The Effect Of Computers On Education

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

When I first glanced over part one, I assumed it was going to be an argument of fact based theories and studies. I was happy to find that was far from the truth. Each chapter did a great job of providing information in a simple well delivered, factual way. All of the authors accepted the idea of the information revolution, but the main difference was regarding how we have arrived at our current position, how we are dealing with it, and what will happen in the future.

The first three sections shared a common opinion in regards to the speed in which the information revolution has evolved. This opinion was primarily centering on computer technology and advised that the revolution has come to light faster than we could have ever imagined. Due to this rapid transition, we are now trying to catch up by use of social reform, government reform, and economic reform. There was also a common trend that technology should be viewed as the new wealth and the value of material goods are falling by the wayside. One section I particularly liked, addressed the concept of intellectual property and how it must be addressed (Chapter 3, Dyson, Glider, Keyworth, and Toffler, 1996). According to Dyson et al. (1996) defying intellectual property rights in cyberspace is the single most urgent task for our government.

Overall, the three chapters agreed that the information revolution, which has been fueled by technological advances, has created a society in need of immediate core changes. Furthermore, we need an immediate acceptance for the information revolution and need the government to help take control and make the changes swiftly and quickly, so that we can take full advantage of the revolution.

In the next set of chapters, the biggest difference was what I would call the change factor. All of the authors still accepted the idea of the information revolution, however during the last three chapters an emphasis was placed on society to do the changing, as opposed to the government. Another key difference dealt with the speed of the information revolution. During the last three chapters it was noted that the revolution has come at a much slower pace and that some parts of the information revolution are not as important. Robins and Webster (1999) even state that new technologies are revolutionary, only in a rather trivial sense, and makes a valid argument that the revolution started back with Taylorism, when scientific management boomed; comparing current trends of control and surveillance by the government.

Works Cited

Dyson, E., Gilder, G., Keyworth, G., & Toffler, A. (1996). Cyberspace and the American Dream. In F. Webster (Ed.), The Information Society Reader (pp. 31-41). New Fetter Lane, London: Routledge.

Robins, K., & Webster, F. (1999). The Long History of the Information Revolution. In F. Webster (Ed.), The Information Society Reader (pp. 62-80). New Fetter Lane, London: Routledge.

II. The Birth of Broadband Report compiled by the International Telecommunications Union includes the statement excerpted below.

On a general level, analysis consistently shows that economies that actively pursue promotion of new technologies most often fare better in terms of access, economic gain and technological impact. Broadband is no exception to this. Analysis also shows that consumers often remain ignorant about the benefits they might gain by switching to broadband, and need some convincing of what is in it for them.

For governments, broadband is a way of promoting economic development and certain social benefits. For instance, in the Republic of Korea and Hong Kong, China, which are currently the leading broadband economies, telecommunication expenditure as a percentage of GDP grew up to three times faster in the last ten years than the global average. As many countries have also experienced, broadband can also facilitate the provision of public services, such as e-learning, e-health and e-government. (ITU p. 14, 2003)

Explain, using other readings for support:

1. Why there is resistance among some people to adopt broadband into their lives (provide at least two reasons and support them)

Two primary reasons why the public shows resistance to adopting broadband may be broken down into two sub-categories. The first being by choice, and the second dealing with influences from outside factors; where individuals are left with no choice, therefore creating a natural resistance.

When dealing with choice, researches often find common trends among groups of society. In this case, let’s look specifically at age as a reason some choose to have resistance against accepting broadband. One study written by Day, Janus, and Davis (2005) for the United States Census Bureau, explained the 65 and over age group naturally has a resistance to broadband. According to Day et al. (2005), two main reasons are the belief they do not need access to the internet and secondly, they are not interested in broadband. Furthermore, Day et al. (2005) advises out of the 20 million households whom stated they have a disinterest in the internet, 60% fell into the age group of 55 and older.

The second category includes economic factors. In the economic times of today, some individuals cannot afford the cost of broadband. Whether this is due to high cost of broadband, created by company monopolies, or one’s own poor budgeting, it is well know that prices play a role in resistance. According to the International Telecommunication Union (2003), prices play a vital role in both consumer and business decisions to adopt broadband. Economies with high broadband penetrations are typically characterized by low prices, usually as a result of flourishing competition and innovative pricing schemes that attract a wide variety of customers (Media Facts Sheet, 2003). Further according to Day et al. (2005), a person’s income can play a role in their decision to accept or show resistance to broadband. There is a drastic change in the percentage of broadband subscribers within the income level of $25,000-$49,999 and an even larger drop once below $25,000. According to the statistic presented by Day et al. (2005), 78% of families that have an income of $50,000 to $74,000 have broadband access in their house; where families making under $25,000 drop sharply to 31%.

