Institutional Analysis

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Important! This FAQ does not take the place of the syllabus, the required style guide, or the on-line instructions. You are required to review all materials relevant to this assignment.   This FAQ puts in one place questions students most frequently ask me saving me and students time. 

Updated: December 12, 2009

Q: I want to write about the criminal justice system and how it discriminates against minorities, is this an okay topic? 
Q: Can I write about religious institutions and families and how they indoctrinate children in belief in god?
Q: I am very interested in foot binding and neck stretching in other cultures.  Can I write my paper on these subjects?

Q: I'm worried about the level of government intrusion in my life following 9-11, would a paper on the PATRIOT ACT work?
Q: How can a public university expel you for a crime you commit outside of university property or university sponsored events.  Does this sound like a question I can pursue for the paper?

None of these are acceptable topics or research questions for this assignment.  It says in the syllabus: "The research question, the specific form of which you formulate, concerns the effects of corporate bureaucratic culture, operations, and strategies on personal freedom broadly defined as choice, health, safety, and/or wellbeing" (emphasis added).  The syllabus states that the "modern business firm is the paradigm."  The syllabus continues: "You may not write about other social institutions, such as the family or religion, as the main subject, although you may include such matters as they intersect with corporate bureaucracies" (emphasis added).  The on-line guide states: "The public sides of the criminal justice system or other government bodies and operations, or religious institutions do not represent instances of business firms." The guide also notes: "The rule of thumb is to ask yourself whether your primary focus concerns a business firm. If it doesn’t then you probably are not answering the call of the assignment."

So, for example, if you were interested in how US telecom corporations illegally cooperated with the US government in its illegal surveillance program following the 9-11, and how it lobbied the government to grant the immunity for their criminal behavior, and the paper was focused on the private corporate side, then you would have a good topic.  But if your focus was the PATRIOT act, you would not. The point of this assignment, as I explained in class many times, is to get students thinking about that form of control that most dominates their lives but about which they rarely think: the corporation, the modern business firm or industry.

Q: What does "paradigm" mean?  

paradigm: an example serving as a model; a representative instance or model; standard. 

The modern business firm is the best example of corporate bureaucratic organization.  It is the paradigm of corporate bureaucratic organization.

Q: What is a "bureaucracy"?

bureaucracy: a body of non-elective managers and officials; administrative systems characterized by specialization of functions, adherence to fixed rules, and a hierarchy of authority.

A bureaucracy is the hierarchical, impersonal ordering of collective human action.  Bureaucracies are organized according to rational principles: efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control.  Modern large-scale enterprises political, administrative, and economic are bureaucratic.  Bureaucratic coordination of actions is the dominant structural feature of modern forms of organization.  The characteristics of most bureaucracies under capitalism include complex division of labor and task specialization, credentialism, hierarchy of authority, written rules and regulations, separation of work and home life, and private ownership.  This last one is why the modern business firm is the paradigm of corporate bureaucratic organization. One of the required texts for the course, George Ritzer's The McDonaldization of Society, tells you all about bureaucracies.

Q: How is a textbook different from other types of books and why can't I use one for this assignment?  

A textbook is a standard work used by students for understanding a particular branch of study.  It consists of an overview of the subject and summaries of main concepts and arguments and personalities.  Such a book does not represent a scholarly source adequate for an original research paper.  The same is true for encyclopedia.  Also, dictionaries are inadequate for defining scientific concepts (although they are useful for spelling and defining words).   Unfortunately, textbooks and encyclopedia are often allowed in high school for the construction of research papers.  College-level research carries greater expectations.

Q: What do you mean by "scholarly"?

"Scholarly" refers to "scholarship"...

scholarship: knowledge resulting from research and study in a particular field. 

In constructing original research in the social sciences (or any other science), one of the initial steps involves conducting a literature review - looking at past research to identify concepts, methods, and theories, as well as determining the standard scientific definitions used in studying a particular area of social life.  A literature review involves multiple sources.  I have specified the minimum number of sources for the institutional analysis in the syllabus.  In reviewing the literature, one wants to review peer reviewed scientific publications.  Peer review means that other scientists have examined the manuscripts to make sure there are no outstanding logical or empirical errors and that the work makes a significant original contribution to the literature.  Academic journal and book publishers typically use the peer-review processes.

Q: Why do you require Microsoft Word format when there are so many other word processing packages like WordPerfect and Works? 

Although there is consumer choice with the multitude of word processing packages available in the market, this perceived benefit comes with the real problem of incompatibility. What is needed in document sharing is a standard format so that any ordinary document may be read with any machine.  We will enjoy this standard if everybody saves document files in the same format.  Most people already do this.  Most computers are equipped with Microsoft Word.  Even if one uses another word processing package, he can usually save the file as a Microsoft Word document.  If one cannot, then she can convert it (see syllabus for directions). 

If I accept documents in other file formats, then I have to identify different format and download and install programs in order to read them or convert them to Microsoft Word format. This takes time and the various programs and converters take up space on my computer.  I do not have the luxury of time and space.  Moreover, it is not my responsibility to find a program to read a document submitted to me.  It is the responsibility of the person who submits the document to save the document in the specified format.

Important: I do not usually find out that a paper is in the incorrect format until after the deadline.  At that point, resubmitting a paper is not possible since it is late and I do not under any circumstances accept late papers.

Q: Why don't you accept late papers for any reason?

Part of professional development is understanding deadlines and meeting them.  The university carries a higher level of expectation that not only prepares students for professional life, but is itself an instance of professional life. Students are told about the institutional analysis at the beginning of the semester and have all semester to do the research and write the paper.  Oftentimes, students wait until shortly before the deadline and discover that accomplishing the assignment is much more difficult than they supposed.  Some may find themselves with an illness or a crisis that prevents them from finishing the paper.  Had they started their assignment earlier, they would have finished products - or at least products acceptable for some sort of grade - well in advance of the deadline.  By following the path of professionalism, illness or crisis will not prevent students from meeting the deadline.