Organizational Structure And Central Office Staffing, Functions, And: Fill & Download for Free

I highlight three organizations, one still an infant, founded in 2009, and two elders, founded in 1972 and 1959, respectively.The Young 'Un, Transparent ChennaiSome attributes that often come to mind when we think of India? Chaotic urban development and corruption. How to hold politicians accountable?With a population of almost 10 million, Chennai is India's 5th largest city and 4th most populous metro. Founded in 2009 by a woman, Nithya V. Raman, and almost entirely woman-staffed, Transparent Chennai has adopted one of the most creative and technology-savvy approaches to support accurate and effective citizen scrutiny of Chennai's government. Literally from the ground-up, using volunteers and shoe leather, this 18-person NGO (Non-Government Organization) has slowly but surely and steadily built an information-heavy online database that includes data-rich, geo-tagged multi-layer online maps of Chennai. Not garden-variety, rather data and maps intended to help Chennai citizens (Chennaites) hold their government accountable. Could maps really do that? How?Based on the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act of 1919 (Page on chennaicorporation.gov.in), Chennai is governed by a Mayor-City Council model. Chennai municipality is currently divided into 200 wards, each ward represented by an elected councillor for a five-year term. Apart from unsurprising public resources such as transport-related (metro and bus routes, and flyovers), Transparent Chennai's online maps highlight municipal infrastructure and services such as garbage collection sites, police stations, public toilets, census data, administrative boundaries, and community generated maps of two slums (in reality ancient coastal fisherman villages, Urur and Olcott Kuppams) currently threatened by forcible removal to make way for a coastline highway.What does any of this data have to do with local governance? I think we would agree on two basic tenets of democracy. A functioning democracy needs to be responsive and accountable to its citizens. In turn, citizens need to be alert and engaged in the democratic process and hold their government accountable. If a government and its citizens are bricks, we could imagine information as the cement holding them together. Transparent Chennai generates this cement, public interest information for Chennaites to use to hold their government accountable. In fact, this is the revolutionary idea behind Transparent Chennai. Let's use their maps to see how this could be done. On their web-site Transparent Chennai, let's click on maps.A drop-down menu of several choices opens. Let's select Public Toilets and ask to Build Map.As we move across the vast Chennai city, the tool builds a color-coded ward-by-ward layer identifying the number of Public Toilets available in each ward. Hover over a ward, and we get a text bubble of its number of Public Toilets.If a councillor promised to double the number of Public Toilets in his ward during his/her election campaign, well, here's a real-time, ground-up citizen-generated, freely available map for concerned citizens to use to demand accountability from their elected representatives if and when they fail to follow through on their electoral promises.Why did I choose Public Toilets? If we didn't already know, recent campaigns by the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have highlighted the woeful lack of Public Toilets in India. Lack of Public Toilets creates greater vulnerability for women in particular. Of course, the reality is that those Chennaites who most need access to Public Toilets, the poor and illiterate, probably don't have access to the internet and hence to such maps but other concerned citizens in their wards do, and this information is the necessary first step to create a better informed citizenry, itself the necessary first step for a better functioning democracy.Transparent Chennai has by far created the most thoughtfully tech-savvy tools I've seen for empowering citizen governance.As Transparent Chennai's web-site says, 'In order to improve governance processes in Chennai, Transparent Chennai collects data and creates maps and research on important civic issues in the city. Transparent Chennai has already placed information about the electoral boundaries of the parliamentary, assembly and corporation constituencies on its website. This can be combined with other features of the city, such as slums, roads, flyovers, garbage dumpsters and public toilets, to enable a user to make connections between elected representatives, constituencies, and infrastructure and services. This research area conducts research and analysis on the municipal laws, planning processes, institutional structure, and organisational arrangements for the provision of basic services in the city, with the aim to understand the formal and informal ways they are accessed and provided. This research area will also create a repository of official data organised ward and zone – wise to provide salient municipal information about infrastructure, demographics, and services. In parallel, we have also developed tools for citizens to easily evaluate and monitor service and infrastructure quality'.'Through the research on elected representatives, Transparent Chennai’s ultimate goal is to use the innovative collection and dissemination of information to elevate political relationships from their current individualised and transactional form to focusing on local development within the constituency.This research area