Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Dichotomies of life
Teacher- student, doctor-patient, agricultural scientist-farmer, bureaucrat-applicant, minister-voter, landlord-labourer, employer-employee, priest-believer, banker-customer. These are some of the dichotomous relations in which expert knowledge is imposed. What are the rural management perspectives to live an world with less dichotomies?
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The perspective of rural manager is to adopt a middle path that will try to incorporate best practices of the dichotomies simultaneously avoiding conflicts. The role of rural manager is to bring the partners of dichotomous relationship in a win-win situation and encourage cooperation.The rural manager acts as bridge by rendering his/her professional skills for people at last mile. Afterall what is the purpose of rural management..? ..judicious use of resources to achieve goals with professionalism.
As a Rural manager we should not create another dichotomy involving power relation (rural manager and rural people). We should believe that even a rural society is a part of the same society that we are part of. We are not there to help them rather we are there to do our work and our work involves doing certain things that can help them lead a better life. And we are all equal in this system and both of us are equally to benefit from it.
Dichotomies in the society are there to stay. As a rural manager one would obviously aspire for a world with fewer dichotomies which one can achieve by bridging the gap between the different sections of people by changing their level of consciousness from the level of mythical to critical stage. Only then the solution to the problems would come collectively, which would fulfill the very objective of the rural manager of bringing the people under a single banner and also mitigate the problem of dichotomy to a certain extent.
What i believe is that all these dichotomies can't be classified into distinct watertight compartments.Dichotomies are a part of society but highlighting them would furthur perpetuate the power imbalance they are causing in the society .As rural managers our task is to ameliorate the situation rather than creating one more dichotomy !!!
As rural manager we need we need to be pragmatic while dealing in issues and agents of rural areas. If we try to push our modern world ideas, they seem to be relevant for development from our perspective they will drag in dichotomy and induce conflicts. Rather we should be open to learning and try to deliver an optimal solution which minimizes dichotomy and conflicts. We should try to consider their viewpoints and devise the interventions and consultations.
It would be erroneous on part of rural management studies to attempt to achieve a world without dichotomous as it is near to impossible to do so. Dichotomy is inherent to our social structure as in every set of new relationship to be established two complementary parties will be involved henceforth dichotomy will result. Thus the perspective should be to change the nature of these dichotomous relationships from that of an oppressed & oppressor one to that of an accommodating nature. It would be difficult in a society obsessed with inequality but it has to be the approach.
Dichotomy is the inherent characteristic of nature; mind & matter; prey & predator, these are the kind of concepts which define the idiom of the world around us. The dichotomous relations will always vary in the level of involvement & dominance between the participants. Hence rural management should seek out to eradicate the dominance levels & transform towards accepting form. For this the morals of equality & social justice need to be imbibed by the learners of this education so they are able to propagate it effectively.
Dichotomy is inherent in this world which is evident from these examples. The rural manager can dilute these kind of dichotomous relationship in its arena of working and achieving the solution to the problem of rural people in most rational way. Changing the type of consciousness from mythical or naive to critical to get an collective approach for problem solving in rural area by maximizing cooperation and hence reducing conflicts.
One needs to focus that there is a continuum of the oppressed and oppressors in this formal dichotomies unless oppressed ones do not withdraw to become free from oppressors. As a Rural Manager, one needs to focus that this dichotomy with rural people should remain at a very low level and instead of, people blaming the system or any other agency for their deprived condition (mythical stage); should come together in a collective manner (critical stage)through an exogenous source, in this case, the manager himself.
Rural manager should try to reduce the dichotomies between us and the rural people by interactions and also try involving them in the decision making. Also we could try reducing dichotomies between various sections of the rural society, and the dichotomy between govt. and rural people.Proper planning and judicious use of resources is a must in handling dichotomous relations.
The relationship of oppressed and oppressor is a vicious cycle in which the oppressed tries to become oppressor and hence then oppress further. Dichotomy exists when there is power imbalance. Rural manager tries to help rural people, but there exists a power gap and hence creates problem to some extent. But rural manager helps rural people to transact from mythical to critical stage. As collective action gives better results than individual actions, hence cooperation can be considered as great tool for minimising the dichotomy gap between the concerned parties.
Why the dichotomy? Perception that “To Have” = “To Be”, keeps the dichotomy alive. An applicant who becomes a bureaucrat might dislike the fact that he has to wield his power on another applicant, but the close association of power with his being forces him to sustain his behaviour.
An important step towards eliminating dichotomy is realization of its existence. When individuals reflect upon their experiences and understand the deep interdependence among the entities in his universe his thinking shifts. A new understanding of self emerges, we as managers need to facilitate this thought process.
