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VISION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION.
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Discusses major theories & current philosophies of PA. Details 4 theorists & their work. Presents 6 required qualities of a PA.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Discusses major theories & current philosophies of PA. Details 4 theorists & their work. Presents 6 required qualities of a PA.
Paper Introduction:
TOWARD A UNIFYING VISION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Introduction
As the 21st Century begins, it is instructive for the student of the art (or science) of Public Administration to reflect on some of the major theories and underpinnings of the endeavor that have influenced today’s philosophies of PA. During the 20th Century, the growing influence of sociology was paralleled by the emergence of modern, gigantic cities. In this research analysis, four seminal works of PA will be discussed. Those four, and the order of their presentation, are:
* The Bureaucratic Experience: A Critique of Life in Modern Organization (Ralph P. Hummel)
* The Spirit of Community: Rights, Responsibilities, and the Communitarian Agenda (Amitai Etzioni).
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One is able to findtheorists who are quick to categorize what other theorists don't know.Frederickson exhibits great wisdom when he says It is difficult to conceptualize representative democracy when many important decisions that affect the lives of the represented are often not controlled or even influenced by those who represent them. The referent point is always the abstract and general model of the program being administered, not the concrete and particular needs of people in reality (p. This book, he tells us, as opposed to earlier editions,"seeks to dig deeper into the human condition in modernity. His extremely lucid introduction includes thisexplanation of what his book is about to do. (Frederickson, p. 6) Given the perfect PA that matches all of the points of the definition,it would then be possible to begin to manage the unmanageable. (1994), The Bureaucratic Experience: A Critique of Lifein Modern Organization, 4th ed. In other words, what appears to be complicated, random behavior mightbe being generated by deterministic rules. Gauslecture on the topic "The Repositioning of American Public Administration"could have come across as the Pope addressing an audience of bishops. It is this distinction that is at the basis of chaos theory. However, few cities grow in a deterministic framework, so theconcept of stochasticism enters the discussion. In the preface to the book, he emphasizes the arguments that willbe presented. Section 3: Impact of this Definition Were this definition widely adopted (a rare possibility since thereseems to be little consensus concerning anything among the PA theorists, itwould most likely be embraced by the communitarians who claim to seek amiddle ground between too much personal freedom without consequences on theone hand, and too much central control and responsibility to authority onthe other. In analogy, one thing is always phrased in terms of being 'analogous to.' 'Analogous to' implies that a lesser thing is similar to a greater thing, a thing we are more certain of or know better...in bureaucratic analogous reasoning...a lesser thing is referred upward to a greater thing. He shares a failing with Hummel, of not providing blueprints or guidesfor action. Laszlo, E. To him, every human being and everysociety requires "a set of social virtues, some basic settled values, thatwe as a community endorse and actively affirm" (p. The first equation in this example islinear, meaning a relationship between variables and constants. In contrast,social language is reciprocal (the interaction of speaking and listening)and causal (the use of language that shares a context with others).(Hummel, 1994) Theorist 2: Amitai Etzioni Etzioni, in his book, The Spirit of Community: Rights,Responsibilities, and the Communitarian Agenda (1993) can be argued toembrace most of what Hummel rejects. Holden,ed., Chaos. 91). 168).Hmmmmm. And, fortunately, so is hisstyle of writing. Where he is exceptionally clear is when he writes about the relationsbetween individuals and the community. (1996). Section 1 Theorist 1: Ralph P. Hummel does a good job of explaining what he calls a theory ofbureaucratic speech. If a community were a predictable organization, similar to afactory or a fraternity, then the rate of change is less threatening. This argumentis quoted here: Thinking by analogy is always reasoning by comparison. Andthat conclusion is one that, to be sure, Frederickson would heartilyembrace. . Public administration is repositioning itself to deal with thedaunting problems associated with the disarticulation of the state. We must ask ourselves: Canwe work our way out of bureaucracy? (199 , June), Reflections on Public Administration, Pastand Present, Public Administration Review 599-6 3. Bureaucracy, which to him is the unfeeling and uncaring control ofsociety by faceless bureaucrats, is the result of a trend toward modernity. City X grows 1 percent per year. 146). Fredrickson, H.G. 146). With no stretch of the imagination, we could substitute the wordPublic Administration for Cyberspace and come up with a fairly accuratedefinition of the current state of the literature concerning PA. It entailsdeveloping self-control -- "the capacity to control one's impulse and tomobilize oneself for acts other than the satisfaction of biological needsand immediate desires" (p. 89). Science and mathematics are the tools for suchabstraction. 