Answer To: OPEN UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT 1. Critically Analyse how POWER AND POLITICS...
Dr. Vidhya answered on Mar 25 2021
POWER AND POLITICS IN ORGANIZATIONS OF MAURITIUS: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction 4
1.1 Scales of Power &Politics 4
1.2 Forms of Power & Politics 5
1.3 Objectives of the Study 6
1.4 Scope of the Study 6
2.0 Literature Review 6
3.0 Problem Identification 14
3.1 What are the problems of power & politics in Mauritian Organization? 14
3.2 How power & politics negatively affect an organization? 14
3.3 How power & politics negatively affect society? 14
3.4 How power & politics negatively affect the economy? 14
4.0 Research Methodology 15
4.1 Research Plan Process 15
4.2 Research Plan Objectives 15
4.3 Research Methods 15
4.3.1 Use of Questionnaire 15
4.3.2 Advantages of Using Questionnaires 16
4.4 Target Population 16
4.5 Limitations of the Study 16
4.6 Sample Size 16
4.0 Findings and Analysis 17
5.0 Recommendations andConclusion 24
5.1 Recommendations 24
5.2 Proposed Solutions 27
5.3 Conclusion 28
References 30
Appendix: Survey Questionnaire 32
1.0 Introduction
When organizational governance is defined, it has multiple dimensions which affect the overall course of accomplishing successful administration. The role of power and politics in this context is simply inevitable; the political governance of any nation is interlinked with how the growth of the economic sector of the nation takes place. In other words, there are direct points of intervention that ensure politics has a great role to play in the context of organizational governance as well as its growth. In Mauritius, the evolution of economy is a positive factor; the national politics is shaped by the new ideologies which adhere to the principles of global democratic norms. The effects of the new norms of ruling are seen in the steady organizational growth in recent decades. However, the active participation of women and minority both in the context of organizational governance is subject of investigation; in spite of having majority in nation, there is lack of active women participation in politics and in organizational governance.
1.1 Scales of Power &Politics
The role of political systems, government, and power in organizational culture are major influences in the current sense of social evolutions around the world. The dynamics of power and politics change in a 0moving world, particularly when the majority of nations have adopted a democratic system. Since policymaking for the alleviation of business norms is implemented in an integrated manner, there is an implicit relationship between economic development and political governance of the country.
In other words, every nation's political values have an effect on the overall course of events in the organizational environment, which are the real business world and the foundation of the nation's global success. Political leniency, the implementation of liberal principles in expanding markets, or taking decisions that are closely associated with the nation's economic development play crucial roles in a time when global expansion and the design of multinational business structures have become prominent drivers of growth.
Simultaneously, in any business context, the support received from the local or national government is critical in establishing confidence among community members and in maintaining business norms for a longer span of time. In light of the above, Mauritius is a nation that follows the British model of political governance. The nation's legislative, political, and judicial bodies are separated, giving it the genuine British model of governance that is often seen in Asian countries. This separation of power, on the other hand, allows for a mechanism of strict democratic rule.
1.2 Forms of Power & Politics
There can be, at the same time, as many forms of power and politics as possible in the democratic setup; interlinks of this power dynamism can be traced in the modern principles of economic growth. In fact, the forms of power exist in various leadership styles, which are most likely to occur in the organizational governance. If government is also seen as an organization, transformation, distributive and servant leadership styles are applicable to determine what form of political governance is suitable for a particular national economy.
Therefore, this is affecting the course of business operations by setting up new policies or taking decisions, which are important for the wellbeing of the various local and international organizations operating in nation. The concept of parliamentary democracy is followed in nation, which is based on Westminster Model of UK; Section 1 of Mauritiusconstitution states that the country will be free and individually operational in its political strength and it will be founded over the conventional democratic principles.
Additionally, the fair concept of democratic principles of ruling has turned out to be positive influence in shaping the course of power and politics in this African nation. Mauritius is one of the nations in Africa where nominal conflicts stand on political grounds and, therefore, they give way to the new dimensions of economic stability of organizations. This is more like giving equal space and importance both to the economic stability of nation and it largely depends over the concept how smoothly the business operations take place here. The national government is committed to provide space and liberty to the local and international organizations to operate in their business sector.
