Based on our readings/viewings and your experience, what is and should be the relation

of the individual to the institution(s)?

Answer:
Before understanding the relation of individual to the institutions, let us understand the
meaning of the same. Institution is either a type of formal organization or practices and
behaviour pattern of a society whereas the Organization refers to an organized group of people
gathered together to achieve a particular purpose (admin, 2015). So we can see that institution
arise to fulfil the social roles and expected behaviour whereas organization have a power and
order hierarchy and considers itself different from the society.
In this paper I have tried to explain the relation of individuals to the institutions through various
management theories given by various experts in different fields.
Hofstedes five value dimension of national culture:

(Source: https://geert-hofstede.com/india.html)
Professor Geert Hofstedes study shows that how values in workplace are influenced by
culture. As Tughlaq and Things fall Apart are set in Indian and Nigerian culture, we will
compare the model for both these countries.
1

As the study shows that both the countries have a high score on power distance which means
that there exists inequality in the society in terms of power and wealth. Due to this, we see that
in the organization people always maintain a power distance from their superiors and as a result
address them as sir or madam. This is the only reason why the open door policy is not successful
in both these countries. When we talk about individualism India has a moderate score whereas
Nigeria has a lower score. This implies that the actions of individuals are mostly society driven.
What society will think is placed first while taking any decision. The masculinity versus
feminity score suggests that both the societies are masculine in nature i.e. the society is driven
by competition, achievement and success and people always try to become best rather than
caring for society and quality of life. Both the countries score medium in uncertainty avoidance
which suggests that the society likes to live in certain ambiguity and is patient. They let the
future take place at its own pace and is not necessary that everything should go as planned. In
long term orientation, India has a moderate score whereas Nigeria scores very low. A moderate
score suggest that the dominance of traditional values cannot be determined exactly. But as we
know in India. The religion is given importance over many things and traditional values are the
inseparable part of our culture. A low score suggests that the society anchors to the traditional
beliefs and is resistant to the change, so it does not accept innovation so easily. In indulgence,
India has a very low score as compared to Nigeria. A low score suggest that the actions of
people are restrained by the society and so they always restrain their desires if they are not as
per the society. A high score on the other end suggests that the people are indulging and hardly
try to control their desires.
When we use this model in both the books we see that the main characters in both the texts
behaves almost in the same manner as mentioned by the model. In Tughlaq, we see there is a
proper organisation structure with the power controls with the king, people always work
thinking what society will react to it, the leadership is very ambition driven and wants to
2

achieve success in his plans. Also the religion is given prime importance by Tughlaq in his
kingdom. So his behaviour or his employees is governed by the society and culture they live in
and that forms their base of relation with the institutions. In the same way, in Things fall
Apart, Okonkwo always wants to become the best in the organization and does not accept
change thus behaving firmly and with a heavy hand in the organization.
Lawrence Kohlbergs stages of moral development:
Individual

Organization

Child

Autocratic

Adolescent

Coercive:

Reward

and

Punishment
Adult

Guiding

Adult with educational maturity

Teamwork

Adult with social consciousness

Transformational

Adult

with

social

consciousness

and Empowering

commitment
(Source: Albuquerque, D. (2010). Business Ethics: Principles and Practices. In D.
Albuquerque, Business Ethics: Principles and Practices (pp. 82-88). New Delhi: Oxford
University Press)
Kohlbergs stages of moral development through moral matuirity meter tries to explain that as
the organization matures it from autocratic slowly and gradually becomes more and more
empowering thus giving employees more freedom and decision making power.
When we study this theory in light of the texts, we realiz that Umuofia as an organization is
very autocratic driven by rules and regulations. When there is an external or internal stimulus
in the organization, in this case in the form of Christians arriving in Umuofia, if the organization
3

is not able to adjust to change it will eventually fall. Okonkwo is not able to adapt to the change
and so in the end commits suicides, so these kind of people are very rigid and does not welcome
change and at the end leaves the organization if the things are not going their way. In the same
way, in Tughlaq, the kingdom or the organization is not able to accept the sudden changes
brought by king Tughlaq and as a result there is disharmony in the organization leading to
chaos which may destroy the organization completely.
Maslows hierarchy of needs:

