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12 Strategy for Development Administration
H. GEORGE FREDERICKSON
I. INTRODUCTION
Neither development nor administration is static. In the past twenty years there have been major changes in both development and administration - changes in theory and in practice. Therefore, a consideration of strategy for development administration must begin with an examination of the evolution and prospects of the theory and practice of both development and administration. In fact, strategy for development administration will be both a determinant and a consequence of the changing theory and practice of administration and development. This chapter, then, begins with a brief review of changing theory and practice in administration, moves on to a similar review of development, and concludes with an assessment of strategies based on an example for the development administration of tomorrow.
While the first purpose of this chapter is to explicate strategy for development administration, there is a second purpose. In both theory and practice, administration and development have not always, or even usually, been compatible phenomena. The second purpose of this chapter is to formulate and defend the hypothesis that contemporary and future concepts and practices of development and administration are converging - that administration is becoming development, and vice versa - and that strategy for development administration ought to work from the premises of a synthesis of development and administration.
II. CHANGING THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ADMINISTRATION
Because the theory and practice of contemporary administration is a vast and complex subject, it is essential to employ a means by which
J. Barratt et al. (eds.), Strategy for Development© South African Institute of International Affairs 1976
TA
BL
E I
2.I
C
hang
ing
theo
ry a
nd
pra
ctic
e of
adm
inis
trat
ion1
From
Tr
ansit
ion
Authori~,
lead
ersh
ip a
nd s
uper
ior-
subo
rdin
ate
rela
tions
: 1
. A
utho
rity
fro
m t
he t
op d
own.
I.
A
utho
rity
fro
m t
he g
roup
.
2.
Lea
ders
hip
by
aut
hori
ty.
2.
Lea
ders
hip
by c
onse
nt.
&tio
nalit
y:
3· S
et s
ensi
ble
goal
s, t
hen
ins
titu
tion
al
iJ.e
to
achi
eve
them
.
4·
We
know
wh
at o
ug
ht
to b
e do
ne,
the
prob
lem
is d
isco
veri
ng h
ow
to d
o i
t.
5·
We
know
mor
e th
an w
e ap
ply,
th
e pr
oble
m is
one
of t
rans
mit
ting
thi
s kn
owle
dge
mor
e ef
fici
entl
y to
co
nsum
ers.
6.
Pla
nnin
g is
a c
risi
s te
chni
que.
Adm
inist
ratio
n, p
oliti
cs a
nd th
e ci
tizen
: 1·
Tec
hnol
ogy
may
pro
vide
th
e so
luti
on t
o po
liti
call
y 'c
ause
d'
prob
lein
s.
8. T
he
prob
lein
s oc
casi
oned
by
un
cert
aint
y, c
ompl
exit
y an
d
rapi
dity
of
chan
ge r
equi
re l
arge
r in
vest
men
ts i
n or
gani
sati
on m
achi
nery
(b
uild
bet
ter)
.
9· 'Responsive~ess' r
equi
res
effe
ctiv
e sc
anni
ng o
f ope
n in
form
atio
n w
ithi
n th
e or
gani
sati
on,
so t
hat
it
can
be
prom
ulga
ted.
3·
Seek
to
deve
lop
com
mit
men
t to
se
nsib
le g
oals
in
orde
r to
ach
ieve
se
nsib
le a
nd
con
sist
ent
acti
on.
5·
We
are
unce
rtai
n in
ou
r kn
owle
dge,
so
we
expe
rim
ent
wit
h co
nsum
ers.
T
he
expe
rim
ent
beco
mes
the
in
stit
utio
n.
6. P
lann
ing
is a
n in
stit
utio
nali
sed
proc
ess.
7·
Poli
tics
mus
t ac
com
mod
ate
tech
nolo
gica
l so
luti
on.
8. T
he
prob
lein
s oc
casi
oned
by
un
cert
aint
y, c
ompl
exit
y an
d
rapi
dity
of c
hang
e re
quir
e m
odif
ying
alr
eady
est
abli
shed
m
achi
nery
.
