Lecture
Administration represents a goal-setting (conscious, deliberate, thought-out!), organizing and regulating influence of people on their own social, collective and group life-activity, carried out both directly (in forms of self-governance) and through specially created structures (the state, public associations, parties, firms, cooperatives, enterprises, associations, unions, etc.).
National Features of the Ethics and Culture of Administration.
+In examining moral achievements at the national level, one should, first, show how universal norms and conceptions are originally shaped in the mores of different nations. Second, one must demonstrate the specificity of national moral systems. Third, it is useful to consider the relationship between the universally human and the national principles of morality on a theoretical plane.
The primary source of information on this topic is folklore: epics, folk tales, songs, proverbs, customs and rites. And then - fiction and ethical theories. Historical accounts, and the lives and activities of famous individuals, also serve as material.
a). Folk morality
b). Respect for elders.
c). Family and sexual morality.
d). Patriotism.
e). Industriousness and attitude toward wealth.
f). Collectivism.
The involvement of almost the entire adult population of the country (to one or another degree, of course) in public administration compels us to raise the question of its pedagogical possibilitiesas a social phenomenon, realized through its socio-psychological influence on individual people, their collectives, groups, communities. In short, what is meant is the formative pedagogical-psychological role of public administration in society. It cannot be underestimated, for everything in life is important and interconnected.
Nothing destroys consciousness, and subsequently personality, so much as a rupture, a mismatch between proclaimed slogans, norms, values, ideals and their realization in life, in social practice. As a result of such a state of affairs, if it is stable and persists for a long time, there occurs a splitting of the personality,or more precisely, a splitting of the way of life: one side — toward the due, the other — toward the actual, and inside oneself — complete nihilism, a rejection of everything, and social dissoluteness.
In the scholarly literature on psychology, several models are identified for the behavior of participants in joint activity within complex socio-economic systems: the institutional,or deontological model, reflecting normative conceptions of
the due organization of joint activity; the actual,or phenomenological model, representing the totality of the actual relations of the subjects of joint activity to their functions, rights, duties and institutional norms of behavior; and the ideal,or ontological model, in which a coincidence, a superimposition of the previous models occurs and the most favorable conditions are created for the realization of human potential and effective social development . Public administration is the prerequisite and the conditionthat perfect the institutional and actual models of people's joint activity, combine them, and bring them closer to the ideal.
What matters here is the behavior of all participants in administrative processes, but especially — that of state bodies. Nothing is worse than the illusoriness, the phantom quality, the sham, the mere semblance of administration. Above all, one must take into account the pedagogical-psychological influence of the response of state bodies to citizens' appeals concerning the exercise of their legitimate rights and interests. By the way such an appeal is received, the way it is treated, the way it is examined, a citizen judges the official or state body to which he has applied, and the state system as a whole. Unfortunately, a respectful psychological contact between the authorities and the people has still not been established.
The pedagogical, educative role toward citizens belongs to practically all administrative elements. Thus, each method of ensuring the implementation of the administrative functions of state bodies possesses its own force of influence on a person and correlates with his deeds and actions. A deep individualization of the application of methods is required, taking into account and building on the specifics of a person's socio-psychological qualities. The same can be said of the stages of administrative activity. All stages must be carried out democratically, objectively, openly, in accordance with truthful information νwhile taking into account the opinions, views and positions of all participants in the given administrative cycle. All manner of falsity, uncertainty, ambiguity, the striving to hide behind paperwork, behind a phrase, the "faking" of conformity to the wishes or moods of superiors create complex socio-psychological tensions among the participants in administration, undermine the political and moral values, tradi-
^See: Psychological Aspects of Administration. M., 1984. Pp. 17—18.
-tions and institutions. Naturally, it is the legal and organizational forms of administrative activity that carry the greatest pedagogical burden.