collects and disseminates the limited available information about the performance of elected representatives in office. This includes creating a database of information about elected representative performance including attendance at council and wards committee meetings, spending from their local area development fund, and participation in legislative proceedings for elected representatives at the city, state, and central levels within the city. We are also studying their de facto powers and limitations and the incentives they respond to trying to understand the environment in which councillors operate'.Nithya V. Raman (no, she doesn't have a Wikipedia page yet but I bet she will in coming years) is the remarkable young woman who started Transparent Chennai. If the breathtaking ambition and scope of Transparent Chennai's tech-savvy tools and its youthful, largely female, and obviously idealistic staff don't strengthen one's hope in India's democracy, what else could? Using Transparent Chennai's blueprint, here are online tools for local government accountability that I think could be readily replicated in every city in India. Why stop there? Every city in the world.The Elders: SEWA and Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat PapadSEWA (Self-Employed Women's Association of India), an NGO for informal sector women workershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_Employed_Women%E2%80%99s_AssociationFounded in 1972 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, by the formidable and phenomenal Ela Bhatt, SEWA (means service in Hindi) provides microfinance and Community-based Health Insurance (CHI) to thousands of previously marginalized Indian women, poor, illiterate, and lacking access to opportunities for self-empowerment. 'It is an organization of poor, self-employed women workers. . .who earn a living through their own labor or small businesses. . . (and who) do not obtain regular salaried employment with welfare benefits like workers in the organized sector, 'By calendar year 2003, SEWA Insurance had over 110000 members — over 85000 adult women and almost 25000 adult men. Two-thirds of scheme members were in rural areas and one-third in urban areas (i.e., Ahmedabad City). The vast majority, 97% of members, were enrolled under the 1st and least expensive policy' (1).Is there proof that SEWA's CHI program works?There is a sizable and growing database of peer-reviewed social science research suggesting that in the field of CHI, SEWA is not only a global pioneer but has also set an example worth emulating by 'rather than adopting standardised “prepackaged” solutions, first identified barriers to access and then developed and tested interventions aimed at overcoming these specific barriers' (2). After studies in the 1990s and early 2000s highlighted several structural barriers that prevented effective implementation of its CHI schemes, SEWA has continuously tweaked its working CHI model to conform to unique local conditions wherever it operates rather than impose a rigid centralized approach.From 3While social science experts probably better understand the scope, shortcomings and inferences of these peer-reviewed studies (4, 5, 6, 7), for a layperson like me, the most important message is clear, that SEWA's CHI data are freely available for public and expert scrutiny. Such transparency is itself the most important attribute necessary to earn credibility, and this growing body of multi-author, multi-institutional peer-reviewed research about its programs suggests SEWA has such credibility.SEWA bibliographySinha, Tara, et al. "Management initiatives in a community‐based health insurance scheme." The International journal of health planning and management 22.4 (2007): 289-300.De Allegri, Manuela, and Rainer Sauerborn. "Community based health insurance in developing countries." BMJ: British Medical Journal 334.7607 (2007): 1282. Page on nih.govMichielsen, Joris, et al. "Can health insurance improve access to quality care for the Indian poor?." International journal for quality in health care 23.4 (2011): 471-486. Page on oxfordjournals.orgSinha, Tara, et al. "Barriers to accessing benefits in a community-based insurance scheme: lessons learnt from SEWA Insurance, Gujarat." Health Policy and Planning 21.2 (2006): 132-142. lessons learnt from SEWA Insurance, GujaratRanson, M. Kent, et al. "Helping members of a community-based health insurance scheme access quality inpatient care through development of a preferred provider system in rural Gujarat." The National medical journal of India 19.5 (2006): 274. Helping members of a community-based health insurance scheme access quality inpatient care through development of a preferred provider system in rural GujaratSinha, Tara, Sapna Desai, and Ajay Mahal. "Hospitalized for fever? Understanding hospitalization for common illnesses among insured women in a low-income setting." Health policy and planning (2013): czt032. Hospitalized for fever? Understanding hospitalization for common illnesses among insured women in a low-income settingDesai, Sapna, et al. "Understanding CBHI hospitalisation patterns: a comparison of insured and uninsured women in Gujarat, India." BMC health services research 14.1 (2014): 320. Page on biomedcentral.comLijjat Papad Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad (SMGU; loosely translated as Women's Home Enterprise Lijjat lentil wafer)Like most Indians, I grew up eating papads, lentil-based, thin, fried or baked, crisp wafers. Indians eat papads as either snacks or as appetizers. Started in 1959 by seven illiterate, talented and indomitably determined Mumbai-based women cooks, today with more than 40,000 members, approx. 