Survey of India
The national survey and mapping organization of the country, Survey of India is the oldest scientific department under the Government of India set up in 1967. It has been assigned…
Zone Of Acceptance’ of Authority
‘A subordinate is said to accept authority whenever he permits his behavior to be guided by the decision of a superior, without independently examining the merits of that decision’ - Herbert Simon - Simon notes that all employees tend to have a ‘zone of acceptance’ in which they are willing to accept their employer’s authority. - Within that zone, an individual, relaxing his own critical faculties, permits the decision of the employer to guide him. - Employees generally do not make an issue of questionable incidents on morality, out of a sense of responsibility to give their employer leeway within which to operate and often not to risk their jobs. - The problem increases when employees slowly expand the boundaries of tolerance and rationalize it. This only shows that engineers should never stop critically reviewing the employer’s directives especially on moral issues.
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
CSIR is among the top most R&D Organisation in India and among the world's largest publicly funded R&D organization which is known for its cutting-edge R&D endeavors in areas of…
The Institutional structure of India’s Science and Technology Organisations
Department of Science and Technology (DST) Department of Science and Technology (DST) is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Science and Technology established in May 1971. DST was…
Observations on authority
- An employer who has institutional authority may direct engineers to do something that is not morally justified. - Engineers may feel that they have an institutional duty to obey a directive that is morally unjustified, but their moral duty, all things considered, is not to obey. - To decide whether a specific act of exercising institutional authority is morally justified, we need to know whether the institutional goals are themselves morally permissible or desirable and whether that act violates basic moral duties.
Earth’s Atmosphere
A jacket for the planet Earth is a great planet to live on because it has a wonderful atmosphere around it. This jacket of gases does a lot for us. It keeps…
Authority Vs Power
Ineffective persons, even if vested with authority by their institution, may not be able to summon the power their position allows them to exercise. On the other hand, people who are effective may be able to wield greater power that goes beyond the authority attached to the positions they hold. Highly respected engineers of proven integrity belong to this class. Authority - Morally justified
Institutional Authority and Expert Authority
Institutional authority ‘The institutional right given to a person to exercise power based on the resources of the institution’. - It is acquired, exercised and defined within institutions. - It is given to individuals to perform their institutional duties assigned within the organization. There is not always a perfect match between the authority granted and the qualifications needed to exercise it. Expert authority ‘The possession of special knowledge, skill or competence to perform some task or to give sound advice’. Engineers may have expert authority but their institutional authority, may only be, to provide management with analysis of possible ways to perform a technical task, after which they are restricted to following management’s directive about which option to pursue. In large companies, engineers, advisors and consultants in staff function carry expert authority, while institutional authority is vested only with line managers.
Why bother moving old satellites?
For one thing, there are thousands of satellites and good-sized pieces of old satellites just hanging around in orbit. These bits of “space junk” can be hazardous to other working…
Need for Authority
Authority is needed since a) Allowing everyone to exercise uncontrolled individual discretion creates chaos (Confusion). b) Clear lines of authority identifies areas of personal responsibility and accountability.
