About Stop Smoking

A leading cause of cancer deaths, smoking is universally responsible for major cancers, like cancers of the oesophagus, larynx, kidney, pancreas, and cervix. In addition, smoking increases the risk of chronic lung disease as well as heart disease. Smoking may also result in premature delivery and low birth weight, adversely affecting the unborn foetus.

Once a smoker stops smoking or even cuts down on smoking, he will feel substantially healthy; blood circulation begins to improve and the carbon monoxide levels in the blood begin to decline; pulse rate and blood pressure return to normal; sense of both taste and smell return; and it becomes easy to breathe.

Smokers definitely have reduced age expectancy, but smoking cessation can easily overturn these statistics and bring the smoker at par with the non-smoker, reducing the risk of smoking-related diseases like heart and chronic lung disease. Similarly, women who stop smoking prior to conception or those who quit within the first trimester can luckily reverse the risk of low birth weight and other pregnancy-associated risks. Stop smoking diminishes the risk for developing cancer and therefore smoking cessation benefits men and women at any age.

In the interim, quit smoking may also cause short-term after-effects like anxiety, irritability, hunger, tiredness, lack of concentration, weight gain, and insomnia, especially in those smokers who have smoked in high numbers for an extended period of time. However, these changes subside with time and the non-smokers then have the opportunity for a healthier future.

Medical professionals are an excellent source of information about concerned health risks of both smoking and smoking cessation. With adequate guidance and a strong will power any smoker can become a non-smoker in no time.

Reasons for Getting Hooked to Smoking

A state of being dependent on something is addiction and this could be either psychological or physical. Addiction triggers a neurotic or persistent urge to satisfy one’s dependency. This urge, also called cravings or desire, can prompt the onset of addiction. When the first craving is satisfied, other more intense cravings will arise and the cycle continues until you can no longer break the habit.

Nicotine dependency is the most common form of drug addiction for both men and women. Smoking addiction is generally nurtured during adolescence. Peer pressure is all pervasive and that can be hard to resist. In females, smoking may sometimes relieve mood fluctuations that are caused by hormonal changes; it can also temporarily alleviate anger, depression and mood swings by acting on the pleasure centers in the brain.

Cigarettes contain elements like nicotine that instigate smoking addiction. In-fact nicotine, a tough stimulant, is one of the most common factors that lead to smoking addiction. Essentially, on smoking nicotine directly permeates the brain, and relieves the smoker from tension. But, the anxiety only sets back in with greater intensity which again demands more nicotine. This alters the chemicals in the brain and conveniently becomes a reason to continue smoking.

If nicotine addiction has to be tackled, it needs to be completely eliminated from the system before a person can become smoke free. The nicotine ‘high’ normally comes from the release of dopamine, which is a “pleasure hormone”.

Why Must I Stop Smoking?

Cigarette smoke is loaded with a variety of chemicals that can be poisonous to the human body. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, many of which make smoking harmful and addictive. Because of the various problems that arise from tobacco smoking, it is essential that a smoker seriously considers becoming smoke free. The various reasons are that tobacco:

Is extremely addictive when smoked and chewed Causes addiction as permanent as alcoholism; is harder to quit than heroin or cocaine Is not a medicine and has no therapeutic uses Prevents pre-cancerous cells from dying; in fact accelerates cancer tumor growth rates Contributes to artery hardening Has a metabolite which may cause cancer; is linked to lung cancer May kill brain cells and impair memory Is likely to cause brain damage and depression It also has the foetus destroying teratogen Kills half of all adult smokers prematurely

Indian Malaysian Community and the New Politics

M. Nadarajah*

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The 12th general election is finally over. The people of Malaysia have delivered their wishes to the contending parties and their nominees. The people have given Barisan National yet another opportunity to continue to form the national government. However, they have decided to deny 2/3 majority to BN in the parliament. They have finally given the opposition the opportunity to play a more significant role in national politics. They have also, in trust, delivered 5 state governments to the opposition. Now the people of Malaysia will have to see if their country in fact becomes what they aspire it to be. It is an aspiration that includes fairness, freedom and social security for all.

These are plain facts. But the meanings of events of the socio-political drama that unfolded and burst into the public arena the last 6 months and in particular the last couple of weeks and on the 8th of March are far too rich. They would capture the imagination of many commentators, analysts, researchers and concerned citizens.

On the ground, the election results are (i) the product of history of what the BN government has actually done (or not done) for the people and this nation since independence, (ii) the political and campaign strategy of individuals, individual parties and/or their coalitions, (iii) the orientation of the voting system and constituencies and lastly, (iv) the easy access to new information and communication technologies by all political contenders (individuals and parties).

Recognising The Role of the Indian Malaysian Community

Among the factors, it is in the history of this nation that we need to look closely and to identify definite trends that have given us what we are experiencing today. A few centuries ago, an European social commentator and revolutionary once said that History moves forward qualitatively only on the side of and through the agency of the oppressed and marginalised. It is they who provide the social ground that offers History a new Future.

In a sense, History has thrust upon the Indian Malaysian community that special responsibility. This is not to suggest that others did not play an equally critical role but only to record the spirit, the contribution and the role played by Indian Malaysians as a community in the election, as many during the many election ceramahs acknowledged.

Certainly, the 12th general election was the temporal space where History conspired to give us all the opportunity for that ‘an-other’ Malaysia that we many of us increasingly aspire for.

Along with so many others, the Indian Malaysian community has pushed the agenda of a new politics for Malaysia. On hindsight, the spirit behind Hindraf, and later Makkal Sakthi, is undeniably a critical turning point in recent Malaysian politics. Beyond organisational politics, they really represent the spirit of an economically marginalised, politically powerless, and culturally-battered community aspiring for fairness.

This development in the Indian Malaysian community and the new found orientation among the other Malaysian communities have now given us all an opportunity to break the hold of ethnocracy in Malaysia and dismantle the ethnic model of politics. We have an opportunity to look beyond that model, the limit of which was reached by the end of the last century.

One of the many icons of ethnic politics in Malaysia, the MIC and its head, Datuk Seri Samy Vellu, supposedly represented the Indians in BN, which is populated and controlled by strong ethnic parties. But the increasing problems of the Indian Malaysian community and the inability of the MIC leadership to deal with them adequately only led to the accumulation of disenchantment in the community.

People’s Power

The frustration, humiliation and disappointment Indians (in particular the Tamils) felt intensely was bound to become self-conscious and take a social form and it did. Makkal Sakthi (People’s Power) is that collective oppositional self-consciousness. A long view of this is that while it is Indian in form, it certainly is Malaysian in content. In fact, it did catch the imagination of many candidates and the term was used during their election ceramahs.

The mainstream media, BN national leaders and Samy Vellu dismissed all these critical developments. One of the main mainstream papers even trivialised the anger of the Indian/Tamil people expressed through Hindraf in their editorial. And Samy Vellu did not see what was coming his way. He even thought the 2008 Thaipusam in Batu Caves was a success when the community knew it was not. Probably he did not go to places like Kuala Selangor to see what was happening there. He thought the Indians/Tamils would vote the MIC leaders to power anyway, without carefully listening to the murmurings on the ground, even among once-staunch MIC supporters. But it is all too clear and loud now.

The angry Indian/Tamil Malaysians have removed Samy Vellu from power but have also, directly with the concerted help of other Malaysians, left the MIC in a disarray. (We can say that for MCA too.) The community does not want MIC to represent it. MIC cannot claim to represent Indian Malaysians in the BN and the government. There is simply no legitimacy to that claim. Whatever BN may do to include Indian Malaysians, the BN now cannot claim to run the often promoted and publicised but questionable ‘successful’ racial/ethnic consociational model of politics. The Indian Malaysian community has said it loud and clear that it does not want to be included as Indians but as Malaysians.

The Need for a New Political Language

A new political language needs to be framed. And the new young parliamentarians (and the ADUNS) who will now speak for all of us, including the Indian Malaysians, must frame it, by practice.

Along with many concerned citizens from all communities, the Indian Malaysian community has delivered to all Malaysians the opportunity for nurturing a new politics. And in this challenging interim period, they have done that at great risk and further marginalisation as a community, if those who have been elected to power i.e. the opposition, do not subscribe to a politics beyond the ethnic model and beyond ethnocracy or theocracy. The Indian Malaysian Community needs the active intervention of parties like the DAP, Keadilan and PAS (if it believes that the spirit of Islam and its protection is for all) to take up their cause as Malaysians.

There is an urgent need to subscribe to a politics that sees the problems and needs of Malaysians as common problems and needs of a people governed by a common destiny.

While needs and problems can be specific to definite Malaysian communities like the Malays, Kadazans, Penans, Mandailings, Chinese or Indians, they need to be framed as national problems or needs and addressed with national concern and sensitivity. Such an orientation will build us as a people and allow for equitable distribution of national resources. There is no room for ethnicisation of the problems of citizens, particularly when they involve access to basic goods and services, like water and housing. Addressing the needs of citizens must become colour-blind.

