中國行政﹒中華民國八十九年八月﹒第 71 - 122 頁
“ ACRES OF DIAMONDS': STUDIES OF
DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION AND
THE MORMON EXPERIENCE"
Garth N.Jones*
Abstract
Thi s treatise is based on my long involvement as a practitioner-academe, both at
home and abroad , in planned developmen t. Wh erever . I worked the same chronic
problem a1ways prevailed: How to institute viable and efficient organization against a
situation of lirnited resources and competing demands. Involved in such a situation is the
constructive process of sacrifice, both by the individual and the
authoritarian practitioners have carried out this difficult
communi句r.
task 叫th
Too often
invariably deplorable
consequences. The resolution can never be a political one. It is a cultural one, and best
addressed in some religious traditions.
The United States has a rich religious experience; yet the literature in development
adrninistration has scarcely given it any attention.
四世s
is unfortunate since the ve可 notion
of development adrninistration is vested in the nineteenth century Protestant social gospel
movement. By the instrumentation of formal-可pe organization, public and private, the lot
of humanity may be improved. Development is a religious experience, which is profoundly
articulated in the one hundred and
seven可 year-old
Mormon story. Its successes are
traceable to the genius of its founders and the efficiency of its institutions. The lesson to
be leamed is that local culture , not just “ markets ," determines econornic growth. The
crucial elements ignored in the scholarship are cultural va1 ues and attitudes which in the
context of organization make the way for progress. Progress-prone cultures cut across
religious and sociallines. Within this context the Mormon experience is examined.
* About the Author
Ga rth N. Jones is Professor Emeritus in
Al aska Anchorage. In the early 1980s he was
a visiting fe Ilow to the Academie Sinica.
Organizational Theory and Public Policy at the University of
a Fulbright Scholar to National Chengchi University along with
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