67 branches and approx. 35 divisions all over India, Lijjat Pappads is a phenomenal success story of a co-operative that leveraged the cooking talent of thousands of illiterate or semi-literate Indian women to help them build home-based careers and financial independence. In the process, these women have built Lijjat Papad into a multi-million dollar behemoth of a co-operative (as of 2013, a turnover of approx. $100 million; Empowering Women with a Wafer-Thin Idea).Key unique attributes of and data on Lijjat Papad (Empowering Women with a Wafer-Thin Idea):Written constitution.Unerring and steadfast focus on product quality.A focus on logistics that respects the constraints of SMGU members. Centrally prepared dough distributed to members who take them home, prepare the papads, bring prepared products back to work the next day to be weighed, packaged and sold.Buses to ferry members to and from work.Organizational principles of professionalism and self-sufficiency based on the advice of local community leader, Chhanganlal Karamshi Parekh.Three core principles: 'mutual affection and concern (employees all have an equal status); devotion (the workplace is treated not just as a place of employment but also one of reverence); and, sarvodaya or collective ownership (also called trusteeship, a central idea of the historical Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi)'.'each member at Lijjat – considered an equal and a co-owner of the cooperative whose opinions contribute to all business decisions (no regard is given to a member’s social status or religious persuasion) – is affectionately referred to within the organization as sister'.'Each sister (who receives 15 days of training when she joins Lijjat and has to be over 18 years old) works approximately six hours a day and receives an average monthly wage – called vanai – of between Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 3,000 (approximately US$ 35 and US$ 53). Extra vanai is paid on the occasion of an Indian cultural festival'.In addition, profits and losses of each branch are shared by its members (sisters).Products priced to be affordable to middle and low income customers.Having captured a big chunk of India's papad market, Lijjat has now diversified into the spices and detergents sector. It exports 30 to 35% of of its papads all over Asia, Middle-east, EU and North America.'a key element of the organization’s development was to ensure an all-woman membership. The only male workers at Lijjat are employed on a contractual basis for specialized roles'.Diligent and meticulous attention to branding, commercialization, trademarks, and intellectual property. For example, 'the organization registered a trademark for Symbol of Woman’s Strength Papad (2012) in the United States of America (USA) at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)'.From Empowering Women with a Wafer-Thin IdeaLijjat's distribution flow chart (from The incredible story of Lijjat Papad!)Lijjat's collection flow chart (from http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/apr/15spec.htm)Interviews with Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat, the sole surviving co-founder of Lijjat Pappads on the occasion of its 50th anniversary:Indian meal starter lasts 50 yearsJaswantiben Jamnadas Popat, Founder, Lijjat Papad- We Simply Believe In Honesty And Hard WorkOther resources:Things you didn't know about Lijjat papad!Thanks for the A2A, Eivind Kjorstad.

When you say, ill equipped I presume it to mean the Weapons, Equipment and Clothing. You would have been downright correct to assert that till about few years ago. Things are gradually changing for the better.The reasons were and continue to be are as follows.Strategically and Militarily illiterate, inept and unconcerned political leadership since Independence.Power hungry, Machiavellian, Militarily illiterate and condescending corrupt Bureaucracy since Independence but vicious against the Armed Forces since 1971 war.Morally degraded, Politically compromised and weak Military Leadership since 1971 war.Bureaucratically aligned, Scientifically inept, Morally degraded Defence Scientists.Politically sheltered, Trade Union dominated, irresponsible and irredeemable Public Sector Defence Production industry.Here’s how they sucked the power, money and lives of the Indian Soldier and continue to do so.Sino-Indian War 1962: Civil-Military RelationsThe extract from Bureaucratic-Organizational Politics and Information Processing in a Developing State by Yaacov Vertzberger published in International Studies Quarterly Vol. 28, No. 1 (Mar., 1984), pp. 69-95 (27 pages) explains basis of my argument since 1962.Current Civil-Military RelationsRead what the self declared Military Battlefield inoculated ex Defence Secretary says.“My views on the subject are tempered by four tenures in the MoD and an opportunity of a life time that allowed me an active participation in the 1971 Indo-Pak war where I was the Forward Observation Officer (FOO) and the authorised Observation Post Officer (OP) of the 11 Infantry Division in their operation in the Western Sector (Rajasthan/ Sindh). This has allowed me abiding friendship both with those in uniform and the much maligned bureaucracy. My assignments as Director (Navy), Joint Secretary (MoD), Secretary Defence Production and Defence Secretary and later as the Deputy National Security Advisor (NSA) allowed me an experience that needs to be shared. “Having eulogised himself as War veteran and Defence Bureaucrat now he tells what is wrong with Military and what is right with Bureaucracy.