(Source: https://www.safaribooksonline.com/book/9780273785262/images/f0060_01.png)
We need to understand that why do people join the institutions or organizations. The simple
answer would be to satisfy their needs. Every persons need is different and so is his behaviour
with the institution. Maslows hierarchy explains us at which level a persons need is and where
he intends to reach. It is not necessary that the needs will be followed in this order. In Things
fall Apart, we see that Okonkwo wants to achieve self-esteem needs, he longs for recognition,

power in the form of titles and so he behaves in a very strict manner with the institution in order
to always prove his worth in front of the institution. On the other end, Unoka has no desire for
self-esteem needs, where as he wants Affiliation and so his behaviour is quite different as
compared to Okonkwo. He does not want to do hard work in order to achieve something. He
is a self-satisfied person and so his relation with the organization is very different. In the same
way, when we talk about Tughlaq, he has a higher need for affiliation and so he decides to
move his capital to Daulatabad in order to be inclusive in his leadership and be accepted by the
Hindus as well. His relation with the institution focuses on being inclusive of the people.
Also when we talk about the relation between individuals and institutions, personal goals
versus organizational goals play a very important part. This is quite evident in Things fall
Apart, where Okonkwos goals and desires were different from that of Umuofia. Personally
he did not like Christianity and so was against it but the villagers had a different point of view
so there was a friction in the thinking process of the individual and the institution.
They had broken into tumult instead of action. He discerned fright in that tumult. He
heard voices asking: Why did he do it? (p.184, Things fall Apart).

How might we define leadership, based on the stories weve covered to date? Write the
essay on leadership style/s understood through some of the characters and impact of their
leadership.
Many theorists and researchers have tried to define leadership, yet till date it remains
ambiguous. The definition of leadership differs from person to person and situation to situation.
It was due to this uncertainty that Situational leadership and path goal leadership theory
evolved. Some people say leadership is all about action while some say it is about thinking. It
is very difficult to bring a consensus on the same. Through this paper, I have tried to highlight
certain traits of the leader using existing leadership theories and have tried to form a model out
of it.
Blake and Moutons Managerial Grid:

(Source: http://www.buzzle.com/images/diagrams/management/leadership-grid.jpg)

The managerial grid focuses on the behaviour of leaders dividing it in two major parts: Concern
for people and concern for production/process. I will be analysing Okonkwo, Tughlaq, Mr.
Brown and Mr. Smith through this theory and will bring about some traits of leadership.
Okonkwo is clearly an authoritarian leader and is least concerned about people. There are many
instances in the book where we can clearly find this behaviour of his. He beats his own son
Nwoye for the work and he killed Ikemefuna whom he loved as his son just to show his firm
determination and when people dont accept his view he is not able digest it and commits
suicide. So he is an authoritarian leader.
Mr. Smith also fits in the same category as he just without thinking of the people of Umuofia
jailed all the leaders just to achieve his target of converting people into Christianity. He does
not consider people important and wants to get the work done.
He condemned openly Mr. Browns policy of compromise and accommodation. He saw
things in black and white. And black was evil (p.166, Things Fall Apart).
Mr. Brown can be considered as a team leader. He respected Igbo culture and learned about it
and also encouraged people of all the ages to study along with his mission of converting people
into Christians and spreading the message of God. So along with work he took care of the
people as well and made sure that peace prevails in Umuofia. So he can be placed into team
leader.
When we talk king Tughlaq, it is not possible to place him in anyone grid. The reason is with
the passage of time his style and thought process changed and so his leadership style. In the
initial scenes we are presented with very polite and caring nature of the Sultan. But at that time
also he was not able to achieve his goals. As we see his decision of issuing copper coins in the
economy was for the benefit of the people but as we know that in the end it turned into a disaster
with carts and carts of counterfeit coins in his rose garden. So in that sense we can place him
7

in the country club leadership style. But as we see towards the end he wants to achieve his
targets anyhow and so dont consider people. As a result, he starts killing people and there is
violence in the country. Also he kills his own step mother. So here we see that he slowly
transforms into authoritarian leader.
So these are certain leadership styles we can discern from various characters in the texts.
What we see in both the texts is that the main characters, the leaders of their respective
organization, Tughlaq and Okonkwo fail miserably in their tasks. In the end both of their
organizations end up in tumult and chaos. What we can see as the reason for both the leaders
failing is that they are not able to communicate their ideas to the people. What Tughlaq or
Okonkwo thinks is not understood by their people and so there is friction. When there is no
harmony in the thought process of the leader and its subjects, either one of them fail. So
according to me, communication forms the base of good leadership. Also when leaders take
responsibility of their followers task they are motivated to work more and hardly. And at the
end a leader should be a figure head which his followers want to imitate and become like him.
If a person possesses all the three qualities, then he has the potential to become a good leader
but it does not mean he is necessarily a good leader. But mostly he would become a good
leader. So communication, responsibility and figure head for the base of leadership. They are
pillars of leadership.

Responsibility

Communication

Figurehaead

Leadership

References
Achebe, C. (1958). Things Fall Apart. Allied Publishers .
admin. (2015, December 15). Difference between institution and organization. Retrieved from
pediaa.com: http://pediaa.com/difference-between-institution-and-organization/
Albuquerque, D. (2010). Business Ethics: Principles and Practices. In D. Albuquerque, Business Ethics:
Principles and Practices (pp. 82-88). New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Karnad, G. (1972). Tughlaq. Oxford University Press.
Stephen Robbins, T. J. (2013). Organizational Behaviour. Pearson.