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Organizing for Government Intervention in Family Planning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

Ruth Simmons ,
George B. Simmons ,
B. D. Misra  and
Ali Ashraf
George B. Simmons
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
B. D. Misra
Affiliation:
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Ali Ashraf
Affiliation:
A. N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna, Bihar
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Abstract

Family planning programs have encountered limited success not only because of our incomplete understanding of the sociocultural context of fertility decisions, but because the bureaucratic structures entrusted with the organizing task are overextended. Since the implementing agencies are themselves a complex part of the wider society in which they operate, there are important advantages to using an open systems perspective in the analysis of the problems of organizing for transactions with the client population. The status quo in family planning does not have to be maintained. Within political systems one can try to increase the organizational capacity to translate policies into action, or one can devise policies which recognize organizational constraints. In order to accomplish either or both of these objectives, a fresh approach to both action and research is necessary.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , July 1975 , pp. 569 - 596
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1975

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References

1 Davis, Kingsley, ”Population Policy: Will Current Programs Succeed?” Science, Vol. 158 (November 1967), 730–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Driver, Edwin, “Social Ideology, Social Organization, and Family Planning,” in Essays on Population Policy (Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath 1972), 101–25Google Scholar; Hauser, Phillip, “Population Policies Affecting Fertility: A Sociological Perspective on Family Planning Programs,” in International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, International Population Conference: Liège 1973, III (Liège, Belgium: IUSSP 1973), 303–18Google Scholar; Marshall, John, “Culture and Contraception: Response Determinants to a Family Planning Program in a North Indian Village,” unpub. Ph.D. diss. (University of Hawaii 1972)Google Scholar; Mandelbaum, David G., Human Fertility in India: Social Components and Policy Perspectives (Berkeley: University of California Press 1974)Google Scholar; Mencher, Joan, “Family Planning in Chingleput District, Madras, India,” in Polgar, Stephen, ed., Culture and Population: A Collection of Current Studies, Monograph 9 (Chapel Hill: Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina 1971), 151–59Google Scholar; Thomas Poffenberger and Shirley Poffenberger, “The Social Psychology of Fertility in a Village in India,” in Fawcett, James T., ed., Psychological Perspectives on Population (New York: Basic Books 1973), 135–61Google Scholar.

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5 See, for example, United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Report on the Family Planning Program in India, TAO/IND/48 (February 1966); Government of India, Estimates Committee, Thirteenth Report: Family Planning Programme, E.C. No. 706 (New Delhi: April 1972)Google Scholar; Planning Commission, Government of India, Evaluation of the Family Planning Programme (New Delhi: March 1965), 1–12, 94–107Google Scholar.

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7 Ibid., 961–1027, 1843–1940; Rothwell, Kenneth, Administrative Issues in Developing Economics (Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath 1972)Google Scholar; Simmons, George, The Indian Investment in Family Planning (New York: The Population Council 1971), 175–91Google Scholar.

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14 Helbig (fn. 12),41–45.

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17 One advantage of the open-systems model in policy research is that it reduces the temptation to resort to personal fault as an explanation for problems that are systemic in nature. See Caplan, Nathan and Nelson, Stephen O., “On Being Useful: The Nature and Consequences of Psychological Research on Social Problems,” American Psychologist, XXVIII (March 1973), 99–211Google Scholar.

18 Theodore Smith has made a somewhat comparable argument using the concept sui generis in his recent paper, “Management and Family Planning Programs: Indonesia, A Country Profile,” in Readings on Family Planning (in, 10), 25–33.

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20 Ibid.

21 Kaufman, , “The Direction of Organizational Evolution,” Public Administrative Review, XXXIII (July/August 1973), 307Google Scholar. Note that in our discussion we are assuming that it is the proponents of the managerial approach and not necessarily the administrators themselves who suffer from this malady.

22 Ibid.

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24 The term is chosen in preference to the more general term “organizational” because it puts emphasis on the process, and because the latter term would be equally applicable to the client-oriented activities undertaken by the organization. We will use the term “organizational” to refer to those general aspects of family planning programs that may include both organizing and client transactions. The term “management” is close in its meaning, but we have chosen to avoid it because of the relatively narrow range of meaning it has been given in the literature. The distinction between “organizing” and “client-oriented” is not used in the literature, but is consistent with Katz and Kahn's well-known taxonomy. See Katz, Daniel and Kahn, Robert L., The Social Psychology of Organizations (New York: Wiley and Sons 1966)Google Scholar.

25 Lawrence and Lorsch (fn. 23), 16, point out that this is due to the fact that organizations can modify their own structure. As a result, specific elements, agencies, or units may be part of the organization at one time and outside of it at another.

26 This is the district pattern for Uttar Pradesh. There is a good deal of statewide variation in the pattern.

27 Thompson, J. D., Organizations in Action (New York: McGraw-Hill 1967), 51Google Scholar.

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29 Thompson (fn. 27), 27, derives the term from Dill, W. R., “Environment as an Influence on Managerial Autonomy,” American Sociological Quarterly, XXIII (March 1958), 409–43Google Scholar. Our use of general environmental conditions as an independent factor departs somewhat from Thompson's and Dill's usage, but is in general consistent with the spirit of their definition.

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31 Bhatt, Anil, The Location of a Primary Health Centre in Kekawada: A Case Study (New Delhi: Indian Institute of Public Administration 1968)Google Scholar.

32 It should be indicated that there is a considerable amount of overlap between the categories of general environmental conditions and the task environment. The distinction holds, however, since general environmental conditions are conceptualized at a more general level of analysis. They include a broader perspective than the client sector (which only incorporates couples within the reproductive age group) and the environmental sector (which only refers to groups and agencies affecting the organization).

33 Demerath, Nicholas J., “Can India Reduce Its Birth Rate? A Question of Modernization and Governmental Capacity,” Journal of Social Issues, XXIII, No. 4 (1967), 179–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar, presents a similar argument.

33 Demerath, Nicholas J., “Can India Reduce Its Birth Rate? A Question of Modernization and Governmental Capacity,” Journal of Social Issues, XXIIII, No. 4 (1967), 179–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar, presents a similar argument.