The ‘opposition to the Opposition’ will hold on to the old order and political language with great tenacity, pulling (or pooling) all its resources to actively discredit and delegitimise the gains of the forces of change, of the New Order. To counteract it, we need a new political language of dialogue, inclusiveness and all-round sustainability, knowing very well that it is going to take some time and challenges to institutionalise it. But a language names the world, shapes our dream, influences our imagination and helps build the society we want.

It is the responsibility of the Opposition and the new set of young parliamentarians (and ADUNS) to give us this as soon as possible. They have to balance their social commitment, the demands of their parties and arrive at a workable minimum programme for inter-party relationship and co-operation. They must be seen as representative of all the communities, of all the people.

We are at a threshold of a new future for the future generations and us. Can we nurture, shape and sustain it together … with single-mindedness and vision?

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*See http://votecharles.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/indian-malaysian-community-and-the-new-politics/

If you are someone who is trying to quit smoking cigarettes, you know how tough it is to eliminate this damaging compulsion. It is possible however, and half of all adult smokers are able to quit smoking forever. Many smokers have been able to quit smoking cigarettes by replacing them with new, more positive habits without having to suffer through withdrawal symptoms. By far, the most effective and easiest method to quit smoking and accomplish this end is hypnotherapy.

Quit smoking hypnosis is one of the most commonly practiced forms of hypnosis. It is often cited as a tool to quit smoking along with strategies such as the use of nicotine gums and patches and other popular methods. It helps end the smoking addiction by combating cravings for cigarettes, motivating you to stay committed to quitting, and promoting relaxation and stress relief so you will not feel the urge to smoke.

The smoking addiction has both physiological and psychological components. The physiological addiction is a physical need the body acquires for nicotine. This aspect of the addiction is what causes the withdrawal symptoms that make it initially feel near impossible to quit smoking. However, this is a short, temporary stage in the overall course of quitting smoking, lasting only between three days and one week. By the end of this time period, your body acclimates to usual, nicotine-free functioning. Based on thirty years of experience, I believe that the physical need for nicotine constitutes only ten percent of the addiction to smoking.

By far, the most challenging part of breaking the smoking addiction is overcoming the psychological addiction, which are the mental and emotional aspects of smoking. I believe this represents ninety percent of the smoking addiction. When you develop a smoking habit, you develop an unconscious desire to smoke at certain times, such as when watching TV. This is called a conditioned response. Quit smoking self-hypnosis helps eliminate the unconscious associations that cause one to crave cigarettes, thereby eliminating the conditioned response to smoke. Hypnotherapy also helps you stay motivated to give up smoking by reinforcing the ideas that gave you the wish to break the smoking addiction in the first place.

Smokers get stuck in the habit of following a ritual of lighting up and smoking. This is why people who attempt to quit smoking using nicotine patches or gums alone usually have such a difficult experience. They quickly overcome the physical addiction, but they have no replacement or relief for the ritual of smoking cigarettes, which has become a habit and pleasurable source of stress relief. Self-hypnosis techniques eliminate this habit and serve as stress reducers as well. As a relaxation tool, hypnosis helps effectively relieve anxiety and stress so you will lose the cravings for cigarettes.

Combined with some powerful NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) techniques, stop smoking self-hypnosis can keep you committed to kicking the habit by training the unconscious mind to focus on the benefits of quitting. Eliminating tobacco benefits you in numerous ways. Within days of quitting, body parts damaged by smoking begin to heal, damaged nerves re-grow, and the sense of taste and smell improves significantly. Within a few weeks, lung function and blood circulation improve. Within one year, your risk of heart disease is less than half that of a smoker. Within five to fifteen years, the risk of having a stroke is the same as a non-smoker. Your risk of heart disease is the same as someone who has never smoked at all, and the risk of death from lung cancer and numerous other cancer risks have decreased.

In spite of the harmful effects of smoking and the benefits of quitting, some smokers never overcome their harmful addiction. For the most part, this is because they have never really committed to quitting. Other smokers are afraid to suffer through withdrawal symptoms or give up the smoking habit. However, quitting smoking does not have to be the difficult process that makes so many smokers hesitant to even attempt quitting. Hypnotherapy provides a very simple, natural method of quitting.

Hypnosis is a powerful tool for easing cravings for cigarettes, providing powerful motivation, and promoting relaxation and stress relief to eliminate the psychological aspects of the smoking addiction. Stop smoking hypnosis techniques can be easily learned from specialized self-hypnosis CDs that have been developed after decades of experience using hypnosis, Neuro-VISION video hypnotherapy, and NLP to get clients to quit smoking.

Hypnotherapy CDs make it easy to quit smoking for good because they break the smoking compulsion in a process that helps eliminate cravings and the desire to smoke. Whatever your motivation is for quitting, hypnosis and NLP makes it easier to focus your mind on these reasons, which makes you feel a great urge to quit. Stop smoking hypnosis CDs eliminate the impulse to smoke. Although quitting smoking can be a painful and unsuccessful experience for some, those who take advantage of stop smoking self hypnosis have a much greater rate of success because it makes the process much easier. Hypnotherapy is the most effective method for smoke cessation.

How powerful is politics in business? The connection between the two is often hard to explain, but somehow they are closely connected. Did you ever happen to lose a job or a promotion in favor of a person who hadn’t worked harder than you, or made more significant contributions that you? Was it that person’s character that got him/her the job, the fact that he/she knew everyone around there, or could it be that you simply did not understand the politics going on around that business?

When we hear the word ‘politics’, we naturally think of politicians, political parties, political strategies, and so forth. But have you ever considered the term ‘politics’ from a business point of view? When it comes to politics in business, the former means the difference between failure and success in the latter. And, more often than not, politics can define one’s personal career. You can enjoy benefits or suffer penalties as a result of the way politics influences every business. If you happen to be among the most appreciated employees, decisions may go your way, but if you are ‘invisible’ to your bosses or they have nothing but ill feelings for you, some penalties may be coming your way.

When it comes to business decisions or work environments, we often hear expressions such as ‘it was nothing but politics’ or ‘that place is very political’. What do these expressions mean? And how can you be part of the game, and know how to play your politics? When you have managed to build a strong relationship with your customers, you understand the business thoroughly, and you are respected throughout the organization, but your superiors still think that you’re not doing well enough, this could be a clear example of people using politics to drive their own personal agenda.

It’s only fair to say that there’s no business without politics, and that its level of sophistication depends on the size of the organization. It’s understandable that the complexity of politics is proportional with the size of the company, because, after all, politics means power, and the more players are involved in the game, the more there is at stake.

Like everywhere else, we can speak of bad politics and good politics in business. Good politics refer to building strong networks at all the levels of that company or organization, spending time with employees from all levels, having a solid understanding of the keys to the success of the organization, and so forth. Good politics in business is about sharing information and encouraging other people to do the same thing. Bad politics refers to exactly the opposite. In the end it all comes down to driving your own agenda, as mentioned before. However, deft leadership should not be confused with bad politics in business. The two are very different.

Unfortunately, it seems that bad politics has got its share of businesses, and we see more of that than of good politics, because there are more bad politicians than there are good, and the former still continue to make the rule. But, in the end, it is up to you how you play the game.

If you want to find more information on different business or politics subjects please visit http://www.articletimesonline.com

Some people really enjoy the daily political cartoon that appears in the newspaper and just can’t get enough. Those who enjoy the political cartoons can buy a political cartoon book and get all the political cartoons they want. You are liable to find several different political cartoon books and depending on the current state of politics at any given time, there may be any number of additional political cartoon books based on political satire. Any political cartoon book is going to contain plenty of political satire but during the time preceding a national election, you will find even more.

 

Choosing a good political cartoon book can be fun and frustrating at the same time. You don’t know exactly what you want in most cases, so you end up perusing the shelves and browsing each political cartoon book to find the one that appeals to you the best. You may find a political cartoon book that is directed toward a particular candidate or political figure, so it may take time to discover the political cartoon book that is exactly what you want. Of course, not everyone enjoys a political cartoon book but because there is a market for it, you will find at least one political cartoon book at any given moment.

 

If you are a fan of political cartoon books, you may discover a better selection from online sources than in local bookstores. Online stores may also have the political cartoon book you want at a lower price than you will pay locally even after shipping costs. It’s always worth checking online sources before you buy a new political cartoon book from your local bookstore. Cartoon Bank has an abundance of books and other memorabilia that are related to political cartoons. You will surely find a political cartoon book among the inventory.

Bureaucracy, Organisation and Political Change

A Critical Analysis of Approaches to the Study of Organisation

by Prof. Zohar Ben-Asher

It is of rather common agreement that organisation, at least originally, was formed in order to pursue the common interests of specific groups [1]. It is far from being agreed, however, what roles are played by various sorts of internal organisational structures, especially when somehow related to political change.

