StudyonExchangeRelationshipbetweenGovernmentandNon-governmentalOrganization(2006年公共管理国际会议论文).PDF

1、 110 Study on Exchange Relationship between Government and Non-governmental Organization 1.WANG Yi 2.WANG Kai School of Management,Zhejiang University,P.R.China,310058 Abstract This paper makes use of the assumptions put forward by Simmel and Emerson,who is the representative of the theory of the so

2、ciety exchange.In this paper,the interactive relationship between Chinas government organization and non-governmental organization is deeply analyzed.The following views are concluded:The development of Chinas non-governmental received benefit from the choice that was made by China central governmen

3、t with the background of the reform in both politics and economy.The government organization and non-governmental make evaluation on resources owned by the one another,and then choose the cooperation mode.At the first stage,there is right advantage in the relationship from government to non-governme

4、ntal organization.But with the interactivity between government and non-governmental organization,and the civil societys coming into being,the government and non-governmental organization will modify the resources supply and demand,and finally come to a balanced state of interchange.Such tendency is

5、 shown in the rising in the efficiency of governments administrative,the ability to meet an emergency,the professional degree of non-governmental organization,and the integration degree.Key words government,non-governmental organization,exchange relationship 1 Introduction Exchange theory,which is p

6、retty distinctive in sociology,was created in the early stage of 1960s,when the most outstanding theorists in America believed the fact that the operant had to exchange the resources with others in order to attain the reward or utility,which was the characteristic of the social field.1 Exchange theo

7、ry explains not only the motive to exchange,but also what will happen to the operant after exchange taking place.This theory has already been taken as the most important and reproductive branch in sociology because of its rich practicalness and strong power of social explanation.From the reform and

8、opening on,China has been developing fast with new developing trends,two of which are significant in this paper.On the one hand,the direction of the reform has transferred from economy to politics field.The government struggles to change from“omnipotent government”to“limited government”,coming up wi

9、th the political institution reform target named as“limited government,non-limited society”.On the other hand,the government confronts with the difficulty in further simplifying the bureaucracy as well as providing multi-functional services.Hence,the government encourages and supports the developmen

10、t of non-governmental organizations so as to maintain the harmonious development of the whole society.However,under the background that the government makes the decision of the social institution arrangement,the emerging and development of non-governmental organizations is firmly controlled by the g

11、overnment itself,and these organizations have to come into contact with the government to get the resources for their existence and development.Chinas government has established the mutual beneficial relationship with non-governmental organizations.The fact provides a lot of innovational space for e

12、xchange theory.Therefore,this paper tries to explain the interactive exchange module between the government and non-governmental organizations to further explore the research feasibility theoretically,applying the Simmel-Emerson Exchange Theory.2 The motive and structure to exchange:the Simmel-Emers

13、on Exchange Theory 2.1 Simmels Exchange Motivation Theory Exchange is a key concept in sociology.Simmel,who is the most mature theorist in explaining exchange theory,clearly represents the elements of social exchange as following:111(a)The desire for the valuable object that one doesnt possess.(b)Th

14、e other who is recognizable possesses this object.(c)Provide valuable object that other people want to exchange with what one wants.(d)The other who possesses the valuable object accepts ones object for exchange.2 Besides this,Simmel puts forward additional viewpoints for the exchange motives,whose

15、main part is the group exchange behavior,including the description of social exchange mentioned above.Simmel believes that the group exchange behavior keep with the same exchange elements mentioned above as individual exchange does.Simmel also points out that the exchange objects should have value,t

16、he standard to decide whether one object is valuable or not is the cultural and social mode the people involved agree with,and the standard to measure the value is directly proportional to the following two indexes,one is the degree how much the people involved want these objects,the other is the sc

17、arcity degree of the objects.Simmel observes that each party involved in the exchange struggles to control the exchange in order to hide their desire for the object and make it more difficult to let others get what they want,which indicates that there is the true existence of tension in the process

18、of exchange.The precondition of exchange is that both parties agree the object they offer is worthwhile for the object they get in return.3 2.2 Emerson Exchange Structure Theory Emerson explores deeper in the formal sociology about the elementary exchange process,following Simmels theory.On the foun

19、dation of Simmels theory,Emerson admits that there is the existence of exchange relations at first.He believes this means that the people involved willingly exchange the valuable resources if exchange relationship exists.His theories explain what will happen after exchange takes place,rather than ho

20、w exchange happens.4 Emersons analysis starts with the existing exchange relationship,judging which elementary processes dominate exchange relationship.He concludes that two basic procedures generate exchange relationship,one is the use of power,and the other is balancing.For example,if B relies on

21、A in the process of exchange,the relation is unbalanced in power to As advantage,hence,A can use the power advantage that performs as the usage of power.Emerson points that power advantage appears in the case that imbalanced exchange happens,and power advantage will decrease across continuing transa

22、ctions until either power is balanced.5 Therefore,Emerson puts forward some basic social structure forms on the analysis of the structure form and transformation upon describing the power between internality and dependence,power and balance by the means of Internet.This paper digests two social stru

23、cture forms which related to my research:odd monopoly and labor distribution.The concept“odd monopoly”means that B is one alternative of many reward sources for A,because A owns the source of monopoly rewards,in the case that B need to pay A,if A is the source where B can get the valuable resources.