Based on the two examples presented above, it is easy to see there are numerous reasons broadband has barriers. As discussed above, some are created by choice, others are created by outside influences that society has no direct control over.

Works Cited

Day, J., Janus, A., & Davis, J. U.S. Census Bureau, (2005). Computer and internet use in the united states : 2003. Retrieved from Census Bureau website: http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p23-208.pdf

International Telecommunication Union. (2003). The birth of Broadband. Retrieved from http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/birthofbroadband/faq.html

2. Why are some cultures or governments resistant when such economic benefits seem attractive and services as e-learning, e-health, and e-government all sound like such promising tools (provide at least two reasons and support them)?

A current trend found today is the dissemination of information online, making just about every bit of information available at your fingertips, with just a few swift clicks of your finger or a computer mouse. With this vast abundance of information available within seconds, who would be resistant to such a benefit? The next few paragraphs will give a few examples of not only who has resistance to e-information, but also why.

First, let’s look at E-Learning. According to Godfrey Parkin, president of MindRise, a variety of reasons exist that creates resistance to E-Learning, which included loss of power, perceptions of high cost, and a reluctance to embrace e-business principles of speed, efficiency, and streamlining (Parkin, 2001).

Secondly, in dealing with E-Health, the resistance is still found within the organization. It is not the patients that spearhead the resistance, it is the physicians themselves. According to MEDSEEK (2012), physicians and staff have a natural resistance because they do not know what to anticipate from patient portals (9 Things That’ll Take, 2012). Furthermore, some simply believe that the idea is just another demand on their time and that individual’s will neither use or perhaps overuse the portal system.

The third program to explorer is E-Government, a program that many people use everyday, updating registration, paying bills, or maybe even filing your tax paperwork. However, you still have individuals that have a resistance to the movement of instant information accessibility, due to poor management or the presentation created by the government itself. According to a strategy published by the United States of America regarding the presidents E-Government Strategy, a common trend found among society was a need for the government to serve the people better and not treat everything from a business mindset (Forman, 2002). The strategy advised that E-Government needed to be more of a citizen-centered, result-oriented, and market-based unlike the current bureaucracy-centered one, it currently is.

In all, a common trend observed when dealing with any of the mentioned E-Programs is society’s resistance to change. It seems that one good way to overcome this resistance is through education, usage, and allowing a program to evolve over time.

Works Cited

Parkin, G. (2001, Febuarary). Sussessful E-Learning Outsourcing. Presented at the E-Learn Expo, Paris. Presentation retrieved from http://www.britefire.com/outsourcinggodfreyparkin.html

MEDSEEK. (2012, June 2012). 9 Things That’ll Take the MEANINGFUL out of Meaningful Use - #7 Expect anything less than strong physician resistance [online article]. Retrieved from http://medseekblog.typepad.com/medseek_weblog/2012/06/9-things-thatll-take-the meaningful-out-of-meaningful-use-7-expect-anything-less-than-strong-physici.html

Forman, M. (2002). E-government strategy. In United States of America Government. Retrieved

from http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Includes/Reference/egov

III. Is there some information that should be provided by governmental entities to the public free of cost? Justify your answer. Does providing information free of cost devalue the worth of the providers in a Knowledge Society (e.g. public education, extension agents, librarians, free computer support technicians)? Explain. This is a question without a right or wrong answer. Your grade will depend upon your explanation and support of your answer.

1. Is there some information that should be provided by governmental entities to the public free of cost?

There is absolutely some information I believe should be provided by our government free of cost. In today’s technologically advanced and knowledgeable society, information is a must. Everywhere you look, households, companies, hospitals, etc… are conquering the world of digital technology. Often times, this technology brings electronic dissemination of information to many different types of organizations. In this section, I am going to explore a few examples of this trend that is taking place in our local government entities.

The first example is that of government information related to the assessor’s office. Recently, I have been considering moving, and without free and open access to our county assessor, I would be left searching for information on parcels, taxes, school districts, square footage, etc… While this information may not be useful to everyone; in my case, I have found myself quickly losing interest in a house when the information is not available. This alone demonstrates the possibility that when a government disseminates information, it allows for a better environment for its citizens.