9·
'Res
pone
sive
ness
' req
uire
s w
ide
spre
ad p
arti
cipa
tion
by
clie
nts,
ch
iefl
y fo
r pu
rpos
es o
f co-
opta
tion
.
To
I. A
utho
rity
in
the
grou
p.
2.
Lea
ders
hip
by
cha
nge
faci
lita
tion
.
3· S
eek
to d
evel
op c
omm
itm
ent
to
sens
ible
act
ion
in o
rder
to
achi
eve
sens
ible
ove
rall
obj
ecti
ves.
4•
We
know
how
to
do
thi
ngs,
the
pr
oble
m is
dis
cove
ring
how
to
dete
rmin
e w
hat
oug
ht t
o be
don
e.
5· W
e kn
ow le
ss t
han
we
appl
y; t
he
prob
lem
is o
ne o
f try
ing
to p
reve
nt
the
tran
smit
ting
of
nons
ense
to
citi
zens
. 6.
P
lann
ing
is a
ctin
g.
7·
Pol
itic
s m
ay p
rovi
de t
he s
olut
ion
to
tech
nolo
gica
lly
'cau
sed'
pro
blei
ns.
8. T
he
prob
lein
s oc
casi
oned
by
unc
er
tain
ty,
com
plex
ity
and
rap
idit
y o
f ch
ange
req
uire
lar
ger
inve
stm
ents
in
di
sorg
anis
atio
nal
mac
hine
ry
(dis
coun
t fa
ster
).
9·
'Res
pons
iven
ess'
req
uire
s ef
fect
ive
scan
ning
of c
lien
ts a
nd
con
stit
uent
s so
th
at th
ey c
an e
lici
t ad
apta
tion
w
hen
it is
req
uire
d.
)';)
)'
;)
(j)
{;:)
.... ~ l=
l .... "' ~ -0 ~ t::::l "' <:1 "' ~
~ "' ;::s ....
Strategy for Development Administration 227
it can be synthesised and summarised. Table 12.1 is designed for that purpose. The 'From' column is taken to represent classic theory and practice of administration. The 'Transition' column represents the mainstream of contemporary thinking and practice, while the 'To' column describes the present trends and likely future of administrative theory and practice. Some organisations and some countries will fit almost perfectly with the classic model, with other organisations and/or countries already being in the 'Transition' phase and, in some cases, in what is called the 'To' column. So while there are exceptions to these generalisations, and organisations can be found in any stage in the evolutionary process, the author would contend that the generalisations do synthesise three major stages in the transition of administrative theory and practice.
AUTHORITY, LEADERSHIP AND SUPERIOR-SUBORDINATE RELATIONS
Changing concepts of authority, leadership and superior-subordinate relations are paramount in the dynamics of administrative theory. The so-called human relations school of administration has had, and continues to have, an important influence on thinking and practice. It was recognised early, particularly by the Hawthorne researchers and by Herbert Simon, that authority was not generally from the top down. 2 The power of peer relationships in the working group, the group's power to set standards of work performance as well as to control peer behaviour, is now fully understood. It was Simon's argument that the hierarchy as a pyramid with power, working from the apex to the base, should be reversed; that ultimate authority in the organisation rests not with the boss but with the workers. While most organisations continue to be structured in formal hierarchies, patterns of supervision and leadership increasingly reflect a recognition of the rights, powers and dignity of the worker and the working group. In certain organisations, particularly in Western Europe and Scandinavia, the concept which is described in the 'To' column of item I - authority in the group - is now commonplace.
With these shifts in the concept of authority have come similar changes in both the theory and practice of leadership. In the tradition, leadership was presumed to be loosely coupled with authority. In the 'Transition' phase it is assumed that leadership comes with the consent of those who are going to be led and not exclusively by authority. It is suggested in Table 12.1 that both theory and practice will move to a condition in which organisation change capabilities
228 Strategy for Development
will be the real test of leadership. While stability and predictability are basic· to the nature of organisations, leadership will come to be identified with those persons who are able to cause the organisation to change so as to reduce the lag between the dynamics of social change and the static character of formal organisations.
