MPA 508

Strategic Management – An Overview

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Critique

This chapter on Strategic Management – An overview greatly deals with the

overarching theories and principles concerning management. It subjugates the traditional
view of management and thus predisposes the positive indicators of success in an
organization. More so, the contents of the chapter are carefully woven together with the
intricate details of strategic Management.

Finally, the chapter presents analogies and examples for analyses. It gives a
friendly introduction to the complicated ways of management. Hence, the chapter itself is
well-developed and quite facile to understand.

Insights

In the way towards success, a manager or the person in-charge in the

orchestration of an organization employs myriad strategies so as to meet the collective
goals set by the body composing the organization which unwittingly had been the
rudimentary tenets of strategic management.

Hence, the overview on strategic management presents the fundamental concepts

underlying the success of an organization. As said, a carefully laid out plan will most likely
breed positive outcomes while failure to lay out a plan for an organization is a plan in itself
to fail. This secretly known formula to success is carefully treated in this chapter. More
so, it is delicately devised so as to understand fully the purpose and the paramount
importance of management.

In here, I have learned that management if undertaken with not much knowledge
will definitely cause a fiasco – in a layman’s term, a huge failure in business world or for
anything that matters. Thus, as concernedly ironed by the author, he defined strategic
management as the collection of efforts done to achieve a collective goal.

Further, the military roots of the word ‘strategy’ links it deeper to the imminent and
inherent goal towards success – careful planning equates to success. As mentioned in
the book of Sun Tzu, The Art of War, “The general who wins a battle makes many
calculations before the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few
calculations beforehand.”
 The same is true in the world of everyday trade and industry – may it be business,
personal, and communal – a clear indicator towards success is almost predicted based
on how much the organization has prepared for an endeavor.

In this context, a strategy may fall to two categories: a planned strategy and an
emergent strategy. In the walk towards management, a strategy is always put at hand.
However, through the course of the administration process we may come across
unrealized or unvisualised problems with which we come to devise emergent strategies
in order to answer the existing problem/s which was/were unforeseen in the pre-planning
and planning activities.

Then we may go back to question ourselves as to the importance of strategic

planning or should we relate the importance strategic planning to high performance of a
company or an organization? Certainly, as carefully given, studies have shown that
majority of the firms performed well or have had high performance having had formal
strategic planning compared to those that do not plan at all. In the light of this illuminative
fact, strategic planning does not only assure an 80% success to any endeavor but also it
threads a path or track to be followed as the process of management is carried out.

Without a doubt, careful strategic planning breeds success and success cultures
a practice of good work and fellowship.

If we try to visualize this concept in the business world, a manager who fails to
listen and accept suggestions and only considers his personal views and perspective will
definitely not cook success. For I believe, management and strategic planning is brought
about by not only one head by a conglomeration or gathering of many heads united to
one goal.

For this, the variables influencing strategy formulation come into play. For success
to be visionary, one must consider the mission, vision, and objectives of the company,
and the organizational duties and responsibilities of the company to the society.
Sometimes, when we plan, the strategies and the options it may bring will sometime
become opposite or contradictory to the creed of the company. But taking stakes and
risks are inseparable to management. As what I mentioned above, a general who plans
and considers everything at hand will likely to succeed compared to those who do not.

EDUC 513
Lying and the dirty hands dilemma in government – introduction
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Critique

This chapter is very interesting and quite an attention catcher. It has long been a
problem in the Philippine politics – the lies and deception – a make-believe-fantasy of
every politician.

Reading this article really did intrigue the Juan in me. I have always asked if
politicians have always been truthful to their people every time they speak. With this
chapter, I have at least understood the dirty hands that orchestrate the government.

Further, this chapter is a good measure to gauge how much a citizen can be
concerned to his country. The examples presented in each discussion in order to
concretize the theories and principles concerning lying and the dirty hands dilemma in
government are very true and reflective of that kind of government we have.

The allusion to the great works of Plato and the like are very weighty to that of the
present status quos of every government. Thus, this introduction to the dirty tricks (if one
may call it) of the government is indeed a difficult moral maze that has continuously
confronted government officials and the author has done (at least) his best to present this
issue and document it in this chapter without creating much chaos.

Insights

Dirty hands dilemma in government – the noble lies and political deception.

A government is duty-bound to promote the common good among its people and
assure their prosperity and liberty, protect their rights as citizens, serve their sovereignty
and always make justice righteous and fair, to say the least. This overarching role of the
government has created theories of their imminent role as the fabric holding the thread of
a society together. But as to where do we allow our government to perform its duties and
obligations? Does this include them telling lies and deceiving their people?

