CHAPTER ONE: DEFINING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 1 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
1. Define public administration within the context of its four frames:
a. Political
b. Legal
c. Managerial
d. Occupational
2. Locate public administration within its interdisciplinary context.
3. Define the subject matter that forms the core of public administration.
4. Provide a brief background of the study of administration and its key early players.
5. Explain the real meaning of the politics-administration dichotomy.
6. Understand the cycles of reform in public administration.
7. Define key terms at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
8. Write short critical essays on major issues covered in the chapter.
SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE ONE
I. Defining Public Administration: The term “public administration” encompasses a
complex set of interrelated concepts, thus a simple definition will not suffice. It draws from many
different academic disciplines, includes a variety of agencies, and is linked closely to several distinct
professions. The text has accordingly provided 18 definitions to capture the intrinsic richness and
subtlety of the broad phrase “public administration.” These are clustered into four main categories:
1) political, 2) legal, 3) managerial, and 4) occupational.
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II. Analyzing the Definitions of Public Administration: Political—Public administration
is what government does. It exists within a political environment, and it is this political context that
makes it “public.” Public administration is about implementation of the public interest. It is also
about doing collectively what cannot be done as well individually. Legal—The foundations of public
administration in the United States are legal ones and are bound by instruments of law. Public
administration is law in action in the form of statutes, regulations, ordinances, codes, etc.
Managerial—The executive nature of public administration enables the public will to be translated
into action by the people responsible for running the public bureaucracy. Occupational—Public
administration includes many occupational fields—medicine, engineering, social welfare,
economics, etc. It is within the framework of each of these fields that the political, legal, and
managerial aspects of public administration are transformed by public administrators into the work
of government.
III. Public Administration is an Academic Field: Public administration within an academic
interdisciplinary context draws primarily from political science, law, and management. It also
incorporates other fields in the social, behavioral, and natural sciences, including economics,
sociology, anthropology, criminology, psychology, engineering, medicine, and social work. At the
heart of public administration lies its core content: administrative theory, bureaucratic behavior,
public finance and budgeting, policy analysis, program evaluation, and administrative ethics. Public
administration is also a cross-governmental field: it deals with what the federal, state, and local
governments do, such as the federal government providing national defense and local governments
maintaining city and county roads.
IV. Public Administration is Both an Old and a Young Discipline: The practice of public
administration has been with us from the earliest civilizations. The Egyptians, Babylonians,
Chinese, Greeks, and Romans provided guidance on the art and science of management. Our focus
in this textbook, however, is on the occupational specialty and academic discipline of American
public administration in recent times. As a scholarly discipline, public administration is relatively
young. We chart its beginning with the seminal article “The Study of Administration” by Woodrow
Wilson in 1887. His famous politics-administration dichotomy which lay at the core of this study
was misunderstood. It was taken to mean that politics and administration should be separate.
However, in reality, Wilson meant “partisan” politics must be kept separate from public
administration. This is not easy, for public administration is closely tied to its political environment.
V. Public Administration and the Cycles of Reform: Public administration is continuously
reforming itself depending on the prevailing political climate and theories within the academic
disciplines that bear upon it. Some presidents have seen government as the problem in society and
not as the solution to public problems. In the 1990s, and specifically linked under the Clinton
administration, reform of government has come to be known as the “reinventing government”
movement. In recent times the public and the media have become increasingly focused on a broad
form of governmental reform—the issue of ethics in government. Its proponents believe this will go
far in helping to restore the diminished public faith in public administration.
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Class Exercise
THE REINVENTING GOVERNMENT EXERCISE
Team A:
Team B:
Bureaucrats and Citizens (Con: Keep status quo)
Bureaucrats and Big Business (Pro: Make change)
Issue: Privatization of the Department of Public Services of the city of White Bluff, Oregon.
Organizational chart for areas of service attached.
Moderators: 2
Moderators: Toss coin to see which team begins. Each team presents for 5–8 minutes. Another 5
minutes for rebuttals of additional arguments. Keep order. Keep proceedings civil.
Teams: Choose a recorder to keep notes of your meeting and a spokesperson to present the
arguments. Everyone else on the team, be alert to assist the spokesperson as needed. Use the board
as needed.
Important concepts from Shafritz and Russell, Public Administration.
Some suggestions to get you started.
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DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICES
(White Bluff, Oregon)
DIRECTOR
BUREAU OF
PUBLIC WORKS
OPERATIONS
ADMINISTRATION
ENVIRONMENTAL
SERVICES
OPERATIONS
MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS
ACCOUNTING
COLLECTION DIVISION
ASPHALT OPERATIONS
ANIMAL CONTROL
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
HEAVY EQUIPMENT/REPAIR
RODENT CONTROL
PLANNING
FORESTRY
RECYCLING OPERATIONS
PAINTING DIVISION
CONSTRUCTION DIVISION/
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
LAND & RECORDS/PERMITS
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ARGUE FOR PRO AND CON
Politics-Administration Dichotomy—Can politics and administration really remain separate in public
bureaucracies? (Pro and Con)
Power Issues in the Bureaucracy—Special interest power versus public interest power issues (Pro
and Con)
Ethics Issues—Is it ever acceptable for public administrators to “dirty their hands” for the public
good? (Pro and Con)
Arguments: Speak to the benefits of your position; costs of the opposing position.
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CHAPTER TWO: THE POLITICAL AND CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF
PUBLIC POLICY AND ITS ADMINISTRATION
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 2 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
1. Identify the concept of public policy.
2. Distinguish public policy from public administration and link the two constructs together.
3. Explain how public policy is made in a democratic republic like the United States.
4. Identify and explain the five key stages of the policymaking process:
a. Agenda setting
b. Decision making
c. Implementation
d. Evaluation
e. Feedback
5. Explain the characteristics of power as a structural concept in the policymaking cycle.
6. Explain how power invariably enters the policymaking process through external and
internal “force fields” that affect the public organization:
a. The impacts of external power resulting from pluralism and social group power
in the United States
b. The impacts of internal power resulting from relationships, coalitions, negotiations,
and bargaining within American public organizations
7. Understand the meaning of “organizational culture” as it relates to public administration.
8. Explain how the following impact the cultures of public organizations:
a. External societal cultures
b. Internal cultures and subcultures of organizations
c. Professional socialization
d. Symbols, dramas, gestures, values, etc.
9. Define key terms at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
10. Write short critical essays on the major topics covered in the chapter.
6
SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE TWO
I. Public Policymaking: Public policymaking is hierarchical in nature. The broadest policy is
made at the top, but officials at lower levels, also known as street-level bureaucrats, have discretion
in interpreting and even making policy. In the United States the people are considered sovereign;
they (through their elected representatives) make public policy, and this concept is known as
democracy. The legislative branch of government has the greatest number of enumerated powers and
makes the law. The executive branch administers and enforces these laws, and the judicial branch
interprets and enforces them. Each level of government—federal, state, and local—involves these
three distinct entities, or branches, of government.
II. The Role of Executive Power in a Republic: The authors provide us with three views of
executive power. The conservative view maintains that the president, governor, or mayor is an agent
of the legislature. Thus, his/her powers are restricted by it. A more liberal view is the one of
executive prerogative, which holds that under certain circumstances the chief executive possesses
and can use extraordinary powers to safeguard the nation. The stewardship theory of executive
power is based on the belief that the president is a trustee of the people and can take any actions not
specifically forbidden by the Constitution on their behalf. All presidents assume one of these three
executive models.
III. The Policymaking Process: The policymaking process is a complex group of activities. In
our textbook these are explained as: 1) Agenda setting or identification of the policy issue, where the
citizens produce ideas for change or improvement. These bubble up through the various political
channels for consideration by the legislature or the courts. 2) Decisionmaking: Here a decision is
made, either rationally (based on complete information) or, more often, incrementally (bit-by-bit at
the margins of problems). 3) Implementation involves putting a government policy into effect.
Implementation is an inherently political process. Frequently the agendas of those implementing the
program seep into the implementation process itself. 4) Evaluation is the appraisal process of
policymaking to determine the effectiveness and the efficiency of a given program. Generally, the
executive branch of government undertakes the evaluation, but courts also do so in their analysis and
judgment of cases. 5) Feedback: This stage of the policy process completes the cycle, and new
agenda items evolving from the completed process start the policymaking cycle all over again.
IV. The Role of Power in the Policymaking Process: The theory of force fields helps explain
the role of external and internal power that is brought to bear on an agency and its key players
from many directions. a. External Power Forces: Pluralism is a concept that begins in the
government itself. The three branches of government—legislative, executive, and judicial—exert
power over each other. Additionally, American society is made up of competitive groups, and power
shifts from one to the other in time. Some hold the view that groups of interested individuals with
shared attitudes and special interests, not government, are the mechanism by which social policies
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are formulated. Elite theory states that key members of the group have the lion’s share of power in
policymaking. The metaphor of the salad bowl explains that each socio-political group is a distinct
power entity. Others believe that government itself is a group that competes with other groups. b.
Internal Power: Within organizations, coalitions jockey for power to secure scarce resources.
Dependency power explains that individuals or groups who have control of key products and
services make others dependent upon them. Those from the rational-structural school believe that
power resides in legitimate authority, while others suggest that even those in authority are relatively
powerless because their actions are invariably limited by others.
V. The Role of Culture in Public Policymaking: Organizational cultures are about the norms,
values, symbolic behaviors, artifacts, and other tangible and intangible things that exert influence
upon a group and link it to its environment. a. Impacts of the External Environment: In a diverse
land like America, local and regional cultures impact in different ways on the culture of public
organizations. In this way, organizational culture reflects the overall values of society. b. Impacts
of the Internal Environment: The internal culture of an organization is transmitted by socialization
or enculturation processes. The professional socialization of organizational membership helps
maintain and enforce the organizational culture. The conscious use of symbolic management,
through dramaturgy, rituals, and emblems, preserves or develops the kind of culture that
organizational leaders find desirable.
Individual Exercise
Think Piece
“The American Democratic Republic”
Explain the meaning of the “democratic republic” as we know it in the United States of
America. Go to the library and search out why the Founding Fathers chose this form of
government. How does the constitution guarantee checks and balances between the branches
of government—executive, legislative, and judiciary? Do you agree with Thomas Jefferson
that given the nature of judicial review, the Constitution is ultimately what the judges of the
Supreme Court say it is, and thus is “a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which
they may twist and shape into any form they please.”
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN EMPLOYMENT
To remind students of issues covered so far in the textbook Public Administration, by Shafritz and
Russell, use a current example from world affairs to discuss the pertinent issues. We suggest using
the issue of California’s Proposition 209 as a springboard for discussion of a public policy.
Californians passed Proposition 209 to end affirmative action in 1997. Subsequently, in fall 1997,
the Supreme Court upheld the legality of Proposition 209. These actions have potential ramifications
for other states that struggle with affirmative action statutes, case laws, regulations, and other public
policies.
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Discussion Issues
1. Pluralism and multiculturalism in our society and increasing diversity due to globalization of
work.
2. Voices of special interests in America.
3. Expressions of dissent from those who have suffered “reverse discrimination.”
4. Elite interests versus minority interests.
5. Compensatory justice for underprivileged groups.
6. The meaning of a “color-blind” society.
FORCE FIELD EXERCISES—POWER AND CULTURAL FORCES
(Designed for Individual Players)
1. POWER INFLUENCES ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION:
Draw a circle representing a public organization—for example, the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), federal government level; or the State Department of Transportation, state
government level; or the County Jail, local government level. [Class or Instructor chooses one.]
Draw power forces from fields that impact on this agency as follows:
a. Straight line arrows for negative power influences.
b. Dotted line arrows for positive power influences.
c. Explain your model.
2. CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION:
Draw a circle representing a military organization such as the army, navy, air force, marines; or a
paramilitary organization such as the police, jail security guards, or coast guard. [Class or Instructor
chooses one.]
a. What sort of organizational culture is your chosen organization likely to have?
b. Describe what symbols, artifacts, and emblems reinforce the culture of this organization.
c. What, if any, is the local, state, or regional impact on this organization’s culture?
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CHAPTER THREE: THE CONTINUOUS REINVENTING OF THE
MACHINERY OF GOVERNMENT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 3 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
l. Understand the concept of reinventing the machinery of government.
2. Understand the administrative structure of the federal government, in particular the
executive branch machinery.
a. Executive Office Agencies
b. Executive Departments
c. Independent Public Bodies
3. Understand the administrative structure of state and local government, in particular:
a. State Government
b. County Government
c. Municipal Government
d. Towns and Special Districts
4. Understand the major government reform movements in this century, in particular the
implications of:
a. The Brownlow Committee
b. The Hoover Commissions
c. The Ash Council
d. The Grace Commission
e. The Reinventing Government Movement
f. The Gore Report
g . Reinventors versus Micromanagers
5. Define key items listed at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
6. Write critical essays on topics covered in the chapter.
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SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE THREE
I. The Machinery of Government refers to all of the structural arrangements that allow
government to function at the federal, state, and local levels. In time, after a process of internal
evaluation, and, more often, after suggestions or demands from their external environment, all
organizations come to realize that deficiencies and errors exist within their systems. They may then
undertake the process of reorganization or reinvention of government. The first such reinvention was
the Constitutional Convention of 1787, but the actual phrase entered our lexicon around the time of
the first Clinton presidential campaign in the early 1990s and the publication of Reinventing
Government by Osborne and Gaebler (1992). Government is in a constant state of fine-tuning its
machinery. Each time the government makes new public policy or amends an old one, government
must put into place new machinery to implement it. On a less frequent basis, government may also
retire outdated machinery.
II. The Administrative Machinery of Government: The U.S. Constitution structures the
political, economic, and social lives of the people, and so, appropriately, it begins with the opening
phrase, “We the people.” This puts the decision-making control into the hands of the citizens. The
Constitution assigns powers to various branches of government and establishes a system of checks
and balances.
III. Executive Branch Machinery: The most complex machinery of public administration
resides in the executive branch, which contains a variety of organizational categories: a. The
Executive Office of the President (EOP) is a collective term that includes the top presidential staff
agencies, which provide advice to the president in a variety of administrative areas and on issues of
significant national priority. b. Executive Departments: The president’s cabinet is a collective
phrase for a group of 14 executive departments that advise the president. c. Independent Public
Bodies: There are two entities here: First there are government corporations, such as the U.S.
Postal Service; second, there are regulatory commissions set up by Congress to regulate some
aspect of the U.S. economy, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission. The administrators of
these bodies are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Some regulatory functions
are also provided by traditional cabinet departments.
IV. State and Local Government Machinery: State and local governments parallel the national
model. The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution provides that powers not delegated to the federal
government by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states
respectively or to the people. The Constitution does not specifically mention local governments.
Hence, their powers are derived from state law. Dillon’s rule outlines criteria developed by state
courts to determine the nature and extent of powers granted to local governments. State
government: The elected chief executive of the state is the governor, assisted by agencies and
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individuals similar to the federal model. Local government is a broad term that includes a hierarchy
of levels: county government, municipal (or city) government, towns, and special districts.
V. Reforming the National Machinery of Government: The twentieth century witnessed a
number of major reform committees and commissions that scrutinized government machinery. a.
The Brownlow Committee: Government grew rapidly and haphazardly during the New Deal. To
help the president manage his assignments, the Brownlow Committee substantially increased the size
of the presidential staff in 1936. b. The Hoover Commissions were set up following World War II
in an attempt to reorganize the federal government. c. The Ash Council: During President Nixon’s
term of office, this council called for a major restructuring of cabinet agencies. d. The President’s
Private Sector Survey on Cost Control (PPSSCC) (the Grace Commission): Undertaken during
the Reagan administration, this commission produced a report which was too detailed and not very
useful.
VI. Reinventing Government: By 1980, the tax revolt movement in 38 states forced the
government to reduce or stabilize tax rates. Then the Reagan revolution came along, with its slogan
“government is the problem.” The deficiencies apparent in government were taken up again in the
1990s with the “reinventing government” movement and its reports, such as the National
Performance Review (the Gore Report), that spoke to the mushrooming national debt, the enormous
waste in government, the diminishing of public trust, and a variety of ills.
VII. Micromanagers—A Consequence of Government Reform: A variety of other executive
branch reforms that tinkered with the machinery of government took place besides the ones
mentioned above. The combined effect of these laws was to unleash a mob of micromanagers in
government. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in Congress, where members spend inordinate
amounts of time micromanaging issues that make them look good to their constituents rather than
focusing on public policymaking.
Group Exercise
Think Piece
“The Role of Government in the Twenty-first Century”
Divide the class into two groups. Group 1 is the “Invisible Hand of Government” Group. This
group will argue for a lesser role for government in the twenty-first century. Group 2, “Visible
Hand of Government” will argue that government appropriately has a much broader role to
play in the lives of its citizens in the twenty-first century.
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Class Exercise
You are a senior analyst in the firm of Quick and Devoe Associates, a management consulting firm in
Cannonsville, California. Cannonsville is basically a university town with the large
Cannonsville University as its core enterprise—an organization that has special expertise in veterinary
medicine and in the management and biological sciences.
Your assignment concerns the local Cannonsville City Zoo. This is a local government entity that has
been having difficulty for several years. It has already been determined by a preliminary study that if
the zoo management could be turned around, the facility could be made profitable because of its
strategic location, which is close to several major metropolitan areas in southern California, its
spectacular scenic vistas, and its unique population of tropical animals.
PROBLEMS
- low revenues due to lack of visitor interest, development funding, and other funding
options—retail sales, special programs, and exploration of government grant monies
- high expenses in the areas of animal diets, horticulture, and grounds management
- a seasonal employment workforce made up of part-timers who are difficult to manage
- animal health problems
- interference by political elites in government who use the zoo for political purposes and
for patronage appointments
GOALS
The zoo needs to be updated in terms of its three strategic goals:
- Recreation
- Conservation
- Education
You have been asked to look at several options for “reinventing” the zoo. Should it be privatized?
Should it become a non-profit entity? Could it remain a public entity, with some functions outsourced
to private vendors? The analysis is up to you. Based on the readings in Chapter 3, what would you
suggest? Back up your recommendations with strong arguments. Provide a one or two page
executive summary of your recommendations.
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CHAPTER FOUR: INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 4 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
1. Understand the evolution of the U.S. federal system of government.
2. Comprehend the dynamic structure of U.S. intergovernmental relations:
a. Dual Federalism
b. Cooperative Federalism
c. Creative Federalism
d. New Federalism
e. New New Federalism
3. Make connections to the various types of intergovernmental management:
a. Picket Fence Federalism
b. Councils of Government (COGs)
c. Costs of Compliance
4. Discern the many ways in which fiscal federalism works.
5. Know what the “devolution revolution” means and how it came about.
6. Define key terms at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
7. Write critical essays on topics covered in the chapter.
SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE FOUR
I. The Evolution of the U.S. Federal System: The United States was originally a loose
confederation of independent states that delegated powers on selected issues to a central government.
By its very nature, this kind of central government is inherently weak and has few independent
powers. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was assembled to address the inadequacies of the
system. In 1789 the United States provided itself with a Constitution which has been continuously in
force since then. A true federal system, such as ours, is one that has a written constitution that divides
government between the central government and constituent subnational governments,
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assigning powers to each. Such powers cannot be changed unilaterally or by ordinary processes of
legislation. Today we see three main categories of governments around the world: 1) Unitary
governments, such as the United Kingdom, 2) Federal governments, such as ours, and 3)
Confederations, such as the European Community, a commonwealth of sovereign states. There are
advantages and disadvantages to each.
II. The Dynamic Structure of Intergovernmental Relations: Intergovernmental relations are
like a marble cake, with the levels of government intermingled within each other. The relationships
have evolved over the years via various understandings of the term “federalism.” a. Dual Federalism:
this configuration no longer exists; however, in the last century, branches of government could, and
did, pretend that they were functionally separate and working independently, but not against each
other. b. Cooperative Federalism: As its name suggests, this is a more collaborative relationship
between federal and state governments. Cooperative federalism also has an interstate dimension, as
participatory programs were undertaken among several states and the federal government—such as
prisoner extraditions, parks and wildlife activities, etc. c. Creative Federalism: This came about in
President Johnson’s vision for the Great Society of integrating the poor into mainstream America
through programs such as Head Start, whereby the federal government gave direct grants to local
governments, bypassing the state entirely. However, the notion that all wisdom rested at the federal
level angered many states. d. New Federalism: President Nixon attempted to return autonomy to the
states that was taken away in prior eras. Yet at the same time, President Nixon hoped to retain a
strong national government. e. New New Federalism was about revenue-sharing—to arrest the rising
fiscal burdens of many state and local governments, to help offset the fiscal imbalances between
states, and to use the accumulated budget surpluses. When budgets became tighter and deficits
increased, the policy was curtailed. Because of this curtailment of federal funding, the subnational
governments had no choice but to cut back and to simultaneously try their hands at new ways to cut
budgets, enhance, or save money by privatization, outsourcing, etc. The reinventing government
movement stems from this. In 1994 the “Republican Revolution” came along with yet another spin on
the notion that Washington ought to do less and states ought to do more—a concept called devolution.
III. Intergovernmental Management: There are various concepts that illustrate
intergovernmental management. a. Picket Fence Federalism: Bureaucratic specialists represent the
horizontal pickets in the picket fence metaphor. They operate all along the federal, state, and local
levels and they interact constantly with each other on occupational levels. They are thus more in
touch and accord with each other than with their bosses, who are the elected officials—such as the
president, governors, and mayors---who represent the vertical slats of the picket fence. b. Councils of
Government (COGs): Any multi-jurisdictional arrangements across governments to provide for
transportation, water, etc., that affect a region as a whole are called COGs. Sometimes the COGs
amount to special districts with their own taxing authorities. Mandates from higher levels of
government to lower levels of government, linked to grant monies, are often an impediment to smooth
intergovernmental relations because they usually express restrictions of authority to states. c. Cost of
Compliance: Complying with the mandates of higher levels of governments and other
micromanagers can be costly. To address this issue Congress passed the Unfunded Mandate Reform
15
Act of 1995, which declares that any future bill might be out of order if it imposes a financial mandate
of more than $50 million on any one state or local government.
IV. Fiscal Federalism: Following the money: In the beginning of our federal system, states
tended to have more autonomy due to geographic distances between them and the center. The picture
changed with advancements in technology and industry that overcame such difficulties. The scene
changed again due to program increases during the New Deal and with social laws of the 1960s, such
as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These laws and programs had mandates that had to be uniformly
applied across the nation (busing, welfare, etc.). One way to make the new programs palatable to
recalcitrant states and local governments was to provide grants-in-aid to the programs, with strings
attached. In the past, most of the grants were categorical, but since the Nixon administration, multicategory grants, called block grants, have become popular. This allowed the states and local
governments more discretion on how the money would be spent, and it was an attempt to give back to
the states their appropriate statuses of governments in their own right.