The rapid growth of empirical knowledge in psychology, role theory, group theory, conflict theory and communications theory has brought about dramatic changes in our understanding of superior-subordinate relations. The field of applied psychology, which has developed techniques of interpersonal change such as sensitivity training, organisation development and transactional analysis, has shown capabilities of changing individual behaviour as well as work-group behaviour. While this is recognised empirically and theoretically, it is practised in few organisations. Organisations continue to be structured in classic hierarchies which resist behaviour change in workers and work groups. Consequently, there is an important need to re-examine structural issues in administrative theory. If the hierarchy cannot be flexible and accommodate changed workers' and social needs, it must be dropped. This does not suggest that organisations can be random, for they cannot. Organisations must be structured, but their structures must facilitate response to changing concepts of authority, leadership and interpersonal relations. The 'project' concept taken from capital construction and space and defence contracting is a counter-pressure to hierarchy. The matrix concept is similarly useful. Rensis Likert's overlapping hierarchies with linking-pin functions is a useful alternative to hierarchy as a concept of structure. 8
RATIONALITY
Time has not been kind to the basic principles of rational decisionmaking in complex organisations. The simplistic notions of goalsetting, the search for goal-consensus, the assessment of alternative means of achieving collective goals, the analysis of costs and benefits associated with alternative means and the other trappings of classic rationality are very much a part of administrative tradition. Theorists such as Charles Lindblom and Aaron Wildavsky have successfully challenged this tradition.4 They formulated a kind of administrative rationality based on empirical evidence, the key concepts of which are incrementalism and pluralism. These theorists are empirically accurate in their recognition that the policy and administrative processes move incrementally from previous commit-
Strategy for Development Administration 229
ments and are made in a complex array of plural forces of power. However, they have failed to formulate a theory which can move beyond either a general approval or criticism of incrementalism and pluralism. They tend, then, to be descriptive rather than prescriptive.
It is suggested here in items 3, 4, 5 and 6 that it is possible to develop a simple theory of administered rationality that is not basically an apology for present forms of administration. This theory works from the premise that administrators are capable of accomplishing heroic tasks. When there are resources, commitment and strong goal-consensus, the achievements of organisations can be all but unlimited. The problem, then, is not the capability of administrators to do things. The problem, rather, is the inability of administrators and their policy and political leaders to define with some precision what ought to be done and to provide the resources to do it. In the tradition we assume that if sensible goals were set, all that was needed was to build organisations to achieve those goals. This implied that administrators and elected officials know what ought to be done and the basic problem is to discover the means of doing it. We now recognise that we are uncertain in our knowledge of what is to be done, and divided in our views as to what is to be done. We find ourselves experimenting with consumers, searching for a political and administrative consensus, gathering and analysing data to the point of paralysis and planning in abstract and institutionalised ways. The theory expressed here is a kind of counter-concept of rationality which states that we have the administrative skills to do things and that our basic problem is discovering how to determine what ought to be done and whether it is feasible. We do not know the answers; what we know is how to build organisations, to achieve objectives once we have decided that those objectives are achievable and that we want them at such a level of agreement that we are willing to commit the resources commensurate to the need. Once we have a commitment to sensible actions, the objectives are more or less obvious or apparent. Thus planning is less a matter of dreaming of some Utopia and more a process of attempting to discover what can be done and what citizens and their leaders think ought to be done, and then attempting to develop the level of commitments and resources to do those things.
This concept of rationality, as the reader can readily tell, is closely connected with the above description of the changing practices and perceptions of authority, leadership and interpersonal relations. It
230 Strategy for Development
is a humble model of rationality based on a process which searches for actions which are generally agreeable and acceptance of objectives in a very general way, without ever finally having to say that objective A or B is the alpha and omega of a given organisation or nation-state. Following this concept of rationality we can continue to have schools, for example, and, in the process, continue to engage in the dialogue which forces us to determine the level of our commitment to education and the form in which we wish this education to occur, although there will, doubtless, never be a final, agreed-upon concept of education. Nor will there be a final, agreed-upon concept of what constitutes the best transportation system or the best medical-care system, but we shall be building and operating transportation and medical programmes. What we can agree upon are commitments to action that, for the time, and given our present understanding of objectives and our present sense of needs, seem the sensible things to do.