With the arguments presented in this chapter, a wide question took my mind: Has
the Philippine government been truthful to Juan dela Cruz? Has it made Juan dela Cruz
aware of its business, trades, and affairs? This is what I have gained after reading the
chapter.

Telling lies and deceiving people to promote their common good is in no way an
excuse for any political figure to exempt himself in the morality for such wrongdoings –
which in the cases presented are telling lies and deception.

As cited, some politicians have told lies to their people so as to at ease them and
put them to believe in the ideal state given by a specific government at a specific period.
Let us take the case of Plato’s The Republic. In here, Plato argued that while in general
it is wrong for rulers or anyone to lie, sometimes the citizens maybe deceived for their
own good. This is what Plato called as the noble lie.

On one hand, as served in the chapter, public officials in a democratic government

may be excused at times from the general obligation of truth-telling and from fulfilling their
duty not to lie to the public. There may be dire situations or times of crises that threaten
the government and its people; hence under such conditions it may be permissible for a
public official to deceive the public for its own good. In other words, when public officials
take their oath of office, they are sworn to do everything in their power to ensure the
survival of the government and the general safety of its citizens. It is the very nature of
public office, then, that excuses public official who lies for the public good because the
public good is essentially what the official is required to protect and save from harm. If
such protection is to happen in times of crises, then this leads an official to inevitably
engage in deception, then so be it. Granting without conceding, he is only fulfilling his
responsibilities of his office and as such may be excused for his deception. The argument
for excusing lies by officials has long history; the first of it is cited in Plato’s The Republic,
in which the concept of the noble lie – referring to lies for the public good – was first
introduced.

This rationale about excusing public officials who lie leads directly to the core
question about lying in public administration, namely: are such lies justifiable? Apparently,
lying in the government is an activity that appears epidemic. But the question now is: are
these deceptions and instances which have achieved much prominence among public
officials allowable, and if so, what conditions under which these noble lies justifiable?

Taking this to the table, a lie is in no way coming across nobility. For something to
be called noble it must first be righteous. In this case, I believe, Plato fell short. More so,
the professional role of a politician to be carried out well based on the standards with
which he is expected to perform does not necessarily require him to lie and deceive its
people. I guess, telling the truth to your people or eminent domain is a sine qua non to
achieving democracy. Henceforth, access to knowledge about the situation of a state’s
status quo is an indicator to a truly democratic government. Certainly, the citizens, being
the colossal element in the state, have the inherent right to know the truth about
government concerns and issues. And this in no way excuses any political figure to tell
lies so as to flee themselves and elude the people of their right to information.

The sad fact is, we know about these noble lies. We always hear of them during
election campaigns. We hear politicians from the high ranking government positions to
the local government positions every elections – stitching wonderful words of noble lies
so as to attract voters and make us believe that they have the best appropriations and
that they represent our sentiments. Deep inside, we know that part of what they say are
just word of arts – something that is just meant to fly off the air and be buried six feet
below the ground. For example, Bush’s decision to raise a war against Afghanistan was
surely not a consensus of the whole American nation. Bush, being the head of the state,
thought that telling the Uncle Sam the need to raise a red flag against Afghanistan would
be for the common good of his people. That time a noble lie was told. And that noble lie
propagated a disease not only among Americans but also to the whole world.

As conclusion, the dirty hands dilemma is a function of the tension between public
and private morality. Hence, it comes pole to pole to the standards of everyday life.
Abraham Lincoln said, No man is good enough to govern another man without the other's
consent. Thus, lying and deceiving people is in no way a good system to govern people.
For lying is not asking one’s consent about something but it is rather putting aside one’s
view and perspective regarding an issue. For if this cycle of telling lies and political
deception will certainly breed mistrust and despair among people. And this will become
the grassroots of anarchy and mobocracy. With this, time will come when the teller of the
lie itself will no longer be able to distinguish his truthful statements from the ones made
to comfort and ease the minds of its citizens.

MPA 512B
Internetworked government
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Critique

This chapter on Internetworked Government is a good read for it gleams a new

paradigm in governance. It deals with the intricacies of the new revolution towards
internetworked government with focused on the shifts from industrial age to the former.
Scenarios on the seven themes of internetworked government made it clear that
opportunities are wide and achievable in the internetworked government. However, this
topic must also have a Filipino-version for the contexts presented in the examples from
the text are not derived from third world countries but from the first world.

Insights

Thomas Moore’s Utopia and Plato’s The Republic – the epitomes of an almost
perfect state.