Secondly, I want to discuss the current legal systems. One thing you will find utilized by many cities, counties, or state organizations is a trend to embrace technology online. Often times you will be able to locate reports, research laws and ordinances, view crime trends and prevention tips, or even report crimes, all online. These are all services I feel the government should provide free to its citizens. While there may be headaches implementing strategies such as these, the positive outcomes outweigh the downfalls.

The third and final example deals with one of my more nerve racking decisions I have had to make in recent years. Sure buying a car, a house, having a child, going back to school were all relatively easy, when it came to finding a daycare, I hit a brick wall. There are multiple review sites that do provide great information related to daycares, one still has to remember that these sites often are created by members of the daycare society to promote daycares. One of the most beneficial and informative places I was able to locate information, was from our state’s daycare licensing division. I found that with a few phone calls and some Internet searching, I was able to pull up a legitimate information on the providers to include such information as employees, licensing information, complaints or investigations, state guidelines pertaining to each daycare, and much more. Once again, this demonstrates a great use of information that is made available by our government.

Based on the three examples noted above, clearly information is not something to be scared of. Having an open flow of useful information from government entities may create a more user friendly organization. After all, our government was founded by the people and created for the people, so having an open form of information that is free allows access to all people.

2. Does providing information free of cost devalue the worth of the providers in a Knowledge Society (e.g. public education, extension agents, librarians, free computer support technicians)?

In regards to the devalue of providers, the argument has to be approached with a positive over negative mindset. One would be hard-pressed to say that the current dissemination of information has never taken away the usefulness and dependency of the aforementioned positions. What we should be asking, is if this information has more positive outcomes than negative outcomes.

Let’s look at the public education first. From elementary to college, you must have a need and value to your job in order for an organization to keep you employed. After all, who needs an employee that has no true value? One factor that adds to the value of ones job, is having people to serve. If all of a sudden, half of a college’s on campus students withdrew, it would leave some employees with nothing to do; therefore dropping their value and eventually the college would have to eliminate their job. With the recent trend of online learning, there has to be some sort of decline to the on-campus workers value, and this trend of online learning is only going to keep gaining in numbers. According to a study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (2011), there was a 572% increase throughout all instructional levels between the academic years of 2002-03 and 2009-10 in regards to online based schooling. This was equivalent to almost 1.5 million students.

With numbers such as this, one could argue that some positions throughout the education system are losing value. If there is full access to an online college library, why should colleges not minimize the library staff? If there are Internet issues and it’s their own provider that fixes it, why can’t the college IT department cut staff? If student housing is not filled, why can’t a college cut housekeeping and maintenance staff?

Next, I want to quickly expand on two positions not mentioned in the context of the original question. First is that of city transit workers in San Francisco. According to Nath (2011), when San Francisco created an open source system of information, the public started creating applications to utilize that information. One particular application is called Routesy, an information based application that assist in the transportation sector. This application is widely used and helps citizens navigate the transportation system. This is done using real-time prediction information based on the user’s GPS location. The application can then identify the nearest transit stops, when the next bus or train is arriving, and much more. Furthermore, Nath (2011) states that by freely releasing this data, transportation providers saw improvements in customer satisfaction, increased ridership, and lower costs. While this is great for most people, one has to wonder. Has this increase in productivity, decreased the value of any workers? Does a decrease in complaints, cause the value of a human resource employee to decrease?

Secondly, let’s tackle the medical world and the act of self diagnosing. Sites such as WebMD, myelectonicmd, yourdiagnosis, or even your own health care provider have devalued the medical profession. I will be the first to admit, anytime I have a new pain, I often search the web and try to have an understanding of what is wrong before making an informative decision on what to do. I think factors such as bills, poor customer service, and the inconveniences you face with doctors, play a factor in my choice. If I feel sick and self diagnose that I have a cold and need medicine, why go to a doctor when I can walk into a Walgreens Take Care Clinic and get my medication. I do not have to pay for an office visit, sit in a waiting room for 30 minutes or make multiple stops to see a doctor and get medication. In the United Kingdom, self-diagnosing saves their national health care system millions of dollars a year, because approximately 70% of all patients use the internet to locate health information (Practice Nurse, 2011).