ADMINISTRATION, POLITICS AND THE CITIZEN
Paralleling changing theories of authority and rationality are different views of the role of administration and citizens and the political process. Administrators are the technicians of government, and often prefer technical solutions for problems - the environmental problem being a case in point. In the arrogance of the bureaucratic process, when experts are together, there develops a kind of hubris which invariably suggests that by some technical means or another, social problems can be solved. The economists would solve poverty by a guaranteed annual income, the warrior would finish war by defoliation, heat-sensing rockets and smart bombs. While technology is growing and technicians can accomplish things, it is increasingly recognised that technology cannot solve social and political probleins. In fact, technology creates as many problems as it solves. Thus, administrators are coming to the view that it is the political and administrative process, rather than the technological process, which is likely to provide solutions to social and political probleins. The technological process, while important, has been greatly over-emphasised. The problem is that public servants tend to be technicians and to have too little respect for the significance of the political and administrative processes and too great a trust in the magic of science and technology.
In the 'To' column of item 7 it is suggested that politics may provide the solution to technologically caused probleins. Effective
Strategy for Development Administration 231
administrative and political systems must be designed to follow the pattern of rationality described above, to work through the commitments to actions that are seen in the short term as sensible in meeting social and political ends, and seen in the long term as not irrational. This certainly is a better solution than waiting for technology to discover some chemical to pour in water to make it pure or some vapour to whisk away the smog. It is more probable that if we could find commitments to administrative and political means of controlling pollution, then we could, in the short term, reduce pollution and, in the long term, allow technicians to search for long-term solutions that may have a technological base.
The same sorts of arguments can be made with respect to development. While miracle rice and the 'green revolution' may be technologically interesting and particularly fascinating to bureaucrats, they clearly lack the kinds of political and administrative commitments necessary to bring about a revolution in the availability of food to those persons unable to feed themselves. The problem, then, is one of political and administrative skills and will, rather than technology. We search, then, for a generation of administrators prepared to work on political and administrative approaches to problem-solving.
Like their preoccupation with technology, administrators hold an inordinate respect for the importance of organisations. Because they live in organisational worlds, they develop patterns of organisational loyalty and ego-involvement. The 'sunk intellectual costs' of government and bureaucrats are such that it is very difficult to change organisations. While we recognise that organisations are designed to be stable and predictable, we also recognise the need to change. Thus, in the 'Transition' column of item 8 we see the argument that the problems occasionad by uncertainty, complexity and rapidity of change require modifying already established machinery. Thus, much time is spent with reorganisation and organisational innovation.
We appear to be moving to a theory of administration which accommodates an ability to dismantle organisations that equals our ability to construct them. We are slowly learning that, while incremental growth causes big organisations, decremental decline can dismantle them. There may soon be administrators who are specialists in decremental approaches to organisational dismantling. Rather than attempting to change an organisation to do something rather different, the administrative and policy processes search for the
232 Strategy for Development
conditions by which the organisation can wither and disappear and, in its place, a new organisation can be designed to engage in new forms of action, which move society towards new objectives. It is unlikely that objectives will change dramatically; what is likely is that actions will change considerably. So, while schools for example may wither and die and new organisations rise in their place, this does not mean that literacy and education are not likely to continue to be a major social objective; they will. This only suggests that schools as we know them may not always be the sensible devices needed to achieve literacy and education.