Imagine – everything in the government’s work is facilitated and assisted by

information and communication technology which every work is orchestrated through
computer assisted programs.

In this chapter, much is dreamt in a really big leap – the dream of reinventing
government. This may be a slow possible feat for the first world country but may be a big
question for the developing countries.

First, for reinvention to happen a country must have a facile access to

technological advancements and breakthroughs for the new information technology is the
key enabler of government transformation. Hence, the rise of this revolutionary endeavor
came from the observation that government organizations are locked into old structures
and ways of working.

Thus, governments, they say, should inject competition into service delivery; focus
on earning than on spending; shift from hierarchy to teamwork and participation; and
focus on prevention than cure.

Taking this lead, government transformation is an opportunity to use the power of

information technology to fight the war on crime, to deliver entitlement benefits to the
needy in a secure and efficient manner while eliminating fraud and cheating, to improve
health care delivery, to find missing children, to improve privacy protection for all citizens
– in short, this revolution entails to completely reshape how government delivers its
services to its customers.

This kind of reshaping is occurring at the national, state, and local levels in the
United States and Canada. Consequently, the notion of electronic government is
sweeping across the North American countries and spreading interest in many other
countries, primarily first world countries. Hence, this so called electronic government is
the internetworked government.
 The question now is: are Filipinos ready for it? Or should it be more appropriate to
ask: is our government ready for it?

In my own view, we have come to slowly mechanized some of our government

services. The GSIS Kiosk is one of these feats. However, to fully embrace the metal
concept of internetworked government is yet another story to read.

I think our people and our government are not yet politically mature and
capacitated to shift to such big endeavor. This is not an underestimation of our country’s
capacity to embrace such. Although the transformation offers a great range of
opportunities, as mentioned above, but the readiness and perhaps the willingness of the
people to undergo such change are still unwritten.

EDUC 512B
The Role of ICT in Public Governance and Government Reform
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Critique

This article is introduces one to the mega-boom Information and Communication

Technology can bring in the government. It pictures out the facility of work with the aid of
internet and technology. Further, its comparative presentation on the three models of
public administration is indeed a clarifying toner for one who is new to the concept of
public administration. Thus, ICT can bring an earthquake of advantages and positive
changes. However, if overused and abused, the earthquake will cause a tsunami of
potential problems which includes alienation.

Insights

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has indeed dramatically

improved the works and ways of man. These improvements also include facility in public
administration, specifically the government. While it is true that technology has greatly
made our works easier, the possible threat it creates maybe horrifying.

The case presented in the article is that of the Big Brother idea which is an
inspiration derived from The Lord of the Flies. It says that an eye who is the overseer of
all just like Big Brother may be liken to what is happening now in the present. We see that
governments all over the world including ours have installed surveillance cameras all
throughout the corners of major cities.

Though this have advantages to national security but it also eludes privacy and
identity of the citizens which are subjected to the eyes of the authority. In which, for further
analysis, may be subject for potential issues and conflicts. Just like what we see in the
Hunger Games – the rule of one where technology is used at its best and intricate
sophistication.

Thus, information and communication technology offers a lot of hope for the future,
carries a lot of benefits and opportunities but at the same time poses a great threat. Let
us not forget that not everything will be facilitated by ICT. There are still works which need
offline services and person to person contact which have kept us humans still. The
changes and breakthroughs brought by ICT need to be dealt with caution and awareness.

MPA 509
Environmental Issues and Development
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Critique

Chapter 10 which deals on environmental issues and development synthesizes

the dilemma between development and its possible environmental hazards and
aftermath. The industrialization brought by modern living so as to fast track development
has also posed great challenge and put an iceberg on the environment is the overarching
theme of this chapter. The approach done here offers a deductive treatment of the issue
starting from the big picture of development versus environmental issues in the global
scale going on to the Philippine setting.

More so, this book is a must-read for students. The case study presented at the
last pages of the chapter which examines the state of our natural resources and
environment which is an update on the Sustainable Development Framework offers a
great array of understanding as to where we are in our crusade towards Agenda 21 of the
1992 Earth Summit.

Hence, I found this chapter a fun-read. The delivery of the topics, concepts, and
theories are very realistic as they are reflective of our own in this day and age.

Insights

Sustainable development at its truest would mean meeting the needs of the
present generation without compromising the needs of future generation. The pilgrimage
towards development would somehow be difficult to discuss without considering the
environment. It is because the capitals we use for development are directly and indirectly
derived in our environment.

