EFFECTIVE ISLAMIC LEADER

Explain three (3) of the Islamic principles required to be an effective Islamic leader.

The three (3) of the Islamic principles required to be an effective leader can be described as follow:-

Syura (Mutual)

Syura is the first principle that emphasizes on the importance of managing through teamwork. Syura consists of meeting or consultation in accordance to Islamic approach and by following the guidelines of the Quran and Sunnah. The Muslim leaders are obligated to consult those with knowledge or expertise and those who would provide good advice. The practice of Syura will enable members of an organization to participate in the decision making process. In other words, every member in the organization is given fair opportunity to voice their opinions freely without hesitation. For example, Prophet Muhammad s.a.w he himself was a great influential leader, despites of the highest position he held, he always refer and respect the decisions made by the members of Syura. This situation can be seen through Battle of Khandaq where the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w was faced with two options whether to confront the unbelievers outside Medina or within Medina itself. After consulting the sahabahs (companions), Salman al-Farsi suggested that it is better to confront the unbelievers in Medina. In order to do so, the muslims must weaken the foreign supports of the unbelievers. The muslim should dig a ditch to prevent the enemies from entering Medina.

Justice

Justice in Islam is known as Adalah or adl. Justice can be defined as, to put one thing at its right place. By following this principle, the leader should deal with people justly and fairly regardless of race, color, national origin or religion. The Al-Quran commands Muslims to be fair even when dealing with people who oppose them. A good Muslim administrator, manager and especially judge and lawyer is strongly demanded to observe the justice maxim in accordance to the principles of Islam and to do otherwise are considered as an act of tyranny.

Freedom of Expression

Muslims leaders are encouraged to provide and invite constructive criticism. Two-way communication is practiced and members may freely voice their views or objections and have their questions answered. A leader should attempt to create an atmosphere of free thinking, healthy exchange of idea, criticism and advice so that the followers feel very comfortable in discussing matter of interest to the group. The teaching of Islam emphasizes that freedom in the Islamic term comes with discipline and responsibility towards oneself, family, ummah and society.

DECISION MAKING UNDER CERTAINTY, RISK & UNCERTAINTY

Explain the difference between decision-making under certainty, risk and uncertainty.

Decision making is a process of identifying problems and opportunities and choosing the best option among alternative courses of action for resolving them successfully. Usually, there are three different conditions under which decisions are made; these conditions are explained as follow:

Conditions under certainty are which the decision maker has full and needed information to make a decision. Decision is made under the condition of certainty.  The manager knows exactly what the outcome will be, as he/she has enough clarity about the situation and knows the resources, time available for decision-making, the nature of the problem itself, possible alternatives to resolve the problem, and undoubtedly clarify or certain with the result of alternatives. In most situations, the solutions are already available from the past experiences or incidents and are appropriate for the problem at hand. The decision to restock food supply, for example, when the goods in stock fall below a determined level is a decision-making under circumstance of certainty.

Conditions under risk provide probabilities regarding expected results for decision-making alternatives, it is due to the nature of the future conditions that are not always know in advance and the managers face this condition more often in reality compared to conditions under certainty. Although some good information may be available, it is not enough to answer all questions about the outcomes. The manager could define the nature of the problem, possible alternatives and the probability of each alternative leading to the desired results, but could not guarantee how each alternative may work. Decision has clear-cut goals, but future outcomes associated with each alternative are subject to chance. Testing of nuclear leakage in Japan after the Tsunami hit in Year 2011 is a risky decision made by Japanese Government, as the government do not know how wide the range of effecting area and the nuclear substance itself is a life threatening factor.

Conditions under uncertainty provide no or incomplete information, many unknowns and possibilities to predict expected results for decision-making alternatives. The manager cannot even assign subjective probabilities to the likely outcomes of alternatives. Each of the possible states of nature of the problems causes the manager himself can not predict with confidence what the outcomes of his action to be. An assumption is often made; the manager has no information or intuitive judgment to use as a basis for assigning the probabilities to each state of nature. Managers may have to come up with creative approaches and alternatives to solve the problem. Flood, for example, may causes panic and environment of uncertainty among the victims, which leads to uncertain decision making of the victims, some may flee from home and take only important documents with them, some who live at higher ground, may wait and observe if the flood worsen then decide the next approach. 

SOURCES OF POWER

Briefly explain three (3) sources of power

Power is the ability or capacity to influence decision. In other words, power refers to a capacity that one has to influence the behavior of other so that other does something he or she would not otherwise do.

The sources of power can be explained as follow:

i-        Position of a person holds in an organization’s hierarchy

This kind of power is called legitimate power because they gain power from the formal position in an organization’s hierarchy. They can influence others by means of a position held or recognized. This position holder, depending on his style of working, they may use the power to gain the control over others but of course within the overall framework provided by the organization. The example of legitimate power is that held by a company’s CEO.

ii-       Possessing knowledge or expertise in particular area

They influence others through the possession of knowledge or skill that is useful to others. Such people are highly appreciated by organizations for their problem solving skills. This power is called expert power. The opinion, ideas and decisions of people with expert power are held in high regard by other employees and hence greatly influence their actions.

iii-     The ability of a person to influence the allocation of incentives in an organization.

This type of power is called reward power. They influence others by controlling       things they want such as money, acceptance, praise, promotion and status. In an organization, people who wield reward power tend to influence the actions of the employees due to his ability to satisfy follower’s needs and give rewards. Reward power if used well, will greatly motivates employees but if it’s applied through favoritism, reward power can greatly demoralize employees and diminish their output.