“ Military as its intrinsic character is expected to possess the ability to assert itself, and this creates a behavioural peculiarity within the armed forces. I need to qualify by calling it the armed forces bureaucracy. At levels of Service HQ the function is quite akin to implementing the policies of the political leadership and providing them professional advice. The attitude grows from a life time of accomplishing a mission, regardless of the costs or methods and means. As opposed to this the civilian counterpart are expected to implement policies without any cause for confrontation or conflict. The uniformed fraternity the world over follows norms and customs that are a little different, to say the least, and peculiar to the uninitiated. This poses no challenge to structures at lower levels of the organisation which do not require external interface. But it becomes discomforting, to say the least, at higher organisational levels, where such interface with civilian bureaucracy and political leadership is required.”Now he argues why Military is not suited to assert itself Higher Defence Management due to democracy.“In essence, a democratic society would demand that policies represent the will of the people and therefore should never be the cause of internal conflict or confrontation. ‘Assertion’, which is an intrinsic military characteristic, is alien to this democratic construct. The political and bureaucratic side is quite open to a system of debate to accommodate various hues of opinion and perspective to preclude subsequent conflict or confrontation. In the military, the senior is always right—but this is how it should be. Neither side can be considered at fault because such an attitude is part of their charter and growth. It is this democratic and participative need that is getting reflected in the public mood that we see around us in the election year. It is therefore obvious that the political vector has shown preference for a layer of civilian bureaucracy between them and the military. This is the default position of the structure. In terms of any civil-military structure we cannot ignore this reality notwithstanding other factors of competence and specialisation.”[1]What they give Military in the garb of Civilian Supremacy“The seventh pay commission changed the way the military and its veterans view the bureaucracy and political leadership, and vice-versa. The commission equated the military with the Central Armed Police Forces on an illogical thought that all those who enter government service through the common CAT exam should remain at par, others be damned, as if only an exam has value, nothing else. Poor analysis, coming from a supposedly eminent group meant to consider the future of all government services. What caused greater hurt was the government ignoring the military in the panel of secretaries and also accepting its downgrading without a murmur. This compelled the military and its strong veteran community, as well as its countless well-wishers, to wonder who runs the government – the bureaucrats or political leaders – and whether its systematic downgrading is part of a deliberate plan.”“The past sequence of events indicates a systematic downgrading of the military. Never in the history of India have so many anti-military announcements been made by various branches of the government in such a short amount of time. It is not possible for bureaucrats to issue such policy letters without having the confidence of their respective ministers. Therefore, it makes the military feel that it is being systematically targeted according to a laid-out plan. The reasons could be many. The first is that the military is gaining prominence within the country and receiving accolades from all quarters for its sacrifice and strong actions in defending the borders, which have made the public feel proud to call themselves Indians. No other government service has ever received such accolades. Further, it is known that the military can never let the country down, irrespective of the treatment meted out to it. Thirdly, the military was always timid and accepted government decisions, without so much as a whimper. However, this time it reacted and did so forcefully. Finally, the veteran community has been very vocal for the first time, criticising the government whenever it attempts to hurt military morale.”[2]State of Ordnance Factories“For nearly 70 years, the ordnance factories that supplied the armed forces with everything from boots to battle tanks thrived as a government monopoly. This meant the armed forces had no option but to buy what they produced.”[3]“With its origin dating back to the British Raj, the OFB is the oldest as well as the largest departmentally-run organisation of the Indian Government. Over the last two centuries, it has been a key supplier of a wide variety of products ranging from tanks and armoured vehicles to artillery guns, small arms and ammunitions, besides various troop comfort items. However, as an organisation, the OFB has been constrained by a host of factors that has forced the organisation to look inward and perform below its potential.Today, it can hardly boast of any worthwhile product of its own as nearly 75-80 per cent of its production comes from technology developed outside the country. The lack of focus on R&D coupled with delayed execution of orders, low labour productivity, and meagre exports have frustrated its key stakeholders, especially the army which accounts for nearly 80 per cent of its supplies. The army is also concerned about the poor quality of the OFB products. