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An important part of management is the making of rules. As a means of regulating the functioning of an organisation so that most routine matters are resolved without referring each issue to the manager they are an essential contribution to efficiency. The mere presence of carefully considered rules has the double-edged advantage of enabling workers to know how far they can go, what is expected of them and what channels of action to adopt on the one side, and, on the other, of preventing the management from the behaving in a capricious manner. The body of rules fixed by the company for itself acts as its constitution, which is binding both on employees and employers, however, it must be remembered that rules are made for people, not people for rules. If conditions and needs change rules ought to change with them. Nothing is sadder than the mindless application of rules which are out-date and irrelevant. An organization suffers from mediocrity if it is too rule-bound. People working in will do the minimum possible. It is called “working to rule or just doing enough to ensure that rules are not broken. But this really represents the lowest level of the employer/employee relationship and an organization afflicted by this is in an unhappy condition indeed. Another important point in rule-making is to ensure that they are rules which can be followed. Some rules are so absurd that although everyone pays lip-service to them, no one really bothers to follow them. Often the management knows this but can do nothing about it. The danger of this is, if a level of disrespect for one rule is created this might lead to an attitude of disrespect for all rules. One should take it for granted that nobody likes rules, nobody wants to be restricted by them, and, given a chance, riots people will try and break them. Rules which cannot be followed are not only pointless, they are actually damaging to the structure of the organization.
Precis:
Rules are an important part of the workings of any organization. Some rules enhance efficiency, while others inhibit the smooth functioning of an organization. These rules act as the constitution of an organization, carefully laying out and delineating the responsibilities that are binding on everyone. Rules, however, must be flexible; they must be adaptable to changing times and values. Rules ought not to become the reason for organisational mediocrity, but an organization ought to be able to thrive because of them. Organizational utility is their sole objective. The absurd rules that are inhibiting progress should be shaped in such a way that they do not in any way affect the important ones.

Title: Managing through Rules: Advantages and Limitations

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Objectives pursued by organizations should be directed to the satisfaction of demands resulting from the wants of mankind. Therefore, the determination of appropriate objectives for organized activity must be preceded by an effort to determine precisely what their wants are. Industrial organizations conduct market studies to learn what consumer goods should be produced. City Commissions make surveys to ascertain what civic projects would be of most benefit. Highway Commissions conduct traffic counts to learn what constructive programmes should be undertaken. Organizations come into being as a means for creating and exchanging utility. Their success is dependent upon the appropriateness of the series of acts contributed to the system. The majority of these acts is purposeful, that is, they are directed to the accomplishment of some objective. These acts are physical in nature and find purposeful employment in the alteration of the physical environment. As a result, utility is created, which, through the process of distribution, makes it possible for the cooperative system to endure. Before the Industrial Revolution most cooperative activity was accomplished in small owner-managed enterprises, usually with a single decision maker and simple organizational objectives. Increased technology and the growth of industrial organizations made necessary the establishment of a hierarchy of objectives. This, in turn, required a division of the management, function until today a hierarchy of decision maker exists in most organizations.
The effective pursuit of appropriate objectives contributes directly the organizational efficiency. As used here, efficiency is a measure of the want satisfying power of the cooperative system as a whole. Thus, efficiency is the summation of utilities received from the organization divided by the utilities given to the organization, as subjectively evaluated by each contributor.
The functions of the management process is the delineation of organizational objectives and the coordination of activity towards the accomplishment of these objectives. The system of coordinated activities must be maintained so that each contributor, including the manager, gains more than he contributes.
Precis:
Organizations should perform those actions that satisfy the needs of humankind. The demands must guide the objectives of an organization. Feasibility of demand should be conducted by the market surveys. The success and endurance of any organisation are measured by the achievement of its objectives and their future utility. Organizational effectiveness is determined by their efficiency – the ability to meet the objectives. Furthermore, the advancement in technology has transformed the simple organisational structure into a hierarchical and more complex one. This division of work exists today in most modern organizations. Objectives should be coordinated and delimited within modern structures so that each worker gets more benefit than his respective input.

