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. […]
Recent Posts
Right, Left, Centre
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 […]
Law Alone Not Enough
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 […]
Unofficial Flows of Communication
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 […]
Max Weber
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 […]
Local Admin IV – full-time employment
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 […]
Daily Grind of Local Administration, III
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 […]
CN Municipal Government II -councillors vs staff
Differences Between Councillors and Staff Councillors Staff Bring energy to the system. Many radical, new ideas, but frequently not very well thought through. Concerned with stability. Able to discern the difficulties to be encountered in making major changes. Highly competative. Important to be seen to win around the council table. Cooperation more important than competition. […]
Canadian Municipal Administration
Municipal government is not entrenched in the Canada Constitution Act. The province can withdrw this structure at any time. City/municipal Council forms Committees and direct the Departments. The Chief Administrative Officer has less control than the American counter-part, relying on providing perspective to the members and votes only to break a tie vote. For the […]