Public organisations are always responsive. They do, however, tend to be responsive to a limited set of constituents. In some instances there is responsiveness to a tyrannical majority (or coalition of minorities) which seeks to continue the deprivation of a minority. In other cases there is administrative responsiveness to a tyrannical minority, which continues to deprive the majority of the resources needed to achieve some form of equity. It is commonly assumed that the electoral process is the only engine that drives responsiveness and democracy. It is not. What is needed is a theory of government which moves 'beyond electoral democracy' to a concept of the citizen's role that includes participation in the voting process by which political leaders are selected and the right and power to interact with bureaucrats, to identify their needs and to insist that these needs be met. This will require an especially resilient form of public servant, able to scan clients and constituents in such a way as to respond to their needs, to articulate to political and policy leadership the legitimacy of those needs, and to search for some balance in the needs of heterogeneous groups in complex societies. Even with fair voting processes, our present structures exhibit a glaring lack of balance in responsiveness to citizens, and, sad to say, public administration systems do not tend to serve the interests of balance.
In sum, there is an evolution in the theory and practice of administration which includes a concept of administrative rationality markedly different from the classic notions of organisation theory: a continuation of the human relations movement in organisation thought and practice, and a more genuinely responsive public service. How, then, does all this blend with changing concepts of development?
Strategy for Development Administration -233
III. CHANGING THEORY AND PRACTICE OF DEVELOPMENT
The theory and practice of development is as complex and varied a subject as administration. This will not be an attempt to summarise and synthesise practices and concepts of development, but rather to describe some basic dilemmas and contradictions in the subject, and then develop a concept of development administration that is workable.
Although seldom asked, there is a fundamental question of whether there is a difference between administration in the general sense and development administration. If the classic form of administration is described in Table I 2. I, there is a marked difference between administration and development administration. However, if administration is evolving towards the form described in the 'To' column in Table I2.I, there is a close alignment between basic concepts in development and administration.
Consider, for example, that definition of development which is based on equity in the distribution of resources and access to knowledge and skills. 5 Under this definition, developing countries are those with a systematic plan or aim to achieve more of the good life, to have more resources, to distribute them more equitably, and to broaden the base of knowledge and skills. Although grossly simplistic, this definition of development is probably at the base of the concept. It is assumed, for example, that development has to do with greater output from political, social and economic systems -this output being known as growth. In development we also assume a trend towards the building of systems to manage nation-states' economic and social complexities, generally headed towards modernity. Finally, it is assumed that development is consciously action-directed or manipulative. Note the close parallels between these basic principles of development and the 'Transition' and 'To' columns in Table I2.I described in Section II of this chapter. That section set out an action-directed, goal-achieving, highly participative form of administration, or, to use the phrase, a form of development administration.
There are similarities in the traditions of development practice and theory, and the evolution of traditions in administration. Both administration and development theory tend to be centralising, authoritative and technological in character. Both have slowly come
234 Strategy for Development
to a recognition of the need for developing processes of political legitimacy. If one assumes that there is an electoral process and other processes which form the infrastructure for both developing and sustaining legitimacy, then the basic concepts of administration and development are wholly compatible. If one assumes, however, that elections are sufficient to sustain legitimacy, then development will clearly fail and administration is likely to be ineffective, even in 'developed' nation-states.
The same argument can be made with respect to planning. A plan generated by bureaucracy will not enjoy instant support and administrators will be frustrated in attempting to implement the plan, unless processes of legitimacy are developed. Family planning is clearly the best contemporary example of the absence of processes of legitimacy in both development and administration.
Development also lacks a systematic pattern of political commitment. This is, in part, because development theorists and practitioners tend to work from the same set of rational premises that has guided administrative thinking. There is the assumption that if an underdeveloped nation-state has a commitment to education in a very general sense, there will be an equally strong commitment via the political system to generate the resources and to support, say, schools. While there may be general agreement in a nation-state, and even a total consensus, that literacy and education are desirable, there may not be agreement as to the utility of schools, particularly schools of the Western sort. Other forms of achieving knowledge and literacy may, in some cultures, have preference over classic Western notions of the classroom.
There is the assumption in development theory that plans must be made and goals set, and that steps must be taken to achieve these goals. Modern development theory increasingly recognises that such a pattern of reasoning can be vacuous. It is, then, likely to be more productive to attempt to develop the commitment and will to support some incremental set of actions in education to upgrade literacy - perhaps in schools, but possibly in other ways - without necessarily making that a part of a grand scheme to achieve education.