Weber, for example, perceived politics in terms of dispositions over weapons and over means of administration [2]. This implies the existence of overt or covert political classification. The key to such a classification would be a certain formula by which organisational structure would be determined. It might resemble the supposed Marxist classification of economic epochs and the “economic” classes that feature in this type of classification. A question thus might arise: Why would Weber have to follow Marx in essence but still differ in as much as he chose to change the keys for classification.

One, perhaps oversimplified, possible answer is that Weber simply “does not see anything attractive in socialism.” [3] This is what Gerth and Mills had suggested, maybe because it was them who found socialism so unattractive. But as it were, the difference between Marx and Weber goes beyond this level of argumentation. It indicates their profoundly different concepts of what is politics. Both of them perceived and understood politics as a process that reveals itself and is reflected through organisation. But it was not the same organisation for these two thinkers. The difference was mainly in the way they viewed the structure of this process.

Bureaucracy represents political organisation, reflecting its very system and its philosophy. It might well be one of the most important (if not the most important) criteria against which examination of the political organisation could be made. Also, it could serve to examine “politics in action” or in other words – political change. While some of the inherent characteristics of bureaucracy would be its political orientation, it does not automatically go the other way around. That is, it would not be necessary that bureaucratic phenomena should characterise every political organisation. It seems, however, highly likely that they would play an important role in political change. In many cases they would reflect the motivational drives of the political organisation and its structural restraints.

Within the political organisation, bureaucracy not only reflects these drives but it also – possibly even more sharply – indicates situational structures. It may thus be that organisations such as a revolutionary movement would tend to place limits on trends towards the development of bureaucracy, or even eliminate them altogether; at least during the time of struggle to change or purge incumbent regime. The shift would come, however, with the actual take over of political power and the establishment of this movement as the sovereign regime. It would be then, almost without fail that development of the new bureaucratic structure begins. The course of development of the new bureaucratic structure would indicate the direction of the political change. More precisely, it would indicate the interests pushed forward by this change. This observation may point at one of the significant differences between Marx and Weber. It is rather outstanding that the former examined bureaucracy – and organisation – mainly as they functioned in and related to economic interests. The latter placed much more stress on the judicial and administrative aspects of bureaucracy. These, for Marx, were means to the end of promoting economic interests. For Weber, they constituted the very end in itself.

Yet, organisational inner structure may be viewed somewhat differently. It could well represent the result of an equation, the components of which are the different interest groups within the organisation. Certain roles within it would be especially sensitive because they could influence its development. For once, they might be able to determine the type of bureaucracy that would develop. Or they even might become themselves bureaucratic. In particular, the ability to exercise control over information and communications system seems to be crucial. This is so because those who control sources of information might be– even in a fully-fledged democracy – the only ones who really have the accurate picture of the situation. If this were to be the case, they would be in a much better position than anyone else and retain a distinct advantage in the political game that takes place within the organisation. [4] This factor, like other such factors pertaining to the inner composition of a given organisation would have direct influence on the prospects of political change. Moreover, as the process of change takes place, the inner structure may determine to a great extent the character and direction of the change.

The Cultural Revolution of China was possible because of the special inner structure that enabled Mao to “go to the people” while circumventing the regular procedures of mass mobilisation that normally practised in China. Liu Shaoqi, Peng Chen and others may have controlled the bureaucratic apparatus of the Party. They could manipulate the people only through the regular channels of operation that were available to them. These channels required certain complicated preparatory work in order to be effective. Mao, on the other hand, dissociated himself from the bureaucratic formation. He managed to establish himself as having “over-bureaucratic” status. This allowed him an unmitigated access to the people and enabled him to mobilise them directly. This difference, between the tools that Mao had and those of his opponents, was the determinant factor that shaped the mode of the Revolution and, in fact, its results.

Role distribution, value structure, authority and other components of political organisation may differ not only from one society to another. They can also change from time to time in the same society due to either internal or external reasons. Yet all of these phenomena, while placed in the timeless and space-less framework, compose a theoretical setting in which generalisation of the relationship between the different factors can be observed. This is what Talcott Parsons called “total society.” [5]

It might be very tempting to deal with generalisations of this sort. Due to their “theoretical level” they can afford to disregard “details” such as background, special socio-economic realities and environment, religious pressures and so forth. But we must be aware of some essential and lingual restraints that have to be placed on such a procedure of investigation. These are not at all like mathematical models that so many social scientists favour – maybe because they should be based on “closed sets.” [6] Here, in social and behavioural sciences the basic presupposition is open-ended since by definition it may assume unpredictable and constant changes. [7] In this sense, attempts “to fill in gaps in different aspects of the total field which any future attempt to deal with a complex society as a whole” [8] can never be satisfactory. It may be merely of a situational value within a certain unit of space and time.

It is only with this in mind that the examination of the relations between bureaucracy and organisation and political change in their general aspects can be done.

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Organisation, we have seen, is really a function – at least as much as it is a structure. Its existence depends on its participants and on a common goal they wish to pursue. It might be valid in some cases to argue that “the output of the organisation is, for some other system, an input.” But it is not necessary that in its mere being, “organisation is a system, which as the attainment of its goal ‘produces’ an identifiable something which can be utilised in some way bay another system.” [9] Thus, it is not necessarily true that description of analysis of an organisation can only be done from “the cultural-institutional point of view.” [10] However, these two approaches to the examination of a given organisation are, presumably, very convenient and enable analytical coverage of the whole scope.

The point of necessity, or the consistency of such a necessity, is further debatable. It was Parsons himself who questioned the internal consistency of Weber’s ideal type of organisation (in regard to authority and obedience within organisations). [11] His arguments repeated above tend to suffer the same sort of disadvantages.

For Parsons, values of organisation function to legitimise its existence as a system and its main functional mode of operation. These, In Parsons’ opinion, are necessary for the implementation of values. [12] Such a legitimisation, he maintain, enables the organisation to determine the codes of loyalty to be demanded of members of the organisation. Yet, no solution is offered for cases where membership can be actively engaged in more than just one organisation. Organisations, according to Parsons, in their very existence, set obligations and demands. They are deduced from the values and goals (that are, as such, embedded in the values) of each organisation. These demands and obligations define and set limits for loyalty and attempt to direct it towards the organisation. But what if the organisation in question is a part of a larger one? Or, as may happen also, what if the organisation favours or prefers interests of another organisation to its own, as far as loyalty is concerned? [13] The direct ratio loyalty – value – organisation cannot, therefore, be “total” and must be changed to an indirect one. Such a change could violate the placement of loyalty in the set of values by detaching the goals from these values. Then there will be room for arguing that values are related to the structure and the inner functions. Or logically, there will be rules for deduction and operation while goals are the presuppositions or the axioms of the system. Only when this consistency is attained – and only in such an order – can changes in goals precede structural changes of an organisation.

The logical order makes the difference in the analysis of political change. It indicates the effect of processes on each other. The Parsonian “logic” enables merely a “cause-effect” system in which the cause is structural change and the effect is the political change. This is unlike the philosophical-mathematical logic that begins in the change of goals as the indicator for political change. Here there is a process in which political change might have an impact on the mode, direction and intensity of the entire social process; certainly as it pertains to organisational structures.

Another point in Parsons that should be noted is associated with his approach to the problem of division of labour and its related aspects. Parsons states: “In a complex division of labour, both the resources necessary for performing technical functions and the relation to the population elements on whose behalf the functions are performed have become problematical. Resources are made available by special arrangements; they are not simply ‘given’ in the nature of the context of the function. And who shall be the beneficiary of what ‘product’ or ‘services’ on what terms is problematical; this becomes focus of organisational arrangement of many different kinds.” [14]

The core of the problems, according to Parsons, lies in the fact that beyond “a certain point” of the progress of division of labour, decisions which determine the mode of this division are concerned more with the relations of the beneficiaries than with the technical employment of resources. The process of decision-making would be one of the essential modifiers of the organisation. It would thus be technically motivated and the organisational capacity to control the involved population would become the supreme criterion for distribution of goods or social amenities. But, distribution of goods is a function of the distribution of labour. Yet, the Parsonian formula, although perceiving this, detaches it from the values of the organisation [15] of which the distribution of labour is an inherent constituent. There is here a gross inconsistency, as the dependency is not expressed.

Adopting Parsons’ approach, one can logically draw a situation where distribution of work, which is a political reality, leads to a situational, non-politically motivated distribution of goods. This is a contradictory description and it is both logically and practically invalid. If such a detachment of distribution of goods from values is assumed, then, an actual given division of labour could be treated as a value of the organisation. Its result, that is, distribution of goods, would also remain within the set. Both might thus be subject to modifications and re-modifications by virtue of them being situational variables. This, while the concept of (cf. actual) division of labour is one of the constituents of the organisational goals. Employment of resources, preferences and “technical functions” as well as manipulation (mode and context) of population by the system are, in this view, reflections and expressions of both the given structural mode and ideological stage of the organisation. They are also a direct function of values and at the same time, indirect function of goals. In this sense, the former presentation [16] is inconsistent but there are examples that can be explained logically. Such are China’s payment of interest to former capitalists as a compensation for their investment in enterprises prior to the take over of the CCP or the Israeli preference of non-developed and developing areas in erecting industry.