V. The Devolution Revolution: In 1994, Republican governors held a convention at
Williamsburg, Virginia, to call for return of power from the federal government to the states in a
document known as the “Williamsburg Resolve.” It passed by an overwhelming majority. Across the
nation, however, many saw the “resolve” as somewhat hypocritical. It appeared that the Republican
governors were saying that they wanted federal money without federal mandates! Many states could
not have been settled with their present density without immense expenditures by the federal
government on water and engineering. a. The Public Choice Solution: Public choice theory rejects
the welfare economics that arose out of the New Deal. It questions whether such federal intervention
really is the intent of the citizens. Its exponents feel that governmental action and expenditures
should be placed at the lowest level of government because at that level more experimentation,
competition, and innovation can be achieved. Citizens are better able to compare their taxation to the
level of service provided and then vote out irresponsible governments. Public choice advocates want
to increase the discretion of the individual voter and maximize “user pays systems” (fees for services).
b. Race to the Bottom: The ultimate devolution objective is to privatize goods and services.
However, who is to make up the gap that inevitably exists when private enterprise cannot or will not
provide goods and services to certain segments of our society? In such a climate of devolution, it is
evident that many state and local governments, depending on the power-elite structure and available
resources, have gradually diminished services to their own people, or may have denied services to
people not from the state, creating a whole new range of intergovernmental problems.
A Team Exercise
Read pages 159–163 in Chapter 4 of your textbook.
GROUP 1: The Thesis
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“Less is More!
Washington must do less! States should do more!”
A group of lieutenant governors of midwestern and western states have come together at the Sheraton
Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona, to formulate the “Publius Resolve.” The resolve is about returning
power from the federal government to the states. Among other things, they say they are tired of going
to Washington “to kiss the ring.” They claim that they are not often treated as governments in their
own rights. They resent Washington bypassing them in dealing with local governments, especially
when providing grant monies.
GROUP 2: The Antithesis
“The United States is a Republic”1
A number of states and special interest groups disagree with this position and have asked for a debate
to precede the actual meetings. This was approved by the “Publius” group. Thus, another group of
lieutenant governors from opposing states and leaders of public interest groups have arrived to present
the opposing view. They say that many of the very states that want more autonomy were beneficiaries
of the federal system. They just want money without strings attached and, hence, are really the
“Welfare Queens” of the federal system. Public interest groups argue that if it is to be left up to the
states to determine certain social policies, then the power-elites in the system will gobble up even
more of the benefits. Who, they ask, will protect the rights of the poor and disadvantaged if the
federal government is taken out of the picture?
1) Divide into two teams. 2) Take the thesis and antithesis positions. 3) Elect a speaker. 4) Elect a
note-taker. 5) Caucus for about 12–15 minutes. 5) Each side presents for 5 minutes. 6) There is a 2minute rebuttal time between presentations. 7) Sum up for 3 minutes.
1
See page 137 in the textbook on why today "the United States" is a singular noun.
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CHAPTER FIVE:
THE EVOLUTION OF MANAGEMENT AND
ORGANIZATION THEORY
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 5, the student should be able to:
1.
Understand the origins of public management:
a. The Military Heritage of Public Administration
b. The Continuing Influence of Ancient Rome
2. Comprehend the significance of administrative doctrine.
3. Understand the evolutionary nature of organization theory:
a. Classical Organization Theory
(1) Scientific Management
(2) Henri Fayol’s General Theory of Management
b. The Period of Orthodoxy
c. Theories of Bureaucracy
d. Neoclassical Organization Theory
e. “Modern” Structural Organization Theory
f. Systems Theory
4. Define key terms at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
5. Write short critical essays on major issues covered in the chapter.
SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE FIVE
I. Early Influences upon Public Administration: The Roman military had the earliest and most
pervasive impact on public administration. Today, the lexicon of public administration employs many
words, phrases, and symbols reminiscent of this heritage. Regular pay and pensions, concepts of
loyalty to the legion, livery, and pride in the profession kept the military motivated and disciplined.
The Roman state government was a depersonalized entity—not owned by any monarch. It was
divided into units of command in a centralized hierarchical structure. Tax money kept the army
strong.
II. The Significance of Administrative Doctrine: The management principles from the military
18
relied on span of control and unity of command. This kind of authoritarian governance demands
order, precision, and obedience. A core set of principles promotes goal achievement, coordinated
actions, morale, loyalty, and staying power in public administration. However, the administrative
policies generally also permit flexibility and growth. Thus, administrative doctrines are models that
are constantly evolving. The “principles” approach to management is important because it sought to
make an art as well as a science of administration. It also sought to show that management was a skill
that could be taught.
III. The Evolutionary Nature of Organization Theory: We have seen many theories of
organizations live and die, as well as be changed and modified. The major groupings are: a.
Classical Organization Theory: While organization theory began with the authoritarian model
offered by the military, it came into its own during the industrial revolution when workers had few
“rights,” which explains why its tenets seem harsh. Adam Smith—the father of the discipline of
economics—was the first to set forth guiding principles for division and specialization of labor. 1)
Scientific Management: As the organization function became more complex, industrial engineers
sought the best way to keep people working while trying to come up with more scientific designs of
work. Frederick Taylor’s “scientific management,” with its time-and-motion studies, had its genesis
in such thinking. 2) Henri Fayol’s General Theory of Management was a theory that he believed
applied to all organizations: production of goods and services, commerce, finance, security,
accounting, managerial coordination and control, equity, scalar chains, and esprit de corps. b. The
Period of Orthodoxy: At the time of the New Deal, it was finally understood that decisions in public
policy and administration were blatantly political in tone. The second tenet of the orthodoxy
movement was a return look at the principles of management approach. Luther Gulick’s famous
POSDCORB—planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting, and budgeting—held
center stage and harkened back to Taylor’s “one best way” of management. c. Theories of
Bureaucracy: “Bureaucracy” has multiple meanings—from public offices and public officials to red
tape and waste. Max Weber's bureaucracy described an “ideal type” of bureaucracy—rational,
classical, conservative. It included the Protestant work ethic, the need for a charismatic leader, and a
value-free approach to social research. d. Neoclassical Organization Theory was a later variation of
the classical rational-structural form. Its exponents sought to modify the mechanistic, oversimplistic
views of the classical school. Herbert A. Simon was the first to challenge the rational-structural
approach with his “bounded rationality” theory; he argued that human beings have cognitive limits on
rationality and, furthermore, the decision-making environment can never include all information in a
comprehensive way. Also at this time, from Philip Selznick and sociological research, we learned
that organizations did not exist like islands isolated from their environments. e. “Modern”
Structural Organization Theory: Thomas Burns and G. M. Stalker identified two organizational
types: “mechanistic systems” (reminiscent of the “one best way,” useful in stable conditions) and
organic systems (more evolutionary, like biological organisms, useful in more dynamic conditions). f.
Systems Theory: Systems thinking is important to organizational theory because the whole world is
made up of interrelated organic and dynamic systems. James Gleick made his famous observation of
this in “the Butterfly Effect,” i.e., the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings in Tokyo may influence the New
19
York stock market because systems theory views organizations as constantly acting and reacting to
their internal and external environments. Thus with decision making, unexpected and unanticipated
outcomes may occur throughout the system. Norbert Wiener argued that organizations strive to
maintain a state of dynamic equilibrium through a process of adaptation. Wiener explained that
organizations self-regulate and adapt to survive. “The learning organization” was a concept
developed by Peter Senge, who sought to destroy the illusion that the world is compartmentalized,
separate, and made up of unrelated forces. His “learning organization” is about how organizations as
organic entities adapt and learn and survive by making better and better adjustments.
Class Exercise
THE LARGE CONSEQUENCES OF SMALL COURSES
1) “For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”
Benjamin Franklin
Poor Richard's Almanac, 1758
2) The Butterfly Effect
James Gleick
Chaos: Making a New Science, 1987
Using Benjamin Franklin’s well-known poem (above) and Gleick’s concept of the Butterfly Effect
explain:
1. The basic tenets of systems organization theory.
2. The modern organization as an “organic” system.
3. How does technology have a systems impact on the modern organization?
4. How does a more educated workforce have a systems impact on the modern
organization?
5. How can leadership affect “dynamic equilibrium” in the organizational system?
20
CHAPTER SIX: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 6 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
1. Understand the meaning of organizational behavior and, in particular:
a. Group Dynamics
b. Groupthink
c. Formal and Informal Groups
2. Recognize the concept of organizational development.
3. Comprehend the relationship between human personality and organizations.
4. Grasp the impact of bureaucratic structure on organizational behavior, in particular:
a. Bureaucratic Dysfunctionality
b. Bureaucratic Impersonality
c. Bureaucrat Bashing
5. Learn the prevailing theories of motivation, in particular:
a. The Hawthorne Experiments
b. The Needs Hierarchy
c. The Motivation-Hygiene Theory
d. McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
6. Understand the future of organizations, in particular:
a. The Postbureaucratic Organization
b. Postmodernism
c. The Feminization of the Workplace
7. Define key terms at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
8. Write short critical essays on major issues covered in the chapter.
21
SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE SIX
I. Organizational Behavior: Hugo Münsterberg pioneered the application of psychological
findings from laboratory experiments to organizational behavior with the goal of matching
employees’ abilities to job tasks, and to understand the impact of psychological conditions on
productivity. In the 1960s a more humanistic form of thinking came into vogue, in which it was
believed that organizational growth and development would flow from employee creativity and
prosperity, and organizational discourse moved from organizational-centered to employee-centered
management. Along with this came new understandings of organizational behavior. a. Group
dynamics is a subfield of organizational behavior concerned with how groups in organizations have a
set of norms and values that cause individuals to behave in certain ways, which makes for group
cohesion. b. Groupthink: Strict adherence to group norms makes for overconformity and rigidity
and can lead to groupthink, which is a special type of group dynamics defined by Irving Janis as a
dysfunction that is detrimental to organizational decision making. Alex Osborn suggested the process
of brainstorming as a useful antidote to this dysfunction because it protects creative thinking from
groupthink. c. Formal and Informal Groups: Within all organizations, there are formal and
informal groups. Command groups are the supervisors and those who report directly to them; task
groups are those that come together to perform specific tasks; informal groups are those who associate
voluntarily with each other for social needs.
II. Organizational Development (O.D.) is about planned organizational adaptation and change
geared toward increasing organizational effectiveness. O.D. involves deep change, not superficial
modifications. It has its origins in the Hawthorne studies and in organizational behavior-centered
change processes that came out of the sensitivity training of Kurt Lewin and his associates, which
attempted to focus on interpersonal communication, survey research methodology, and feedback.
III. The Impact of Personality: In his book Personality and Organizations 1957, Chris Argyris
suggested that there was an inherent conflict between the personalities of mature adults and needs of
the organization, and that organizations tended to treat employees like children—most often seen in
the classical, structural form of organizations—which leads to ineffectiveness.
IV. Impact of Bureaucratic Structure on Behavior: Each organization has a unique structure
that defines how labor and technology will be used. The structures of a large bureaucracy are
conservative and slow to change and to match the organization to changing social conditions and
needs. However, no bureaucracy in a democratic government can do anything that is not provided for
in its enabling legislation. a. Bureaucratic Dysfunctionality is something very common in our
everyday lives. Bureaucratic structure stresses depersonalized relationships and power and authority
gained by virtue of organizational position, not innovative thought or action. Victor Thompson calls
this type of employee a “bureaupath.” b. Bureaucratic Impersonality: Max Weber acknowledged
that dehumanization was part of the ideal-type bureaucracy, and by that he meant elimination of all
personal traits from official business. c. Bureaucrat Bashing became more fashionable than ever
22
under President Ronald Reagan, who was elected to two terms in office on his stand against
bureaucracy. President Clinton pledged to clean up the bureaucracy. Under both these leaders, public
administration positions were lost in the federal government.
