity was influenced by a worker's mental needs. As a result, motivation, social relations and working conditions were never considered important. Nevertheless it affected productivity in a major way. This movement had many followers like Keith Davis, Chris Argyris, Fred Herzberg, and Rensis Likert who assumed the underlying employee-employer harmony. They attributed restriction of output to the poor communication between workers and managers, and inadequate attention to the human side of worker. Elton Mayo (1880-1949), a Harvard professor trained in psychopathology and other researchers from Harvard University initiated what have become known as the Hawthorne Studies at the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric Company near Chicago. (The Human relations movement (circa 1929-1951))They wanted to study how the changes in physical working conditions affect employee productivity. The study revealed that even when the physical characteristics of the job like salary were declined, and employee complaints ignored, the productivity of the employees was not reduced. On the other hand there was an increase in productivity. This phenomenon was called as Hawthorne effect where the productivity of the employees who participate in the study increases only because of the attention they receive from the researchers. This discovery forms the basis of the human relations movement because it suggests that employees are highly motivated to work better when they feel important and when their work is recognized. Over the years Hawthorne effect has been successfully used by managers to increase productivity. Implementation of "self-study committees, announcing surprise audits, establishing task forces of various kinds, and in general, keeping the workers tied up with busy-work that has the appearance of ongoing research" was undertaken. Mayo stated that the reason workers are motivated by such things is that individuals have a deep psychological need to believe that their organization cares about them, is open, concerned, and willing to listen. (The Human relations movement (circa 1929-1951)) According to mayo there should be a friendly relation between the employers and workers. At the same time the employers should consider the human values first and not the quality of the work. The employees' opinion about their work and working conditions must be taken into consideration. Further any changes in the organization must take into consideration the employees' view. This became a predominant philosophy and many theories sprung up