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Administrative Decentralization
Term Paper ID:27787
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Explores the issue of decentralization in public administration and in the private sector to gain an understanding of its advantages and disadvantages.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Explores the issue of decentralization in public administration and in the private sector to gain an understanding of its advantages and disadvantages.
Paper Introduction:
Administrative Decentralization
Introduction
The history of public administration and management theory is one of changing understandings of the relationship between employees and managers, between the organization and the community, and between organizations. It is not a history in which theories are built incrementally, or additively, simply by adding new information to what has gone before. Instead, theories seem to be led by changes in political thought and cultural values, which influence the way in which relationships are conceptualized.
One current trend is toward a belief that decentralization is more efficient and effective than centralized administration.
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The human side of enterprise. There are also a number of contemporary models that are based onnetworked systems, and systems that are non-hierarchical, including workslooking at feminist contributions to organizational theory (Janello, 1992),change in dissipative structure (Leifer, 1989) and communications withinnetworked organizations (Sproull and Keisler, 1992). Bureaucracy: What government agencies do and why they do it. . The characteristics of bureaucracies are those whichare seen as essential to the effective operation of large publicinstitutions, including among them such qualities as neutrality, stability,and expert administration of the law. not an easy mix to achieve (1994, p. As Weber (1947) noted, so manyyears ago, we require our governments to be stable, reliable, honest,consistent, not necessarily innovative. (1994). Instead, the trend continues toward a very few, verylarge multinational corporations which provide a number of decentralizedservices. Reciprocity: A bottom-up view of political development. More traditional organizations, with theirfocus on authority, chains of command, and rigid structure actuallymilitated against creativity within the organization and stifled thecreative individual. Instead, it seems much morereasonable to look at the particular needs of the situation and availableresources in order to determine how best the problem can be resolved,whether through centralizing administration or decentralizing it. Therefore, the intent in this paper is to explore the issue ofdecentralization in public administration and in the private sector inorder to understand its advantages and disadvantages.Administrative and Management Theory In such a short paper, it is nearly impossible to give any solid senseof the history of administrative, management, and leadership theories. Yet, according to Wilson, employees in government agencies continue tooperate primarily in workplaces which are characterized by multipleconstraints which are hierarchically and centrally imposed. Management and organizational development. It isthe network, rather than the power pyramid, that is the fundamental symbolof this kind of organizational structure.Critique The proponents of reinventing government and their peers in theprivate sector tend to focus on the ability of the decentralizedorganization to be more creative. Reinventing government: how the entrepreneurial spirit is transforming the public sector. (1989). NY; Doubleday.Sproull, L. Theory Y patterns most resembleLikert's participatory management and Japanese quality circle approaches.On the other hand, Theory X management was the more traditional model,which was centralized, authoritarian, rigid, and somewhat punitive. It is likely that the movement toward decentralization in allorganizations on all occasions is not more fruitful than movement towardcentralizing operations on all occasions. 97).Thus, he concluded that centralized administration was far preferable,because it allowed people to see clearly who was responsible for particularactions and kept the pressure on that individual or department to be open,honest, and effective. al. Participatory management concepts did not start with the Japaneseafter World War II. The study of public administration in the modern era is often datedback to an article by Woodrow Wilson, which was published in 1887 (Wilson,1887). On the other hand, there is new management and organizational theoryin both the public and private sectors which sets aside some of the oldgoals, such as efficiency and profit, in order to respond to new demands.The book by Osborne and Gaebler (1992) typifies this approach. He noted that: Surely we do not want the Internal Revenue Service to be competitive, community owned, and customer driven; we want it to be consistent, honest, and responsive. NY: McGraw-Hill.Gortner, H.F., Mahler, J., and Nicholson, J.B. (199 ). Starting from that point, it seems likely that what is good for theIRS is not necessarily the same kind of organizational model that might begood for the Ford Motor Co. The organization