rigidity and lack of responsiveness
TRANSCRIPT
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.