V. Motivation: Various theories of motivation have developed over time: a. The Hawthorne
Experiments: These were experiments at the Hawthorne Works of Western Electric Company,
Chicago. The results of the experiments revealed that work situations are first of all social situations;
that workers are motivated by peer pressure, the attention paid to them by significant elites, and other
complex sets of factors beyond remuneration. b. The Needs Hierarchy: In an important but
controversial work, “A Theory of Human Motivation,” Abraham Maslow asserted that a person’s
needs are not all equal but ascend in a hierarchy. At the bottom are survival needs while at the top are
self-actualization needs. Once lower needs are satisfied, they no longer motivate. Others built upon
Maslow’s ideas. c. The Motivation-Hygiene Theory: Frederick Herzberg argued that job content
factors such as achievement, advancement, and responsibility are motivators because they lead to
growth and self-actualization; the environmental context of jobs such as working conditions,
interpersonal relations, and salary serve as hygiene factors because they prevent unpleasantness. d.
Theory X and Theory Y: In his classic work The Human Side of Enterprise, Douglas McGregor set
out his famous X and Y theories of opposite organizational styles. Managers holding a Theory X
vision of their workers tend to be authoritarian, old-style leaders with a belief that people are lazy,
irresponsible, and must be coerced to work. In contrast, Theory Y has a belief in the intrinsic good of
human beings—that it is natural for people to work hard and creatively if organizational goals are
clear and if there is meaning in work.
VI. The Future of Organizations: a. The Postbureaucratic Organization: Dwight Waldo in
1952 prophesied about a “postbureaucratic” organization. His view was taken up by Warren Bennis
who argued about the “end of bureaucracy,” predicting accurately that rapidly changing, adaptive
organizational systems would take its place. Alvin Toffler, in Future Shock (1970), argued that
future shock is the human response to the overstimulation of modern workplaces. However, the
demise and burial of bureaucracy is greatly exaggerated and premature. Bureaucracy still has many
virtues, and perhaps in the end these are best placed within bureaucratic structures and systems and
not eliminated entirely. Many new organizational theorists and policymakers—Elliot Jaques,
Michael Barzelay, and Leon Panetta—have argued by word and action in favor of this modified
bureaucracy. b. Postmodernism: Shoshana Zuboff describes in her book The Age of the Smart
Machine her observations of workers isolated from each other, talking to machines and staring into
computer screens in a dehumanized workplace. Thus a sense of work community is lost. William
Bergquist suggested that the postmodern organization, while professing to be open and adaptive, is in
reality reverting to the age-old premise that people are rational and value-free and that they behave in
fixed ways. c. The Feminization of the Workforce: Women constitute a larger percentage of the
workforce today due to increased education of women in colleges and universities. Thus a feminist
perspective on public administration is deemed essential in viewing organizational behavior.
23
Class Exercise
BUREAUCRACY
The authors have cleverly captured key aspects of bureaucratic dysfunction in this caricature of the
concept of bureaucracy from Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore.
See page 230, textbook.
Play tape recording of this music. Have students follow from the text.
Break up into teams of two.
What concepts have you learned so far about bureaucracy, pathologies in organizations, and
political dysfunctions that relate to this amusing song? List at least five, and more if you wish.
24
CHAPTER SEVEN: MANAGERIALISM AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 7 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
1. Define the concept of “managerialism” as a new public administration doctrine.
2. Understand the notion of reengineering as radical organizational reform.
3. Learn about the concept of empowerment as it relates to the managerialist doctrine.
4. Comprehend the meaning of entrepreneurialism in the public sector.
5. Discern the meaning of performance management, in particular:
a. The Politics of Performance Management
b. Management Control
6. Relate to the issue of contracting for performance in the following areas:
a. Individual and Organizational Contracts
b. The Purchaser-Provider Model
7. Understand the notion of productivity improvement in the public sector with particular
attention to the following areas:
a. Productivity Measurement
b. Barriers to Productivity Improvement
c. Total Quality Management
d. Pleasing the Customer
8. Define key terms at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
9. Write short critical essays on the major issues covered in the chapter.
SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE SEVEN
25
I. Managerialism: In the 1980s and 1990s a new paradigm of public administration emerged
within the “reinventing government” movement—the theory of managerialism. Managerialism, or
entrepreneurial management, as a concept originated with the recognition by scholars and theorists that
society was moving to a type of work community in which leaders of the system were seen to be
unleashing their creative abilities to develop and transform organizations. It signals a movement away
from participative and employee-centered management. In the 1980s this was the prevailing public
sector doctrine. In harsher terms, managerialism is seen by many as a more romantic version of the
paternalism encountered in the scientific management days. Managers continue to be comfortable with
authoritarian structures and styles, with a constant search for the “one best way” to widen the
organization’s market niche. Those in senior management are expected to be policy revolutionaries or
entrepreneurs who forcefully develop, argue for, and sell new and often creative solutions to vexing
public problems. In today’s lexicon, these solutions are called reengineering, empowerment, and
entrepreneurialism.
II. Reengineering: This is more radical and sophisticated, and it employs greater use of the
technological and behavioral sciences to achieve its objectives than simple reorganization.
Reengineering in public administration is about reinventing outworn government machinery in such
areas as cost, quality, service, and speed.
III. Empowerment: One way of doing this is by the self-directed work team concept. The idea is
that work groups will take on the responsibility for their work processes and products, as well as
responsibility for the work of individual group members. Self-directed work teams “download” duties
to a lower level, and thus release managerial expertise to the level above. This gives executives time
to engage in strategic planning and mid-managers time to engage in coaching, championing innovative
ideas, and working with vendors and customers.
IV. Entrepreneurialism: This aspect of organizational change calls for transformational,
catalytic, and charismatic leadership. Entrepreneurial vision should not be limited to the topmost rungs
of strategic management, but should influence all levels of management. Managerialism’s flaw for
public sector bureaucracies lies in its premise that, given transformational leadership, the organization
will be whipped into shape in no time. The managerialist view has been grasped by a public weary of
higher taxes and poor services. The citizenry have come to believe (often erroneously) that a public
administration based on private sector principles will work better. However, the political context of
public administration always creates complications for the bureaucracy.
V. Performance Management: A key feature of performance management is strategically
integrating all aspects of the enterprise with a view toward performance outcomes. a. The Politics of
Performance Management: Planning in the public sector, as noted before, is never rational or
straightforward because of the political process, informational constraints, and other factors. b.
Management Control: Control systems monitor how well the organization is responding to or
deviating from its goals. Organizational goals can, and do, get lost as organizational members—
26
especially leaders—modify organizational goals to suit personal goals. Thus, systematic integration of
performance via control systems is seen as helpful in avoiding goal displacement (Robert Merton) and
in assisting managers to keep the organization in dynamic equilibrium (Chester Barnard).
VI. Contracting for Performance: a. Individual and Organizational Contracts: Today, in
addition to roles and responsibilities, the terms and conditions of hire and retention often contain
language about the goals and targets of the job with rewards and sanctions attached. b. The
Purchaser-Provider Model: The relationship between the government, as sole buyer or purchaser of a
good or service, and its providers is structured in the purchaser-provider model. In that structure there
are desired outcomes based on goals and objectives of the purchaser.
VII. Productivity Improvement: a. Productivity Measurement: Productivity in the public
sector is a perennial concern of citizens, the bureaucracy, and lawmakers. Productivity is measured by
the relationship between quantity and quality of outcomes minus the quantity of resources used to
produce the goods or service. b. Barriers to Productivity Improvement: Productivity improvement
is much easier talked about than done in the public sector. If the organization lends itself to factorylike operations, one can undertake measurements of productivity. However, service workers such as
police officers, school teachers, etc., provide tangible as well as intangible outputs, which are not
easily measured even by broad social indicators. c. Total Quality Management: TQM became a
buzzword in the 1990s. It was the brainchild of W. Edwards Deming, who used statistical quality
control measures to achieve TQM. Deming believed that the key to quality was that management
needed to create the kind of organizational culture that was receptive to the quality concept. d.
Pleasing the Customer: Pleasing the customer has been a government focus in the 1980s and
1990s—at least in word if not actually in deed. This perspective arises directly out of TQM, the
managerialist movement, and the “reinventing government” theory.
Class Exercise
This exercise is designed to make you think creatively and radically as an organizational leader---in the
managerialist, reengineering, and entrepreneurial spirit that you have been introduced to in Chapter 7,
“Managerialism and Performance Management.”
INSTRUCTIONS
You are a senior manager in the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation who has just completed
a management training course that emphasizes reengineering and entrepreneurialism. You are prepared
27
to think creatively and innovatively. Now you are being asked by the Committee on State Highways
in the legislature to come up with a plan to connect nine key transportation points in the state with a
highway system. They give you the following instructions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Using only four sections of highway, connect all nine points.
Use only straight lines, no curves.
You must begin at the point where the last section stopped.
Do not retrace your steps.
Think entrepreneurially to solve this puzzle!
*
WHITE HILLS
*
STATLER
*
GROVE CITY
*
OAKMONT
*
RIVERSIDE
*
CLEARVIEW
*
MARY'S POINT
*
READING
*
BROWN BLUFFS
Adapted from Ralph E. Strauch, “A Critical Look at Quantitative Methodology,” Policy Analysis, vol.
II, 1976: pages 121–144.
28
CHAPTER EIGHT: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 8 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
1. Understand the concept of strategic management as it applies to the public sector, with
particular respect to:
a. Strategic Management and Planning
b. Matching Agency Capabilities and Agency Requirements
2. Learn about Management by Objectives (MBO).
3. Discern the future challenges for strategic management in the public sector.
4. Learn to perform a SWOT analysis on a given public agency.
5. Define key terms at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
6. Write short critical essays on major issues covered in the chapter.
SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE EIGHT
I. Strategic Management: We derive the concept of the art of generalship, viz., strategic
management, from its military heritage. Strategic management is about the management of resources
to attain the goal in its entirety. Tactics, a word also derived from the military, is about gaining a part
of the goal—or the objective. In administration, the concepts of strategy and tactics involve the
selection of philosophies, policies, and practices to achieve efficiency and effectiveness. a. Strategic
Management and Planning: Public management has been slower than the private sector in
embracing the strategic management and planning concept. Today, however, it is seen as imperative
that a public organization have strategic intent to proactively shape the future for the organization the
way that private corporations do, rather than merely reacting to events. Private corporations do
strategic planning all the time, to specify long- and short-term horizons. Because of the inherently
political nature of public administration, however, short-term thinking is often more the case. Public
budgeting procedures, due to their annual nature, also contribute to short, yearly cycles. The annual
29
budget submission often gives opportunities for posturing, patronage, and politicizing. However,
long-term planning is not impossible in the public sector. Many public projects, like space science,
defense, etc., require long-term planning horizons and enormous capital investment, which is most
appropriately done by government. Long-term planning is often done at the federal level and can
draw national attention to a cause. However, sometimes little is achieved and planning efforts are
merely a goal in themselves, undertaken to give exposure to political elites. Planning is “messy” in
more wealthy democratic governments where competing interests must be accommodated. In his 1959
article “The Science of Muddling Through,” Charles E. Lindblom argued that incremental decision
making was more achievable in the messy, complex, disorderly, ill-structured world of politics, where
completely rational decision making is never possible. All strategic management plans have
essentially the same components: identification of goals and objectives; adoption of a time frame for
achievement; systematic analysis of current circumstances and capabilities; looking at the overall
organizational environment; selection of a strategy by comparing various alternatives; the integration
of organizational efforts around this strategy; and evaluation. b. Matching Agency Capabilities and
Agency Environments: When the environment is stable, a more custodial, authoritarian strategy
might suffice, but when the organization is turbulent, a more risk-taking entrepreneurial capability is
required. When a mismatch exists between environment and capability, management must take action
to match its technological and human resources to what is required. An organizational tool to identify
the strengths and weaknesses of an organization, as well as potential opportunities and threats, is the
SWOT analysis. This is a technique widely employed by organizations to provide another test of
strategic viability. It uses interactive brainstorming techniques. Attention to strengths and
weaknesses highlights capability. Opportunities and threats turn attention to the opportunistic as well
as the predatory aspects of an organization’s survival. An assessment of an organization’s present and
future environment is a critical aspect of strategic management planning. Demand forecasting is used
to determine the likely population growth and consumer behavior of the region. Futures analysis is
another form of analysis used in the 1980s.
