The World of the Indian Field Administrator Byron T. Mook Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1982, 194 pp.
| Published date | 01 April 1985 |
| Date | 01 April 1985 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230050215 |
| Author | S. S. Lleberwan |
Book Reviews
183
The practical minded should not be put
off
by this excursion into the classifications of
theoretical sociology. Burrell and Morgan have had an important influence upon those who
teach organizational behaviour and their four paradigms provide
a
useful map by which to
relate the content of Blunt’s book
to
theories about organizations. The second part of this
chapter provides
a
review of the main research methods used and supports the need for an
eclectic interdisciplinary approach.
Part Two of this book deals in its four chapters with’the meaning of work’, ‘Motivation
and job design’, ‘Role conflict and stress’ and ‘Work groups’. These chapter headings and the
models used will be all too familiar
to
the Western reader. The author’s contribution is to
bring
a
wealth of examples from African situations which support his argument that
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, to take but one example, requires much more locally based
research, not only in African countries but elsewhere, before it can be accepted as universally
valid.
The third, and final part of the book, on organizational theory, contains three chapters,
‘Organization structure and environment’, ‘Sociotechnical systems theory’ and ‘Alternative
forms of work organization’. These examine the classical
U.S.
and European concepts and
research studies. The book’s author, Peter Blunt, questions Albert Chern’s dictum:
When developing countries import their industrial technology, they import the
theories of the man who built it.
Blunt gives ample examples of the choice, overlooked by Cherns, which individual countries
in Africa have used in making innovations in organizational design which are more consistent
with their own culture.
This book serves a transitional purpose. Firstly for African and others who have to relate
knowledge and experience derived from the West to African organizations. Secondly, until
a
more definitive and comprehensive work appears, this lucid book will prove useful both to
teachers and managers in Africa concerned with the study of behaviour in indigenious
organizations.
ERIC
NEWBIGGING
Cranfeld
School
of
Management
THE WORLD OF THE INDIAN FIELD ADMINISTRATOR
Byron
T.
Mook
Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1982, 194pp.
This report on the technical personnel prominently involved in Indian field administration
is
set in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The study draws on interviews, conducted for the
most part in
1970-1971,
with
341
government functionaries ranging in rank from clerks and
junior assistants in block (subdistrict) headquarters to district level officers. Data gathering
techniques are reviewed in chapter one; chapter two discusses the nineteenth century origins
of the technical departments dealing with agriculture, education, public health and
so
forth.
The most valuable part of the book is the middle portion (chapters three and four) which
describes the jobs and likely career paths
of
the Deputy Inspector (DI) of Schools and the
Agricultural Extension Officer (AEO), and the distinctive
.
bureaucratic and social
environments in which these officers work. These chapters convey information, in
a
narrative, reportage style of commentary, which is not conveniently located elsewhere in the
literature on Indian public administration. Especially noteworthy is the discussion of the tasks
of functionaries at different levels, the daily routines and procedures of clerical staff, the
efficacy of the Confidential Review as an administrative control mechanism, relations
between DIs and AEOs and block development officers, politicians, and departmental
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