Based on the above examples, it is evident that while information may decrease the value of ones job, it is important to do what is best for society as a whole. Instead of attempting to resist the technology, due to the fear of devalue, perhaps it is the workers that should change. After all, we are living in a knowledgeable society. Employees must learn to be more specialized in their skills, and never stop learning in order to stay competitive in the work force, in order to ensure they always have a job. After all, this is why many of us are enrolled in a graduate program.

Works Cited

National Center for Educational Statistics. (2011). Percentage of Public School with Students Enrolled in Technology Based Distance Education Courses. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_110.asp

Nath, J. (2011). Reimagining Government in the Digital Age. National Civic Review, 100(3), 19-23. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.fhsu.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN= 6793533&site=ehost-live

Internet is first choice for health advice. (2010). Practice Nurse, 40(9), 9. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.fhsu.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=c8h&AN= 010896963&site=ehost-live

IV. Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, wrote the essay, "The Three Jobs of the Future" which is reprinted in Chapter 14 of the Information Society Reader. Identify and explain the characteristics each of these three jobs. Finally, identify a specific job that fits each of these three areas and explain how it fits that classification and aligns with the characteristics of the classification.

Routine Production Services - Reich identifies these workers as individuals that complete something over and over. These jobs are often the blue-collar jobs where person to person services are not conducted. Many times, these jobs are positions of supervision. Often times, a standard education is all that is needed to perform these jobs. An example of a routine production service member would be a line worker in a production plant. This individual simply goes to work and does the same job day in and day out. The job itself requires very little education and the responsibilities of the job are learned while on the job. This individual has no real face time with the customers of the company and is often not aware of the relation between the end product and the consumer.

In-Person Services - Reich identifies these workers as your everyday worker that deals with person to person services, such as waiters, attendants, health care aides and so on. These individuals have to contain traits of being punctual and reliable and have to make the public they deal with, feel at ease. Still, not much education or knowledge is required in this position; at most high school or vocational training is enough. An example of an in-person service provider would be a sales member working within the above noted production plant. This member goes to work daily and deals directly with the consumers and customers. It is his job to go to work and make the customer feel happy and good about doing business with him. While there is a certain amount of personal characteristics that help this position, most skills can be learned on the job and education does not play a large role in successfully completing the job.

Symbolic-Analytic Services - Reich identifies the third group as the thinkers of our time. This would include individuals that analyze and solve problems, such as engineers, scientists, executives, bankers, and lawyers. This is work that requires a college education or higher and where the highest paying jobs are. With the production plant example, the software programmer that writes and creates the software for the line machinery is a symbolic-analytic service provider. This worker goes to work spending a majority of their time in meetings, looking at problems and finding solutions to answer problems. This individual not only allows the company to become more advanced, they also provided the instrumentation that allows the other two categories to complete their jobs. This worker would be both highly educated and knowledgeable in the field of computer software engineering.

V. Find a research study published within the last two years (not a news article on a research study) on the effect of computers on the quality of education. Do not select an article that projects or forecasts the impact! Find one that studied the impact. Summarize the study and provide a citation. Do you agree with the findings of the report? If so, why? If not, what flaws do you see in either the analysis or methodology of the report? How would you refute the study or interpret the data differently?

The research study I chose to expand on is one that examines a teacher’s acceptance of handheld computers. This study specifically deals with teachers that work within the special education department and explorers factors of acceptance. One portion of the study examines why teachers either accept or deny this technology, while another view focuses on the implementation of this technology and how that it plays a direct role in the teacher’s acceptance or resistance. The article continues by affirming that in order to implement something new, users have to both want to use the technology as well as understand how to use it, what it will accomplish, and how it is going to be implemented.

The method consisted of using a cluster sample of 45 special education teachers, and consisted of information gathering over the span of a few years. The results were examined at and analyzed by means of the Technology Acceptance Model and yielded results that teachers generally had a positive perception towards introducing this technology into their classroom. The results confirmed that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, created a significant effect on the acceptance of this technology and overall, teachers believe this technology creates a better classroom experience for students.

I would agree with the results of the study and see how it would apply to society as a whole. Many people are often hesitant with new technology, however, once one becomes well versed in the product or theory, one day they look back and wonder how they preformed a task with out it. The main concern I found with the study was the sample size. I found it was both specialized and small; I think this presents an illusion that perhaps there is not enough base information to form accurate results. However, the group did an excellent job at going in-depth with their questions, which allowed for sound statistical results.

