rigidity and lack of responsiveness

RIGIDITY AND

LACK OF RESPONSIVENESS

DEFINITION: RIGIDITY

1.firm and stiff: not bending or easily moved into a different shape or position

2. inflexible: applied or carried out strictly, with no allowances or exceptions

“ a rigid set of rules”

3. refusing to change: unwilling to change or adapt behavior, opinions, or attitudes

“ Despite arguments to the contrary, she remained rigid in her stand”

LACK OF RESPONSIVENESS

* A behavior resulted from rigidity.

*An outcome from a rigid thought, rigid principles, etc.

* Insensitive, indifferent, passive, uncaring, cold, unsympathetic, po

ker-faced, expressionless, unemotion

INTRODUCTION

A. ABOUT SELF: REFUSED PROMOTIONS DUE

TO A RIGID PRINCIPLE:

“NO POSITION, LESS RESPONSIBILITIES, LESS PRESSURES, LESS PROBLEMS, LESS STRESS

AND NO ACCOUNTABILITIES.”

B. ABOUT A FORMER SET OF EXECOM:

* SENIOR CITIZENS

* RESISTANT TO CHANGE

* SLUGGISH TO NEW IDEAS, INFORMATION

ESP. TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES.

C. STORY OF DEAN DELA CRUZ

POSSIBLE REASONS OF RIGIDITY AND LACK OF RESPONSIVENESS

A. From the abstract on Rigidity and behavior: 100 years of research of Schultz P. Wesley and Searleman Alan, that rigidity is curvilinear related to age, positively related to authoritarianism (particularly under stressful situations), and negatively related to intelligence.

• B. According to Lynne Namka, Ed. D. ©2002 in her article entitled: The "I Need To Be Right" Way of

Thinking,

These are the characteristics of a person having rigidity of thought:

• An insatiable need to be right which masks a deep fear of being wrong

• A high need to expect others to see it your way

• An inability to say, "I don't know." and "I was wrong.“

• Feeling threatened when new ideas come from other people

• Fear of hearing new information that threatens your beliefs

• Fear of letting go; need to be in control of self at all times

• Preoccupation with winning approval from others

• The need to always be seen as tough, powerful and strong

• Pride at always being rational and logical

• Uncomfortable with expressing sensitive feelings

• Shame and fear of being vulnerable and insecure

• Fear and severe discomfort about having bad feelings

• Believe that others who disagree with you are wrong and should "just get over it“

• Use charm, anger, withdrawal or blaming to settle arguments

CAN YOU THINK OF PEOPLE IN YOUR INSITUTION WHO

ACQUIRE THOSE CHARACTERISTICS? ARE

THEY YOUR ADMINISTRATORS?

COLLEAGUES?

Fearis the major dynamic

operating in this condition.

Fearis the major dynamic

operating in this condition.

Sigmund Freud called this dynamic

"omnipotence of thought.“He considered it a

psychological defense to avoid inner anxiety and a

sense of becoming fragmented when there is

disagreement.

C. The existence of the Bureaucratic

organization in the educational system.

THE BUREAUCRATIC MODEL REVISITED

A review of the performance of the bureaucratic organization

clearly shows that it perpetuates permanence through an administrative

system built to promote order and stability.

Here are its common characteristics as mentioned by Weber:

1. Fixed and official jurisdictional areas.

2. An office hierarchy and levels of graded authority that perpetuates a firmly ordered system of supervision in which there is a supervision of the lower offices by higher ones.

3. Management based upon written documents which are preserved in their original or

draft form – the files.

4. Specialized office management that usually supposes expert training.

5. Official activity that demands the full working capacity of the official irrespective of the fact that his obligatory time in the bureau may be firmly delimited.

6. Management that follows general rules.

All these could easily lead to order andstability, that is, structurally, sinceadministrative positions are placed in thedifferent levels of the structure. However,in due, time, predictably enough,“bureaupathology” will set in whichaccording to Walton has the followingrecognizable symptoms: resistance tochange, strong attachment to subgoals,routinization, impersonality, insecurityreflected in the need to control, andquantitative compliance.

Alternatives Always Unpleasant

THE IMPERATIVE NEED FOR DYNAMISM

An educational organization cannot afford to feel like a contented cow or remain

bureaucratic for many reasons, the major ones of which are the following:

First, knowledge has demonstrated through time that it is forever increasing by leaps and bounds.

Second, the educational organization must

simply have to move fast enough in pursuit

of that increasing knowledge.

Third, competition has become stiffer and more pronounced

as ever not only among graduates of the same

class, among graduates of different classes but also

among professions.

Fourth, the competition of one organization against another has become so

pronounced that most of those who are involved are already talking of “survival

strategies”.