The analysed relations are of vital importance for the understanding of the kind of organisations that develop (bureaucracy, in our case) and for the understanding of this development.

S. N. Eisenstadt discusses several conditions that he considers necessary for the development of a bureaucratic organisation. These conditions basically represent differentiation in the social system. The bureaucratic organisation [17] develops in relation to such differentiation because it “can help coping with some of the problems arising out of such differentiation,” [18] especially hose whose main concern is the co-ordination of large-scale activities.

Some of the conditions required for the development of a bureaucracy pertain to the differentiation between roles and institutional spheres. Allocation of roles not in accordance with “natural” groups (like kin and familial cells) but rather in accordance with “artificial” ones (like religious, professional and national groups) is an example of these types of differentiation. It could also result from the existence of “many functionally specific groups” that do not operate within the ‘natural’ organisations. The common ground for these conditions lies in that they represent gaps between the two types of organisations. On the one hand, there is some kind of “natural” organisation (that can be described in biological terms, e.g., the blood relationships). On the other, the “artificial” organisation in which the ties are based on specific interests that may or may not be in contrast with those of the “natural” organisation. This sort of gap can be, in fact must be viewed as basically qualitative one. The other conditions brought by Eisenstadt seem to create gaps whose main characteristics are more of quantitative nature. In this range appear the differences between scopes: of “natural” groups and cultural, social or national ones; of number and complexity of functions of these two kinds of groups and the complexity of ties that should be maintained by different groups. [19]

The last condition, however, seems to involve both qualitative and quantitative characteristics. It is related to the extent of “free-floating” resources like manpower, economic resources, commitments and so forth.

The development of these conditions, maintains Eisenstadt, may very well result in the development of a bureaucratic system. This sort of organisation is likely to be initiated as an attempt by role (and power) holders to mobilise resources and to resolve various problems that they may face.

But it is not an isolated process that brings about the creation and development of a bureaucratic system. These things take place in a particular social organisation. For this reason, they would always also include conscious efforts to achieve equilibrium within this organisation. Equilibrium is needed not only to stabilise the organisation but also because it is a primary condition for the bureaucracy “to maintain its autonomy and distinctiveness” as Eisenstadt puts it.

Yet, according to Eisenstadt, there is also another process that may take place in such a situation: that is, de-bureaucratisation. He claims, and it appears to be a rather solid argument, that “the tendencies toward bureaucratisation and de-bureaucratisation may, in fact, develop side by side.” This is because the process of refining and definitions made by the bureaucracy as to its autonomy and goals may very well lead to the taking over of some of its “very functions and activities” by “other groups of organisation.” This could happen “when some organisation (i.e., a parents’ association or a religious or political group) attempts to direct the rules and working of a bureaucratic organisation (school, economic agency and so forth) for its own use or according to its own values and goals.” [20]

This approach towards the phenomenon of bureaucracy may seem contradictory. But given the conditions for the evolution of bureaucracy, it is in fact consistent one. The bureaucratic organisation in itself consists of well-defined groups of role holders. So constituted, any given bureaucracy seeks to refine the definitions for each role within itself. This contributes to further isolation of groups of role holders. Although this isolation is initially a functional one, it may extend itself to other spheres of life. Moreover, such a process that leads to isolation not only can be seen in itself as a process of de-bureaucratisation. It can also be perceived as a source of tacit – or even open – competition for power. During the stage of inception of the bureaucracy, there are attempts to make definitions of functions and group as accurate as the can be. The motivation behind this is the aspiration to increase and improve the co-operation and effectiveness of the different branches so they all would contribute to the consolidation of the bureaucracy in question. But now, once it is established and secure, the motivations change. The mere fact of progress along time span changes conditions. Gaps that could be ignored at the initial stages slowly enter the focus of the debate (either the internal one or even the public discourse). What previously had been regarded as organisational and – or – functional relations may now become political relations and struggle for power. On the other hand, the more the bureaucracy has been able to establish itself as a complex system, the greater would be the power required to operate and control this system. The intensity of the struggle for power also becomes greater and certain roles that involve functions of control and power could be used (and normally they are indeed being used) against or over opponents and – or – supporters in such areas as education, communications, information, etc. Accordingly, they also become more and more important.

The holders of such roles recognise the increasing importance of their roles. It would only be expected, therefore, that they would try to further promote such a definition of their role(s) that would help them to perpetuate their hold on this role. This would, in turn, increase the important of the role even further. But other role holders would do the same, at the same time and within the same bureaucratic framework. This creates an internal competition within the bureaucracy that paradoxically would create forces of disunity. Stress on competence and de-centralisation of power would be likely to follow and would contribute to the undermining of the entire system. At this stage it could be expected that various pivotal forces – or it could be frustrated ones – that would attempt to break the framework of the bureaucracy. Amongst those that would be likely to participate in this process we could find not only those in power, but also role holders whose roles are less important or under threat. The members of this last group wish, of course, to promote their position and the best way to do so would be to elevate the importance of their role. This creates tension because in effect, such a process is nothing less than a clear attempt to break the monopoly of the important roles and to actually neutralise them. The struggle might be focused on the issue of “what should replace the existing format of bureaucracy.” Each contesting group would come up with quite different solutions, naturally.

In light of this discussion, it seems that the presentation offered by Eisenstdt’s would be not only useful but also consistent and valid.

There might be an inference from this to the arena of political change. Political change, it might be argued, should be regarded simultaneously as input and an output of the process of bureaucratisation and de-bureaucratisation as described above. When analysing an organisation, it could be attached to the set as one of the essential values of the bureaucratic organisation. Not only philosophically (to support logical validity) but also practically.

This attitude differs significantly from Weber’s view of the ideal bureaucracy. [21] Moreover, Weber stated that “when those subject to bureaucratic control seek to escape the influence of the existing bureaucratic apparatus, this is normally possible only by creating an organisation of their own which is equally subject to the process of bureaucratisation.” [22] That is to say, according to the approach presented, that Weber really failed to see the entire picture. While it may well be true that such a tendency (of bureaucratisation of the group) could exist, it is precisely this process that indicates the de-bureaucratisation of the roof organisation (of which this group has been or still is a part). Bureaucratisation of a sub-system implies a tendency to organisational – and many times also ideological – detachment from the system. The weakening of the bureaucratic system by one or more of its sub-systems cannot but result in the de-bureaucratisation of the system. Only in this way could a sub-system aspire and may achieve autonomy and create an independent bureaucratic structure. Equally, only by becoming more and more bureaucratic, can such a sub-system establish its autonomy and weaken the parent system to which it previously belonged.

Another important difference lies in the possible answer to the question of “who controls the existing bureaucratic machinery?” Weber maintains that “such control is possible only to a very limited degree for persons who are not technical specialists.” [23] The other approach, that to great extent views bureaucracy as a reflection of political reality, tolerates the existence of “non-specialist” power and control holders. [24]

Weber maintains that “bureaucratic administration means fundamentally the exercise of control on the basis of knowledge.” [25] Here, he mainly mean technical knowledge or more accurately, professional knowledge that was acquired through previous training. His model might be best fit the professional military. But bureaucracy could exist also in other organisations – formal or informal – certainly if perceived within a political context and even if modified by various changes. If we would stick to the model drawn by Weber, then no political change could result from the operation of the bureaucracy. This is because in his model the role holders can never control in a complete manner the apparatus, without which political changes could not happen. Theoretically, Weber’s ideal bureaucracy is thus very static and as such tends to be practically impossible. It may seem permissible to say that political change would bring about bureaucratisation. But the opposite – which is in fact what happens left, right and centre – is not logically valid if we follow Weber’s pattern and apply to it the same rules of deduction that operate in his own theoretical system.