As I stated prior, I agree with the results, but from a different perspective one could argue the creditability of the answers given by the teachers. The results were collected by a collection company and it is possible the teachers whom participated, did not take the matter serious. This could have easily been avoided, if Adiguzel, Capraro, Willson (2011) presented more information on how each teacher was selected and described why they were part of the study. Were these 45 special education teachers asked to be part of the study or were they informed by their superiors that they were taking part of the study? The answer to this question alone could open the door for possible arguments regarding the validity of the answers.

Works Cited

Adiguzel, T., Capraro, R. M., & Willson, V. L. (2011). An Examination of Teacher Acceptance of Handeheld Computers. International Journal of Special Education, 26(3), 12-27

VI. Each year, a few students are initially scandalized by the title of the Post-Capitalist Society, but Drucker strongly believes in both free markets and entrepreneurship. What does Drucker mean by Post-Capitalist Society? In answering this question, make sure you identify the controlling resource that will replace capital.

Drucker also states that "Instead of capitalist and proletarians, the classes of the post-capitalist society are and ." Explain what characterizes each of these classes.

While Drucker does believe in both free markets and entrepreneurship, at this point in my readings, Ducker’s interpretation of a post-capitalist society is one of evolution. It is the society that is currently being created, as we move from an age of capitalism into the more current knowledge society. This is a society where large nations no longer have a stronghold on capital as they once did. This capital is now dispersed among society and everyone is able to obtain a portion. One main reason for this is that workers are becoming specialized and this is creating an ongoing shift where workers control the means of production. This specialization is obtained due to the workers want and need to gain knowledge and improve their intelligence; a resource that will eventually replace capital.

In Peter Ducker’s Post-Capitalist Society publication, he identifies the two classes found in the post-capitalist society as:

1. Knowledge workers - The individual who possess the knowledge or creates the knowledge utilized in the workplace and can also understand how to disperse that knowledge into meaningful production. These individuals are many times employed by organizations and own both "the means of production" and the "tools of production" (Drucker, 1993, p.8). It is common for these workers to be so-called thinkers, ones whom are not working with their hands loading rail cars or forming steel. Instead they are the individuals that understand their mission, their knowledge, and their job. Further, they also understand how to apply that to increase productivity and manage service workers efficiently.

2. Service workers - The individual who lacks the education skills to become a knowledge worker (Drucker, 1993, p.8). These workers are often paid hourly or based upon their productivity and are often employed into jobs that do not require higher education as a means of knowledge, such as billing and data processing. According to Drucker government employees are the largest number of service workers and further states this is a direct correlation with the low-level of productivity found throughout the government (Drucker, 1993, p.84).

VII. On page 53 Drucker states:

[In] an organization, diversification means splintering. It destroys the performance capacity of any organization—whether business, labor union, school, hospital, community service or church. Organization is a tool. As with any tool, the more specialized its given task, the greater its performance capacity.

Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? Support your answer.

I would agree with Drucker’s statement, to a certain point. In today’s society, the knowledge society is one that requires specialization. I have found that in order to be desirable within an organization, one must always be striving to be specialized through more responsibility and training. The main argument I found against Drucker’s statement, is that diversification does not always equally destruction. The reason I say this is because Drucker uses the example of a hospital. In reality, a hospital has to be diversified as a whole. I think by Drucker using such a broad organizational term hurt the idea he was trying to explain. Hospitals must have not only one specialized department, but a diverse collection of departments, that are then made into specialized units.

Perhaps Drucker did not mean for the reader to interpret it this way, but in response to my feelings of acceptance or resistance to the statement, this is the only argument I could present.

Now assuming, Drucker presented this statement with the intent of looking past the title and relating this statement to the sub-organizations within a larger organization, such as a school or hospital, I have to absolutely agree. To stay with Drucker’s theme of a hospital, in today’s time when someone needs to have a surgery, specialization is the key factor. You would not go to a hospital that did not have an outstanding pediatric department if your child needed major surgery. Also, hospitals and doctors are fully aware of this. In today’s society, it seems that I often see billboards and commercials from hospitals, advertising their specialization, accreditation, and rankings to solicit new patients.