Title: Utility of Modern Organisations

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Rural development lies at the heart of any meaningful development strategy. This is the only mechanism to carry the message to the majority of the people and to obtain their involvement in measures designed to improve productivity levels. Rural population exceeds 70 percent of the total population of the country, despite a rapid rate of urbanization. Average rural income is 34 percent less than per capita urban income. A large part of under employment is still concealed in various rural activities particularly in the less developed parts of the country. For centuries, the true magnitude of poverty has been concealed from view by pushing a large part of it to the rural areas. This set in motion a self-perpetuating mechanism. The more enterprising and talented in the rural society migrated to the cities in search of dreams which were seldom realized. Such migrants added to urban squalor. The relatively more prosperous in the rural society opted for urban residence for different reasons. The rural society itself has in this way systematically been denuded of its more enterprising elements, as rural areas developed the character of a huge and sprawling slum. Development in the past has touched rural scene mainly via agricultural development programmes. These are essential and would have to be intensified. Much more important is a large scale expansion of physical and social infrastructure on the village scene. These included rural roads, rural water supply and village electrification as a part of the change in the physical environment and primary education and primary health care as the agents of social change. The task is to provide modern amenities as an aid for bringing into motion the internal dynamics of the rural society on a path leading to increase in productivity and self-help, changing the overall surrounding, while preserving coherence, integrated structure and the rich cultural heritage of the rural society.

Precis:
Any effective development strategy must center on rural development. Majority of the population lives in rural areas. The per capita income, unemployment rates, poverty levels, and state of development are quite abysmal in villages. Those who dream of better lives migrate to cities but find themselves in urban slums. Villages are being deprived of their essential characteristics, transforming into squalor with each passing day. Apart from development programs, which are primarily agricultural in nature, the country requires a complete overhaul of its socio-physical infrastructure. The focus should be on providing these hamlets with modern amenities, enabling them to follow the path of development while keeping their intrinsic character intact.

Title: Socio-Physical Development of Rural Society

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It is no doubt true that we cannot go through life without sorrow. There can be no sunshine without shade. We must not complain that roses have thorns, but rather be grateful that thorns bear flowers. Our existence here is so complex that we must expect much sorrow and much suffering. Many people distress and torment themselves about the mystery of existence. But although a good man may at times be angry with the world, it is certain that no man was ever discontented with the world who did his duty in it. The world is a looking-glass, if you smile, it smiles, if you frown, it frowns back. If you look at it through a red glass, all seems red and rosy: if through a blue, all blue, if through a smoked one, all dull and dingy. Always try then to look at the bright side of things, almost everything in the world has a bright side. There are some persons whose smile, the sound of whose voice, whose very presence seems like a ray of sunshine and brightens a whole room. Greet everybody with a bright smile, kind words and a pleasant welcome. It is not enough to love those who are near and dear to us. We must show that we do so. While, however, we should be grateful, and enjoy to the full the innumerable blessings of life, we cannot expect to have no sorrows or anxieties. Life has been described as a comedy to those who think, and a tragedy to those feel. It is indeed a tragedy at times and a comedy very often, but as a rule, it is what we choose to make it. No evil, said Socrates, can happen to a good man, either in Life or Death.

Precis:
Joy and sorrow go hand in hand in life. Difficulties are the cornerstone of life because they provide men with a different perspective on life. One can only appreciate the blessings of life after facing the adversities of life. The world reflects what one wants to see. An optimistic person will observe a world full of happiness, whereas a pessimistic person will only see the miseries and pain in the world. Both are realities of life, and one cannot prevent himself from suffering. Men, however, should try to remain happy and transfer their positive energy to the rest of the world.