According to the same theoretical process, struggle of role holders of different professions cannot exist once control has been established and practised. Moreover, use of roles by other role holders would be logically impossible. In this sense, most of Weber’s followers, who may have suggested that such a possibility is implied in Weber’s system, committed a logical error, even if their argument as such proved to be practically true. Indeed, as March and Simon have indicated, in many respects “Weber’s essential proposition that bureaucratises are more efficient (with respect to the goals of the formal hierarchy) than are alternative forms of organisation” is – as a matter of fact – undeniable. [26]

The main logical and philosophical troubles with the Weberian perceptions are anchored not so much in his descriptive model as in the deterministic approach and the inflexibility of the model. While it might be - in situational terms – an accurate description of a given system, analysis of the bureaucratic phenomena in general should have rather focused itself on the process of change. A. Etzioni says: “Modern society is to a large degree a bureaucratic society… Not only does modern society as a whole tend to be bureaucratic, but the most powerful social units of modern society are also bureaucratic.” [27] Yet, the Weber’s approach – and to a great extent also Etzioni’s approach – treat the social complex within a static framework and fail to capture its inherent element of dynamism and change. Thus, in light of these descriptions, it would be impossible to analyse quite a few political events as phenomena that belong in the framework of organisation and bureaucracy. For example, the Chinese protracted warfare prior to the 1949 take over, the Cultural Revolution or the Israeli Protest Movement that followed the 1973 “Yom Kippur” War. Furthermore, if the methodologies adopted by Weber, Etzioni and their like were to be followed, it would also be impossible to analyse, on their own terms, such phenomena as inner struggles within bureaucratic systems, like – say – the Soviet Communist Party to name but one.

Etzioni points out the allocation of means and social integration as other “functional requirements” of society that are carried out and controlled by complex organisations. To him, this is the very bureaucratisation of society. [28] It is true that many functions or roles in almost all societies are characterised by bureaucratic processes. But it would be false both methodologically and logically, as well as a practical error, to ignore the inter-relations of the different agencies between and among themselves and between these agencies and that centre that at least theoretically represents the source of power and control within society. An argument was put forward to “justify” or at least explain this type of false. Arguably, it stems from the fact that at the time when the main theories of bureaucracy and organisation were first formulated, such important factors (or means) as the mass media and mass communications did not exist or were not as central as they are today. Only when, in time, these factors grew more important and significant, could they also enter the theoretical setting as functional agencies rather than mere isolated factors. Factually, this is very true. But these factors must still be considered as independent factors – at least as far as the interplay between the factors themselves takes place. There is no doubt that even in societies where the media are operated and controlled by the state they still influence significantly the system itself and even the entire society. If this is ignored, no real analysis can be offered that would be able to consider political changes – particularly if and when these are somehow related to changes that the organisational system might be undergoing. Such omission is not unavoidable if the Weber-inspired methodology is employed; certainly if without a measure of criticism. [29]

Indeed, it is not really surprising that the definitions of complex organisations tend to be somewhat fluid. We may find, for example, the following:

“The unit organisation exists at a point in time. It remains in existence and is operative only as long as the co-ordinated activity of which it is composed is continuous. Many unit organisations do come into existence, engage in activity and accomplish some unit objective, but they do so within the framework of a total pattern of activity and toward a common goal. Individuals also may engage in individual activity that has as its purpose a fraction of some common purpose rather than a personal goal of the individual. This hierarchy of unit organisations and individual activity, all a part of some common design, may be said to constitute a complex organisation. The latter entity is not continuous and it may be seen as a time-lapse photograph of unit organisations and individual activity, all structured under some common purpose and contributing activity toward some common goal.” [30]

Such a definition cannot hold philosophical validity from its very beginning. Firstly, limitation of time could not be detached from that of space. [31] Secondly, a deterministic, total approach as taken here (”It remains… only as long as… etc.) may easily be countered and upset by examples of deviation (e.g., when part or all of the constituents are changed or cease to operate while the framework of the organisation remains in existence). And once deviation occurs, a set of arguments could not be considered as a complete theory with a closed set of provable theorems based on agreed axioms and rules of deduction. At best, it might be a collection of suggestive arguments that may or may not be true for a given and particular private case. If this is the case, emphasis should be placed on the causality of the arguments stipulated. It must also be noted that any particular description cannot be but a fairly loose proposition. Most of the arguments discussed above attribute some sort of “necessity” to their content. But this cannot be, of course, logical. In fact, it is not even relevant. The entire discussion could only remain within the boundaries of descriptive themes. Any attempt to claim otherwise defies logic and is thus misleading.

Entirely different is the approach offered by G. L. Lippitt in his Organisational Renewal. [32] Lippitt tries to examine organisations and behaviour of both organisations and their particles from a psychological point of view that weighs aspects “that benefit the individual and group in the organisation.” [33] He maintains that the “normal” situation of a system is some sort of a status quo and that change is really a deviation from this status quo. He does not draw the limits – or boundaries – of this status quo and he refrains from a strict definition of the range of the possible changes and from a clear reference to such changes. The organisational world of Lippitt can thus be viewed as either being in total and perennial stability or as subject to total and constant change. Both are permitted if plain logic is applied to the drawn models of Lippitt. Definition of particles, or constituents and their roles cannot be found in his 305-page long book. The same is true as to possible indications of internal or external relations of organisational systems. Even his annotated bibliography that holds additional 9 pages and contains some 52 works seems to be one-sided and heavily biased – and hardly useful.

The following short passage is a typical statement of this work:

“Frustration is experienced by those who think success in mobilising human resources, or in initiating organisation renewal, is simply a matter of education and, perhaps, of using persuasive stimuli reinforced by annual picnics, newsletters and adequate coffee-breaks.” [34]

This is so because: “Organisation renewal is the process of initiating, creating and confronting needed changes so as to make it possible for organisations to become or remain viable, to adapt to new conditions, to solve problems, to learn from experience and to move toward greater organisational maturity.” [35] Not only is the definition itself empty and of no use at all, in terms of the argument or for the examination of theorems (for example, what is “organisational maturity”?) The argument itself, that begins as highly deterministic one, fades and loosens so as to end as a rather simplistic “saloon talk” that cannot be taken seriously.

Indeed, the Chinese situation under Mao is a clear blow to Lippitt’s statement. There, the system was anchored in the belief that success in mobilising human resources is simply a matter of education and the Chinese leadership who thought so did not seem to have been frustrated. But there is a crucial point that lies beyond this level. It must be referred to the logical structure of both definitions. These would serve in a logical model as the axioms while the argument would be, for all practical matters, the theorem. Lack of accuracy is not only a matter of aesthetics. It is precisely what determines the framework of the entire discussion. If any component of either the definition or the argument were to be removed nothing would happen. There is no close definition, nor any solid argument could be found that together might lead to any possible range of strongly based conclusions. This pulls away the ground from underneath Lippitt’s structure, leaving him with no model what so ever. The tendency to observe the organisational phenomena from the viewpoint of a behavioural pattern is, however, interesting. It must be, of course, limited to either individual participants or to particular mechanisms (that are operated by individuals). Under the limit of this condition it might be interesting to examine possible relations between role holders and functions of the system, between and among role holders themselves, etc.

Indeed, within this sort of framework, a discussion concerning the internal communications within organisations could be useful. The question of whether or not some undefined individual is frustrated - or why – could not be traced and answered in general terms. On the other hand, it would be certainly possible to observe the behavioural patterns that result from a specific position of individual within the system. Questions that seek answers as regard to the extent or mode of change that results from the exercising of a particular role in the system that enable its holder to manipulate other people are certainly legitimate. But such questions cannot be found in Lippitt’s work. Also, open-ended or multi-ended answers could be useful, but not if they fail to be within any logical context. A mere collection of statements without foundations and directions cannot replace a serious discussion and analysis.

* * *

Organisations are important as they appear to be because – as March and Simon say – “people spend so much of their time in them.” [36] This is rather a superficial answer, as they admit themselves. But the importance of organisations or the understanding of them is embedded in the fact that distribution of wealth, labour and power, as well as the well being of each of us and the prospects of change – are all related functions of organisational patterns. This in itself means that limitations are placed on the possibility to understand and – or – to describe the core of the organisational activity. This is because the means to do so, that is: language, is by itself a related function of organised patterns. Hence, the only “open” field of understanding is that by which we try to describe through definitions and deductive rules some of the mechanisms of organisational activity. We cannot break out of the framework by merely providing suggestive formulas that can only refer to situational realities.

In this sense, the attempt made by March and Simon to seek explanations that could correspond to the most basic and simple questions arising from the observation of the organisational phenomena, is fruitful. It is so because in this way a methodology for such an observation can be developed. Albeit it is still more inductive than deductive, this type of observation is a key for the understanding of the processes that take place within a given organisation. Furthermore, it serves as a basis for correlating such processes to political change or other activities that are associated with the observed organisation, even if they are not an integrated part of it.

Adopting this policy of observation, March and Simon can cover a relatively large number of viewpoints while not slipping too much to the “absolutist approach” that characterise quite a few other works in the field of organisation.

An important aspect covered by them is that of the relations between the motivational setting of an organisation and the alternatives open to it. This is a question that, as they rightly mention, “has not been examined in any detail in the literature.” [37] The way in which they bring forward this issue is typical of their work and it is certainly worthy of praise. First they suggest a hypothesis while using theorems based on a set of previously formulated definitions. They refrain from falling into the trap of the determinist and absolutist approach and thus they keep from merely offering baseless suggestions. They put forward a series of examples taken from different private cases and make sure to comment on each of these. Only then they attempt to draw a framework for conclusions, while not ignoring that these could only be suggestive in their nature. When dwelling on the questions of motivations and alternatives they suggest the following: “In general, the greater the objective availability of external alternative, the more likely that such alternatives will be evoked.” [38] The terms are well defined and the problem of the “intentions” of the authors is avoided.