In here, I have learned that it is not impossible to achieve sustainable development

and at the same time adhere to environmental preservation. However, a condition is given
– a balance must be struck in the middle. This would mean that development and
progress policy-makers must incorporate some form of environmental accounting into
their decisions. For example, the preservation or loss of valuable environmental
resources should be factored into estimates of economic growth and human well-being.

Hence, it is said that change is constant. And that change is always needed if we
are to travel to progress and development. But balancing the actions and plans we take
is also preserving the life of the whole human race. And that is, preserving the
environment. As said, it takes two to tango. Thus, sustainable development cannot be
achieved without environmental preservation – and that is the basic thread sewn in this
chapter.
EDUC 513
Moral and Ethical Dimensions of Leadership
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Critique

This book is a key stirring article on the leadership styles of bosses in the
government and organizations. The approach used in the chapter is delicate, friendly and
understandable. The use of an anecdote from the Cuyamaca High School poses an
atmosphere of facile understanding from theory to reality.
 The book also presents historical analysis and comparison of study on leadership
skills and traits which have become fundamentals grounds of today’s study and research
on leadership styles and skills.

The author has greatly done a thorough research and has clearly manifested
fundamental tenets and understanding that strand together the moral and ethical
dimensions of leadership. Hence, this definitely is a must-read for every leader – school
principal, department heads, company heads, manager, presidents, and every leader per
se – so that they may understand their leadership style/s and at what standpoint must
they improve themselves.

Insights

A society cannot stand without a head. In history we have seen that historic people
had a way to choose their leader – basing from strength, right, bloodline, and divine
providence – may have been the ways of the past and up till now to some few culture and
nation. But mostly, leaders today are chosen through public consensus known as the
voting process.

With this, we, as voters, in return expect our leaders to be good, fair, and just. I
have learned here that presidents we all had and have are definitely called leaders but
they had/have varied leadership styles and skills.

The case presented in the beginning of the chapter – that of Cuyamaca High
School is definitely a one sided governance. Great decisions such as what were made in
the scenario mentioned are not only an endeavor to be shouldered, talked, and sit down
by the authorities in school. But definitely a humungous concern which involved parents
and other stakeholders. The mistake done by the principal is very apparent. She has
definitely forgotten to involve in the decision-making process the parents of their clientele
who is the root of their services. And that they have put aside to consider that what may
be good or functional at some point/area may not be applicable or may not be the same
to the other setting.

The leadership style of the principal in the anecdote mentioned is definitely one
that is traditional – that leadership style which views the leader as the supreme source of
power, will, and knowledge. And that suggestions and brainstorming are not words I his
vocabulary.

To sum it up, I have gotten that it is the leader who is responsible for inspiring,
developing, coordinating, and assessing their people (one should not call them
subordinates). They must have integrity, honesty, trust, ‘can-do’ spirit, and personal
accountability. Above all, I have learned that Transformational Leadership is the most
desirable and perhaps not the most common leadership style today.
EDUC 513
Leadership of Public Bureaucracies
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Critique

This chapter on leadership of public bureaucracies is a well-fed and timely

document. While it questions the leadership of public figures in United States of America
it also reflects a question into our own public system. It raises awareness on the average
man to question the efficiency of a leader. More so, the article reconciles the ever-
changing paradigm of leadership – the need for the active process in pursuit of the public
interest.

Thus, topics and subtopics are carefully interwoven so as to offer a more facile
mode of understanding the concepts of leadership in the 20th century. While it is true that
the nature of countless problems and the perception that public bureaucracies have come
to confront regardless whether the country belongs to 1 st or 3rd, have come to boil down
to one issue – effectivity and efficiency of leadership. It was mentioned that if only leaders
were up to the challenges, then our complex problems would somehow disappear. A
compelling statement but somehow holds true through the rest of the chapter.

Insights

Bureaucratic leadership is an institutional leadership in the administration of public

bureaucracies within the executive branch of all levels of government. Specifically, it is
an active process that emanates from the executive branch and entails the exercise of
power, authority, and strategic discretion in pursuit of the public interest.

But this point lacks scholarly interests which definitely has caused rubble in the
sphere of political scientists who deemed that a thorough understanding and grasp on the
concepts and principles of bureaucratic leadership would definitely help the government
perform its duties and obligations well.

As said, if only leaders were up to the challenges our complex problems would
somehow be solved – this is the battlecry of bureaucratic leadership. This would definitely
help leaders and would eventually pave administrators to play their special duty. That is,
their special duty is in part to help clear the way so that other parts of government and
the other political processes may function well.