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had once observed that some of the OFB products were passed on to the army with defects which were visible to the naked eyes!1As a departmentally-run organisation, the OFB is barred from making profit from the supplies made to the armed forces, eliminating a major incentive to innovate and improve efficiency. OFB’s cost-plus approach to production, which is globally accepted as inherently inefficient, makes the armed forces’ procurement budget expensive and puts an extra burden on the defence budget.The OFB’s biggest bane, however, is its limited autonomy. Being an attached office of the MoD, major decisions pertaining to finance, human resource, research and development (R&D), technology tie-ups and modernisation of plants and machineries are taken outside the organisation. The highly bureaucratic decision-making process of the external agencies responsible for the OFB’s functioning and wellbeing, and their propensity to adhere to the rules and regulations rather than the outcomes, has made the organisation risk-averse with little incentive to think out of the box.”[4]“As discussions between the Trade Unions and the Centre on the corporatisation of ordnance factories collapsed here on Monday, a month-long general strike called by the three major trade unions will begin in the 41 factories on Tuesday. The trade unions said their request to stop the corporatisation process was not considered by the Centre, and so the strike will be held as planned.”[5]State of DRDOEverybody knows DRDO will not deliver on its promise. It never does. This is the price #India pays to keep discredited and useless PSUs afloat. Politically convenient. National security can wait. https://t.co/4qaDDqu2LC— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) June 24, 2019“The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Thursday took the unprecedented action of sacking an officer who claimed to be a whistleblower . Senior administrative officer Prakash Singh, posted at the Defence Science Centre at Metcalfe House in North Delhi, was served with compulsory retirement order.”[6]“Some DRDO labs are white elephants where no productive defence research and development takes place. For instance, four DRDO labs exclusively carry out research into foods and agriculture and one institute is engaged in business management.Should defence labs carry out research into vegetables when the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and its affiliates are engaged in similar work? What is the rationale of DRDO studying management techniques when such studies are being done in detail by other institutes across the country?The defence ministry is still sitting on a few proposals to revamp the country's premier defence research organisation. The salient points of some of the in-house proposals:Shift DRDO focus back to the factories from laboratories,Shut down unproductive factories and integrate those units doing similar work.In the process, the ministry proposes to either merge or close down as many as 20 factories and laboratories. But proposals before the government are easier drawn up than executed. No one believes the government will be able to muster the courage to make the necessary changes.Meanwhile, the Indian soldier -- whose life and limb depends on the quality and superiority of his weapons -- and the nation, DRDO remains the only hope.The soldiers would love to fight the kind of war they fought in Kargil last year if they have the best weapons available. If DRDO does not shape up, it will be those on the battlelines who will pay the price.”[7]“Expressing its dissatisfaction for wastage of tax-payers money by sudden closure of projects, the Standing Committee on Defence headed by retired Major Gen BC Khanduri also pulled up the DRDO and advised it to rope in an 'independent agency' to conduct "a scientific, technical and concurrent audit of every ongoing project" to avoid midway closure.Cracking a whip on the DRDO, the panel in its report submitted to both houses of the Parliament on March 13 this year stated, "The Committee, while examining the Demands for Grants, discovered that delays in completion of projects are a part and parcel of DRDOs functioning. For instance, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) was supposed to be completed in 2008 but the revised date of completion is June 2019. In the case of Aero engine, Kaveri, the original date of completion was 1996 but was revised to December 2009. Further revision of the completion schedule continues to be under process. Similar is the case with LCA-Navy, Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) System, Air to Air Missile system-Astra, Long Range Surface to Air Missile etc. to name a few. The extent of delay in the execution of above mentioned projects varies from project to project. Although various reasons have been attributed for project delays by the representatives of DRDO, the Committee take very serious note of this unwarranted and unsavoury phenomenon. These delays not only place a burden of unnecessary cost implications but also deprive the Services of critical capabilities. The Committee wish to be kept apprised on the progress made in regard to each of the above mentioned projects."