Title: Life: A reflection of one's perspective

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Climate influences labour not only by enervating the labourer or by invigorating him, but also by the effect it produces on the regularity of his habits. Thus, we find that no people living in a very northern latitude have ever possessed that steady and unflinching industry for which the inhabitants of temperate regions are remarkable. In the more northern countries the severity of the weather, and, at some seasons, the deficiency of light, render it impossible for the people to continue their usual out-of-door employments. The result is that the working classes, being compelled to cease from their ordinary, pursuits, are rendered move prone to desultory habits, the chain of their industry is, as it were, broken, and they lose that impetus which long continued and uninterrupted practice never fails to give. Hence there arises a national character more fitful and capricious than that possessed by a people whose climate permits the regular exercise of their ordinary industry. Indeed, so powerful is this principle that we perceive its operations even under the most opposite circumstances. It would be difficult to conceive a greater difference in government, laws, religion, and manners, than that which distinguishes Sweden and Norway, on the one hand, from Spain and Portugal on the other. But these four countries have one great point in common. In all of them continued agricultural industry is impracticable. In the two Southern countries labour is interrupted by the dryness of the weather and by the consequent state of the soil. In the northern countries the same effect is produced by the severity of the winter and the shortness of the days. The consequence is that these four nations, though so different in other respects, are all remarkable for a certain instability and fickleness of character.
Precis:
The habits of the working class are, for the most part, shaped by the climate. The economies of the northern countries significantly differ from those of the southern and temperate countries. The intensity of the coldness and hotness in northern and southern countries confines people to indoor activities and infuses them with vacillating characteristics. This restricted environment instils in them the habits of cursory and half-hearted activities that are quite opposite to those of the denizens of the temperate regions of the globe. Resultantly, the environment shapes the national character, policies, and principles of people living in different zones of climate.

Title: Climate's Impact on National Character

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One of the fundamental facts about words is that the most useful ones in our language have many meanings. That is partly why they are so useful: they work overtime... Think of all the various things we mean by the word “foot” on different occasion: one of the lower extremities of the human body, a measure of verse, the ground about a tree, twelve inches, the floor in front of the stairs. The same is true of nearly every common noun or verb.
Considering the number of ways of taking a particular word, the task of speaking clearly and being understood would seem pretty hopeless if it were not for another very important fact about language. Though a word may have many senses, these senses can be controlled, up to a point, by the context in which the word is used. When we find the word in a particular verbal setting - we can usually decide quite definitely which of the many senses of the word relevant. If a poet says his verse has feet, it doesn’t occur to you that he could mean it’s a yard long or is three legged (unless perhaps you are a critic planning to puncture the poet with a pun about his “lumping verse”). The context rules out these maverick senses quite decisively.

Precis:
The outstanding fact about the power of language is its vocabulary. A single word has quite different meanings and interpretations. As a word can be used in a number of ways, one can assume it is quite difficult to comprehend the speech. What determines which particular interpretation of a word is being used is the context in which it is being used. The context selects the intended sense and eliminates all other versions.

Title: Contextualizing the sense of the words

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The incomparable gift of brain, with its truly amazing powers of abstraction, has rendered obsolete the slow and sometimes clumsy mechanisms utilized by evolution so far. Thanks to the brain alone, man, in the course of three generations only, has conquered the realm of air, while it took hundreds of thousands of years for animals to achieve the same result through the process of evolution. Thanks to the brain alone, the range of our sensory organs has been increased a million fold, far beyond the wildest dreams, we have brought the moon within thirty miles of us, we see the infinitely small and see the infinitely remote, we hear the inaudible, we have dwarfed distance and killed physical time. We have succeeded in understanding them thoroughly. We have put to shame the tedious and time consuming methods of trial and error used by Nature, because Nature has finally succeeded in producing its masterpieces in the shape of the human brain. But the great laws of evolution are still active, even though adaptation has lost its importance as far as we are concerned. We are now responsible for the progress of evolution. We are free to destroy ourselves if we misunderstand the meaning and the purpose of our victories. And we are free to forge ahead, to prolong evolution, to cooperate with God if we perceive the meaning of it all, if we realize that it can only be achieved through a whole-hearted effort toward moral and spiritual development. Our freedom, of which we may be justly proud, affords us the proof that we represent the spearhead of evolution: but it is up to us to demonstrate, by the way in which we use it, whether we are ready yet to assume the tremendous responsibility which has befallen us almost suddenly.

Precis:
The brain is the sole organ that has outsmarted all other organs in the process of evolution. In a short span of time, it was able to accomplish what took other species hundreds of thousands of years. The brain has enabled men to conquer space and time. It is the magnum opus of nature itself. The freedom of mankind proves that the human species is leading evolution. Now it is up to humankind to decide how to use that freedom: whether to use this gift towards peace and development or trifle with it to destroy themselves along the way.

Title: Mankind, the spearheader of evolution.