In the terms of something close to me, specialization is a key factor within the police department I work for. I would agree with Drucker (1993) that diversification would hurt our department, if that meant venturing into roles that were outside the scope of our normal police work. The moment we try to step out of our specialized role, we start trying to take on services we do not have knowledge about. For instance, if our department deals with a rape case that involves a juvenile suspect, allowing an officer not specialized in juvenile law and procedures, only creates a chance that errors could be made during the investigation, which in return could allow that suspect to be found not guilty, even if he was guilty. This is a prime example of how stepping outside of one’s own knowledge can hinder an organization.

VIII. It is clear that many organizations from small businesses to educational institutions to hospitals to law enforcement are engaged in increasingly diversified activities. For example, we in higher education believe we need to provide services to "gifted" high school students and to continue the educational process through graduate education and life-long learning. Does this type of diversification damage higher education and diminish its performance capacity or does it strengthen it? Explain and support your answer—particularly with other statements from Drucker.

When organizations decide to partake in diversified activities, such as the specialization of certain individuals, I think it strengthens the need for higher education and increases the value of the performance capacity found in education. As noted by Drucker, within our knowledge society the institutions that provide higher education are and will become institutes of the adult, and especially of the highly educated adults (Drucker, 1993, p. 194). Drucker has already explained that in our knowledge society the knowledge worker is one that must never stop learning and gaining new skills. This ideology is clear in today’s workforce, where the standard of education has risen from having a general equivalency diploma to having a college degree when trying to obtain knowledge based positions within the work force. Further, this diversification almost forces current knowledgeable workers to realize that higher education is extremely important; and in order to add value to their position within an organization, they must take advantage of continuing education. Drucker emphasis this importance by stating that most, if not all educated people will practice this specialized knowledge while acting as a member of an organization (Drucker, 1993, p.215).

Work Cited

Drucker, P. F. (1993). Post-Capitalist Society. New York, New York: HarperCollins.

IX. Peter Drucker describes the social responsibility of organizations in Chapter 5. Describe the social responsibilities of an organization that you are familiar with. How does the increasing organizational transparency of a knowledge society affect the organization in executing its social responsibilities?

The organization I would like to expand on is the very one I work in, a police department. While this type of organization teeters on the edge of what Drucker seems to really concentrate on, a social based organizations. I found many common factors between Drucker’s thoughts on responsibility-based organizations and law enforcement in general.

As noted by Ducker, organizations have to take on social responsibility and do so within the limits of their competence, while not endangering their performance. Organizations need to have a large amount of power and be built on responsibility within (Drucker, 1993, p.97). I found that Drucker’s theory could easily be found in law enforcement. Essentially a police department is one that has a vast amount of power and often times it is drilled into our memory that we are here to do a job within the scope of our ability. Part of this job requires being both professional and completing our daily activities by use of our competence about criminal law. Furthermore, it is often stated in our department that it only takes one bad officer to ruin the image of an entire department; however it takes an entire department to uphold the proper image.

In Drucker’s section on What is Social Responsibility, he states that organizations have to be specialized at one main task and if that organization attempts to take on responsibilities beyond their specialized area; it will likely produce negative results (Drucker, 1993, p.101). Often many times with law enforcement, society expects that we can solve any and all of their problems. However, this is not possible, many times when dealing with civil issues or non criminal issues, police can get in over their head trying to deal with complex situations they are not trained or knowledgeable about. Perhaps it is a patrol officer attempting to do the job of a mental health counselor, a detective attempting to act like a swat member, or even a non-trained officer attempting to run firearms training.

The third aspect presented by Drucker is his theory of command power to information. Drucker states that organizations have to move past the top down manger dissemination of orders and mold an organization of specialist, who will have specialized training and many times have a greater working knowledge over their superiors (Drucker, 1993, p.107). This has been and is common practice within our department. Even within a small department, we have many specialized units. Just myself, I am our laser and radar instructor, DWI instructor, mobile ticket administrator, evidence custodian and software administrator, along with a few other minor things. In regards to just these positions, my knowledge is superior over any of our Corporals, Sergeants, Lieutenant, Captain or Chief. My department understands that in order to have a knowledgeable and educated department, they have to allow officers to assume management based roles and become a specialist in certain areas, even though they are not technically in a management position.

In all, with just these three examples, it is easy to see some relationship between Drucker’s ideas and how they correlate to the ideology, values, and mission statement of my department. I can only see my department growing because of this, as we become more transparent in our knowledge and use that knowledge to better serve the public, it will allow us to better execute the social responsibilities that we owe to our community.