These relations seem to be crucial. They correspond to the previously mentioned inter-relations between the components of the bureaucratic system. They also have much to do with the source of political change that may occur within, or in connection with, a certain bureaucracy. Availability of alternatives, as March and Simon indicate points at two kinds of ranges. One is the objective range of alternatives. The other range is that of what seem to be as alternatives to various participants within the system. Considering the interplay of groups of interest within a bureaucratic set, the distinction between the two ranges tend to be associated with and influenced by the structure of the set. This is also true for the attempts made by the set – or its leadership – to materialise such alternatives in the least disharmonious manner. The motivational factor must therefore be closely associated with the identity of the players. It would be so both in the realm of individual-group relations and in the realm of inter-group relations.

There seems to be “an identification mechanism” that works within the system. Also, “even in the absence of positive identification, the strength of group pressures as the uniformity of group opinion increases.” It therefore seems to be valid to assume that “the perceived consequences of alternatives are, at least partly, a function of the strength of group pressures and the direction of these pressures that stem from sub groups and extra-organisational groups.” [39]

The structural organisation of a given set of groups is influenced by the alternatives – both real and imaginary. Simultaneously, it influences the range of possible and desirable alternatives. It is impossible to determine exactly where the starting point lies. But it is quite obvious that this complex of factors, namely, group identity and pressures, the nature of the structural organisation and the existence of several ranges of alternatives, are all, in fact – and when they interact – the core of any possible political change. This basic assumption must be acknowledged when dealing with any of these factors. Otherwise, the analysis will be incomplete and rather arbitrary.

There is an inherent essential difficulty that attempts to analyse bureaucracy – or even organisations in general – face. Such attempts could basically be either descriptive or theoretical. Yet, a descriptive attempt, particularly if it would also try to be accurate, must refer to particular phenomenon (or phenomena) that only exist in exact and particular frame of time and space. It would then be confined to inductive suggestions that may only concern some aspects of the general phenomena. It cannot state absolutely proven theorem and remains logical at the same time. Moreover, if accuracy is to be maintained, it should also refer at least to the previously mentioned factors. At the same time, it cannot confine itself merely to the structural aspects. Motivations, alternatives, technical operation of the system, definitions of power for the various levels of hierarchy and other such factors must also be referred to.

The theoretical type of attempt is even harder to pursue. For once, it has to cover all of these aspects that must be included in the theoretical setting. The main factor, however, is the theoretical “backbone” on which the entire movement within the suggested system depends. It must remain open-ended and in a constant flux so as to enable changes in the forms and – or – essence to enter the set, either as new givens or as renewed or unchanged ones. These act and perceived in accordance with the changing conditions. The effort here must include, therefore, a logically closed theory of dynamics as well as techniques that allow the work in several levels of definition that may vary according to different natures of the qualitatively different components of such a theoretical setting.

In order to deal with the complexity and to study the phenomena of bureaucracy, organisation, political change and their like, some of the logical and philosophical strict limitations must be sacrificed. Thus, some of the observations and theoretical relations between components of a given theoretical setting would be treated out of the frame of the formal logic. Yet the demand for examination of such relations must not e neglected altogether. It is still of great importance. Martin Albrow in his Bureaucracy reveals many of these. He also tries to analyse them and to seek justification for them. Thus, when touching the relations between bureaucracy and ideology he suggests that “some justification for paying even slight attention to the concept of bureaucracy in ideological contexts appears to be necessary.” There are three reasons for this. Firstly, while ideologies are designed to incite men to action, this does not mean that their content is wholly emotive. On the contrary, it is a feature of modern ideologies that they purport to be based upon an objective view of the nature of man and society. Secondly, it is notoriously difficult for the social scientist to remove all traces of ideological commitment from his or her work and it is therefore important to be aware of the nature of the ideological concepts of bureaucracy. Thirdly, Marxist (or self-proclaimed Marxist) and to a lesser degree also Fascist ideologies claim to erase the distinction between ideological and scientific thought – at least as far as their own doctrines are concerned. Political leaders set themselves up as arbiters of scientific truth and academicians avowedly direct their work to political ends. That the scientific element in this conflict of ideology and knowledge cannot be lightly disregarded is obvious when we consider the high prestige as a political scientist that Karl Marx, the most successful ideologist of all time, has in non-Marxist circles. [40]

Albrow’s approach is highly advantageous. Not only does he lack the absolutist tendency that characterises many of the writers dealing with the discussed phenomena. While examining some of the literature, he tries to gain access to pieces of information that could be consulted when pursuing the study of related subjects. [41] In this he uniquely achieves a degree of reliability that many works fail to maintain because they do not concede the possibility of open-ended changing relations. Adhering only to a one-way solution, as is the case with many of the works in the field (and most of those mentioned here) tend to culminate in the construction of static models and limited understanding – not only of bureaucracy and of organisation in general. But also, it confines and limits the discussion of political change and only allows for a static model and formulas to be presented. This is inadequate logically and academically but even more so – it is entirely unrealistic and untrue. It must be noted, however, that such works can still benefit their readers even though they suffer from such important shortcomings. If not with insight, they can at least still provide us with information pertaining to bureaucracy, organisation and political change and to their inner and inter relations.

Notes & References

[1] Peter M. Blau (1968), “Organization: Theories” in David L. Sills, ed., International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, New York, Macmillan & Free Press, Vol. II, pp 297-98

[2] Max Weber (1928), Essay in Sociology [edited & translated by H. H. Gerth & C. Wright Mills], New York, Oxford University Press, “Introduction”, p. 47

[3] Ibid., p. 49

[4] Israel, in the aftermath of the 1973 war could be a case in point. The incumbent leadership managed to retain power mainly because it had full control over the sources of information (albeit not over all of the means of communications).

[5] Talcott Parsons (1960), Structure and Process in Modern Society, Glenco, Il The Free Press

[6] These, in fact, consist of limited number of agreed presuppositions that in many times have been selected arbitrarily. On these operate some rules of mathematical deduction so as to allow desired conclusions. Unlike in statistical models, where they might be permitted, in pure mathematical models deviations would not be acceptable and be considered as false.

[7] This is because social and behavioural sciences deal with human beings of which the definition includes such values as “individualism,” “mind,” “brain,” feelings,” “sensitivity” and so forth. These values cannot be measured and summed-up mathematically, nor can they be reduced linguistically to the status of concrete value.

[8] For a detailed discussion see: Ben-Asher, Z. (1972), “Language, Mathematics and Social Sciences” in Philosophia, VII (1): 85-127 (March) and Pears, D. E. (1973), Logic by Set Theory, London, Durham & Barr, pp. 321-60

[9] Parsons, op. cit., p. 2

[10] Ibid., p. 17

[11] Ibid., p. 20

[12] Weber’s administrative staff was defined as having professional expertise as well as the right to give orders. Parsons argues that such attributes may well give rise to a conflict within a given bureaucracy, as it would be impossible to ensure that higher authoritative positions should be matched by equivalent professional skills. Also, members of the organisation would face the problem of whether to obey those who have the right to give orders or to obey those with higher degree of expertise.

[13] Parsons, op. cit., p. 21

[14] For example, political parties that demand of its members that their loyalty to, say, the state should take priority over loyalty to the Party.

[15] Parsons, op. cit., p. 61

[16] Ibid., p. 62, 116-128 passim

[17] Ibid., pp. 130-31 (reference to the Israeli case)

[18] Eisenstadt, S. N. (1969), “Bureaucracy, Bureaucratisation and De-bureaucratisation” in A. Etzioni, ed., A Sociological Reader on Complex Organisations, New York, Holt & Winston, Inc. [Enlarged; first published in 1961 as Comlex Organisations: A Sociological Reader], pp. 304-305

[19] Ibid., p. 305

[20] Ibid., p. 306

[21] Ibid., p. 307

[22] And also from his sub species of bureaucracy like “Patrimonial bureaucracy” etc.

Max Weber (1967), “The Ideal Bureaucracy” in Organisational and Human Behaviour [edited by G. D. Bell], Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall, p. 88 [reprinted from Weber (1947), The Theory of Social and Economic Organisation [translated by T. Parsons], New York, the Free Press]

[23] Ibid., p 89

[24] At least the two cases mentioned above, of China and of Israel, seem to represent such a mode of control.

[25] “The Ideal Bureaucracy” op. cit., p. 89

[26] March, J. G. and H. A. Simon (1958), Organisations, New York, John Willey & Sons

[27] Etzioni, op. cit., p. 293

[28] Ibid.

[29] It could be seen in many works that examine the process of decision-making. Often it is possible to identify the tendency, in such works, to isolate the particular process and mechanism of the decision-making from the complex of relations that operate between and among the various agencies. Rather, there can be found discussions on the relations between the “centre” and the agencies (or some of them).