II. Management by Objectives (MBO): Management focus on goals and objectives was
pioneered by Peter Drucker in 1954 with the publication of The Practice of Management. Many other
books on MBO followed, each with the basic premise that measurable goals have to be established
and accomplished by both membership and leadership of the organization to be realized over a period
of time. Part of strategic management responsibility is providing a broad statement of philosophy in
public organizations in its mission statement, which is set forth in terms of the ideal. A statement of
goals is more specific, and the list of objectives is about means to get to the goals, sometimes referred
to as targets.
30
III. Strategic Management Future Challenges: Strategic management in the public sector has
evolved from its traditional functional management focus to one which now looks toward measurable
objectives. As it relates to government, the term “strategic management” refers to a statement of
goals that can be translated into a statement of specific targets or objectives. Because the original
sponsors of legislation may not have a precise idea of how the end results are to be reached, goals may
be far more philosophical than the objectives. Hence, explicit statements are purposely avoided, and
the intent of the policy is often stated in broad, general terms. A variety of challenges to strategic
management are faced by public sector managers today. The widespread use of privatization around
the world is one that will increasingly be a topic confronting government in the next decade.
A Two-Group Exercise
Discussion on Case Study
“How the Military General Staffs Became the First Strategic Think Tanks”
Divide into two groups.
Group 1 is a private think tank called “Ogden Associates”. Think back on the year that has just
passed. What one thing in your opinion was the most significant thrust of strategic thinking at the
federal executive and/or legislative levels in the U.S.? Do you think that the effort and expenditure
were worth it? Analyze and develop your ideas.
Class Exercise
A SWOT ANALYSIS
Analysis of Organizational
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
(Individual or Team Game)
You are the newly appointed warden of the Cedarville County Jail. Because there are many problems
existing in the jail administration in Cedarville, you have been brought in as a “change agent.” You
have come to your position from a previous position in Illinois in the same capacity. You are known
there for being an entrepreneurial and transformational leader. You will bring with you part of your
strategic management team—your deputy warden for human resources and your deputy warden for
administration.
The jail in Cedarville is a recently built incarceration facility with the latest in security technology and
inmate housing for the two separate parts of the jail—Adult Offenders Incarceration Facility and the
Juvenile Facility. The physical space serves as a model for this type of incarceration facility. There is
willingness on the part of the county government to put additional revenue and resources into the
facility to make it work; you have a honeymoon period of two years to do this.
31
Among the issues raised in your appointment documents as CEO to this facility are the following:
Security issues and keeping inmates inside the prison is the paramount concern. Beyond
this, strategic management needs to be strengthened with additional talent in the area
of financial management. The accounting system is in disarray.
There are employee morale problems. Officers are not properly trained in the use of restraint
and safety techniques. There are some drug and alcohol abuse problems among the
employees. Women have traditionally been employed only in the lower clerical ranks. The
jail has a “macho” culture, which the county wants to see being changed to a more caretaking
culture with emphasis on rehabilitation and training for inmates and a special-needs program
for juvenile offenders.
Counseling, library, and chaplain services are not available to staff and inmates. The organization
could outsource (privatize) gardening, laundry, and janitorial services more cheaply than what
is provided in-house through work.
There will be a state review of how the juvenile offenders are managed in Cedarville. If there are
continuing problems in this area, the state is considering a voucher program to enable juvenile
offenders to be moved to the Catholic Juvenile Male Institutional Facility, a non-profit organization
outside Cedarville, or to the Raleigh Institution for Young Men, a private detention center in
Cedarville. If the review is bad, the Cedarville jail stands to lose a substantial portion of its budget.
Conversely, if the state review shows that juveniles should be retained at Cedarville, the state and
federal governments will kick in with substantial grant-in-aid funding.
The county supervisors want you to accomplish the following major strategic tasks within your first
three months in office.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
I.
Develop:
1. A Mission Statement
2. A Statement of Goals
3. A Statement of Key Objectives
Remember your model:
MISSION
------------------------------------broad philosophy --------- more focused ------ very focused and specific
32
II. Develop:
STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, and THREATS analysis
(SWOT analysis) for the Cedarville Jail—see page 334 of textbook for your model.
33
CHAPTER NINE: LEADERSHIP AND ACCOUNTABILITY
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
After reading Chapter 9 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
1.
Understand the kinds of power that leadership exerts upon the organization.
2.
Learn about the prevailing theories of leadership, in particular:
a. Trait Theories of Leadership
b. Transactional Theories of Leadership
c. Contingency Theories of Leadership
d. Transformational Leadership Theories
3.
Comprehend the more dysfunctional aspects of too much leadership, in particular:
a. Micromanagement
b. Overmanagement
4.
Discern the role leaders play in moral guidance of public organizations.
5.
Learn about the need for leaders to be accountable in public administration.
6.
Understand the oversight role that legislative leadership plays in government.
7.
Define key terms at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
8.
Write short critical essays on major issues covered in the chapter.
SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE NINE
I. Leadership: Leaders are those who get people in organizations motivated to do things they may
never have done before or may not wish to do. Leadership is about the exercising of authority and it is
done both formally and informally. French and Raven suggest five types of leadership power: expert
power, referent power, reward power, legitimate power, and coercive power. Charismatic leadership,
described by Max Weber, is power similar to referent power. Chester Barnard described three
essential functions of the leader: to provide a system of communication; to promote the securing of
essential efforts; and to formulate and define the mission, goals, and objectives of the organization.
II. Theories of Leadership: a. Trait Theories of Leadership: The trait approach suggests that
34
leaders have unique characteristics or traits that are distinct from followers, and that leaders are born
and not made. However, these trait theories have fallen into disfavor, mainly because the theorists
could never identify which traits make an effective leader. b. Transactional Theories: After the
1950s it became standard practice to view leadership as a series of transactions. Because a leader
could be successful in one set of interactions with one group of individuals and not in another, the
theory of transactions fits better than trait theories. The famous Lewin, Lippitt, and White studies of
transactions identified three types of leaders—authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire. They
found that the groups led by authoritarian leaders were very aggressive and had low job satisfaction.
The groups were productive, however, probably due to the coercive power of the leader. Democratic
leadership provided the most satisfied and productive workplaces because it allowed for peaceful
negotiation, change, and participative management. Workforces with hands-off, laissez-faire leaders
had low productivity and satisfaction and behaved aggressively. c. Contingency Approaches: This
approach defines leaders who take their cues and develop leadership styles from the situation rather
than following the “one best way.” Tannenbaum and Schmidt provided one of the first studies that
suggested that leaders need to evaluate the factors of the situation prior to making changes in the
organization. d. Transformational Leadership: A transformational leader is someone with the
ability to change an embedded organizational culture by creating a new vision for the organization.
This is similar to trait theories because it posits the belief that leaders are born and not made.
III. Too Much Leadership: a. Micromanagement: This term has emerged in the last decade to
describe situations in which leaders supervise too closely and do not delegate. When this occurs the
personal and professional growth of subordinates is stifled. Micromanagement can drive employees
to extreme stress and even violence. It does not make an incompetent employee more competent; it
only damages interpersonal relationships and distracts managers from development of overall longterm strategy for the unit and for the organization. Legislators at all levels of government tend to be
micromanagers. They look too closely into rules and process—often for partisan and special interest
concerns. b. Overmanagement: A variation of micromanagement is overmanagement, when there
are too many managers for the task. As computer-based systems have come into use and negated the
need for layers of management, those managers who are fearful of losing their jobs tend to create
fiefdoms. This kind of turf-building, and its accompanying waste in overmanagement, is a structural
cause of organizational incompetence.
IV. Moral Leadership: A leader should not just be expected to be an expediter of organizational
resources to meet the goal, but also through the respect and trust generated—via his/her charismatic
and referent power—be able to keep the workforce in voluntary acceptance of moral codes and
values.
V. The Challenge of Accountability is about administrators being accountable for general notions
of ethics, democracy, and legal mandates. Taken together, internal standards—professional and
organizational—and external standards—legislative and popular controls— keep the bureaucracy—
accountable. Public administrators often take an oath of allegiance to the Constitution and must
uphold that pledge. Thus, to do their jobs properly, public administrators need to understand the
country’s constitutional framework as well as the substance and structure of individual rights. a.
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Excessive Zeal for Accountability often leads to bureau incompetence. When individuals show
themselves to be incapable of taking responsibility, rules are often set up that are rigid and sometimes
irrational, often taking up valuable time. b. Avoiding Accountability: Often, when wrongdoing
occurs, officials stonewall, deny, and point fingers elsewhere, even when involved.
VI. Legislative Oversight: The legislature—either in the form of the city council, the state
legislature, or the congress—monitors the executive branch to see that laws are faithfully executed.
Oversight takes many forms—Congressional hearings on the budget or investigations on special
issues; Senate confirmation of appointees for cabinet positions and Supreme Court nominees. Any
member of Congress can instigate an investigation, and Congress operates as a kind of grand jury
ready at all times to hear testimony on improper actions.
Group Exercise
Think Piece
“Transforming the Postal Service”
The twenty-first century has brought new challenges to the U.S. postal service. As group, brainstorm
what some of these might be (e.g., anthrax mailings, pornographic material, the need to provide eservices). Each student should choose one of the themes derived from the brainstorming session or
should write a one-page analytical essay in the form of a memorandum from the Postmaster of a local
postal service to his/her employees.
Class Exercise
A HUNT-AND-PECK EXERCISE ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION CONCEPTS
You are a human resources specialist in the city government offices for the industrial city of Lamont,
Nebraska. You have just graduated with a B.A. in Public Administration from the University of
Nebraska. A complaint has been brought to the attention of your boss from a group of employees in
the Department of Administration against their director, Ms. Beverly Huxtable. The report, which has
been formally written up by the hearing officer, is given below. Your boss has asked you, as a first
step, to look over the complaint and list any public administration concepts embedded in the
complaint. You remember your classes in public administration clearly and have no trouble in
picking out at least eight concepts.
REPORT
Ms. Beverly Huxtable is the director of administrative services in the city of Lamont. She has been in
this position for the last six months. Her prior position was assistant director of policy and planning,
which she held for two years. There were a number of serious problems with her work in that job.
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Despite these problems, when the director of administrative services position became available, she
was promoted to this position with the support of her brother-in-law, Michael Huxtable, the deputy
mayor of Lamont. Prior to her assistant director position, Ms. Huxtable served very successfully over
a ten-year period as a budget analyst in the accounting department.
Ms. Huxtable’s immediate problems stem from her management style. She gives very little flexibility
for independent decision making by her staff and insists that rules and regulations be adhered to very
closely, regardless of the circumstances involved. Her employees feel like robots and that their
creativity and initiative are being stifled. Ms. Huxtable’s own opinion is that she is an excellent
leader. She believes that she has the intelligence, energy, and aptitude that is needed to be a good
leader; but that her problems have been inherited. Her staff, says Ms. Huxtable, are complainers,
incompetent, lazy, and irresponsible. This came about because the previous manager had a hands-off
style of leadership, which created problems of laxness and discipline, and she will not tolerate either
of these things in her department. Because of Ms. Huxtable’s insistence on sticking to the rules,
rigidity, and overconformity, the public is not being served in an efficient and timely fashion by the
departments that report to her.