There is, of course, the fundamental question of the extent to which citizens are involved in the processes of development and in the practice of development administration. In both the practice and theory of development administration there is a near-total lack of focus on the processes of citizen involvement. Little is written of
Strategy for Development Administration '235
the basic authority in the group, of the need for coalition-building and responsiveness. Much more is written about elaborate economic plans and major technological solutions.
The major and most important exception to all this is the field of community development. The work of practitioners and theorists in community development is seldom found in traditional development administration literature, although the subject is rich in both achievement and theoretical integrity. Community development is a first cousin of modern administrative theory and even certain versions of modern contemporary political thought. In development administration, community development is the micro-perspective. It is the administration of systems at the street level. Curiously, community development has probably achieved more in development administration than any other aspect of the subject - yet it is barely visible in the literature of development administration. 6
Community development uses technology, but is not overwhelmed by it. It does not exhibit the kind of cultural blindness seen in other forms of development. And community development does not have the utopian characteristics of much of macro- and middle-range theory and planning in development administration.
The classic theory of community development, as it relates to developing countries, has to do with finding effective ways of helping and teaching people to adapt new methods and to learn new skills. This process, however, is managed in such a way as to retain community control and community spirit. Community development administration, then, is much like the description of administration in the 'Transition' and 'To' columns of Table 12.1. The principles are as simple as the need to establish friendly and trustful relations with people with whom the administrator hopes to work and whom he may want to influence. The community development specialist must reach agreement with people on what changes ought to occur. It must be demonstrated that any suggested change is safe in the short run, and probably safe in the long run. It must be accepted that persons engaged in development administration are interested in and willing to work with indigenous and legitimate community groups.
Although anthropology offers a litany of examples of the imposition of technical and political changes in underdeveloped environments and their eventual rejection, we continue to behave as if these things have not occurred. The community development process is the one major exception to this generalisation. The oldest and best-
236 Strategy for Development
known examples are found in the work of T. R. Batten, and particularly his Communities and Their Development, which uses large numbers of examples from Central and Southern Africa.7
Although most countries in Southern Africa have had some form of community development or another, Tanzania is one of the more interesting. Boyd Faulkner's History and Characteristics of Community Development in Tanzania is an excellent description of how principles of administration and development can be blended at the micro-level with useful results. 8 The colonial administrators of Tanzania, both the Germans prior to the First World War and the British afterwards, introduced many changes to Tanzanian life. They built communications facilities, devised government structures, systems for agriculture, public health, education, and even stabilised the use of Swahili as the state language. There was, however, little thought given to the integration of Africans into national political or economic endeavours. Finally, with independence in Ig6I there was a rapid process of Africanisation, which placed about I oo,ooo Tanzanians in the public service, replacing mostly Asians and Britons. While the process of Africanisation was going on, there were serious problems with declines in agricultural exports, earnings, increasing taxes, inflation, a decline in administrative performance, problems of urbanisation and population increase, and a great demand for improved education, welfare and health.
Although community development dates back to earlier times, it was formally organised as a department of the national government in I 946. By I g6 1 community development activities included 7 5 workers covering nine towns and localities in twenty districts in Tanzania. These generalists were mostly process-oriented, working with the local tribes and consulting specialists to improve educational, agricultural and health systems. Via a system of self-help projects, it is estimated that I 6o,ooo learned written Swahili in that year. It is also estimated that 14,000 women annually registered in local clubs to receive lessons in home and life improvement. The rationale for the need to become literate was to avoid being cheated by local merchants, and to read the directions on road signs and in rest-rooms. The need for mathematics was stressed in the same fashion. A rather large cadre of volunteer teachers was developed to teach literacy and mathematics throughout the I g6os and early I970s. Eventually, being literate became a matter of pride rather than one of utility. There developed a literate class, and pressures on the illiterate to develop reading skills.