[30] Torgensen, P. E. (1969), A Concept of Organisation, New York, American Book, p. 52

[31] See the long standing discussions in this matter in (for instance): Russell, B., Principia Mathematica and Problems of Philosopy, Ryle, G., The Concept of Mind etc. For a discussion and analysis of the problems of time and space in social organisation see also: Ben-Asher, Z. (1972), “Logic and Questions of Time and Space in Descriptive Models of State-Societies” in The Israeli Quarterly of Social Research, II (4): 31-56

[32]Lippitt, G. L. (1969), Organisational Renewal, New York, Meredith Corp.

[33] Ibid., Introduction, p. 1

[34] Ibid., p. 143

[35] Ibid., from the glossary that he wrote because – so he states – “I feel it may be helpful to the reader to have a glossary…”, p. 1

[36] March & Simon, op. cit., p. 2

[37] Ibid.

[38] Ibid.

[39] Ibid., p. 59

[40] Albrow, M. C. (1970), Bureaucracy, London, Pall Mall Press [American edition by Praeger], p. 67

[41] Ibid., p. 125

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Also if you need an helping hand, naturally that is, visit www.StopThatSmoking.com to find out to stop smoking forever naturallyQuitting smoking even when other people around you are smoking doesn’t have to be difficult and a strain on interpersonal relations. Take some time to create an atmosphere where everyone knows that you are quitting and that you need their cooperation to succeed. At the same time, be considerate of the other smokers, giving them their own freedom to smoke when they so choose. Working together with family, friends and co-workers, you can quit!

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The use of tobacco and its resulting nicotine addiction is responsible for killing more than 430,000 people each year in the United States, more people than die from car accidents, homicide, suicide, fire, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and AIDS combined. Tobacco use in some form accounts for around one in three of all deaths from cancer in the United States. Smoking is responsible for 83% of all lung cancer deaths. Smoking also causes cancers of the mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, kidney, bladder, pancreas, uterus, cervix, and some leukemia. Cigarette smoking also can cause lung diseases that can be just as serious as lung cancer. Smokers may develop chronic bronchitis, with their airways blocked up with mucous, forcing them to cough frequently; and, of course, smoking can lead to emphysema, making it difficult for the lungs to perform their function of supplying adequate oxygen to the body. People with these problems tend to tire more easily and this influences them to avoid getting the exercise they need to promote their health. Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 65,000 deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

Your heart is at risk. Smoking doubles the risk of heart attacks, and, in addition, is a major risk factor for peripheral vascular disease, which is the narrowing of the blood vessels that carry blood to the leg and arm muscles.

Cigarette smokers die much younger than nonsmokers. Based on data collected from 1995 to 1999, the Centers for Disease Control estimated that adult male smokers lost an average of 13.2 years of life and female smokers lost 14.5 years of life because of smoking. For smokers between the ages of 35 and 70 the death rate is three times higher than those who have never smoked.

Tobacco smoke is a major source of indoor pollution. Secondhand smoke causes about 3,000 lung cancer deaths every year among those who do not smoke, and also is a factor in up to 40,000 deaths related to cardiovascular disease for nonsmokers too. Exposure to tobacco smoke in the home increases the severity of asthma for children and is a risk factor for new cases of childhood asthma.

Tobacco is very bad for the reproductive health of a woman, leading to a reduction in fertility and an increased risk of having a miscarriage. If a woman who smokes conceives a child, she may face the possibility of having an early delivery or even a stillbirth. And women who smoke increase the chance that their baby will have a low birth weight.

See the future if you continue this path. If you would take a moment to think of yourself as getting any of the diseases promoted by a smoking and nicotine habit sometime in the future, note how painful it would be for you, both physically and psychologically. Think, for a moment, of how much unhappiness it would create for you and your loved ones, and how it would keep you from enjoying the more healthy life that is yours after you have become a permanent nonsmoker. It is important to fully understand and feel, both consciously and subconsciously, just how negative a nicotine habit is to your overall enjoyment in life so that your mind, both conscious and subconscious, knows, without any delusion, just how much intense suffering will come to you unless you change your course in life.

Now make that picture dimmer and less bright and move it away from you, and watch as it grows darker and smaller. Take a moment to see yourself free of your nicotine addiction in the future. Look at how much healthier you look and feel. You can breathe freely and enjoy the fresh air entering your lungs. Your skin is healthier and you look younger at an older age, while your clothes smell fresher and cleaner. You are totally free of all the physical problems smoking would have caused you. When thought about in this way, it is more pleasurable to not smoke. You’ve found other healthier ways to get pleasure and reward yourself. In fact, cigarettes are now truly disgusting to you. As you see yourself a tobacco-free person, notice, now, that you’re feeling fine, you’re so relieved, you’re so much more at peace, you’re so much happier, so much healthier, and now you’re freer to be who you really want to be. Notice how much more personally self-confident and filled with personal self-esteem you now look and feel.

You may not fully know this, but the positive changes that result from becoming a permanent nonsmoker come sooner and are more pervasive than you ever imagined, making smoking cessation more immediately rewarding for you. Twenty minutes after you have quit, your blood pressure drops back down to the level just before your last cigarette and the temperature of your hands and feet increase toward a more normal level. Eight hours after you have quit the carbon monoxide level in your blood will have returned to a normal level. Just 24 hours after you have stopped smoking, your chance of a heart attack will already be decreasing. In the following weeks your circulation will be improved and the functioning of your lungs, even as soon as several weeks to 3 months’ time, will have improved by 30%. In subsequent weeks you will be able to look forward to other significant health improvements. Sinus congestion, shortness of breath, and coughing will have decreased. The cilia function within your lungs will return to normal, enabling you to deal with mucous and clean the lungs, and thus reduce any infection. One year after quitting, your extra risk of heart disease will be half that of someone who has continued to be smoker. After 5 years the risk of a stroke can be reduced to that of a nonsmoker. Ten years after quitting smoking your lung cancer rate will be half of that of someone who has continued to smoke, and your risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, pancreas, kidney, and bladder will all have decreased. Fifteen years after you have quit and become a permanent nonsmoker your risk of coronary heart disease will have fallen to that of someone who does not smoke. A 35-year-old man who becomes a permanent nonsmoker will, on average, increase his life expectancy by 5.1 years. And, of course, the quality of his life will be greatly increased during all his years, no matter how long he lives. Even smokers who quit after age 50 substantially reduce their risk of dying early. The argument that it is too late to quit smoking because the damage is already done is just not true.

It is important for people to know that nicotine is as addictive as cocaine and heroin. As matter of fact, it works to create and maintain an addiction in a way that is similar to those drugs. The addictive nature of nicotine is created by its ability to release dopamine in the brain, a chemical that creates feelings of pleasure. This is similar to the physiological and psychological effects of both cocaine and heroin. Recent research has shown that there is also some chemical in cigarette smoke that reduces the level of monoamineoxidase (MOA), which plays a role in breaking down dopamine. This helps create an overall increase in dopamine and thus contributes to the desire to keep taking more nicotine.

Cigar smokers who inhale absorb nicotine as rapidly as a cigarette smoker, while those who choose not to inhale absorb a significant amount of nicotine through the lining of their mouth, as do those who use smokeless tobacco. Even though these smokeless users do not hurt their lungs because they do not inhale tobacco smoke, the nicotine from their habit is still very highly addictive and causes the heart to beat faster and their blood pressure to go up. Chewing tobacco hurts a person’s ability to taste and smell, often causes damage to gum tissue, and can even result in the loss of teeth. More seriously, chewing tobacco is full of cancer causing chemicals that can give people cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, and esophagus. Many people who get these particular cancers were users of chewing tobacco. So powerful are the cancer-causing chemicals in chewing tobacco that even very young users get these cancers.

Nicotine’s effects are short-lived within the body, leading people to continually give themselves more during the day. Eventually, the continued use of nicotine leads to what is referred to as tolerance. The drug is no longer as effective as it was, and people need higher and higher amounts of it just to get the same physiological and psychological effects that they experienced earlier. That is why people tend to increase their usage of nicotine-delivering substances the more they have been using them.

There are even short-term effects related to tolerance. Nicotine disappears from the body in a few hours and some tolerance is lost overnight. Smokers often report that the first cigarettes of the day, newly introducing nicotine to the body after several hours of forced abstinence during sleep, have the strongest effect and are enjoyed the best. As the day goes on, and they smoke more and more cigarettes, tolerance is created, and each cigarette has less effect.