[8]“The Rama Rao Committee report remains a classified, two-volume report, which exposes all that has gone wrong with DRDO. TOI has seen a copy of the damning report. It paints an extraordinary picture of planning and execution failure and abysmal human resource management and says the DRDO brand is “wilting”. The report says: “Sixty years ago the fervour generated by extraordinary leadership won India its political independence. At the present time, technological independence requires a technological independence requires a similarly passionate and inspiring leadership.”The report says poor HR management is the DRDO’s biggest problem and only 3% of its scientists have PhDs in engineering-related subjects, 60% being plain-vanilla graduates or postgraduates in science, humanities or medicine. The DRDO’s staffing clearly is illequipped and ill-prepared to conduct cutting-edge research, which could find its way to the The DRDO has more than 6,750 scientists in its Defence Research and Development Service (DRDS) cadre, which is spread over 51 laboratories. Fewer than 2% of the scientists in 43% of the DRDO’s labs have PhD degrees in their respective core disciplines.The DRDO’s cut off age for entry-level scientists “should ideally be less than 24 years (but) is 28 years and above in more than 40% of the labs,” the report says. It adds that in half its labs, “the average age of scientists in all grades is above 37 years. The average age at various levels is significantly higher than what is desirable. This has to be corrected since it is important for younger people to occupy higher positions.” DRDO’s recruitment process, too, has come under fire. Entry-level scientists are hired through the Scientists Entry Test (SET) and there is some campus recruitment from IITs, IISc and NITs. But SET suffered a 71% drop in applicants between 2003 and 2006, says the report and there is unnecessary delay in hiring, which “is a major deterrent for the highly talented to consider DRDO as a ‘go-to’ organization,” says the report. An internal survey, quoted in the report, says 57% of scientists leave DRDO on account of professional dissatisfaction. A whopping 87% of the entry-level cadre joins the DRDO in the belief that it offers great career opportunities, but is “disenchanted soon after”, laments the report.”[9]Declining Standards of Military Leadership“The Indian armed forces, on the other hand, are fortunate that they have always made their own special code of conduct and lived by it. Traditionally perceived as an entity which stood tall above the civil society, the armed forces were seen as an embodiment of order and discipline, and were held, by their compatriots, in respect and admiration. Today we find, to our great dismay, that due to a tangible erosion of values and frequent displays of venality, the armed forces, too, are rapidly slipping in the estimation of their countrymen. For the armed forces to fob off blame for this decay on society and polity is not acceptable. After all, it is the Services who invented phrases such as ‘an officer and a gentleman’ and ‘officer-like conduct’. It were these attributes rather than any Warrant of Precedence which earned them respect and a high place in society.”“I returned to the NDA, as Commandant, 33 years after I passed out of its portals as a cadet. While the Academy had made huge strides in every aspect of training, and the quality of cadets was better than ever before, I was astonished to note the range and scale of their misdemeanours. Stealing, physical abuse of juniors, cheating in examinations and impersonation were some of the common offences, and it was obvious that most of the offenders had received no inputs about a value system, nor were they provided a moral foundation by parents or teachers. However, more alarming than the gravity or frequency of transgressions by cadets was the benign and tolerant attitude of the training staff towards such infractions of Academy discipline. These young officers, many of them just a few years out of the Academy themselves, felt that it was desirable for a ‘smart’ cadet to possess basic ‘skills’ such as lying, cheating and stealing, since these would not only help him survive the 16 Journal of Defence Studies rigours of Academy training but also make him more effective on the battlefield, especially in the counter-insurgency environment.”“The readiness of an officer to convey his thoughts in a frank and forthright manner to his superior, keeping his words free from prejudice or malice, is a trait to be valued and encouraged. At the same, as they rise in rank, officers must cultivate the strength of character and breadth of mind to be able to hear harsh and unpalatable truths without shooting the messenger. The inability to convey the unvarnished truth and unpleasant news to one’s superiors seems to inflict the higher ranks more than others. In the Service Headquarters (HQs), one discovers that the comprehension levels are lower and tolerance for bad news even less at the political and bureaucratic levels. It often requires all of one’s resources of moral courage to place matters in the correct perspective firmly but politely to a minister or a bureaucrat.”“Regrettably, it is clear that neither the Ministry of Defence nor any other civilian authority in the country either cares about the moral health of the military or can do anything about it. In fact, one can sense a degree of schadenfreude at recent incidents involving senior servicemen in many quarters, especially in the media. The onus for stemming the rot and attempting to reclaim the izzat of the armed forces, therefore, lies squarely on the current military leadership—both in Delhi and in Command HQs all over—with basic training institutions becoming the foci of close attention”[10]That in nutshell is the reason for a poor and ill equipped Military. Not just the equipment, it is the moral courage that has gone missing from the mental kit of the soldier. The Soldier needs to stand up and fight for himself and what is right.Footnotes[1] https://idsa.in/system/files/book/Book_CoreConcernsinIndianDefence.pdf[2] Is the Military's Paranoia Under the Modi Government Justified?[3] Repainting the white elephant[4] In Favour of Corporatisation of Ordnance Factory Board[5] Talks between govt, trade unions fail; ordnance factories strike on[6] Exclusive: Whistleblower DRDO officer sacked for highlighting corruption[7] DRDO, an investigation[8] Parliamentary panel slams DRDO over delay in completion of military projects[9] Why can't India make its own arms?[10] https://idsa.in/system/files/jds_7_2_aprakash.pdf

