Technical Rationale Culture Analysis

Guerrilla Government: Solution for Technical – Rationale Culture
Introduction
Technical rationale culture led to an era of professionalism which deemphasizes the important of ethics and morality, and presumes that to be professional, is to be ethical (Adams & Balfour, 2009, p. 32-33). Technical rationality has led to specialized professionals, who carry out decisions with an analytical mindset, which can often lead to blind obedience. Frequently, blind obedience can lead moral individuals to commit acts that otherwise, they would have not done outside the scope of their profession. Unfortunately, the technical rationale culture within many public agency has resulted in unethical acts masked as duties. Examples of such unethical acts can be

34). Adams and Balfour (2009) cite social psychologist Stanley Milgram researched; Milgram studied the effect of authority on obedience. He concluded that people obey, against their own better judgment, out of fear or out of a desire to appear cooperative. Individuals may see themselves responsible for their own actions, however, an “argentic shift” may occur, in which they no longer see themselves as responsible for their actions, but merely as an agent, carrying out the instructions of another person. (Adams & Balfour, 2009, p. 36). When they receive an order from an authority figure, they shift from being responsible for their own actions, to ‘just following orders’. Personal conscience is always subordinate to the authority of the bureaucracy; this is the concept of public ethics under the technical rational culture (Adams & Balfour, 2009, p. 168). Under technical rational perspective, administrators obey orders; use discretion to influence and carry the will of their supervisors; follow proper protocol; are innovative and creative; and are efficient and effective (Adams & Balfour, 2009, p.168). One negative implication is that individual principles becomes weak and ethical standards do little to limit the potential for evil in organizations. Another negative consequence of technical rational is that it relieves and even prohibits individual’s administrators from making fundamental value judgments. Technical rational traditions discourage public servants from publicly disagreeing with the organization’s policies (Adams & Balfour, 2009, p. 170). Under technical rational culture, public servants are expected to voice disagreement privately and are only given the option to pledge loyalty or exit the organization (Adams & Balfour, 2009, p. 169). Another consequence is that when unable to express their concerns,