Nicotine also suppresses the production of insulin by the pancreas, which acts to raise blood sugar and causes the liver to release glycogen into the blood. In addition, cigarettes themselves are actually between 8% and 18% sugar, so smokers who puff a cigarette frequently during the day are actually given themselves blood sugar-raising hits throughout the day. All this contributes to smokers experiencing a slight sugar high from increased blood glucose. As a result of all of this many smokers also experience a lessening of appetite. This may explain why people gain weight after stopping smoking. They are trying to maintain their prior elevated glucose level, which was found to be pleasurable. Any craving that a new nonsmoker might experience is most noticeable in the morning and mid-afternoon, when low blood sugar is no longer blocked by smoking.

Nicotine is biphasic in nature. It can both stimulate and relax a person, depending on how they smoke. Nicotine doesn’t work in the body the same way alcohol does, but they both exhibit biphasic activity. People often become uninhibited and more excitable after drinking, while at other times they may become sedated and eventually fall asleep.

Cessation of nicotine intake results in withdrawal symptoms that strongly influence anyone trying to end their tobacco use to start consuming it again. These symptoms can include headache, irritability, restlessness, tiredness, feelings of depression, poor concentration, and anger and frustration. While the most powerful influence on withdrawal is the pharmacological effects of nicotine, many behavioral aspects affect the nature of the withdrawal symptoms. For many smokers, the sight, feel, and smell of a cigarette and the rituals involved in obtaining, handling, lighting, and smoking the cigarette are all strongly associated with the pleasure of smoking and when absent can contribute to psychological feelings of withdrawal. While nicotine gum and patches can act to alleviate the pharmacological aspects of withdrawal, some cravings may persist because of these missed behavioral aspects of smoking. This is a problem in quitting smoking that can be easily dealt with and greatly minimized through the use of hypnosis.

One of the clearest indicators of the power of the effects of nicotine is that while over two-thirds of all tobacco users want to stop using it only a small number are able to do so permanently. Each year, nearly 35 million people make a concerted effort to quit smoking. Only 20% of those trying succeed in abstaining for as long as a year and only a small percent of these are able to do so by using willpower alone. Less than 7% succeed in abstaining for more than a year. Most of those trying to stop start smoking again within days.

Over 90% of smokers who try to quit without seeking treatment fail, with most relapsing within a week. Most smokers take several attempts to quit before they finally succeed.

To reduce the risk of lung cancer and other related cancers that are caused by smoking, smokers need to stop smoking completely. It has been found that the amount of carcinogens inhaled remains high even as they cut back on the number of cigarettes they use. Research has shown that this even applies when smokers are supplementing their intake of nicotine with the use of patches. The reason this is true is believed to be that the smokers inhale more deeply on the fewer cigarettes they do smoke to feed their addiction and the nicotine patches made little difference in how long and deeply the users inhaled the smoke from their cigarettes. Thus, the patches made little difference in the overall amount of carcinogens introduced into their bodies by their smoking habit. The conclusion is that patches do not significantly decrease a smoker’s risk of cancer. Possible theories as to why this is so is that patches fail to provide the high that the smokers desire, nor do they provide a substitute for the enjoyment that people get from the act of physically enjoying a cigarette. Another reason may be addictive compounds found in cigarette smoke that aren’t in the patches.

Sometimes in life failure is not necessarily an indicator of the difficulty or even the impossibility of accomplishing something. It just tells you what doesn’t work. Fortunately, seeing a qualified certified hypnotist is effective for changing a smoker into a nonsmoker for life. Not only do they become nonsmokers, but they do so more easily and comfortably then they ever expected. With the new cooperation of their subconscious they are able to lose their desire to smoke cigarettes and cigars. There is some physiological discomfort during the withdrawal period following the cessation of tobacco use, but with hypnosis these effects can be mitigated and the period of discomfort shortened. Hypnosis is also able to greatly reduce and even eliminate any tendency to gain weight after smoking cessation. In my clinical practice, I typically see clients only once for complete and permanent smoking cessation.

Many board games are based on some realistic life experiences, some deal with sports, real estate, and even banking. Then manufacturers came along and decided to add the process of politics to the line up of gaming options. The games are fun and educational, they also give you insight into the life styles and campaign strategies of people who are presidents, senators and congressmen. Learning what it takes to run the country and run for offices all over the world.

In one game called,”the Making of the President”, you are brought face to face with two of the most well know figures in American political history. You will meet the enigmatic John F. Kennedy and the controversial Richard M. Nixon,in a champaign that takes you back in time to the 1960 election. Through this political race, gamers meet and become one of the two very different political personalities. In the real life election Kennedy wins the race, but in this game, it is anyone’s game. This game allows you to find out what you will have to go through in order to be the leader of the United States.

In another game called “Die Macher” players are invited to check out the 7 political races that are conducted in Germany. This game requires the player to come up with their own party philosophy, and they must learn about how poll results are tabulated, they are introduced to how the media shapes the influence of any political race. All of these tools are available to make the political candidates, who enjoy playing this fun and exciting game go away with an in-depth understanding of German Politics.

Players of political games will also want to know how the political games work from different countries once they have experienced the process of the United States and Germany. To experience another interesting political environment, players will find the game, “Quo Vadis”, one of the more popular games. The Roman Senate is re-enacted during this game; you and the other players will have a chance to try to get your politicians in the committee’s best positions. It takes 45 minutes to find out which of your friends are the best qualified candidates.

Another political game shows another side of politics. In this game, players learn how to plot coups and assasinate political leaders and hopefuls. The game of “Junta” starts with the election of the “El Presidente” of the Republica of Los Bananas, and then it includes the people who are looking into gettin rid of their leaders and take over the country.

Then if players want to take thier investigations of political board games one step further, they will want to play the board game “Koalition” in this game the players will learn the political process that is not one, but of 12 European countriess. The players then will try to gain power ad political influence in as many places as possible, they will convince the many political parties to join up to form the colitions that this person will need in oder to build up your countries power.

If you are interested in board games and politics, they will find many opportunities available for play, which will include both options. These games help gamers learn the political processes for many different countries, and who knows maybe one day they will become “El Presidente”.

What are the smoking facts?  Smoking can kill you, and your cigarette addiction can also kill others.

If you want to quit cigarette smoking you need to start by changing your attitude and beliefs about your cigarette addiction.

All addicts engage in denial and rationalization.  You use these tidy bits of fiction to protect yourself from the stark reality of the smoking risks to your health and the health of those around you. Your tobacco addiction is likely accompanied some or all of the following bits of smoking fiction.  You cannot quit cigarette smoking unless you give up your denial and face the facts about smoking.

Fiction: I have the right to do what I want,  it is my body.

Fact #1: The facts about smoking reveal that your habit is contributing to air pollution, global warming, accidental poisoning, escalating  prevalence of asthma and even sudden infant death syndrome. Your addiction is harming not only you but those around you.  Your are not alone on this planet, and you are not alone in your life.  There are other people who love you and need you and your smoking is as harmful to them as it is to you.

Fiction: If I keep the windows open when I smoke in the car I am protecting the children from the harmful effects of smoke.

Fact #2: This does nothing to protect your children from the smoking risks to health. Every time you smoke a cigarette in the car they smoke it with you. 

Fiction: Smoking is a bad habit.

Fact #3: Smoking is a tobacco addiction not a habit.

Fiction: Everybody smokes.

Fact #4: Everybody does not smoke.  So many people in Canada are giving up smoking that the national rate for smoking is approaching 18% . If you smoke you are in the minority not the majority.

Fiction: Smoking is cool.

Fact #5: When you smoke you do not look cool, you look stupid.  Let’s face it you have freely chosen to engage in an activity that drains your pocket book and harms your health. This decision calls your intelligence into question.  Smoking statistics in Canada show that smoking is more prevalent among the unemployed, lower income groups and populations with 12 years or less of grade school education.  Smoking doesn’t make you look cool it makes you look uneducated, unemployed, and poor.

Fiction: It is only tobacco. Its not like its heroin or anything.

Fact #6 : Nicotine is more dangerous that cocaine, heroin or alcohol when it comes to dependence. Dependence develops quickly.  The product is legal and easily available making the dependence easier to maintain. Tobacco addiction causes more health problems worldwide than heroin.

Fiction: It is legal so it can’t be that bad.

Fact #7: See smoking fact # 6

Fiction: I only smoke socially when I am with friends.

Fact #8: See smoking fact # 6. Your social smoking will likely result in a tobacco addiction.  If you value your friends do not harm them.  You have a moral obligation to protect them. 

Fiction: I am still young and will quit before I get older

Fact # 9: See smoking fact # 6. Smoking statistics show that most people start their cigarette addiction when they are teenagers.

Fiction: It is hopeless, I have tried many times and I cannot quit cigarette smoking.

Fact # 10: Not everyone is successful the first time they try to quit cigarette smoking.  The facts about smoking show that most former smokers had several unsuccessful attempts before they finally overcame their tobacco addiction.  Keep trying!

Of all the known smoking risks to your health perhaps the most significant one is not facing the facts about smoking and living in a world of denial.

If you want to quit cigarette smoking your reality check should include facing the smoking facts.  This one is so important it bears repeating.

Smoking can kill you.