itself is seen asbehaving completely differently than the traditional organization, in thatthe workers are constantly responding to new information with newinitiatives. (Eds.). (Ed.) Deregulating the public service: Can government be improved? The government agency may, indeed, succeedat the output of creating a highway system, for example, but the endsreally are not the only relevant issue, despite what Wilson and othersmight have us believe. What all of these have in common is a distributive approach to powerwithin organizations, rather than a centralized, top-down approach. (1947). Instead,theories seem to be led by changes in political thought and culturalvalues, which influence the way in which relationships are conceptualized. Thequestion for Tang, and others, becomes one of how to create organizationalenvironments which favor the emergence and maintenance of social structuresthat support cooperation and commitment among participants in thestructures. Douglas McGregor (196 ) followed this up with his discussion of TheoryX and Theory Y management patterns. Ostrom et. It is also similar to the leadership models that are morefocused on transformation than on traditional goals of productivity andprofit. For Chris Argyris (1971), the focus was on the dysfunctionality oftraditional organizations. There is no danger in power, if only it be not irresponsible. In an application of theories of decentralization at both theorganizational and national levels, Oakerson (1988) provided a goodoverview of how such a system would operate in terms of politicaldevelopment. For example, one of the newconcepts in the organizational field is that of the organization aslearning system, rather than producing system. (1994). For him,deregulation of government is a fundamental focus on outputs, whileignoring, and ceasing to regulate, inputs. . If it is the Ford Motor Co. Theory of social and economic organization. This, actually, is the basic process favoredby those proponents of the reinventing government movement. (1971). They start, however,with the perspective that bureaucracies are aspects of public organizationsthat make them clearly different from private organizations. Similar to the management theorists who emphasize theimportance of a learning environment in the corporation, Oakersonemphasized that reliance upon local units which inculcate reciprocity intheir citizens carries over to the larger organization and enablesreciprocity between organization, between communities, and between localunits and the national government. in another country would be allowed,for example, to subsume the profit motive to greater interests ofdeveloping sustainable agriculture, for example, or working on small-scaleindustry. Even Bill Clintonhas been part of that movement, with the focus of his administration on theconcept of reinventing government. It is important toremember, as Gortner et al. This is led by thepolitical changes of the past election (although at a deeper level, itbegan with Ronald Reagan's election in the early 198 s), as well as changesin management theory typified by quality circles and quality managementorganizations. (1989) contend that management of public and privateorganizations, and organization theory for the public and private sector,really should be quite different, although they note that many theoristshave subsumed the two realities in one framework. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing company.Janello, K.P. Modern management theories for the private sector do not,however, focus on community ownership. Nonetheless, Wilson concludes that deregulation of government is themost desirable step toward improvement in government operation. That, however, ignores some otherimportant characteristics of an organization, such as stability,reliability, credibility, and conservation. As he putit: And let me say that large powers and unhampered discretion seem to me the indispensable conditions of responsibility. These principles involvethe concept of an enlightened self-interest, in which the individual feelshimself or herself sufficiently tied to the community (or organization) inorder to sacrifice some small measure of immediate self-interest in favorof enlightened, long-term self-interest. Gortner et al. Lessons from government agencies. In some respects, this seems like a misreading of the actualcontemporary situation of the corporate world. The organizations that Tang described are assumed to operate underprinciples of the New Institutional Economics. . San Francisco: ICS Press.Osborne, D. The result of such amodel has been most obvious in our deteriorating environment, and even moreso in Eastern Europe and Soviet Russia, in which the ends ofindustrialization totally obliterated attention to the means used to arrivethere, at the cost of environmental degradation and citizen exposure tomultiple toxins. NY: McGraw-Hill.McGregor, D. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press.Wilson, J.Q. The fields of public administration and business management divergedfrom the very beginning, although both have frequently focused on issues ofcentralization or decentralization. what are the most importantcharacteristics of such an organization? It is not desirablehere that each wave of reformers enter office and change the systemcompletely in order to respond to the mood of the moment. Organization theory. He believed that this ultimately drained theindividual of motivation and caused the organization itself to stagnate. (1989). He noted that the recenttrend has been to design institutions that differ from traditional ones bybeing more decentralized, mission-driven, and responsive organizations,whether in the public or private sector. London: Routledge.Leifer, R. These are expected to be moreparticipatory in nature, rather than authoritarian and hierarchical. Oakerson's thesis was that this was not a particularly fruitful model,but that a more fruitful model would involved a reliance on primary localunits of collective action (such things as tribes, for example). As a consequence, the learning organization is characterizedby flexibility, adaptability, and creativity. Building community organizations: Credible commitment and the new institutional economics. Understanding organizational transformation using a dissipative structure model. James Wilson (1994) noted that there still remained a fundamentalcontrast between government agencies and large corporations, however, withlarge corporations much more effective in decentralizing their operationsin order to meet competitive needs. If it be divided, dealt only in shares to many, it is obscured; and if it be obscured, it is made irresponsible (p. DiJulio, Jr. If we recognize these differences,as well as differences according to task, we might be better able to createorganizational designs that are appropriate to the specific need, ratherthan trying for one universal, and perfect, blueprint. Tang (1994) also focused on this issue, looking at decentralizationfrom the perspective of community organizations. Decisions without hierarchy: Feminist interventions in organization theory and practice. Itis not a history in which theories are built incrementally, or additively,simply by adding new information to what has gone before. After World War II, the management field shiftedtoward a more participatory model, using the work of Rensis Likert, ChrisArgyris, Robert McGregor, and others. One current trend is toward a belief that decentralization is moreefficient and effective than centralized administration. Likert(1961) was the forerunner of team-based and quality circle approaches tomanagement. As onereally obvious example, the Social Security Administration is relied uponto remain stable, although people fear that it will not be. (1992). Human Relations, 42(18): 899-917.Likert, R. In J.J. In looking more specifically at business organizations, there are anumber of different contemporary models that diverge widely fromtraditional models. For him,these local units were more likely to nurture reciprocity, or mutuality,than is one large nation-state structure. It is similar to the quality control approach, although notidentical to it. This would be the most obviousdistinction. It would not be accurate toview that corporate world as being comprised of myriads of specialized andseparate entities. Rethinking Institutional Analysis and Development. Each of these individuals contributed a piece to the contemporarydiscussion that emphasizes team-based management approaches, qualitycontrol approaches, learning organizations, and other innovative models.The Contemporary Situation In looking at the immediate past history in this country in the areaof public administration, the movement has been toward centralization fromFranklin Roosevelt through Lyndon Johnson and away from it since that time,with increasing rapidity beginning with Ronald Reagan. and Kiesler, S. 39). BibliographyArgyris, C. Interestingly enough, in this article Wilson concluded the oppositeof what many opponents of centralization contend. The organization is seen asalmost organic and as possessing values and needs that are more organicthan static. (1961). NY: Basic Books.Wilson, J.Q. Human Systems Management 13,221-232.Weber, M. What many of these have in common is an emphasis onvalues other than production and profit. There are several books dealing with that model, including one bySenge (199 ) which emphasized the management of that kind of organizationas an art form, rather than a science. This seems to be based more on the old model ofprofit and productivity above all else than on new understandings of themultiple values that organizations need to fulfill. This nation-state apparatus, then,replaces all the myriad of smaller organizational infrastructures that hadpreviously existed. James Wilson provided another good example in contrast to the Osborneand Gaebler model. In this conceptualization,institutions are not simply a result of interactions aimed at maximizinggains. The authorscontend that government should be reformed in order to meet ten specificquality characteristics. NY: McGraw-Hill.Oakerson, R.J. NY: Addison- Wesley.Senge, P.M. The situation actually seems more like the government thanunlike it, with the multinationals operating somewhat like small,independent countries with incomes and budgets larger than many of thesmaller nation-states. For him, the problem has been the basic assumption indevelopment theory that the task of nation-building is fundamentally acentralizing one in which building a new, dominant and centralized mode oforganization is the main requirement. He notedthat