1). However, rather than relying on biologicalsystems, chaos theory relies on math. A more accurate statementof the above example is that the city grows "1 percent, more or less." In a stochastic representation, the equation would be "x(n+1) = x(n)* .1 + e" where "e" is an error notation term, typically created fromprobability distribution tables. Chances are, that would be considered "tech speak" and, therefore,part of the threat of modernity. Finally,"societies (which are nothing but communities of communities) must helpthose communities whose ability to help their members is severely limited"(p. (1994). .as a rule every community ought to beexpected to do the best it can to take care of its own" (p. The main feature of chaos is that simpledeterministic systems can generate what appears to be random behavior. Section 2 The Personal Definition Based on the above readings, the following definition (or listing ofrequired characteristics) of a public administrator is given. Schools can't achieve this, as he sees it, since, when children enterschool, their "characters [are] undeveloped and without a firm commitmentto values" (p. The secondequation is non-linear since variables can now be related to variables. Etzioni's thinkingdoes not exist in the abstract world of theory but in a very pragmaticconnection with the real political world. To him, it is essential that all PAconsiderations of policy discussions and moral discourse maintain a focuson the dichotomy that exists between rights and responsibilities. Maybe it is in these forums that the marginalthinkers he cares about will be heard? To this, the book gives a resounding'No!"' (p.viii). First,chaotic systems are nonlinear and follow trajectories (paths, highways)that end up on non-intersecting loops called "strange attractors".Classical systems of equations from physics were linear, meaning thatoutputs were proportional to inputs. The paper will conclude with an examination of how thispersonal definition can impact the role of PA. Gulick, L.H. Rheingold, H. References Bertalanffy, L., (1972), General system theory: Foundations,development, applications, London: Allen Lane. Inshort, a repositioned public administration is the political science ofmaking the fragmented and disarticulated state work. Moore) * "The Repositioning of American Public Administration" (H. Casting his eye back across the years, he mentions those who made theart of public administration into a science. Bureaucratic reasoning isembedded in a certain logic that he calls analogous thinking. . That isa profound display of pragmatic humanism.Problem-Solving Along with Moore's excellent templates for problem solving, thisaspect is best exemplified in the work of Conrad (1986) who detailed therelation of problem solving theory to that of chaos theory. . Whereas Hummel decries thedehumanization of the individual, Etzioni's approach is that in any and allcases, society is more important than the individual. How do we define and understand public management when it is not always entirely clear for whom we work? Conrad, M., (1986). Bertalanffy, L.,(1975), Perspectives on general system theory:Scientific-philosophical studies, New York: G. This is a simple deterministic system and it relies on a constant for"x(n)". The newedition...shifts to an examination of ourselves. "The second line of responsibility lieswith those closest to the person, including kin, friends, neighbors, andother community members" (p. ". .by passing on informationand skills" (p. Etzioni doesn't balk at this inconsistency. He shares the stories of his heroes with great abandon, and theseinclude: * William Ruckleshaus and his experience at the EPA in 1972 * Jerome Miller who reconsidered the methods of dealing with juvenile offenders in Massachusetts in the late 196 s * Miles Mahoney who risked his position as the head of the Massachusetts Department of Community Affairs in the early 197 s trying to protect poor city dwellers from a politically popular Boston redevelopment project. We can use " x(n)" as the city's growth this year. Thathe did not makes the lecture a stunning piece of synthesis. Webster's dictionary defines revolution as a "sudden or radicalchange in a situation," and since many of the trends concerning PA havebeen changing since the 196 s, PA today should properly be called"evolutionary." Today, many cities and states are undergoing fundamentalshifts in the environment in which they operate, a shift that challengeskey PAs to reanalyze old beliefs. 25). George Frederickson Frederickson, who is the Edwin O. In one of his last works he wrote "Populationsin Eastern Europe today are being asked to make sacrifices, as in therising prices of food, in order to establish viable economies and opensocieties for the future. Etzioni, who is generally conceded to be the founder of the"communitarian movement," presents a populist argument that a nation (or asmaller social unit) works together in a manner that meets both societalneeds as well as personal goals. The basis of a chaos system is to search for characteristic patternsthat appear in complex systems. Etzioni, too, would probably find this to be a meaninglessattribute for a PA, but it implies the dynamic process of publicmanagement. Judging from the viewpoints in the prevailing literature, theconcept of "not knowing" is apparently anathema. . TOWARD A UNIFYING VISION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Introduction As the 21st Century begins, it is instructive for the student of theart (or science) of Public Administration to reflect on some of the majortheories and underpinnings of the endeavor that have influenced today'sphilosophies of PA. Bureaucratic language (whatever that is, sincethere is no specific definition to turn to), says Hummel, is based upon one-directionality (speaking without listening) and a causality (a contextlessdetachment of speech that makes it a secretive language). Braziller. Theproblem is, the theories that he espouses in communitarianism don't seem tomatch those visions. Apublic administrator, on the other hand, knows that in a thrivingcommunity, that the only consistency is change.Is not afraid to say "I don't know" This, of all the aspects of the definition, would be the hardest tofind. 