Pub Ad Optional Daily Brief – 4 – September – 2026

Pub Ad PYQ Vault | Day 38 | PYQ (2014)

“Accountability and control are the two faces of the same coin.” Discuss.

Keyword of the Day | Representativeness

It refers to the extent to which public institutions and their personnel reflect the diversity and interests of the society they govern.
It moves administration beyond mere efficiency and neutrality towards social legitimacy and inclusion.

J. Donald Kingsley in Representative Bureaucracy argued that a bureaucracy should broadly reflect the social composition of the population, because representation can improve administrative responsiveness.

Thinker of the Day | Robert Presthus

Work: The Organizational Society: An Analysis and a Theory

Views

Presthus identified three types of employees based on their response to organisational authority.

1. Upward-mobile – Accept organisational values and seek advancement 2. Indifferent – Maintain minimum involvement treat job instrumentally 3.Ambivalent – Simultaneously seek advancement and resist organisational demands

Organisational structure → Individual adaptation → Employee behaviour → Administrative effectiveness

Presthus shows that personnel behaviour cannot be understood merely through formal rules and incentives, organisational culture, authority and career aspirations also shape behaviour.

for e.g. In Indian administration employees may display Upward mobility through competitive promotion and career advancement. Indifference through routine compliance and minimum effort. Ambivalence when they value career progression but resist excessive hierarchy or rigid procedures.

Presthus humanises the Weberian bureaucracy by asking not merely how organisations structure behaviour, but how individuals psychologically adapt to organisational authority.