Meanwhile, citizens of Lamont are expressing their frustrations and calling for a new catalytic,
entrepreneurial government. They have been calling for greater performance standards and
accountability of city services. The mayor has undertaken a review of city operations with a view to
making radical changes in the way the city delivers its efforts to the public. However, the mayor has
been stymied at every turn by his director of administrative services, Ms. Huxtable. This latest
complaint from the employees in her department gives the mayor added ammunition to add to the
case for dismissal of Ms. Huxtable.
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CHAPTER TEN: PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT AND LABOR RELATIONS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 10 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
1. Understand the personnel function in the public sector and its role in:
a. Recruitment
b. Merit Selection
c. Position Classification
d. Performance Appraisal
e. Training
f. Management Development
2. Comprehend the history and current challenges of civil service reform.
3. Explain the issues surrounding patronage appointments, including:
a. The role of patronage in the political process.
b. The function and importance of the Plum Book.
c. The questions of the constitutionality of the process.
d. The preference quandary.
4. Understand the principles that govern labor relations in the public sector, including:
a. The process of collective bargaining.
b. The legal foundation of the process.
c. The impact of strikes in the public sector.
5. Define key terms at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
6. Write short critical essays on major issues covered in the chapter.
SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE TEN
I. The Personnel Function deals with the technical functions of employment, such as
recruitment, selection, training, and evaluation. Personnel requires an understanding of law as well as
the major developments in the social and behavioral sciences. Personnel administration has evolved
from being largely a clerical function into a professional practice. a. Personnel Merit Selection:
This process began with civil service reform in the late nineteenth century, which gave birth to the
Pendleton Act in 1883. The act created the U.S. Civil Service Commission. It mandated open
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competitive examinations, probationary periods, and protection from political pressures for the federal
bureaucracy. The Pendleton Act mandated that examinations had to be “practical in their character.”
The primacy of practicality was later reaffirmed in Griggs v. Duke Power Company (1971), which
upheld the notion of examination validity based on the character of the work. b. Position
Classifications: Traditional position classifications organize all jobs in a civil service merit system
into classes on the basis of duties for the purposes of establishing chains of command, salary scales,
and delineating authority. c. Performance Appraisal is about the documentation of work
performance of employees. Most appraisals are too subjective and impressionistic to be useful
because they are done in-house, and thus evaluators are reluctant to destroy group harmony with
negative evaluations. Because of this, outside consultants are sometimes hired to do the ratings. d.
Training: Training has always been considered an option, or a luxury, in organizations. In the 1950s
it was the premise that since employees were hired on the merit system, they were qualified, thus
training was superfluous. As opinion changed to view public service as a career that constantly
needed upgrading, attitudes about providing training changed as well. In 1958, Congress passed the
Government Employees Training Act, which mandated training in federal agencies. e. Management
Development: This is undertaken in organizations as an organizational investment in human capital
to develop leadership for the organization. Assessment programs are geared toward distinguishing
which individuals have the potential for selection to a management program, and they typically
observe individuals in simulations of problem solving, often within stress situations.
II. Civil Service Reform: Any government employee who is not in the military is in civil service.
There are two groups of employees in the civil service: those who come up through the so-called
merit system and those individuals who were appointed for reasons other than fitness for duty as
patronage appointments. a. From Spoils to Merit Systems: While civil service reform dates from
the post-Civil War era, its political roots go back to the beginning of our republic when “reinventing”
public personnel systems first began. Jefferson faced the problem of a hostile bureaucracy in his
presidency but refused to replace them with Republicans on the grounds that only malconduct is
justification for dismissal, although he did make partisan appointments on occasion. Other presidents
permitted the spoils system to a greater or lesser degree. b. The Pendleton Act—Federal Reform:
Clamors for a merit-based civil service system, increasing after the assassination of President
Garfield by a disappointed office seeker, led his successor, President Arthur, to sign into law “An Act
to Regulate and Improve the Civil Service of the United States,” better known as the Pendleton Act of
1883. c. State and Local Reform: Influenced by the Pendleton Act, state and local governments
began to institute civil service commissions. Today, 88 percent of cities with populations over 50,000
have merit systems on the books—but patronage instead of merit may still exist in practice. d. The
Civil Service Commission: The commission, a bipartisan group of appointees, was mandated to keep
the bureaucracy as free as possible from political influence. As time went on, however, nonpartisan
career managers found themselves burdened by the restrictions set up to thwart the spoils system and
called for an integration of personnel functions with the administrative functions of the executive to
whom they reported. e. The Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) of 1978: This was enacted under
President Carter in response to the complaints of red tape and the ongoing abuse of employee rights.
The name of the Civil Service Commission by then was besmirched by incompetence and scandal and
had to be retired. The CSRA divided the commission into three agencies: the Office of Personnel
39
Management, to oversee the human resource function; the Merit Systems Protection Board, to provide
recourse to aggrieved employees; and the Federal Labor Management Authority (FLRA), to oversee
federal labor management policies. f. Reinventing Public Personnel Administration: Recently,
public personnel management has been heavily impacted by the “reinventing” government movement.
The 1993 Gore Report emphasized public personnel reform, suggested decentralization of personnel
management, and promoted a “customer-service” focus.
III. Patronage Appointments: Patronage comes from the word “patron”—in order to get certain
plum jobs, you need a patron in high places. a. The Plum Book: This is the informal name for the
publication U.S. Government: Policy and Supporting Positions, which comes out right after a
presidential election and lists all the patronage jobs that a new president can fill at his or her
discretion. b. The Constitutionality of Patronage: In Rutan v. Republican Party, the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that traditional patronage is unconstitutional. In the earlier decisions Branti v. Finkel and
Elrod v. Burns the Court held that the First Amendment forbids government officials to discharge or
threaten to discharge public employees solely for not being supporters of the party in power, unless
political affiliation is an appropriate requirement for the position involved. c. Veterans’ Merit
Preference: The special merit earned by honorable military service is a variant of patronage that has
been in place since the end of the Civil War, when veterans were first given preference in civil
offices. In 1919 the privilege was extended to wives and widows of veterans.
IV. Public Sector Labor Relations: a. The AFL-CIO: The American Federation of Labor—
Congress of Industrial Organizations is a voluntary federation of over 100 national and international
labor unions in the United States, but it is not a union and it does no bargaining. The purpose of the
AFL-CIO is policy and activity development. Each member union of the AFL-CIO is independent and
conducts its own affairs. Major public sector unions are members of the AFL-CIO. b. Administrative
Agencies: In the context of labor relations, an administrative agency is a private or government
organization that facilitates the labor process. The agencies oversee collective bargaining, make
rulings on unfair labor practices, judge legitimacy and scope of bargaining, interpret contracts, make
decisions on the appropriateness of bargaining units, oversee authorization elections, and certify
bargaining units. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was created in 1935 by the National
Labor Relations Act to oversee and facilitate bargaining in the private sector. The companion agency
in the public sector is the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) created by the Civil Service
Reform Act of 1978. A general counsel investigates and prosecutes labor cases before the FLRA.
Also within the FLRA is the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) to solve negotiation impasses.
States have their own agencies, generally called Public Employment Relations Boards (PERBs).
Typically their functions are parallel to those of the NLRB. c. Collective Bargaining: This is a
comprehensive term that encompasses the negotiating process that leads to a contract between labor
and management on wages, hours, and other conditions of employment. The process involves four
basic stages: establishment of bargaining units, formulation of demands, negotiations, and the
administration of the contract. In terms of collective bargaining, the public sector model comes from
the private sector, but employing collective bargaining in the public sector is problematic because no
union is equal to the government and to the people as a whole. d. Impasse Resolution: An impasse
exists during labor-management relations when either party feels that no further progress can be made
40
toward a settlement, and parties go to arbitration, mediation, and fact-finding for resolution. e.
Strikes: A strike is a mutual agreement by workers to a work stoppage. In the past, unions used the
strike as a powerful tool to attain their goals. Public opinion began to turn against unions in the later
years of the twentieth century, and unions have lost their clout in the harsher economic climate of
recent times. Today workers and management have come to the realization that they have one thing in
common—the economic viability of the enterprise. Thus we see unions and management in an
unlikely marriage of convenience because of their mutual interests.
Group Exercise
Think Piece
Stress Levels in the Air Traffic Controllers’ Workplaces
The air traffic controllers at American airports reportedly have very stressful jobs. An additional
element of stress was added by the events of September 11, 2001. What additional kinds of stressrelief measures should be considered by leadership to help air traffic controllers do their jobs safely
and securely?
Class Exercises
PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT EXERCISES ON THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964, Title
VII
Scenario A: Mary Louise Davies interviews applicants for professional and management positions at
MAXCom, Inc., a computer company in the Silicon Valley. She has been asked by the director of
human resources to attend a one-day conference on Title VII, affirmative action, and EEO, in San
Francisco. Mary Louise has a very hectic schedule, as her company is rapidly expanding, and she
asks to be excused. After all, she explains, all she does is conduct the interviews. The final decisions
are made higher up in the human resources department. a. Is Mary Louise’s excuse justification for
not going? b. If you were the human resources director, what would you do?
Scenario B: Pete Chavez graduated with high honors from the Columbia University School of
Journalism in the area of sports journalism. He then applied for the position of assistant sports writer
with a local paper to cover basketball and football. Pete’s credentials were verified and he was made
an immediate offer over the telephone. When he arrived for the interview, however, he sensed that
something was amiss. He was told that the position had been withdrawn. Later Pete learned from a
valid source that it was his height, 5'3”, and slender build, 120 lbs., that disqualified him. The editor
had judged that a taller sports writer would have a better rapport with tall players than a short one.
Pete plans on filing a “disparate impact” claim. a. Does he have a case? b. On what basis?
Scenario C: Tim Fujie, a Japanese-American, and David Dougherty, an Irish-American (white), are
both applicants for promotion for the same job as detective sergeants in the Miniqua Police force.
Tim has a bachelor’s degree in physics and three years on the police force. David has a bachelor's
41
degree in criminal justice, a certificate in conflict resolution, and three years in the police force.
David Dougherty is hired. Tim Fujie sues on the grounds of color and race discrimination. Does Tim
have a case?
42
CHAPTER ELEVEN: SOCIAL EQUITY
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 11 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
1. Understand the concept of social equity in America.
2. Comprehend the major points in the challenge for equality:
a. Racism in America
b. The Bitter Heritage of Slavery
c. Second-Class Citizenship in America
d. Legislative and Administrative Remedies
3. Appreciate the notion of equal employment opportunity:
a. The Origins of Affirmative Action
b. The Case for and against Affirmative Action
4. Grasp the key areas of nonracial discrimination:
a. Sex Discrimination
b. Pregnancy Discrimination
c. Age Discrimination
d. Disabilities Discrimination
5. Understand the importance of public administrators being cognizant of the letter and
the spirit of social equity laws.
6. Define key terms at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
7. Write short critical essays on major issues covered in the chapter.
SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE ELEVEN
I. Social Equity: Although the United States aspires to social equity in principle, it has not always
been able to achieve it in practice. In the nineteenth century social Darwinism inhibited the growth of
social equity through its principles of survival of the fittest and natural selection. American social
Darwinism thus justified child labor and many other abuses of U.S. citizens, which reformers tried to
rectify. Reinforced by civil rights laws, social equity is one of the foremost concerns in public
administration today.