24、According to the analysis Emerson did on the two basic exchange procedures,the situation mentioned above is tentative and the reason is that the resources A offers for exchange will be less valuable if the exchange relationship is more tending to odd monopoly.This proves the significance of balanced

25、 exchange;the value of their reward is declining in such exchanges for the weak party.The appearance of labor distribution is one of the effective methods to balance the odd monopoly.In Emersons mind,each B is more likely to establish the specialized exchange relationship with A if the resources are

26、 distributed more differently among Bs in the situation that A executes odd monopoly.6 2.3 The social exchange theory that this paper employs In brief,there are two basic propositions in the Simmel-Emerson social exchange theory system as followed,one is the motive of exchange relationship as Emerso

27、n explores his study in exchange relationship,and the other is the form of exchange relationship.Simmel-Emerson social exchange theory provides a tool and framework to further analyze the evolution of the exchange relationship and interrelation between the government and non-governmental organizatio

28、ns.This paper describes the exchange process between these two parties in this way that A and B analyze and judge whether the resources the other party provides for exchange are valuable on the premise that A has got power advantage over B.Hence,the exchange relationship between A and B shows in the

29、 specific structure,that is,A will strive for Bs support with the means of 112 the power usage in order to reach the odd monopoly structure.However,this unbalanced exchange relationship is not sustainable.After this-round exchange relationship ends,A will depend on the resources B offers for exchang

30、e so that As power advantage is gradually declining,and B will actively seek for other sources besides A in order to reduce the dependence on A,eventually the exchange relationship is tending to the balanced state as Graph 1 shows.Graph 1 the relationship between the government and non-governmental

31、organizations under the social exchange theory framework 3 The application of social exchange theory:the exchange relationship between the government and non-governmental organizations 3.1 Exchange relationship in the case of power advantage One key trait of the country lies in that it is a dominati

32、ng group that monopolizes legal violence and compulsive organizations 7,owning the power to use the law as a tool to tackle with the social affairs,which other social groups could not make.In Chinas history,the relationship between the country and the society has always been blurred.For the sake of

33、the existence of several thousand years central authority,the country has been highly controlling the society,and naturally enjoying the compulsive power over the society.Since the foundation of the Peoples Republic of China,the country changed the society into production factories in“the Big Govern

34、ment mode”,centralizing all social strength to develop the production,taking non-governmental organizations as the alien party and execute strict regimentation into these organizations 8.Nowadays,the government can absolutely control and influence non-governmental organizations.For example,the gover

35、nment is in a position to use law to standardize these organizations,to administrate them through departments in charge,and to rectify or reorganize them at any time.Obviously,whether in the strict regimentation or incentive development period,the relationship between the government and non-governme

36、ntal organizations is positioned on a basic point,that is,the government has got the power advantage over non-governmental organizations by the application of law,and non-governmental organizations are the result of government reforms,most of which take the role as the governments assistant or exten

37、sion.113 The attitude change that the government holds towards non-governmental from restrictive,to encouraging,to supportive,was caused by the need of the reform.The reform in China is the new development mode that the government chooses after it measures the loss and gain,complying with the up-to-

38、down institution reform principle,not depending on the emerging of democracy.Market economy broke the situation that the government monopolizes the resources,enabling the resources flow in the market,and it is a fact that the system which the government dominate all the social resources cannot fit i

39、n with the demands of fast social development any more.The government needs the societys obedience and support to make its effective governance come true;therefore it operates the political institutional reform to respond to the demands of social development,persuading the people to admit its validi

40、ty.In the field of public service,the government is trapped in a plight that on one hand,the people demands the further simplification of the government organizations that diversified public service and reform brings about;on the other hand,there is a long way to provide sufficient public service re

41、sources.At present,the government intentionally breeds non-governmental organizations in the field of public service,regarding these organizations as the leading source to provide public service to strive for more social resources,in order to solve the decrease of the governments actual supply compe

42、tence.In Simmels mind,the success of the exchange relationship is based on two aspects shown as following:on the one hand,one exchange party demands more urgently for some specific resources,it is less possible that they can attain the resources,so that these resources are more valuable.On the other

43、 hand,actor A feels its resources are more valuable to actor B,it is more probable for actor A and B to establish exchange relationship.9 It is not a blind choice that the government takes non-governmental organizations as function transformer and public service alternative supplier.Here lie the rea

44、sons:1)Non-governmental organizations come from the society,naturally and easily to acquire peoples trust and the societys support.2)There are various sources of such organizations that have the capability to provide multivariate social service to satisfy peoples different demands.3)Besides this,the

45、se organizations high professional skills can enhance the efficiency of supplying public service due to the fact that such organizations are usually created to solve some specific social problems.4)Furthermore,the public spirits that these organizations advocate help to realize the harmonious social

46、 development,encouraging the shape of self-disciplined social order 10.The government could not attain these unique resources that non-governmental organizations possess,and the purpose of the governments public service reform is to advance harmonious social development,to strive for and reasonably

47、use more social resources.It is the best choice for non-governmental organizations to depend on the government for resources in the case that the government possesses the power advantage,and the reason is that the establishment of non-governmental organizations is firmly controlled,their development

48、 is supervised and administrated,and their resources are directly granted by the government under government-centre society system.Non-governmental organizations have to demand resources from the government as following:1)at the early stage of their establishment,non-governmental organizations are t

49、he extension of the government reform,not depending on the support of the society,their legal position should be admitted by the government,they could survive only with the governments grant permission,therefore,in China such organizations could get the societys trust.2)Furthermore,the size of such

50、organizations is also decided by the government,influencing the scope external resources these organizations get.3)However,these organizations could get rid of the bureaucracys restricts and realize self-disciplinary development only if the government grants them enough power and freedom.For the gov