HistoryThe organizing of information could be seen since humans began to write. Prior to that, history was passed down only through song and word.[citation needed] As can be seen with religion, books and spoken word, science (through journals and studies) organizing not only is history but also supports the communication of history. organizing involves coordinating and arranging people in order to meet up a set planned objective.CharacteristicsThe following are the important characteristics of organization:Specialization and division of work. The entire philosophy of organization is centered on the concepts of specialization and division of work. The division of work is assigning responsibility for each organizational component to a specific individual or group thereof. It becomes specialization when the responsibility for a specific task lies with a designated expert in that field. The efforts of the operatives are coordinated to allow the process at hand to function correctly. Certain operatives occupy positions of management at various points in the process to ensure coordination.Orientation towards goals. Every organization has its own purposes and objectives. Organizing is the function employed to achieve the overall goals of the organization. Organization harmonizes the individual goals of the employees with overall objectives of the firm.Composition of individuals and groups. Individuals form a group and the groups form an organization. Thus, organization is the composition of individual and groups. Individuals are grouped into departments and their work is coordinated and directed towards organizational goals.Continuity. An organization is a group of people with a defined relationship in which they work together to achieve the goals of that organization. This relationship does not come to end after completing each task. Organization is a never ending process.Flexibility. The organizing process should be flexible so that any change can be incorporated easily. It ensures the ability to adapt and adjust the activities in response to the change taking place in the external environment. The programs, policies and strategies can be changed as and when required if the provision for flexibility is made in the organizing process.ObjectivesHelps to achieve organizational goal. Organization is employed to achieve the overall objectives of business firms. Organization focuses attention of individual’s objectives towards overall objectives.Optimum use of resources. To make optimum use of resources such as men, material, money, machine and method, it is necessary to design an organization properly. Work should be divided and right people should be given right jobs to reduce the wastage of resources in an organization.To perform managerial function. Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing and Controlling cannot be implemented without proper organization.Facilitates growth and diversification. A good organization structure is essential for expanding business activity. Organization structure determines the input resources needed for expansion of a business activity similarly organization is essential for product diversification such as establishing a new product line. it also stimulates creativity in managers by organizing.Humane treatment of employees. Organization has to operate for the betterment of employees and must not encourage monotony of work due to higher degree of specialization. Now, organization has adapted the modern concept of systems approach based on human relations and it discards the traditional productivity and specialization approach.ApplicationsOrganizing, in companies point of view, is the management function that usually follows after planning. And it involves the assignment of tasks, the grouping of tasks into departments and the assignment of authority with adequate responsibility and allocation of resources across the organization to achieve common goals. Organizing involves the establishment of an intentional structures of roles through determination and enumeration of the activities required to achieve the goals of an enterprise and each part of it,the grouping of these activities, the assignments of such groups of activities to managers,the delegation of authority to carry them out,and provision for coordination of authority and informal relationships,horizontally and vertically,in the organisation .StructureThe framework in which the organization defines how tasks are divided, resources are deployed, and departments are coordinated.A set of formal tasks assigned to individuals and departments.Formal reporting relationships, including lines of authority, decision responsibility, number of hierarchical levels and span of managers control.The design of systems to ensure effective coordination of employees across departments.Work specializationWork specialization (also called division of labor