Newsletter No. 62

4 No.62 4th January 1995 CUHK Newsletter Personalia •人事動態 • Personalia • 人事動態 • Personalia • 人事動態 • Personalia C onsultation serves two purposes: to extend and improve the quality of information going into making decisions; and by broadening participation, to make whatever decisions are arrived at more acceptable, because apparently less arbitrary or dictatorial, to those affected by them. Consultation does not confer any power to decide or to veto any decision about to be taken: Chinese government views to the contrary, it does not mean 'securingagreement' . An institution cannot work on the basis of total democracy: its operations would slow and eventually halt. Hence individuals and committees are empowered to make decisions by themselves. On the other hand, no institution can work well without the consent of its workforce, whose performance would be at best half-hearted if they came to resent its policies. It follows that for those empowered to take decisions the trick is to distinguish between those that will be accepted without demur, and so may be made expeditiously, those that might cause opposition and therefore need the legitimation of consultation, and finally those few that are so controversial that they are best put to a vote. One can further distinguish between stages at which consultation takes place. In one's experience, they are (1) when proposals are still fluid, and the opinions of the community may materially modify them, or even cause them to be dropped altogether; and (2) when proposals are fully worked out, and open to modification only on points of fine detail. The second category greatly predominates. In order to sustain my readers' interest, which may already be flagging, I cite a recent example of general consultation at CUHK, namely that on the 'one-line budget' for faculties and departments. At the Faculty of Arts meeting I attended, several people expressed strong misgivings about the whole notion, but clearly the subject belonged to the second category, so they had fallen into cognition error, and were wasting their breath. To pursue our scientific analysis, we may from a different perspective distinguish another 中大通訊 CUHK Newsletter 1.本刊逢四日及十九日出版。 2 .來函或投稿請寄沙田香港中文大學秘書處出版事務處《中大通 訊》編輯部（電話 2609 7297 ，圖文傳眞 2603 6864 ，電子郵遞 pub2@uab.msmail.cuhk.hk) 。 3. 投稿者須附眞實姓名、地址及聯絡電話，文章則可用筆名發表。 4. 本刊編輯有權刪改及決定是否刊登來稿，不欲稿件被刪者請預先 聲明。 5. 本刊內容未經編者書面准許，不得轉載。 6.本刊每期發行三千六百份，免費供校內教職員索閱，部分郵寄本 地教育機構及與大學有關人士。私人索閱，請致函本刊查詢。 1. The Newsletter is published on the 4th and 19th of each month. 2. All contributions and suggestions should be sent to the Editor, CUHK Newsletter, c/o the Publication Office, University Secretariat, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (tel. 2609 7297; fax. 2603 6864; e-mail pub2@uab.msmail.cuhk.hk ). 3. Contributions should bear the writer's name and contact telephone number, and may be published under pseudonyms. No anonymous letters will be published. 4. The Editor reserves the right to reject contributions and to edit all articles for reasons of clarity, length or grammar. Those who do not want to have their articles amended should indicate clearly in writing. 5. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced without the written consent of the Editor. 6. This publication has a circulation of 3,600 and is primarily intended for staff members of CUHK. Copies are also sent to local educational institutions and individuals associated with the University. Those who wish to be included on the mailing list please contact the Newsletter direct. 截 稿 日 期 Deadlines for Contributions 期數 Issue no. 出版日期 Issue date 截稿日期 Deadline for contributions 63 19.1.95 4.1.95 64 19.2.95 6.2.95 65 4.3.95 18.2.95 66 19.3.95 6.3.95 67 4.4.95 22.3.95 68 19.4.95 3.4.95 69 4.5.95 21.4.95 70 19.5.95 6.5.95 71 4.6.95 20.5.95 72 19.6.95 5.6.95 香港中文大學出版事務處出版 Published by the Publication Office, The Chinese University of Hong Kong 編輯：梁其汝 助理編輯：蔡世彬 陳偉珠 陳思祥 製作：黎寶翠 梅潔媚 Editor ： Amy K.Y. Yeung Assistant Editors ： Lawrence Choi; Florence Chan; Piera Chen Graphic Designers: Stella P.C. Lai; May Mui 印刷：鮑思高印刷有限公司 Printing: Don Bosco Printing Co. Ltd. Information in this section can only  be accessed with CWEM password .   若要瀏覽本部分的資料， 請須輸 入 中大校園電子郵件密碼 。