Besides administrative institutions, people are also influenced by the specific deeds and actions of officials.The character, content and depth of such influence largely depend on the socio-psychological, moral climate within the collective of one or another state body, determined both by the official relationships of employees and by their informal, personal interconnections. In the scholarly literature several types of pairing among officials with one another have been identified: command-command— the relationship of subordinates and superiors with one another; command-functional— the interaction of the top executive and his deputies; functional-functional— interaction between officials of the same level. Each such pairing, alongside its formal definiteness, has as its human basis a corresponding socio-psychological relationship. They must coincide with and complement one another. For official relations, from the standpoint of their socio-psychological grounding, what matters is the coincidenceof the prestige of the position with the personal authority of the one who holds it .
Among personal interconnections a distinction is made between intellectual, emotional and volitional ones. Through intellectualinterconnections there occurs an exchange of knowledge, experience, information, approaches, positions, views, etc. Even where points of view fail to coincide or are contradictory, such interconnections are always positive, for they clarify the truth. Emotionalinterconnections can play a twofold role: they can be unifying (conjunctive) and thereby lead to the stabilization of the administrative collective, or they can be dividing (disjunctive), expressed in rivalry, hostility, hatred, etc., which leads to tensions, including in official pairings. Volitionalinterconnections affect the performance of official duties, the socio-psychological microclimate and other parameters of the state of the administrative collective in different ways, depending on the willpower of the persons interacting. This too should not be forgotten. In the life of an administrative collective, the intellectual, emotional and volitional interconnections of its members appear interwoven, in cooperation and in col-
lSee: Kitov A.I. The Psychology of Economic Administration. M., 1984. P. 142.
lision of temperaments, feelings, characters, wills, thoughts and other psychological particularities of each person.
In the harmonization of formal and informal interconnections, the determining functions belong to leaders.It is they who, in the collectives they head, carry out a variety of work bearing pedagogical-psychological content. This includes: goal-setting, responsibility for the results of joint activity, the organization of joint activity, the coordination of joint activity (who is to do what, when, where and how); the monitoring of joint and individual actions; the motivating of behavior and actions; the maintaining of communicative ties within and outside the administrative collective, and much else. It is understood that in his actions a leader relies chiefly on the powers granted to him. But equally important is his authority,by which is understood the generally recognized, informal influence of some person or organization in various spheres of public life, based onknowledge, moral merits, experience, and the exemplary fulfillment of personal and public duty.In practice, authority is expressed in the ability of a person or group of persons to direct, without resorting to coercion, the deeds or thoughts of other people into a particular channel. This means that every leader, and society as a whole, must be concerned about authority, must "cultivate" it, in particular in their relationships, in the sole or collegial resolution of questions (both official and personal). They are called upon to respect one another, to take mutual care in maintaining their own authority, and to contribute through their actions to the affirmation of the authority of subordinate leaders.
It should finally be noted that the subordinates themselves, the citizens who come into contact with the administration, also create within the collectives of bodies of state power and local self-government a particular pedagogical-psychological atmosphere. Servility, self-abasement, the exaltation and glorification of leaders, the striving invariably to please them, and similar methods corrupt leaders. Several forms of communication within an administrative collective are usually distinguished: subordinational— communication between a leader and a subordinate on strictly formal, official matters, based on administrative-legal norms;collegial-official— communication between managers-colleagues, based on a combination of administrative (duties of coordinating activities) and moral norms;
friendly— communication between managers, and between managers and subordinates, based on moral-psychological norms of mutual respect and personal sympathy.
Combined forms are advisable, allowing one, alongside maintaining and strengthening official relationships, to establish and develop favourable personal ties. What matters here is using forms of communication equally with everyone, with allowance, of course, for individual, socio-psychological characteristics. Every member of the management team should feel that the manager treats them on an equal footing with others. Managerial communication and conduct within a hierarchical management team is a very subtle, complex, delicate matter. Much here depends on the tact and culture of each participant. There is much to work on in this respect.
Mention should also be made of external managerial activity, carried out by state bodies and their officials in interacting with other state bodies, with all managed entities, and in communicating with citizens. This too contains a broad channel of pedagogical, socio-psychological influence. It must not be forgotten.
On the whole, in public administration, despite its "dense" institutionalization, everything depends on the human being — it is initiated, carried out and calibrated by them. The human being gives public administration a creative, evolving, dynamic beginning. The main thing is to master this and use it skilfully in managerial processes.
Questions for reflection and discussion:
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