89). George Frederickson's John Gaus Lecture) Following a brief explanation of the key points of each of theseauthors and their works, the second part of this paper will involve aformulation of a personal definition of public administration, along withthe proper role of the administrator. The public administrator is one who must possess the followingqualities: 1) States and actually believes in dedication to social service and a betterment of mankind; 2) Is adept at problem solving and consensus building; 3) Is willing to listen instead of speak; 4) Is capable of analyzing data and converting those data into meaningful knowledge; 5) Is extremely flexible and unafraid of change; 6. Chaos theory makes use of the concept of ""morphogenesis" (the formsthings take when they grow) as expressed in the works of Laszlo (1996) andBertalanffy (1972, 1975). * Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government (Mark H. Is not afraid to say "I don't know." Let us examine each of these in more detail.Dedication to Social Service This would be the pragmatic dedication that was proposed by all of thewritings of Gulick, who always had a keen understanding of the role ofadministration and society. Princeton NJ: University Press. Hummel) * The Spirit of Community: Rights, Responsibilities, and the Communitarian Agenda (Amitai Etzioni). Here's a simple example. 89). "There is little mysteryas to what proper character development entails" (p. It is at this level that Etzioni'sconcern with modernity probably comes in, since some organizations confusegathering data with amassing knowledge. 144). Instead, heproposes that what is needed is a field guide, or a survival guide forpublic managers and administrators who are in the field, the front lines,so to speak. On page 14, he suggests that "the dominant interests are not those ofmajor segments of the population [but of] groups that represent narrow,self-serving goals, such as parking lot owners . What is the use of chaos?, in Arun V. Peoplemust temper individual rights with mutual responsibility, says Etzioni, andhe forecasts a community that would undergo drastic restricting orredistributing of rights: alcohol and/or drug checkpoints, mandatory youthnational service, moral education, gate-controlled entries to someneighborhoods.The Etzioni followers would probably stay with the definition describedabove, until the PA happened to say "I don't know." That phrase wouldannoy the communitarians who do know that whatever is not good for thecommunity values is not good. As such, the book gives much advice on what can be done topromote and "create public value." Moore's vision is that of the real world. New York: St. .or sugar farmers . Theorist # 4: H. He wants a world where social and cultural diversity is maintained andhe also wants to protect the voices of a society's marginal thinkers. In his world, searches, sobriety checkpoints, anti-loiteringlaws, baggage checks at airports, or drug testing for school bus drivers,"entail a small contribution by each of us, typically a minorinconvenience, and provide a major benefit for all of us" (p. . The next yearwould be written as be "x(n+1)" and the growth pattern is expressed in anequation "x(n+1) = x(n)*.1 . In Hummel'sworldview, the idea of problem solving is to obfuscate and establish ahierarchy of obfuscation. "If themoral infrastructure of our communities is to be restored, schools willhave to step in where the family, neighborhoods, and religious institutionshave been failing" (p. 144). What if they can't help themselves? This places the school in the position of a moral arbiter. "Greater specificity helps explainmore particularly what one means by a given purpose. Whatever happened to those "marginal thinkers?" Theorist # 3: Mark H. Inthis research analysis, four seminal works of PA will be discussed. 92). 159). The beauty of this situation, however, is that there is at last aclimate where more questions are being asked than answers are being given.And the emergence of wiser public administrators and dedicated publicservants, of the kind Moore talks about, is perhaps the new paradigm. The logic of this comparison does not simply say that each event or thing in a pair is equal in importance to the other. Around science, mathematics and their offspring, technology,an entire power structure has grown up" (p. Educators can do this, Etzioni believes, by thesimple act of relating gratification to the "development of qualities thatare socially useful and morally appropriate" (p. This section will compare andcontrast the personal view with the works of the four authors previouslymentioned. As he reaches his mainthesis, he lays out these challenges. Stene Distinguished Professor ofPublic Administration at the University of Kansas in his John H. 14). For instance, he