Programmed & Non-Programmed Decision

Distinguish with examples programmed and non-programmed decisions

Decision making is the selection of one alternative from among two or more alternatives. In other words, decision making is defined as the process by which a course of action is selected as the best way to deal with specific problem. There are two types of decision making i.e; Programmed Decision and Non-Programmed Decision.

The differences between Programmed and Non-Programmed Decision can be explained as follow;

i-           Programmed decision are decisions that have made so many time in the past that managers have developed rules or guideline to be applied when certain situation are expected to occur. In certain situation, manager and employees do not really have to make decision; it is already programmed for them in term of rule, policy and procedure.

The example of programmed decision is used when an inventory manager of restaurant decides to order beef stock because the stock are three-quarter empty. Most programmed decisions are related to daily activities.

On the other hand, non-decision programmed decisions are made in respond to unusual opportunity or threats. Basically, these situations are unique, are poorly defined and largely unstructured. It requires conscious thinking, information gathering and careful consideration of alternatives.

For example, in 2005, Mc Donald’s became aware of a need to respond to growing customer concerns regarding foods high in fat and calories. This is non-programmed decision because for several decades, customers of fast food restaurant were more concerned with the taste and the price rather than healthiness. In response, Mc Donald’s decide to offer healthier alternatives such as substituting apple slices in Happy Meals for French Fries and discontinuing the use of trans-fats.

ii-             Programmed decision making are usually made in accordance with some establishment habit, rule or procedures while the nature of problem that requires a non-programmed decision is unstructured and something different. It requires higher level management participation.

iii-           In programmed decision making, there will be no error in the decisions because it is a routine and managers usually have the information they need to create rules and guidelines to be followed by others. However, the non-programmed decisions are likely to have error because it causes more problems for managers and is inherently challenging. Sometimes, programmed decision can caused error but it is minor to non-programmed decision.

PUBLIC POLICY

PUBLIC POLICY MAKING PROCESS

PAD 190: PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Chapter 1: Introduction to Public Administration
* Define the concept of policy and administration
* Describe the roles of public administration
* Distinguish between public and private administration

• Definition of Public Administration
• Public Vs Private Administration
• Policy and Administration
• Dichotomy of Politic and Administration
• Roles of Public Administration

Chapter 2: Development of Public Administration in Malaysia
*Describe the development of public administration in Malaysia

• Before Independent
• After Independent

Chapter 3: Theories of Public Administration
* Discuss the Max Weber Theory of bureaucracy

• Max Weber's theory of Bureaucracy
• Types of Bureaucracy
• The Principles of Bureaucratic Organization 

Chapter 4: Government and Administrative Machinery
*Identify and describe the Malaysian Federal and State Government administrative machinery

• The Component of Government Machinery
• Federal Government
• State Government
• Local Government

Chapter 5: Government Agencies
*Identify and describe the functions of government agencies in Malaysia

• Central Agencies
• Operational Agency

Chapter 6: Understanding Public Policy
*Identify and describe public policy making models

• Definition
• Significance
• Public policy making models

Chapter 7: Personnel Administration
* Describe the activities of personnel administration

• Definition and Concept
• Significance
• Roles of Personnel Administration
• Process / Activities
• Public Service Commission
• Public Service Benefits and Privileges

Chapter 8: Tribunal Administration
* Identify and describe the roles of tribunal administration

• Definition and Concept
• Characteristics
• Types of Tribunal

Chapter 9: Financial Administration
* Identify the process and activities of public financial administration

• Financial administration in the Public Sector
• Process of financial administration

Chapter 10: Issue and challenges
* Discuss the issues of public administration

• Integrity
• National Integrity Plan
• E-Government
• NKRA / ETP

Thanks to my friends.

 A Group with Successful as destination, Happiness as guidance, Achievement as movement, Fighting as momentum!  That's the group named S.H.A.F UiTM Group! Really love this group now, with more energy and brilliant friends gather here, thanks to the Founder, Haziq! You are really the inspiration for all of us, may Allah bless you along the way till you achieve the success!

   

	PRESIDENTIAL GOVERNMENT	PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT
DEFINITION
CHARACTERISTICS
DIFFERENCES
MERITS
DEMERITS

	UNITARY SYSTEM	FEDERAL SYSTEM
DEFINITION
CHARACTERISTICS
DIFFERENCES
MERITS
DEMERITS

	ABSOLUTE MONARCHY	CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY
DEFINITION
CHARACTERISTICS
DIFFERENCES
MERITS
DEMERITS

	AUTOCRATIC SYSTEM	DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM
DEFINITION
CHARACTERISTICS
DIFFERENCES
MERITS
DEMERITS

	AUTHORITARIANISM		TOTALITARIANISM
DEFINITION		DEFINITION
CHARACTERISTICS		CHARACTERISTICS
DIFFERENCES		DIFFERENCES
MERITS		MERITS
DEMERITS		DEMERITS

	OLIGARCHY		LIBERAL DEMOCRACY
DEFINITION		DEFINITION
CHARACTERISTICS		CHARACTERISTICS
DIFFERENCES		DIFFERENCES
MERITS		MERITS
DEMERITS		DEMERITS

Hope these simple tables could help our friends to note down some important 'points' on each type of government. From my experience, these tables help a lot in my Sem 1 and Sem 2 of DPA (AM). We don't have to memorize them, as all points are fact, we just have to be clear about them. And to be clear, we need a table, as simple as possible. Some may use mind-map. I used both though. 

I'm sorry I didn't fill in the blanks for you all. Because some may find other point which is more relevant for him / her to take into consideration, rather than just copying from others. I personally think doing research by ourselves can really improve our understanding, comparing to depending 100% on lecturer's note or friend's answer. They are good as reference, though. 

Good luck, my friends!