or job specialization) is the degree to which organizational tasks are sub-divided into individual jobs. It may increase the efficiency of workers, but with too much specialization, employees may feel isolated and bored. Many organizations enlarge jobs or rotate assigned tasks to provide greater challenges.Chain of commandChain of command is the vertical lines of a command structure that is used for the purposes of overall responsibility and accountability in the achieving of stated goals and objectives through the use of orders one direction and reports of compliance in the other direction. Chain of command differs from horizontal lines in an organization which are basically the communication and coordinating lines of the organization. Chain of command (also referred to as 'scalar principle') states that a clear , unbroken chain of command should link every employee with someone at a higher level, all the way to the top of the organisation.Authority, responsibility, and accountabilityAuthority is a manager's formal and legitimate right to make decisions, issue orders, and allocate resources to achieve organizationally desired outcomes.Responsibility means an employee's duty to perform assigned task or activities.Accountability means that those with authority and responsibility must report and justify task outcomes to those above them in the chain of command.DelegationDelegation is the transfer of authority and/or responsibility to others, often lower in position. Delegation can improve flexibility to meet customers’ needs and adapt to competitive environments. Possible reasons for delegation: 1. Efficiency - many people can complete a task faster than one/few 2. Specialization - delegating simple tasks allows more important/complex tasks to be completed by the most qualified 3. Training - delegating a task to a trainee so that they may learn from experienceTypes of authority (and responsibility)Line authority managers have the formal power to direct and control immediate subordinates. The superior issues orders and is responsible for the result and the subordinate obeys and is responsible only for executing the order according to instructions.Functional authority is where managers have formal power over a specific subset of activities. For instance, the Production Manager may have the line authority to decide whether and when a new machine is needed but the Controller demands that a Capital Expenditure Proposal is submitted first, showing that the investment will have a yield of at least x%; or, a legal department may have functional authority to interfere in any activity that could have legal consequences. This authority would not be functional but it would rather be staff authority if such interference is "advice" rather than "order".Staff authority is granted to staff specialists in their areas of expertise. It is not a real authority in the sense that a staff manager does not order or instruct but simply advises, recommends, and counsels in the staff specialists' area of expertise and is responsible only for the quality of the advice (to be in line with the respective professional standards etc.) It is a communication relationship with management. It has an influence that derives indirectly from line authority at a higher level.Line and Staff Authority is the combination of Line organization and Staff organization. Such organization follows both the principles of scalar chain of command and there is a provision for specialized activities to be performed by staff officers who act in an advisory capacitySpan of managementCategories:Direct single relationship.Direct group relationships.Cross relationship.Factors influencing larger span of management.Work performed by subordinates is stable and routine.Subordinates perform similar work tasks.Subordinates are concentrated in a single location.Subordinates are highly trained and need little direction in performing tasks.Rules and procedures defining task activities are available.Support systems and personnel are available for the managers.Little time is required in non-supervisory activities such as coordination with other departments or planning.Managers' personal preferences and styles favor a large span.Tall versus flat structureTall - A management structure characterized by an overall narrow span of management and a relatively large number of hierarchical levels. Tight control. Reduced communication overhead.Flat - A management structure characterized by a wide span of control and relatively few hierarchical levels. Loose control. Facilitates delegation.Centralization, decentralization, and formalizationCentralization - The location of decision-making authority near top organizational levels.Decentralization - The location of decision-making authority near lower organizational levels.Formalization - The written documentation used to direct and control employees.DepartmentalizationDepartmentalization is the basis on which individuals are grouped into departments and departments into total organizations. Approach options include:Functional - by common skills and work taskDivisional - common product, program or geographical locationMatrix - combination of Functional and DivisionalTeam - to accomplish specific tasksNetwork - departments are independent providing functions for a central core breakerImportance of organizingOrganizations are often troubled by how to organize, particularly when a new strategy is developedChanging market conditions or new technology requires a changeOrganizations seek efficiencies through improvements in organizingit ensures that objectives are accomplished.