Why the dichotomy? Perception that “To Have” = “To Be”, keeps the dichotomy alive. An applicant who becomes a bureaucrat might dislike the fact that he has to wield his power on another applicant, but the close association of power with his being forces him to sustain his behaviour.
An important step towards eliminating dichotomy is realization of its existence. When individuals reflect upon their experiences and understand the deep interdependence among the entities in his universe his thinking shifts. A new understanding of self emerges, we as managers need to facilitate this thought process.
Dichotomies are intrinsic part of a relationship and should exist at some level. A rural manager should not aim at eliminating these dichotomies but rather bring them to a level of acceptance on part of both the parties. Such dichotomy would not hamper but rather facilitate the implementation of productive work. Undertaking collective action through cooperation could help in reducing the dichotomies in areas where they act against the collective force.
To live in an world with less dichotomies is not impossible but it is very difficult.Since twenty percent of the people in India have eighty percent of the total wealth,so it is obvious taht it will take a long period to bring them to the same platform.As the rural manager,one should try to lessen the existing gap between the people of different social strata mobilising them in a tactic manner.
As a rural manager i feel that we will have to make choices.There can be no idealistic solution.What can be done is to take it on a case by case basis and adopt a strategy which makes life of both sides easier.Now here a relative assessment needs to be done, to make a decision about which side of coin is to be favoured more.Finally as a rural manager one needs to mobalise and hence be a part of people by leading them to achieve the desired goals
Dichotomy defines the relation between the two whether it is mutual relation or one sided or exploitative. dichotomy is pervasive but as a rural manager we have to increase our expertise from single to the long range of beneficiary. instead of one to one we have to go for one to many. The rural manager has the relation with masses.
A Rural Manager is a "Barefoot manager” who has to work at the grass root level to implement his/her own ambitions. There is no role of Dichotomies that define the power relation and imbibe the perception of the oppressor and the oppressed. A rural manager is no above with respect to the common man who is the customer of the manager. Rural management emphasizes on reputation building within a community of a village in order to attain the trust on the customers.
A Rural Manager is a "Barefoot manager” who has to work at the grass root level to implement his/her own ambitions. There is no role of Dichotomies that define the power relation and imbibe the perception of the oppressor and the oppressed. A rural manager is no above with respect to the common man who is the customer of the manager. Rural management emphasizes on reputation building within a community of a village in order to attain the trust on the customers.
The rural management perspective of reducing the dichotomies is to raise the level of consciousness of people from mythical to critical. Through education this is possible. The realization happens in people only after changing the world view. So gradually the internalization process happens for people. In rural world everyone has to come together collectively to lessen the dichotomies. When people become critically conscious this will gradually happen. So here lies the real challenge for rural management or manager to bring people to critical conscious level.
For a rural manager it is important to focus on the context to which we are refering.The aim should be to get the maximum benefit for both. To make them understand that the maximum benefit is in the win-win situation. We can't just eliminate the dichotomies of life but still we can manage to eradicate injustice and dominance.
These dichotomies exist because one has more and one has less (of knowledge, power, faith or money). And to reduce these dichotomies (as they can't be eliminated), a rural manager would have to try to reduce the knowledge, education, resources and opportunity divide which exists between the rural and urban and make the rural make the best use of their resources and work with the people, not for them as their manager...That would be the first dichotomy to work on....
Dichotomy is important and good in so far as to maintain an order in the system. But it should be one based on mutual respect and openness. Once a sense of assumed superiority sets in, that’s where the problem lies. Relationships become politicised and there’s domination which leads to a situation where there’s no room for dialogue. Dialogue is an inevitable part for any progressive society and dichotomy may sometimes stand as an impediment to that.As rural managers we should create spaces and engage both parties in a dialogue.
Dichotomous constructions of human society, act as sources which have conceptualized the norms of the society. The norms are persisting with influence from religion, secularization not withstanding human thinking. As a rural manager, it is imperative to recognize the worth of words to generate themes and develop critical thinking, which discerns an indivisible solidarity between the world and the people. To develop thinking in people this perceives reality as a process, as transformation rather than static entity and it do not separate itself from action.
There is dichotomy in the relationship between the pairs cited above. But that gap can be bridged by engaging the vulnerable party to make them, feel comfortable and cooperate to serve in better way. Here the role of rural management comes in the picture. It has to engage the people.
Dichotomies in a world are both necessary and obvious. From a rural management perspective when I see a world with fewer dichotomies, I relate to faster growing world, a world where we can think of poverty alleviation, policy implementation and such rural benefits at a faster pace with less hindrance. Some of these dichotomous relations are important but what matters is benefits shared should be in proportion between two non overlapping parts and in justifiably distributed.
Dialogue between the two parties is important as these dichotomies are an integral part of te society and cannot be removed.Though the focus of the dialogue has to be on the benefits of both the parties and not one gaining on the cost of the other. Managers cannot find idealistic situations but can create an improved one.