Strategy for Development Administration 237
Community developers were used throughout Tanzania to make use of idle manpower in the development of community centres, schoolhouses and road-building. The Division of Community Development in the administration of Dr Nyerere was one of the major instrumentalities for the implementation of the reply to 'Uhuru', which was 'Na Kazi' (and work). The emphasis on work was pushed in the countryside and community development specialists were the primary agents for the processes of self-help. From I g6 I to I g68 much was accomplished via the Division of Community Development. A field staff of almost I ,ooo was working in sixty districts. Community development committees were at work in virtually every community. There were district training centres established for community development skills. Specialists in education, health, home economics and business were developed across the country. An estimated I 5o,ooo leaders received training as members of village development committees. In these years over 2o,ooo self-help construction and production projects were completed and, by 1970, the literacy courses annually included over 400,000.
This was done via processes of legitimisation through a commitment to sensible action. There was a clear commitment to the rights of self-government, of the citizens to live in dignity and equality and, especially, the right to participate. There was recognition that the people needed help and were willing and able to engage in progressive actions to be able to receive help, that the helping and the growth process was collective and that the benefits and responsibilities belonged to the people, as well as to the bureaucrats and the specialists. Responsibility for success and failure, then, was not exclusively that of the bureaucrats!
In 1965 the Tanzanian African National Union was declared to be the sole political party of the mainland of Tanzania. Being primarily concerned with economic development and socialism, there developed a close relationship between the party and the processes of community development. The TANU Youth League, the United Women of Tanzania and the Elders' Section all became highly influential in the processes of community development. In sum, it is probably safe to claim that the single most important influence in the development of Tanzania since independence has been via the processes of community development. Although down at the micro-level and with considerable variation from village to village and tribe to tribe, the aggregation of projects and progress in
238 Strategy for Development
the fields of education, health and transportation is such that major national achievements rest on micro-approaches to ideas both of development and administration.
It is not claimed that major problems of malnutrition, underproduction of foods, overpopulation and the like can be solved exclusively at the micro-level. It can be argued that progress is a good deal more likely via the systematic application of microapproaches, given a basically stable political and economic environment. Certainly, macro-changes that are based on preoccupations with technology, planning and centralisation have not shown great success, particularly in the field of family planning and agriculture. This suggests strategy based primarily on attempting to stabilise economic and political systems and then implementing widespread community development procedures so that the change can be at the grassroots, can be legitimate, can be integrated fully into the political system of the nation-state, and can, if feasible, be given available resources and commitment. Such a strategy is more likely to produce a better share of the good life than are macro- and middle-range approaches.
NOTES
I. Table 12.1 is adapted from two sources- with extensive modification. See Frank P. Sherwood and John Pfiffner, Administrative Organisation (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 196o) p. 108, and Robert P. Biller, 'Converting Knowledge into Action: Toward a Post-Industrial Society', in Jong S. Jun and William B. Storm, Tomorrow's Organisations: Challenges and Strategies (Glenview, III.: Scott, Foresman, 1973) pp. 35-40.
2. Herbert A. Simon, Administrative Behavior: A Study of DecisionMaking Processes in Administrative Organizations (New York: Free Press, 1957).
3· Rensis Likert, New Patterns of Management (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961 ).
4· Charles E. Lindblom, 'The Science of Muddling Through', Public Administration Review (Spring 1959) pp. 79--99; Aaron Wildavsky, The Politics of the Bridgeton Process (Boston: Little, Brown, 1964).
5· Edward W. Weidner, 'The Goals, Strategy and Environment of Development', in John Barratt, Simon Brand, David S. Collier and Kurt Glaser (eds.), Accelerated Development in Southern Africa (London: Macmillan, 1974) pp. 3-22.
6. Huey B. Long, Robert C. Anderson and Jon A. Blubough, Approaches to Development Administration (Iowa City, Iowa: National University Extension Association and the American College Testing Program, 1973).
7· London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1947.
Strategy for Development Administration 239
8. Found in Community Development Focus: Reports on Programs in Bolivia, Guyana, Nepal, Tanzania (Columbia, Mo.: Department of Regional and Community Affairs, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1970) pp. 102-26.