43
II. The Challenge of Equality: The 1776 Declaration of Independence proclaimed that “all men
are created equal.” Yet both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution denied this right to
African-American residents and women. a. Racism: Our textbook defines the term “racist” as a
person who overtly or covertly practices racial discrimination on the basis of color and ethnic origin
and supports the supremacy of one race over another. b. The Bitter Heritage of Slavery: The
importing of people from Africa to provide slave labor on American plantations began in colonial
times. It was supported by the Constitution in Article I, Section 2. The Supreme Court upheld
slavery in many decisions, the most famous of which was Dred Scott v. Sanford. It took a civil war,
the Emancipation Proclamation, several amendments to the Constitution, and a vast change in social
attitudes to bring us to the point at which we are today. Yet, even today, all people are not equal in
our society. c. Second-Class Citizenship in America: After the Civil War the racial question was
still not settled, and many states enacted Jim Crow segregation laws. Again the Supreme Court upheld
the so-called separate but equal philosophy in its Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896. More than half
a century later the Plessy decision was overturned in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). The Court
declared that separate but equal was actually unequal. This was the beginning of the civil rights
movement. c. Legislative and Administrative Fixes for Racism: With the passing of the Civil
Rights Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) came into being in 1964 to
combat discrimination in the private sector. The coordination of all equal employment activity was
assigned to the Civil Service Commission until its retirement by the CSRA in 1978—at which time
these duties were transferred to the Office of Personnel Management. The passage of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Act in 1972 brought state and local governments under the EEO umbrella.
III. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO): EEO applies to employment procedures and
practices that are intentionally or unintentionally discriminatory in the areas of race, color, gender,
religion, and national origin. It now also includes age, pregnancy, and disabilities. a. Origins of
Affirmative Action: President Kennedy’s Executive Order 10925 in 1961 first used the term
“affirmative action.” It meant the removal of “artificial barriers” to employment of women and
minority groups in the federal service. President Nixon issued an executive order on affirmative
action in his administration. During the 1970s, federal courts issued specific goals and timetables for
minority hiring and compensatory opportunities for disadvantaged groups. By the 1990s, support
for affirmative action dwindled. A poll taken by Newsweek in 1995 showed that 75 percent of whites
feel that the current system of affirmative action and righting wrongs in society is not being served
well by EEO. b. The Case for and Against Affirmative Action: Proponents argue that affirmative
action, by bringing all segments of society into the mainstream, elevates the moral and social
consciousness of the whole society. They claim that affirmative action is not about hiring the
unqualified, or about quotas, preferences, or denying the rights of white males. “Reverse
discrimination” is a term that has developed over the years through a series of Supreme Court rulings.
Well-disposed as well as bigoted opponents of affirmative action argue that merit and fitness get
pushed to the side when affirmative action programs come into play. Some argue that compensatory
benefits should be given to members of society based on class, not race. Today many states are
considering reversal of their affirmative action policies following California’s Proposition 209 of
1997.
IV. Nonracial Discrimination: a. Sex Discrimination The Civil Rights Act, as amended by the
Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, declared sex discrimination illegal, and today sexual
harassment is included in the sex discrimination provision. The Equal Employment Commission in
44
1980 set forth guidelines on what constitutes workplace sexual harassment. In 1986 the landmark
Supreme Court ruling in Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson set forth case law on this issue. b.
Pregnancy Discrimination: Employment practices that exclude pregnant women (or women
contemplating having children) were classified as discrimination in a 1978 statutory amendment to
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 was the latest
companion statute. c. Age Discrimination: The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
was first passed in 1967 and often amended thereafter. It covers all employees in the public and
private sectors. d. Disabilities Discrimination: In 1990 Congress passed the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) to ban discrimination against physically and mentally handicapped individuals
in employment and to require reasonable accommodation for these individuals.
V. Public Administration and Social Equity: Public administrators must be cognizant not only
of the details of public law, because they must administer its provisions in a fair and equitable
manner, but they also need to be aware of its spirit, so as to proactively support it.
Class Exercise
THINK PIECES ON SOCIAL EQUITY
You are the Director of an organization called Pennsylvania Diversity, a non-profit organization in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. You have a B.P.A. (bachelor's degree in public administration). You have
been asked by the Governor of your state to present arguments for diversity in its broadest context for
a policy report he is making to the Vice President. In order to respond, you are planning a strategic
retreat for your senior management on November 24. You wish to present them with two issues: 1)
Diversity and multicultural issues concerning the workplace context and 2) Diversity of natural
systems, dealing with the environmental context. You expect to hear arguments pro and con (the
thesis and antithesis) and a vigorous debate among your staff during the brainstorming process and the
policy development process. You would like to have some thoughts about these issues to bring to the
table yourself. The four issues noted below are provided as guidelines to begin thinking, but they are
only guidelines. Think broadly about the issues for the next two weeks.
I.
SOCIAL DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE CONTEXT
a. Balancing the rights of individuals versus the rights of the group.
b. Balancing the rights of a white minority versus a collectively larger multicultural
majority.
II. DIVERSITY OF LIFE IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT
a. Balancing the rights of human beings versus the rights of other living things to exist.
b. Balancing the rights of presently living people in your state against the rights of future
generations.
45
CHAPTER TWELVE: PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 12 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
1. Understand the importance of public financial management and the duties of the
public administrators involved.
2. Know the rules and understand the politics of the “budget game.”
3. Understand the theories behind the budgeting process and their applications.
4. Comprehend the new innovations impacting the budgeting process.
5. Identify the various methods of financing public expenditures.
6. Understand the role that debt plays in the budgeting process.
7. Comprehend the role that monetary and fiscal policy have in public administration.
8. Define key terms at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
9. Write short critical essays on major issues covered in the chapter.
SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE TWELVE
I. Public Financial Principles: No public policy or function can survive unless it is associated
with the flow of funds that make it possible. Public financial management is a dynamic system with
which citizens interact every day. At the heart of the design of the American system of public
financial management are six principles.
1. Democratic consent: Taxation and spending should not be done without consent of
the governed.
2. Equity: Governments should be equitable in raising and spending capital.
3. Transparency: What governments do in raising and spending funds should be open
to public knowledge and scrutiny.
46
4. Probity: There must be scrupulous honesty in dealing with public funds, of which
the legislators and administrators are the stewards, not the owners.
5. Prudence: Stewards should not take undue risks with public funds.
6. Accountability: Those who deal with public funds can and should be regularly
called to account for their stewardship through legislative review and audit processes.
II. Balanced Budgets: The balanced budget, where receipts are equal to or greater than the
government outlays, is the sign of a financially healthy government. There are also advantages,
however, to “unbalanced” budgets where extra spending can stimulate a slow economy. Such actions
may adversely impact the value of currencies as well as having a crowding-out effect on capital
markets. All budgets function within a designated twelve-month fiscal calendar. As the budget
process is often slow, funding can be extended into a new fiscal year through the use of continuing
resolutions.
III. The Budget Game: The budgeting process is highly political. There are winners and losers
in the process. The main currents in the politics of budgeting in the past 30 years seem to suggest a
decidedly individualistic, multicentered decision-making milieu. Budget makers, both conservative
and liberal, are impacted by lobbyists and special interest groups. Congress relies on the
Congressional Budget Office to provide data , while the Office of Management and Budget provides
data to the president.
IV. Budget Theory and Practice: A public budget has four dimensions. First, it is a political
instrument that allocates scarce public resources. Second, it is a managerial and administrative tool
that specifies the “ways and means” of providing public programs and services. Third, it is an
economic instrument that can drive an area’s growth. Fourth, it is an accounting instrument that holds
government workers accountable for the expenditure of funds with which they have been entrusted.
V. Historical Highlights of Budgetary Reform: The Taft Commission (1912) recommended a
national budgeting system. William Willoughby wrote The Movement Towards Budgetary Reform in
the States (1918), which suggested additional reforms on the state and local levels. The General
Accounting Office (GAO) was established in 1921 with the passage of the Budget and Accounting
Act. V. O. Key, Jr., wrote in 1940 bemoaning the lack of budgetary theory among budget writers.
John Keynes influenced the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt and all succeeding
administrations with a theory that called for using fiscal and monetary policy to positively influence a
capitalistic economy. Aaron Wildavsky wrote in The Politics of the Budgetary Process in 1964 that
budgeting is a political and economic process rather than simply a mechanical series of steps.
VI. Objectives of Budgeting: Budgeting has four objectives: allocation, distribution,
stabilization, and growth. Within these objectives, two types of budgets exist: operating and capital.
VII. Waves of Innovation: The structure and format of budgets have been subject to waves of
innovation which have led to the evolution of different types of budgeting. These include:
Executive Budgeting: submitted by the chief executive to the legislature for action.
Line-Item Budgeting: classification of accounts according to detailed objects of expenditure.
Performance Budgeting: performance requirements to be stated alongside line items.
Incremental Budgeting: focuses on incremental increases and decreases in a budget.
47
PPBS: planning programming budgeting systems detailing objectives and measures.
Zero-Based Budgeting: calls for rejustification of the entire budget.
Unified Budgeting: consolidation of receipts and outlays in one budget.
Multiyear Budgeting: covering a time span of numerous fiscal years.
VIII. Financing Public Expenditure: Governments may raise monies in the following ways:
Imposing a direct tax paid by the taxpayer directly to the government.
Imposing an indirect tax paid to a third party who then pays the government.
Imposing user charges for government customers.
Attaining grants from other levels of government.
Generating profits from activities of public enterprises.
Borrowing from the public through bonds or from private lenders through loans.
Using innovative finance techniques such as public-private partnerships.
Generating earnings from savings or investments.
IX. The Problem of Debt: The national debt is the total outstanding debt of the national
government. The level of debt must be viewed in historical and comparative perspective. The
historical perspective looks at the particular debt position today compared with its long-term trend. Is
the level of debt today in accord with a normal position or is it extraordinary? The comparative
perspective looks at the debt level of one nation in comparison to others. Both the Republicans and
the Democrats seek to show the American public that their way of solving the debt crisis is the best
way to lower the level of debt. The government can borrow money when a clear purpose exists for
doing so. This tool, however, is subject to abuse, especially when politicians find the borrowing of
money preferable to raising taxes. A second method of raising money is the sale of municipal bonds.
These bonds, which are rated and graded by rating agencies, are sold to raise funds for everything
from sewer systems to ball parks, with interest paid by the issuing municipality.
X. Financial Management in Local Government: There are 80,000 local governments, school
districts, and other small bodies. The small units have very simple budgets, while the larger
municipalities may have extremely complex budgets. The three major methods for raising revenue
for local governments are the property tax, the school tax, and the local sales tax.
XI. Economic Policy: Economic policy is the process by which a nation manages its trade,
business, and finances. It traditionally consists of three dimensions: fiscal policy, monetary policy,
and those facets of public policy with economic implications such as farm, energy, and labor policy.
Monetary policy basically exercises control over the quality and cost (interest rates) of money and
credit in the economy. Fiscal policy deals with the size of the budget, deficits, and taxes.
Group Exercise
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Think Piece
“To Tax or Not to Tax? That is the Question.”
The city fathers of Bridgepoint suffered a budget shortfall last year. In their planning for the new
fiscal year, they feel they can raise the needed revenue by imposing a sales tax on the consumption of
the citizens of the community. They are particularly entranced with the possible tax revenue that can
be gained from a redeveloped mall in the center of the city. The mall, a joint project between the city
and a developer, was rebuilt from the ruins of an abandoned shopping center that had been an eyesore
for many years. The new mall serves many of the inner city residents who rely on public
transportation and live either below or at the poverty line. The mall has been a huge success and has
been hailed as the vanguard of a new revived downtown shopping area. A sales tax, however, would
impact to a greater extent the many low and middle income shoppers who shop downtown for they
would pay a greater percentage of their income to this tax than wealthier shoppers. Is a sales tax a
“good move” for the city of Bridgepoint?
