IGAPORE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SPECIAL TERM EXAMINATION, 2008-9 HR1424T — Business, Management and People July 2009 - Time Allowed: 2 Hours INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES: 1. This examination paper contains TWO (2) questions and comprises THREE (3) printed pages. 2. Answer BOTH questions. 3. All questions carry equal marks. 4, The total marks for this paper is 30 marks. 5. This is an OPEN BOOK examination.HRIAUT/page 2 Question 1: Considering the current environment context, discuss the relationships between people and management practices in organizations. (15 marks) Asia is opening up, slowly Information access, transparency go 10 heart of good governance [Excerpts fiom the ST interview by Tan Hui Yee-on April 15,2009, the Straits Times All governments, she (Professor Ann Florini) notes, habitually shy away from disclosure. It doesn't matter whether you are talking about an authoritarian government or a democratic government. Governments are always trying to keep secrets. How well they can get away with that depends a large part on the strength of civil society." But civil society, she maintains, does not stand in opposition to the government. 'If you have a broad-based civil society, you have ways in which citizens can organise themselves to bring issues to the government or to deal with problems themselves directly...1f you don't have that, i's not clear what the alternative mechanisms are.’ ‘A reliance on top-down decision-making prevents a society from becoming resilient enough to withstand the major shocks she expects Asia to face in coming years. The environmental havoc caused by climate change and threat of global pandemics, for example, are just signs of things to come... One can build resilience by 'making sure that everybody has basic education, has been taught how to think, and think for themselves. It's partly by making sure you have networks within the society so people can turn fo each other without having to for some centralised decision-maker to do something’... wun this new world, Asia needs to figure out what kind of responsibility it should bear, instead of waiting to ‘react to Western proposals’, she says. ‘Part of what comes with becoming a great power, which India and China are, is taking responsibility for managing the world, There has been a great tendeney to say: 'We still have so many huge internal problems that we can't take responsibility for anything outside.’ They are far poorer countries. But their own countries are going to suffer unless they play a more pro-active role on the global stage.’ She stresses that this is not about Asian countries putting in money that they can ill afford, but about ‘intellectual engagement, ‘This means attending events like the recent G-20 meeting in London with an idea of what rules they want implemented and what they are prepared to live by. Such intellectual clout can come about only with more academic freedom. At the Brookings Institution, for example, donors may fund a project but have no say over its agenda. That is set by the scholars themselves. "If you want to have a rich intellectual community...you have to allow that kind of freedom.HRIA2T/page3 It's messy, it can seem incredibly inefficient, but it's how you build intellectual capacity. 'Decision-makers often don't know what kind of questions they need to be asking. That's the role of the intellectual community. «Asked what role ‘Asian values’ would play in the intellectual interaction between Asia and the West, she replies without hesitation: 'I have been married to an Asian for over 20 years. I've now lived in Asia for 2 1/2 years. I have yet to see what Asian values are that are distinct from Westem values. "The claim is always made that Westerners are more individualistic and Asians are more communitarian, Maybe. But certainly in terms of how that plays out in governance, you can use claims of individualism to avoid responsibility, and you can use claims of communitarianism to avoid accountability.” ‘Asian values’ will be a point of contention on a global level only if Asian leaders ‘choose to hide behind them’. 'l’s the same way that the US was using freedom and democracy promotion over the last eight years... you can use it as a way of trying to beat the rest of the world over the head. But there will always be a range of people who are more deferential to authority and those who are not, and this spectrum exists in all societies, she feels. "When you actually look at how the societies function and how the citizens want them to function, the similarities are much greater than the differences. People want government to be accountable and they want power to be constrained, and they want services to be provided.’ Question 2: a) Do you agree with the statements highlighted in bold? Your answer should be based on concepts leamt in Harnessing Intellectual Capital and Managing Expectations sessions. (15 marks) OR b) From the above excerpts, reflect on concepts discussed in Understanding People sessions and critically discuss some learning points. (15 marks) - END OF PAPER -