The liberal state of business policies and a formal creation of the environment of business is also an additional factor that boosts the morale of various national and international organizations to design and process their goods and services within the national premises. It gives Mauritius, recognition of a highly stable nation in terms of sustaining its power centers and political pressure groups, which do not affect the course of economy. In other African nations, if the position of power and politics is compared to Mauritius, there are considerable resurgences of conflicts at political level, posing threats to the smooth course of economic growth.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
Coming to the objectives of the present study, it will examine the shaping or organizational culture and corporate governance from the perspective of power and politics in Mauritian organizations. Through adopting the qualitative research and analysis, the study will tend to establish that links between the roles that power dynamism plays in shaping the organization governance in Mauritius.
1.4 Scope of the Study
The scope of these dimensions would aid the course of perceiving the present standing of Mauritian organizations in the global context of business. The study will strengthen the assumptions, whichare held responsible for both the positive as well as negative kinds of influences, which the power and political governance duo has given to the national and state organizations.
2.0 Literature Review
With a view to examine the various dimensions of power and politics and their role in the organizational culture in Mauritius, some key research questions were focused mainly. This study prioritized the focus on how gender-based participation of women in power and politics shapes the organizational governance negatively due to the lack of reduced opportunities for women to advocate for their rights about business space. In spite of holding more than half of the majority in nation, it appears that the active engagement of females in shaping the power and dynamism of the nation is below average. Similarly, because of having one community-based influence over the political spheres, there is not much active participation of the minority communities in the mainstream business opportunities. These are two major dimensions along with how the role of power and politics has structured new ways and possibilities, as per the encouragement of the national government to the individual and State-Owned Enterprise (SOEs) operating in nation.
A rapid shift in the interest of common people is also seen in the recent elections of Mauritius; the voters have favored the parties and leaders who have promised to work on improving the national economy. At the same time, the decision-making process, policymaking, structural changes in the economic principles of nation, role of democracy in setting up future opportunities for organizations were some of the key investigating points of the following literature review:
Rambaree et al. (2020) believed that while Mauritius has excelled in most democratic indicators; progress on gender equality in politics has been slow. In 1983 and 1987, women made up 5.7 percent of the Mauritian parliament, 17 percent in 2005, and 11.6 percent in 2014. In the most recent elections, the figure reached 20%. The constitution of Mauritius guarantees that all people are treated equally and that women have the same legal rights as men. However, cultural and social barriers continue to limit women's ability to exercise their rights completely. The political parties and electoral structure in the country are not gender-sensitive.
In politics, there is very little space for women. Since women account for slightly more than half of the country's population, it is symbolic to have equal representation of women in parliament. Furthermore, women constitute a distinct political category with special concerns. Women parliamentarians will also act as role models for other women who want to get involved in politics. Women's lives have changed dramatically in the last 50 years. Girls and boys have equal access to free education from primary school to university, and girls have higher pass rates.
Kasenally and Ramtohul (2020) perceived the political structure of Mauritius and focus on the parliamentary costs that the national politics have gone through over the decades. In fact, the nation is first one to opt for the past the post model of political governance in which, there are three major parties involved. The Alliance Morisien (coalition includes MSM, ML & MPM) currently rules the nation and it has taken some of the promising decisions to setup the course of smooth business operations. During the interviews conducted, the participants in the study actually responded quite positively towards the ongoing political procedures and policy review programs. In organizational context, one can see the large impacts of the political governance in the sense that the collaboration of three parties altogether makes the politics of Mauritius stabilized. It assists in developing healthy course of reviews and monitoring process of organizations that are currently working in the national premises.
Croucher et al. (2020) reckoned the importance of soft law adopted in the organizational culture of Mauritius and found it laced with opportunities of growth, if the power and politics are kept in the center of this economic evolution of country. In fact, legal applications of the business operations have many dimensions; the business operations are governed either by soft laws or by the strict laws. The soft laws permit a range of wide varieties of business operations in which, leverage is given on behalf of the review committees structured on behalf of the government. These committees take up the work of monitoring by the power granted to them on behalf of the government itself. When applied to the gender-based participation, the same soft laws go through the conventional norms of society and serve as the potential barriers in their way to become active members of political governance or the corporate culture of the organizations.
