Disunited States Essays - Forms Of Government, Decentralization

Disunited States According to the article, the majority of the nation seems to be pro-devolution, or for returning power from the federal government to state governments on several issues. The author gives several reasons for devolution and against it, but overall he thinks that devolution would be a major mistake for the nation and proposes that we instead readjust the federal government to meet the needs of today. There are several reasons given for devolution of the federal government, the first is that a single state could be used as a laboratory to try new economic and social ideas, being that if it didn't work it would not affect the nation as a whole. Competition between states is another reason given for devolution. Interstate competition would produce more creative and diligent ways to carry out the task of government. And last, as responsibilities flow to state governments, public sector efficiency will increase. Next the author goes on to give his reasons against devolution. The first reason is that it would have no effect on the public dept; devolution would only cause a cut in federal spending by less than half a percent. Devolution would also worsen the odds of prosperity by making unskilled labor jobs harder to come by. The last reason the author gives against is that it will cause interstate rivalries by making states compete for citizens causing lower and lower tax rates between cities making it harder for the state governments to operate. Instead of total devolution the author suggest that the federal government be reshaped by 5 different ways in order to meet the needs of today. The first is to devolve, but only in areas where the state would do a better job. Two, restore federal primacy in anti poverty policy, being that the federal government would do a better job. Three, recognize states' limits as stewards of education. Four, curb competition for business and five, fix the federal government. I agree with the author in that I think total devolution would be a mistake for the nation. I believe that in some areas, such as education, it would have a better effect, but in others , such as welfare, the federal government is more adept at handeling.

The Public Sector Project Funded by XYZ Foundation Coursework

The Public Sector Project Funded by XYZ Foundation Coursework The Public Sector Project Funded by XYZ Foundation – Coursework Example Through this memorandum, a trial is being done to analyse the ethical issue pertaining to the policy decisions which has to be taken regarding the untrue reflection of the number of beneficiaries being catered under the public sector project funded by XYZ Foundation. Though this issue is under the jurisdiction of the management board and not the supervisor, I am addressing this memorandum to the supervisor keeping in view of the Organizational moral to adhere with the professional hierarchy involved. The works done in continuation with my predecessor to formulate a project proposal in order to attract funds from XYZ foundation has revealed that the previous office bearer had inflated the number of beneficiaries of the project to a count of ten percent. This was done in order to meet the fund receipt standards set by the funding agency. On the other side this fund was inevitable for the follow up activities of the project and the organization as well. Being the new administrator, I analyzed the ethical issue against the moral standards. To determine the moral standards of the ethical issue, the whole scenario was passed through the Cooper’s ethical decision making model whose first step was the perception of an ethical problem which was already realized. The second phase involved the description of the situation and the definition of the ethical issue. Here the trial of the previous administrator to project figures which was more than the actual ones in a scenario of Institutional and Project crisis was the situation of concern. The ethical issue was clearly defined as whether to keep on the hyped figures so as to ensure the fund receipt or to replace the figures with the actual ones. Identification of the alternatives was the third phase in Cooper’s ethical decision making model. On evaluation of the defined ethical crisis, there were few possible alternatives. One of it was to have relentless efforts in order to achieve the inflated number of clients by the time the grant was sanctioned. Another possible option was the correction of the figures to actual ones and the last alternative was to keep the proposal going with the hyped figures. The final step in Cooper’s model was the evaluation of each alternative against moral rules and ethical principles. The practicability of the first alternative was at stake as the grant proposal was due on a sooner date and the gap in the inflated number of clients could not be achieved by the time of proposal submission. The second alternative could have however resulted in the rejection of the fund leading to serious problems with the finance of the organization and the project as well. Though the alternative to keep the proposal going with the hyped figures poised doubts on the rehearsal defense or the publicity test, it was further evaluated against the ethical principles. The moral consistency with the Social standards and the organizational standards could be ensured with transparency in the intention of the option. However the principle of utilitarianism substantiated the lacunas of the suggested solution as it addressed the genuineness of the social cause intended and it proved to be a more practical solution with not even scare traces of Amoralism. Ladd’s concept of moral responsibility John Ladd has described formal organizations as "machines" in order to emphasize the constraints on their options for action.(Risser,2006). He tries to make the point that organizations some times are bound to procedures and policies and some times legalities leading to non compliance with the moral obligations to the society and towards the concerned particular task. His point is completely agreed upon as the non flexibility of the procedural undertakings of organizations often tends to move out and respond as per the ethical and moral requirement at particular point of time and with reference to the specific development involved. He further argues that an organization must be capable of non-programmed behavior, such as responding constructively to moral blame or disapprobation, to qualify as a morally responsible agent However his point that organizations have neither moral responsibility nor moral rights cannot be completely agreed to, as there exists many systems even with in the modern corporate world to address such issues. The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility is in a broader sense an example to this. However it is true that the context of ethics from an individual perspective is much easier to monitor and is more flexible than the Context for Ethics in the Organization. But this does not mean escapism of the organizations from the responsibility of following the moral and ethical standards. Ladd also relates the organizational moral perspective to a machine which is only capable of performing those functions that it has been designed or programmed to undertake. However this philosophy is also challenged in an ironical way, by the upcoming possibility of Artificial intelligence of the next generation computers. WORKS CITED Risser T, The Internet Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2006, Collective Moral Responsibility, 18 Oct 2008, Scott R, â€Å"Ethical  Decision-Making: The Link Between Ambiguity and Accountability†, 2002, Air and Space Jounal, 18 Oct 2008,