WHEN BUREAUCRACY MATTERS FOR ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE: EXPLORING THE BENEFITS OF ADMINISTRATIVE INTENSITY IN BIG AND COMPLEX ORGANIZATIONS

Administrative intensity is arguably a major determinant of public service performance. Although a large administrative function might constitute a bureaucratic burden, it could also enable organizations to better coordinate key activities. In particular, administrative intensity may strengthen or weaken the performance effects of other key organizational characteristics, such as size and task complexity. To explore these ideas, we analyse the separate and combined effects of administrative intensity, organization size and task complexity on the research and educational performance of UK universities between 2005 and 2011. The statistical results suggest that administrative intensity has a performance pay‐off for big and complex organizations.     

Great Achievements Secured by the CPC

C HINA has effected many achievements unprecedented in human history under the leadership of the Communist Party of China(CPC).We know that China is the most populous country in the world.About four decades ago it was still a country with hundreds of millions people ensnared in poverty.In the following years since the country's reform and opening-up policy was rolled out,China has made tremendous develop-ment strides.This great progress was not purely a coincidence,but rather came about through effective measures,planning,and guidance of the CPC,which has presented the world with a different develop-ment model in contrast to the neoliberal capitalism that has led to some chaos across the world.     

A Jihad for Education

Going through a protracted period of transition since the end of the Cold War, the world order in the making is neither what was nor what it is yet to become. It is in “the middle of the future.” To get our bearings in this uncertain transition, we explore the two grand post‐Cold War narratives—“The End of History” as posited by Francis Fukuyama and “The Clash of Civilizations” posited by the late Samuel Huntington. Mikhail Gorbachev looks back at his policies that brought the old order to collapse. The British philosopher John Gray critiques the supposed “universality” of liberalism and, with Homi Bhabha, sees a world of hybrid identities and localized cultures. The Singaporean theorist Kishore Mahbubani peels away the “veneer” of Western dominance. Amartya Sen, the economist and Nobel laureate, assesses whether democratic India or autocratic China is better at building “human capacity” in their societies.