PP500: Public Administration and Management

Unit 2

Professor Jamie Scripps

jscripps@kaplan.edu

Housekeeping

Grading scheduleFeedbackQuestions?

Unit 2 Written Assignment

Describe a recent event (can be local, state, or national) that illustrates some of the core issues and concerns of Public Administration.

Unit 2 Written Assignment

Write a short essay in which you do the following: Identify at least 3 major concepts of Public

Administration that relate to your chosen event (refer to Chapters 1-3 of Milakovich & Gordon)

Identify at least 3 concerns of Public Administration, as illustrated by your chosen event.

Concepts

BureaucracyEfficiencyFederalismIntergovernmental relationshipsTransparency and Accountability

Bureaucracy

a formal organizational arrangement characterized by division of labor, job specialization with no functional overlap, exercise of authority through a vertical hierarchy (chain of command), and a system of internal rules, regulations, and record keeping;

in common usage, the administrative branch of government (national, state, or local) in the United States; also, individual administrative agencies of those governments.

Efficiency

the state or quality of being efficient; competency in performance.

accomplishment of or ability to accomplish a job with a minimum expenditure of time, effort, and resources (taxpayer dollars).

Federalism

a constitutional division of governmental power between a central or national government and regional governmental units (such as states), with each having some independent authority over its citizens.

Intergovernmental relationships

of, relating to, or conducted between two or more governments.

Transparency

characterized by visibility or accessibility of information.

Accountability

a political principle according to which agencies or organizations, such as those in government, are subject to some form of external control, causing them to give a general accounting of, and for, their actions; an essential concept in democratic public administration.

Discussion Question

Does transparency in government make us more or less safe? Why?

Discussion Question

How are bureaucrats held accountable for their actions?

Concerns

Social-Demographic ChangePopulation growthUrbanizationThreat of terrorism/public safetyTechnological advances

Social-Demographic Changes

shifts in the population and economies of various regions that impact the delivery of public services.

Population growth

We have become a nation of over 304 million inhabitants, from less than one- third that many a century ago and just under half that number (151 million) in 1950.

This striking growth in numbers has been paralleled by increases in demands for public services.

Urbanization

the rapid and massive growth of, and migration to, large cities.

Threat of terrorism/public safety

Government has to be able to respond to potential emergencies, and ongoing policy and program demands, in new ways to meet new threats.

Politically, financially, and administratively, agencies must be equipped to deliver services or otherwise satisfy public demands placed on them.

Threat of terrorism/public safety

These demands have escalated following 9/ 11 and Hurricane Katrina (and now the BP oil spill in the Gulf) with the need for comprehensive planning to prevent actions of domestic and international terrorist groups and minimize the impact of natural disasters.

Such changes may require fundamental changes in the police power of government that may compromise strict interpretation of civil liberties.

Technological advances

rapidly emerging patterns of change in communication, medical, and transportation technologies, among others, with significant implications both for the societal challenges confronting government and for the means and resources increasingly available to government for conducting public affairs.

Discussion Question

How have technological changes affected government in general and public administration in particular?

Trends

ParticipationE-GovernmentReduce Collective BargainingFocus on Budgets and PerformanceFiscal/Budget ConstraintsExecutive DominanceDebureaucratization

Participation

Internal and external participation in government, which includes the devolution of national government functions to state and local governments and the emergence of new more localized community associations which encourage participation;

E-Government

The expansion of information technology and management science techniques, including e-government and the practices of outsourcing and contracting out;

Reduce Collective Bargaining

Attempts to eliminate public employee unionization and collective bargaining;

Focus on Budgets and Performance

A renewed emphasis on budgets, performance management and employee productivity;

Fiscal/Budget Constraints

Fiscal and budgetary constraints;

Executive Dominance

Executive dominance and the use of reorganization as an instrument of policy; and

Debureaucratization

Continuing efforts to debureaucratize

Debureaucratize

Strategy to decentralize and deregulate the public sector by reductions-in-force, promoting greater flexibility in personnel decisions, and increasing results-oriented incentives to reduce “overhead” costs.

Questions so far?

Human Behavior in Public Organizations

Formal Theories Human Relations Schools Organizational Humanism Modern Organization

Formal Theories

Max Weber and the Bureaucratic Model division of labor and functional specialization vertical hierarchy formal rules and procedures maintenance of records and files; and emphasis on neutral administration and

professionalism.

Formal Theories

Frederick Winslow Taylor and “Scientific Management efficiency rationality productivity and profit (applied to the private sector).

Like Weber, Taylor viewed authority within an organization as highly centralized and hierarchical; he was later criticized by scholars for ignoring the needs of workers.

Human Relations Schools

Hawthorne Studies - Mayo’s Hawthorne studies found that within a formal organizational framework there was an equally influential informal social structure that affected behavior and motivation.

Organizational Humanism

Maslow’s  Hierarchy of Needs –workers have different kinds of needs that must be satisfied in sequence: basic survival needs job security social needs ego needs and personal fulfillment in the job,

(page 172, figure 4-1).

Modern Organization

TQM – (Total Quality Management) – Management approach that encourages organization-wide commitment, teamwork and better quality of results by providing incentives to increase the success of the whole enterprise.

Discussion Question

The human relations school challenged the formal approach in a number of ways, including greater concern with informal social structures within organizations.

What are the criticisms of this school and how have they influenced its acceptance and application in public agencies?

Discussion Question

Discuss the values underlying modern organization theory.

What are the major elements and implications of a “systems” approach to overcoming complexity, uncertainty, and isolation from the surrounding environment?

Discussion Question

Why would some individuals in organizations resist efforts to “improve coordination” among various units and activities?

How might those intent on improving coordination overcome such resistance?

Questions?