Roghubur (2018) here perceived the importance of corporate governance and found it as an integral part of the power and politics and its relation to the organizations operating in Mauritius. In fact, the study comprises of two distinctive phases in which, a number of State-Owned Enterprises employees were interviewed. They were observed over the questions posed before them regarding the present status of corporate governance and the kinds of challenges and barriers existing in the organizational systems.
The second phase of the study analyzed these responses and found that there is yet a great deal of work left in the organizational systems in terms of enhancing the roles and responsibilities set to corporate governance. This aspect of the study projects how it is significant to see the interlinked scenarios of political governance as the source system to the corporate governance. In other words, the role of power and politics is not limited to the external decisive factors for organizations; it works as the motivational factor to structure the internal corporate governance in nation. The state-owned enterprises are the best places to review the trends in corporate governance in Mauritius.This decisive factor is included in the general politics and organizational governance but it is not the part of gender-based participation; it does not fully define up to what degree, it is applicable to active women participation.
While major portion of this review is oriented towards the relationship of power, politics and its contribution to the smooth business operations in Mauritius, Ramtohul (2017) expanded the criteria of the present study to the gender-based dynamism. It is so because it is important to ensure that the CSR practices in organizations follow the equality of workplace opportunities, which are to be given to the female professionals. She views that in the political scenarios of Mauritius, the trend of following patriarchal society is common; not much of women are seen as active participants in the process of elections.
The condition is no doubt improving over the last two elections but it is not sufficient to represent the 52% of the overall population of nation. The conventional approach of the society in Mauritius is driven by the male dominance in political sphere, which does not structure the equilibrium of power and politics perfectly. Women are somehow left behind in this context because they do not get representative value in politics and, therefore, the advocacy for following corporate social responsibility in organization is subdued (Ramtohul, 2019). In other words, when it comes to give women platforms of work, the strong and authoritative voice in the political governing bodies is missing. It needs improvement to balance the conceptual assumption of power and politics especially when it is driven from the gender biases. This systematic marginalization of women in national politics needs formal addressing with a view to enhance the female voices of advocacy in the corporate governance because as mentioned in the previous study, organizations look up positively to the national policymaking structure.
However, in spite of holding the highest degree of stable course of political governance, which is helpful in developing and retaining stable organizational growth in nation, the conventional patriarchal structure of ruling is questioned at times; Mauritius has 52% of women population but the political representation of female gender is below average. It implies that the nation suffers on the grounds of providing equality of fundamental human rights to female gender in politics and thus, it affects the course of actions taken in order to provide opportunities to organizational culture where women workforce is equally valued as men.
It becomes significant to examine the question up to what degree; women are allowed to share the power centers in Mauritius with a view to expand the investigation into organizations. It is because of the fact that the political spheres affect the course of policymaking to the business organizations and active women engagement in the political scenarios of the nation simply motivates organizations to show their commitment to provide equal work opportunities to the females. This is more like setting up the equilibrium of workplace with equality of work opportunities given to the female gender especially in a social context where the male dominance is prevalent in society.
Adejumobi (2017) viewed that Mauritius is a traditional, patriarchal culture, which makes political participation difficult for women. These ideals direct notions of acceptable femininity, in which women are discouraged from adopting masculine behaviors and roles. This is particularly troublesome in politics, where prospective politicians are expected to spend a lot of time in the field and to lead public meetings with largely male audiences. As a result, politics is seen as unacceptable for women and therefore detrimental to a family's image. Mauritian culture is still very family-focused, with women required to take on the majority of household duties.
Women politicians are discriminated against both implicitly and covertly as an outcome of the patriarchal society. A recent example was when Joanna Berenger, a new politician, was identified as coming to parliament with "zak dan tant" in the headline of one of the country's most widely circulated newspapers. This Creole phrase literally translates to "jackfruit in the basket",Joana Berengerwas expecting a baby boy. The headline offended many Mauritians, especially women, and it sparked a wave of protests on social media and elsewhere on the internet. The key point raised was that, despite their popularity as political leaders, Mauritian culture still makes a reference to women's reproductive roles.
Couacaud, ShookrajowaandNarsoo (2020) shifted the dimension of the electoral boundaries to a different scale of division of power and...