the most productive organizational model was one in which each workerwas a member of one or more smaller work groups that created conditions ofhigh loyalty, creativity, and responsiveness. There is a distrust of bureaucracy and a sense thatleadership from the center is too often out of touch with the peripheries,and too often insulated from everyday realities, whether in public orprivate organizations. At the same time, both might need acombination of centralized and decentralized characteristics and qualitiesin order to meet their peculiar circumstances. Reciprocity is seen as arelationship in which each individual contributes to the welfare of otherswith the assumption that others will contribute to his or her welfare. Opponents contend thatcentralized public administration is less accountable than thedecentralized variety, but Wilson asserted just the opposite. (1988). Max Weber (1947) is, of course, the classic writer aboutbureaucracies. (1989) indicated that public and privateadministration have different requirements. The development of management theoriesin the business field started with Taylor and his scientific management,which emphasized a rigid control on all the factors within business thatcould be controlled in order to achieve the most efficient use of human andmaterial resources. (1992). NY: Doubleday.Tang, S.-Y. Consistency and honesty are best ensured by centralized control and immunity from citizen pressures; responsiveness requires some measure of decentralization . The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. Instead, there were a number of theorists in theUnited States who were concerned with devising more effective managementmethods, and some of these emphasized participatory management. The essential problem with this, for both public and private sectors,is the ethical problem of whether the ends always justify the means. In otherwords, the first step is really being clear about what is needed from theorganization. He believed that the success or failure of an organizationdepended upon the type of management of the organization and asserted thatmore participatory approaches were most likely to be successful. It would also be specious to deny that basicphilosophy and goals are established at the top; it is unlikely that asubsidiary division of Ford Motor Co. If,in other words, government agencies are freed to offer contracts towhomever they please, without constraints on the bidding process, theresult is likely to be the maintenance of a status quo which perpetuatesthe dominance of one class of citizens over another, and possibly evengreater graft and inefficiency. People spendtheir entire working lives anticipating that they will be able to retire ata certain age and receive a certain guaranteed income. For Weber, the bureaucracy is associated with the greatpublic institutions of society, such as the church and the civil servicesof many countries. In V. Thus, they areconstrained from a more creative and, presumably, more effective responseto the needs of the public marketplace and the citizen consumers. To look brieflyat some of the history might be helpful, however. (1989). Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution.Wilson, W. Allof these have seen many theorists and much discussion of issues such asmotivation, organizational development, and productivity. There are also other important issues involving, such a norms,culture, and conventions. These lead to the development of both formal andinformal constraints upon the relationships between individuals. The criteria that they proposed foradministration included requirements that the government be catalytic,enterprising, anticipatory, decentralized, community owned, competitive,mission driven, results oriented, customer driven, and market oriented.This sounds very similar to the most modern of management theories whichalso emphasize creativity, learning environments, and rapid change orresponse. . (1992). Connections: New ways of working in the networked organization. If it is the IRS, what are the important characteristics ofsuch an agency? Thus, the parts of the large corporations operate withinconstraints, too, with the primary one being the ever-present demand tomake a profit. The study of administration. Administrative DecentralizationIntroduction The history of public administration and management theory is one ofchanging understandings of the relationship between employees and managers,between the organization and the community, and between organizations. (196 ). New patterns of management. As Tang noted, organizationstake on a life of their own and serve other ends besides maximizing gains.In other words, creativity is not always desirable in an organization, andperhaps even less so in a public organization than a private one. Political Science Quarterly, 2, 197-222. and Gaebler, T. Can the bureaucracy be deregulated? According to him, corporations haveresponded to changing conditions by becoming leaner in their management,more decentralized in operations, and more committed to identifying andserving customer interests. (1887). ForOakerson, this is more readily achieved in a smaller, local unit, while thelarger nation-state requires more coercive capacities in order to enforcereciprocity.
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