On the Easter Trail Rabbi Jacob Neusner has observed that “‘Take up your cross and follow me’ is not the same thing as ‘study the Torah that I teach, which I have studied from my master before me.’” The situation is at once simpler than that, whilst being more complicated. Yet, the Rabbi was succinct: […]
We know families squabble from time to time. It is not too surprising that when different faith backgrounds read the same document, different questions arise for them and they draw different conclusions. Matthew 5: 1-2 But seeing the crowds, he went into the mount and sitting himself down, his students came near. A mount is […]
Guiding Star Publications is finally going to print Light of Day: A results-based analysis on objectification and sexual violence. On pins and needles, I am greatful for everyone’s patience. I have the designer calculating the cost for some tweeking of the cover and other adjustments that will make your Guiding Star experience all the sweeter. […]
The term right, left, and centre are based on the seating arrangements of the French parliament which, in the 18th and 19th Centuries, was shaped like a horse shoe with the speaker placed at one end. Seating was divided among three major sectors, right, left, and centre. The right side or wing (on the speaker’s […]
I came across a reflection on the implementation of law, once written. The following quote is by Linda E. Ledray, R.N., Ph.D., Recovering from Rape, Henry Holt and Company. New York, NY, 1986, pp 216-217: Laws alone won’t stop rape. The laws are only as good as the people who enforce them…. When the government decided it was time […]
Is Everyone Up to Speed? Unofficial flows of communication within bureaucracy are, well, unofficial. As such, they are difficult if not impossible to pin down in any systemic way. Best guess is that unofficial channels of information do several things: they are convenient, likely interactive with feedback, have the danger of missing out on letting […]
How Does Weber’s Bureaucratic Traits Track in your Municipal Government? Weber’s Bureaucracy1 1.Weber’s description of a bureaucracy presents itself as a hierarchical structure, a unity of command. This indicates that there is no conflict in the flow of authority and consequently with the lack of conflict, there is unity. For each position in the hierarchy […]
Full-time Employment Full-time employment, according to Weber, is used as a dependency on income mechanism to exert greater control over the worker.1 Full time workers prevail, functioning well for continuity of communication within departments and outside departments. In terms of Weber’s contention that employees are more agreeable to direction and control when full-time, I […]
Diversification on the municipal clerical job include health and safety requirements for workers at computer terminals to have ten minute breaks every hour from the terminals. Other methods of diversion are to simply do a different thing within the framework of the job to get away from the tedium of a specific task. Office work […]