wants to protect the voices ofmarginal thinkers, yet, in Chapter Three, he argues that schools shouldtransmit fixed collections of knowledge, skills, and character traits, anact which can enhance "cognitive development. At one point, he does recommend that concerned citizens meetand discuss issues, he proposes that city planners "provide people sharedspace to mingle" (p. 128). The implications of this argument are far-reaching. They are not, and cannot, be thesame.Extremely flexible and unafraid of change Hummel would state that this is impossible, finding a PA who isflexible. Cresskill, NJ : Hampton Press. Theories and concepts of the clash of interests, of electoral andinterest group competition, of games, and of winners and losers continue todominate political science. (1999, Sept. Hummel, R.P. Martin's Press. New York: Harper Collins. Ifone multiplies variables together, or raises them to a power other thanone, the equation (system) is nonlinear. The systems view of the world: A holistic visionfor our time. "First, it sets out a philosophy of public management -- an idea ofwhat we citizens should expect of public managers, the ethicalresponsibilities they assume in taking office, and what constitutes virtuein the execution of their offices" (p. Thosefour, and the order of their presentation, are: * The Bureaucratic Experience: A Critique of Life in Modern Organization (Ralph P. . Rheingold (1994) described Cyberspace as "...a common mentalgeography, built, in turn by consensus and revolution, canon andexperiment; a territory swarming with data and lies, with mind stuff andmemories of nature, with a million voices and two million eyes in a silent,invisible concert of enquiry, deal-making, dream sharing and simplebeholding" (Rheingold, 1994, 14). Communitarians, he points out, only wish to promote the "numerousvalues we share as a community -- such as the inappropriateness of racialand gender discrimination, the rejection of violence, and the desirabilityof treating others with love, respect, and dignity" (p. (1993), The Spirit of Community: Rights, Responsibilities,and the Communitarian Agenda, New York: Crown. No. During the 2 th Century, the growing influence ofsociology was paralleled by the emergence of modern, gigantic cities. ." (p. Hummel Hummel, in his book, The Bureaucratic Experience: A Critique of Lifein Modern Organizations,(1994) has a relatively simple premise: bureaucracyis bad. 3), "The Repositioning of AmericanPublic Administration," Class Handout. 75).The speciousness of this argument is that it is so broad-based as to bemeaningless. If the schools arepassing on this system of values, and rewarding those who adhere to thesystem, what has happened to the marginal thinkers? Public administration -- professional managersand experts -- are crucial for this effort because open government cannotbe sold by guns and slogans, but only by performance" (199 , 6 1). That statement is the basis of afractal system, one, which explains how, the city will grow over a periodof time. The virtual community: Homesteading on theelectronic frontier. beehive owners . It allows us tocalculate what particular operational capabilities must be created" (Moore,pp. In it, one thing or event is compared and found to be similar to another. Etzioni also strongly attacks radical individualists such asLibertarians ACLU proponents who fight every constraint placed on anindividual. Moore Moore's book does not have any major axes to grind. If that is not possible, then he givesa third line of defense. 91). Should thePA then offer systems of help? Etzioni, A. "Modernity's entire ability to control the world rests on its ability toabstract from the world. Specifically,he argued that the basis of chaos systemology is that if one knows theinitial conditions of any situation, then it is possible to determine thefuture far in advance: "The present state of the system of nature isevidently a consequence of what it was in the preceding moment, and if weconceive of an intelligence which at a given instant comprehends all therelations of the entities of this universe, it could state the respectivepositions, motions, and general effects of all these entities at any timein the past or future" (Conrad, 1986, 61). Both Etzioni and Hummel would reject thismathematical inevitability, but Moore embraces it conceptually.Willing to listen instead of speak The term "dynamic listening" has practically become a cliché inacademic literature regarding interpersonal communications theories.However, the validity cannot be denied. The Hummel camp, on the other hand, would probably approve of allparts of the definition with the exception of the requirement of analyzingdata. Much that Etzioni writes about, especially his levels ofresponsibility, have been apparent in the administration of PresidentClinton Democrats and other politicians who that there's too little senseof community, civility, and citizenship in contemporary society. 95-96).Capable of analyzing data and converting those data into meaningfulknowledge The first of these is spreadsheet-driven, and anyone with slightcomputer literacy is capable of it. Chaos theory seeks to determinewhether a given random-appearing behavior is really random or deterministicor unable to be determined. Public administration is steadily moving awayfrom these theories and concepts toward theories of cooperation,networking, governance, and institution building and maintenance. 97). "First, people have the moral responsibility to help themselves asbest they can" (p.
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