As Rural Managers,we have to ensure our learnings from Western philosophies don't leave their dichotomous approach on us, because it has been proven that most things do not exist as white or black but as gray.The 'social state'/ transition phase in between two state of any idea is something we have to be aware of before allowing it to make an impact on our perspective of things.
Dichotomies are the basis of divisions and inequality in a society. Deconstructing these with a rural management perspective can be a good attempt. Here it is not about teacher-student dichotomy but about participatory learning. Rural management unlike other management courses relatively focuses more on problem posing education. It talks more about collective action rather than looking at only two mutually exclusive categories.
Dichotomous relations are a part and parcel of the social system in which we live and so they will sustain no matter what else sustains. The role of rural manager lies here, i.e. to strike a perfect balance amongst the dichotomous relations so that one never crushes other. It is the domination of one by other which leads to increased difference. There should be equitable socio-economic growth.
Dichotomies are involved in rural management field also. Some of the ways in which it can be reduced is by involvement of the rural managers with the rural people in a holistic manner rather than simply giving instructions and looking for results. Understandng of local people, their belief, values, norms etc. can help a rural manager to reduce the dichotomies in rural management.
Dichotomies would exist in the world and without one the other would be incomplete. The rural management perspectives could be to ensure that the dichotomous relationships do not turn into an imbalance form where one dominates the other because if that happens the relationship would not be able to sustain for long. The management’s perspective should be to ensure the development of healthy relationship between both the parties and to develop strategies that result in the mutual benefit of both. This could also help in reducing the dichotomy.
Rural managers aspire not only to avoid creating another dichotomy of manager-managed but also to break the existing dichotomies through dialogue by working with people, involving them. By doing so, they also build trust in people and encourage them to engage with each other. They encourage people not to think of others as objects to be dealt with thus avoiding the “I vs. you” or “we vs. they” scenario. It is the situations that are objects to be dealt with. This realization is necessary to break the dichotomies of life.
Dichotomies in a rural management perspective can be reduced by engaged solutions approach. For example, WOTR (Watershed Organisation Trust) undertakes Participatory Net Planning (NPP), where the watershed expert, the farmer and his wife, on whose land the treatment would be carried out, engage in a collective decision making. The decision is not forced but involves a participatory approach, which aims towards empowerment, thus liberating the farmer and reducing dichotomies.
Dichotomies exist because of the knowledge, authority or power possessed by one party over another. Dichotomies should be exercised for bringing about a positive change.Dichotomies give direction to accomplish a certain mission. But while doing so, adopting a participatory approach, rather than a top down method, is necessary.
Such dichotomous relations have always existed and will continue to exist in society due to differences in resource ownership and expertise.
Rural Manager's task is not to impose his thinking or ideologies on people rather to motivate them to co-operate with each other and find solutions of the problems on their own. he must act only as a facilitator and attempt to deconstruct dichotomies to address the divisions and inequalities that they create.
A rural manager ideally should try to break away from the usual western-social-scientist approach of classifying things into two opposite categories. Each idea has a fluid and a static phase, but it is in between transition phase which she/he often has to deal with. Every attempt of intervention requires him/her to adopt extra rationality in his/her thoughts, and that requires looking beyond the dichotomies.
A rural manager ideally should try to break away from the usual western-social-scientist approach of classifying things into two opposite categories. Each idea has a fluid and a static phase, but it is in between transition phase which she/he often has to deal with. Every attempt of intervention requires him/her to adopt extra rationality in his/her thoughts, and that requires looking beyond the dichotomies.
A dichotomy is a splitting of a whole into exactly two parts. Dichotomies of life (as per the examples) are to be remaining there. From the rural management perspectives, one should try to encourage the harmony within the dichotomous relations. E.g. in the game theory (Prisoner's Dilemma), the win-win position is there only when both the members co-operate. The fewer dichotomies imply reducing the gap between partners for the betterment of the both.
The prerequisite to being a successful rural manager is to make sure that we don’t have any superiority complex when it comes to dealing with people living in the villages, we may have a few things to tell them but there would be a lot of things which we could learn from them. Keeping this in perspective and also armed with the knowledge that most common reason of failure of rural initiatives is because ideas are imposed on the rural populace rather than involving them in the decision making, I believe we could reduce the chances of having dichotomous relationships.
Dichotomy in most of the cases above, whether right or not, does not hamper the receiver of knowledge as much as it would in the context of rural management. A manger, in order to be effective should understand that s/he does not have all the solutions to the problems. Rather than being the outsider who becomes the solution provider s/he should become one of the villagers to understand what the problem is or is it just a perception that prevails while there is actually no problem.
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