A. Most educational institutions prefer young,

smart, qualified and dynamic teachers who

will be trained and become the future leaders and

administrators.

B. Ways to Break into Rigid Thinking and Get a Happier Life!

Being willing to own the behavior and then

forgive yourself for doing it will boost you to a

higher level of consciousness. Breaking into

rigidity will give you an increase in personal

power. Instead of having power over others,

you develop a power over yourself. This is real

Self-esteem!

• Being inflexible can continue because you have not known how to break the pattern or you do not want to give up being in control. Ask yourself these questions:

• "Do I want to be right or do I want to be happy?

• Do I want to get my way or do I want to feel closeness with others?

• Am I willing to balance my logical, left brain with my intuitive, feeling right brain to make me a well-rounded person?"

C. Organizational Structure Design for

Dynamism

The educational organization must fuse the merits of bureaucratic and adhocratic models to make

the whole organization itself adaptive.

That while there should be order and stability in the administrative

system as a merit of the bureaucratic design

in order to pursue planned program/project objectives and

organizational goal, there should at the same time be a

built-in capability for flexibility and change as a merit of adhocracy to meet the

challenges of development.

How will this statement of principle apply?

First, the administrative

system structure

should conform to the

structure of objectives.

Second, an operational

mechanism should be

installed in the

administrative system

structure to bring about

that desired flexibility and

change.

Third, policies should be formulated and adopted that

would guide the administrative system to

decide and to act in accordance with the

complementation of both models.

FIGURE 3. FUSION OF THE BUREAUCRATIC AND ADHOCRATIC

STRUCTURE –

TOWARDS AN ADAPTIVE STRUCTURE MODEL

Figure 3 illustrates the fusion of bureaucracy and adhocracy in an administrative system

structure. The bureaucratic substructure is represented by the top, middle and lower

boxes as they are connected to each other on the one hand, and to the bureaucratic

substructure on the other, by broken lines which in the aggregate may be called the adhocratic line of authority. This whole

arrangement or mechanism is an alternative design to bring about that desired flexibility

and change.

IN OPERATIONAL TERMS, X OR Y, MAY BE REPRESENTED BY A TEAM OF EXPERT

MANAGERS OR SPECIALISTS FROM EITHER THE TOP, MIDDLE OR LOWER LEVELS OF THE

STRUCTURE, OR IT CAN BE REPRESENTED BY OMBUDSMEN OR ASSISTANTS WHOSE MAJOR

TASKS WOULD BE TO REINFORCE WEAK ADMINISTRATORS OR UNITE SO THAT PLANNED

OBJECTIVES WILL CONTINUE TO BE PURSUED WHILE MEETING THE CHALLENGES OF

DEVELOPMENT.

MODEL A

TOP

MIDDLE

LOWER

X Y

In model A, the adhocratic substructure islodged in if not based on the topadministrative level. This implies thatflexibility and change if desired will beinstituted by the top administrative levelwhen organizational dilemmas occur andno solution is at hand. That the adhocraticsubstructure is lodged if not based on topmanagement also implies that the middleand lower administrative levels

or a part therein are basically weak and always look up to the top for solution even for their own problems. On the other hand, if the middle and lower administrative levels are strong and

can be depended upon, then the adhocratic can be made to confine itself to the study of development problems, beyond what existing

programs and projects are presently pursuing.

MODEL B

TOP

MIDDLE

LOWER

X Y

In model B, the adhocratic substructure is lodged in if not based on the middle level. This implies that flexibility and change if desired will be instituted by the middle

administrative level when organizational dilemmas occur in that level and below it

and no solution is at hand. That the adhocratic substructure is lodged in if not based on this level also implies that the

lower administrative level

is basically weak and always look up to the middle for answers to their own

problems. More than these implications, the following suggestions

are clear: first, that the middle has good relationships with the former and the

second, that the top does not believe in centralized authority to solve problems where these can be taken care of by the

middle.

MODEL C

TOP

MIDDLE

LOWERX Y

Model C, the adhocraticsubstructure is lodged in if not

based from the lower administrative level. Its

implication follow the logic of analysis in Models A and B and as they apply to this particular level

and in relation to the top and middle levels.

CASE OF DEAN DELA CRUZ

The Case illustrates that unless there is no provision for flexibility and change in the organization, Dean

dela Cruz and hundreds like him will have to stay in their posts for another three years while the

organization suffers.

If model A, however, is there, top administration can easily

send X or Y (may be represented by a manager

and/or his team) to reinforce Dean Dela Cruz without the

latter feeling that his position has been usurped,

because the move is a built-in mechanism of the organization

structure design. In this particular case, the adhocratic substructure is reinforcing the weak bureaucratic

substructure. Flexibility and change are introduced without necessarily

destroying order and stability which the bureaucratic substructure

represents.