Class Exercise
THE SCHOOL TAX CRISIS OF MEADOWBROOK
Meadowbrook is a municipality with a population of 112,000. On Tuesday, June 20, the
Meadowbrook School Board informed the City Council Budget Committee that extensive renovations
would be required in the high school gymnasium. The high school had recently hired new basketball
coaches for both the girls’ and boys’ basketball teams. Both teams had winning seasons last year, and
the girls' team played in the state championships. They lost in the third round, but it was still a very
impressive performance for a team's first trip to the playoffs. Two of the games were played at
Meadowbrook and resulted in an increase in business for motels, restaurants, and retail
establishments. The Chamber of Commerce teamed up with the Basketball Boosters Club to have a
parade on Main Street and a pep rally in the park. This resulted in a lot of interest in the team.
Unfortunately, the small gym could not accommodate all those who wished to attend, and an
opportunity for increased revenue for the school system through ticket sales and concessions was lost.
The renovations would include
: the construction of new locker rooms.
: the building of a training facility, including a weight room.
: the replacement of the gym floor
: the expansion of the grandstands to allow for increased seating.
Total estimated cost: $1.2 million
School Property Tax Demographics:
36% Business and manufacturing (represented by the Chamber of Commerce)
10% Singles and couples with no children
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31% Couples with children under the age of nineteen
23% Retired singles and couples on fixed incomes
A town meeting has been scheduled to discuss a possible increase in the school tax to cover the cost
of the renovations.
School Tax: A school tax is a local property tax imposed by a school district to cover the cost of
providing education and related activities.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: AUDITING, ACCOUNTING, AND EVALUATING
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 13 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
1. Define an audit and understand the role auditing plays in any organization.
2. Understand the role of the General Accounting Office.
3. Identify the different types of audits and how they are executed.
4. Define and understand accounting and its function in an organization.
5. Discern the differences between policy analysis and policy evaluation.
6. Understand the reasons for policy analysis and evaluation.
7. Discuss the standards under which evaluation takes place.
8. Define key terms at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
9. Write short critical essays on major issues covered in the chapter.
SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE THIRTEEN
I. The Audit: An audit is any independent examination or objective assessment of an
organization. In public administration, the audit refers to two very common activities. It is an official
examination of a financial report submitted by an individual or an organization to determine whether
it accurately represents expenditures, deductions, and other allowances determined by laws or
regulations. The audit is the final phase of a government budgetary process. It reviews the operations
of an agency, especially its financial transactions, to determine whether the agency has spent its
money in accordance with the law, in the most efficient manner, with the desired results.
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Auditing has become a major branch of the accounting profession. Accounting in public
administration is similar to its function in the private sector. It remains the process of classifying,
measuring, and interpreting financial transactions to provide management with information upon
which to base economic decisions. Auditing continues to evolve with multiple applications that now
include independent assessments of such things as environmental, social, and infra-structural issues.
Auditing in the federal sector is the responsibility of the General Accounting Office (GAO).
Established in 1921, the office serves as a support agency to audit federal government expenditures
and assist the Congress in its legislative oversight responsibilities. A comprehensive audit program
under GAO should include the following three types of audits:
1. Financial and compliance, which determines whether funds are properly spent and the
spending is in compliance with the law.
2. Economy and efficiency, which determines whether resources have been used
appropriately.
3. Program results, which determines whether the desired results have been achieved.
Criteria have been developed to ensure that the auditors stand independent of the organizations
they are auditing. These criteria for auditors include a location in the bureaucracy outside of
management, a high reporting line for the audit results, and a reasonable latitude for the auditors in
selecting the assignments for the audits.
II. Accounting: The traditional method of accounting in the public sector was cash accounting,
which simply sought to control and track the flow of funds allocated to and spent by the agencies.
This system proved to be too simple and was gradually replaced by the accrual system, which allowed
for the recording of debt owed to and by the organization when the debt became a legal obligation.
This in turn has been replaced in the United States by modified accrual accounting, which seeks to
achieve a matching between revenues raised and costs incurred.
III. Program Evaluation and Policy Analysis: The two are often confused. A policy analysis is
a set of techniques that seeks to answer the question of what the probable effects of a policy will be
once they actually occur. An analysis undertaken on a program already in effect is more properly
called a program evaluation. Evaluations refer to the standards against which a program can be
evaluated. These standards include compliance, efficiency, and effectiveness/relevance. Zealous
evaluators believe that everything is subject to evaluation. Evaluations will take place within the
discipline or paradigm in which they are conducted, and these may vary widely. The standards noted
above, however, indicate the fundamental questions that must be answered of any program.
Class Exercise
Think Piece
“Rabbits and the Taxpayer”
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You are the manager of a pre-school/daycare center partially funded with tax dollars. In an effort
to assist former welfare recipients in getting back into the workplace, the city set up the center.
Parents pay based on their income level with tax dollars making up the difference. As part of the
program you provide lunch to the children. Last week an audit team from the city came in to audit
your operation. The auditor informed you that it was noticed by the audit team that one of your
employees, Myrna, was seen taking a bag of lettuce leaves home at the close of shift. You informed
the auditor that Myrna raised rabbits and that you have previously given her permission to take home
the leaves from the outside of the lettuce that would be thrown away and feed them to her rabbits. The
auditor then informed you that a member of the audit team had watched Myrna “take off more lettuce
leaves than were normally removed by the average person” and that this was not a sound practice
when dealing with the taxpayers’ money. How do you feel about the audit team’s observations?
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CHAPTER FOURTEEN: HONOR AND ETHICS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 14 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
1.
Understand the meaning of honor and distinguish it from ethics.
2.
Be able to identify and discuss corruption in government.
3.
Comprehend ethical issues as they relate to public administration in such situations as the
“dirty hands dilemma.”
4.
Understand the meaning of conflict of responsibilities in public administration
as it relates to impacted stakeholders.
5.
Distinguish between the different levels of ethics in public administration.
6.
Understand the concept of whistleblowing and the protections for whistleblowers.
7.
Understand how codes of honor, conduct, and ethics relate to public administration
through understanding standards of conduct.
8.
Define key terms at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the chapter.
9.
Write short critical essays on the major issues covered in the chapter.
SUGGESTED LECTURE
LECTURE FOURTEEN
I. Honor: Western thinking about honor dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. Codes of honor
evolved in the military. Honor was, and is, something that a soldier was supposed to uphold and even
die for. Today it remains one of the core influences on human behavior. Honor comes before ethics
because a person without honor has no moral compass about what is good and bad. Honor is a
particularly apt choice for emphasis in a text of public administration because, from ancient times, to
be trusted with the public’s business required honorable administrators.
II. Corruption in Government: Bribery—he pervasiveness of bribery in public administration is
something that cannot be contested. It comes as a result of individual greed. When the ethical base of
an agency is low, bribery is much more rampant. The Watergate scandal that drove Richard Nixon
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out of the office of president exemplified a violation of public trust. It has become an enduring
example of corruption at the highest levels of government in America and resulted in calls for reform.
III. Ethical Issues in Public Administration: “Lies Big and Little”—Adolph Hitler and Joseph
McCarthy are two of the most prominent examples of big liars who have hurt society as a whole, but
on a smaller scale lying is common in government. It takes many forms, from outright lies to
innuendo, omissions, etc. It can be argued that public administrators in a democracy can be excused
for lying when there are dire national priorities to consider. The quandary of lying for the public good
has been a topic of debate from the time of Plato, who spoke about the “noble lie.” The “dirty hands
dilemma,” like the noble lie, is another famous quandary encountered in ethics. Public officials dirty
their hands when they commit an act generally considered wrong to further the public good.
Machiavelli upheld this dilemma in his famous statement: “when the act accuses, the result excuses.”
IV. Conflicts of Responsibilities: The public is composed of diverse stakeholders each with
conflicting, but often deserving, interests. This presents the quandary of viable alternatives because
the public administrator cannot satisfy the ideal of universal happiness. Thus it becomes important to
keep the concepts of justice, equality, and the inviolability of individual rights in mind when choosing
the best course of action for the majority. Dennis Thompson argued that there can be no
administrative ethics because of an inherent conflict in the nature of the duties of a public
administrator and the administrative structures of the position. These people must be morally
“neutral” and yet follow the structural dictates of policy; hence, he argues, they cannot be held
accountable. Yet the “I was just following orders” defense conflicts with the personal moral
obligation to do the right thing.
V. Hierarchy of Ethics: The four levels of ethics are personal morality, professional ethics,
organizational ethics, and social ethics.
VI. Whistleblowing: Whistleblowing takes place when an employee decides that obligations to
society come before obligations to the organization. When Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon
Papers, which documented the step-by-step judgments that brought America into the Vietnam War, he
was charged with espionage. While the charges were later dismissed, Ellsberg’s actions suggested
that he believed that his obligation to society outweighed the proscriptions of law. Even in lesser
cases, whistleblowing can have serious consequences, and for this reason the government, beginning
with the Civil Service Reform Act in 1978, has issued a variety of whistleblowing protection policies.
Even with these in place, whistleblowing often has damaging consequences for the whistleblower.
VII. Codes of Honor, Conduct, and Ethics: Codes of honor have their origins in ancient precepts
about how individuals should behave when faced with danger or difficult choices. Many of the
important precepts on how to behave are embodied in religious teachings such as the Ten
Commandments. Many civilian government agencies set up codes of conduct and formal guidelines
for ethical behavior. Professional codes of ethics exist as well, such as the physician’s Hippocratic
Oath. Most of these codes are not binding, but dishonor falls upon those who openly violate them.
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Group Exercise
Think Piece
“Blowing the Whistle at Micro Systems Inc.”
James Allen, a purchasing agent with Micro Systems Inc., discovers that his boss is getting kickbacks
from one of the major suppliers of the firm. He blows the whistle on his boss and is subsequently
fired for incompetence. Allen has received satisfactory ratings on his performance so far, hence he
assumes that it was due to the whistleblowing that he was terminated. Does he have recourse under
statutory law for wrongful discharge?
Class Exercise
MR. ARJMENIAN BLOWS HIS WHISTLE
Proposition: A democratic society benefits from moral dissent.
Mr. Arjmenian, an Armenian-American, is the deputy finance director in the city of Pine Falls,
California. Pine Falls is situated on the Sacramento River in California, where an annual event known
as the Pine Falls Regatta is held. The regatta receives state, county, and local funding. Recently, in a
100-page letter to the regatta board of directors, Mr. Arjmenian accused Dr. Lawrence Pierpont
Foster, the chairman of the regatta, of misusing nearly $200,000 of the regatta’s funds for personal
purposes. A week after this disclosure, Mr. Arjmenian was fired as the deputy finance director by the
mayor of Pine Falls, the Honorable Willy Boyle, who is a close personal friend of regatta chairman
Foster. The charges are incompetence and hostility, but the evidence produced is vague. Mr. Foster
has denied all charges but has been unable to explain satisfactorily the large sums of money deposited
into his personal bank accounts following the annual regatta events.
1. Based on your readings and prior knowledge of ethics, pick out from the list below the
relevant ethical issues involved:
noble lie
conflict of interest
theft
conscientious objection
Machiavelli
burglary
bribery
graft
dirty hands dilemma
embezzlement
corruption
whistleblowing
honorific
deception
lying
2. Explain the concepts you have chosen as they relate to ethics in the case of Pine
Falls.
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