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The touring companies had set up their stages, when playing for towns-folk and not for the nobility in the large inn yards where the crowd could sit or stand around the platform and the superior patrons could seat themselves in the galleries outside the bedrooms of the inn. The London theatres more or less reproduced this setting, though they were usually round or oval in shape and stage was more than a mere platform, having entrances at each side, a curtained inner stage and an upper stage or balcony. For imaginative Poetic drama this type of stage had many advantages. There was no scenery to be changed, the dramatist could move freely and swiftly from place to place. Having only words at his command, be had to use his imagination and compel his audience to use theirs. The play could move at great speed. Even with such limited evidence as we possess, it is not hard to believe that the Elizabethan audience, attending a poetic tragedy or comedy, found in the theatre an imaginative experience of a richness and intensity that we cannot discover in our own drama.

Precis:
Modern London theatres have emulated but upgraded the settings of Elizabethan-era inn yards, where large crowd sit around the platform and wealthy elites are found in the elevated galleries. Modern stage systems have so many amenities in their arsenal to enrich the audience’s theatrical experience. However, modern audiences still cannot experience the depth and profundity that were experienced by the innyard audience.

Title: Theatrical Experience: Modern versus Innyard

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The Greatest” civilization before ours was the Greek. They, too, lived in a dangerous world. They were a little, highly civilized people, surrounded by barbarous tribes and always threatened by the greatest Asian power, Persia. In the end they succumbed, but the reason they did was not that the enemies outside were so strong, but that their spiritual strength had given way. While they had it, they kept Greece unconquered. Basic to all Greek achievements was freedom. The Athenians were the only free people in the world. In the great empires of antiquity — Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Persia — splendid though they were, with riches and immense power, freedom was unknown. The idea of it was born in Greece, and with it Greece was able to prevail against all the manpower and wealth arrayed against her. At Marathon and at Salamis overwhelming numbers of Persians were defeated by small Greek forces. It was proved there that one free man was superior to many submissively obedient subjects of a tyrant. And Athens, where freedom was the dearest possession, was the leader in those amazing victories. Greece rose to the very height, not because she was big, she was very small, not because she was rich, she was very poor, not even because she was wonderfully gifted. So doubtless were others in the great empires of the ancient world who have gone their way leaving little for us. She rose because there was in the Greeks the greatest spirit that moves in humanity, the spirit that sets men free.”


Precis:
Despite living in a savage world, the Greek civilization was the greatest civilization to have ever existed. They were a cultured people surrounded by enemies. Ultimately, they capitulated because of their waning spirituality. They remained undefeated as long as they were spiritual. Individual freedom was one of the unique defining characteristics of Greek civilization. It was their freedom that provided them with victories against their most formidable foes. Despite being poor and smaller in size, Greece rose to prominence mainly because of her free and independent spirit.

Title: Freedom: The Hallmark of Greek Civilization

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Not all the rulers signed the Instrument of Accession at once. Afraid that the Socialist Congress Party would strip him of his amusements, flying, dancing girls and conjuring delights which he had only just begun to indulge since he had only recently succeeded his father to the throne, the young Maharajah of Jodhpur arranged a meeting with Jinnah. Jinnah was aware that both Hindu majority and geographical location meant that most of the Princely states would go to India, but he was gratified by the thought that he might be able to snatch one or two from under Patel’s nose. He gave Jodhpur a blank sheet of paper.
Elated, the Maharajah returned to his hotel to consider. It was an unfortunate move on his part, for V. P. Menon was there waiting for him. Menon’s agents had alerted him to what Jodhpur was up to. He told the young ruler that his presence was requested urgently at viceroy’s House, and reluctantly the young man accompanied him there. The urgent summons had been an excuse, and once they had arrived, Menon had to go on a frantic search for Viceroy and tell him what had happened. Mountbatten responded immediately. He solemnly reminded Jodhpur that Jinnah could not guarantee any conditions he might make, and that accession to Pakistan would spell disaster for his state. At the same time, he assured him that accession to India would float automatically mean end of his pleasure. Mountbatten left him alone with Menon to sign a provisional agreement.

Precis:
Most of the rulers of Indian states did not sign the Instrument of Accession immediately. Young Maharajah of Jodhpur arranged a meeting with Jinnah because he had some apprehensions about his treatment by the Congress if he joined India. Quaid-e-Azam was willing to accept all his terms and conditions because he knew that owing to demographical and geographical constraints most of the Indian states would go to India. Exhilarated, the Maharajah went to his hotel where he met Menon. Menon took him to the Viceroy. Mountbatten persuaded him to sign an agreement to join India.

Title: Jodhpur’s accession to India