Quantitative Ranking

Quantitative Ranking: 1
Chronological Ranking: 24
Article Title: The Science of "Muddling Through"
Author: Charles E. Lindblom
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, 1959
Brief Synopsis of the Article:
Lindblom uses this article as a forum for explaining the governmental process of
making policy and decisions. Through definition of two different ways of reaching a
decision and explanation and examples of both, he point out that decision making and
policy making are never able to be truly "rational" or based on all of the facts;
decision and changes are based on small incremental steps and stages in the evolution
of a policy. This theory is what he has named "Muddling Through."
Lindblom analogizes the two processes as the Root Program (comprehensive rational
process), and the Branch Program. He concludes that the Branch Program is the one
efficient way to both make decisions and actually operate in the bureaucracy. It would
be impossible to try to make policy "from the ground up" as he defines the Root
process. This is try in government situations due to the periodic changes in political
climate as well.
What All the Fuss Was Originally:
Lindblom was not painting a rosy picture of himself or his contemporaries with the
writing of this article. He was pulling off the sheeps clothing of a "rationality and
highly conscious decision-making procedures" image to reveal a time-pressed, riskavoiding, politically influenced wolf concerned with maintaining expectations as well
as employment footing in an ever-changing political environment. Once defrocked,
however, he defended the animal as a truly beneficial being considering the
circumstances it has to live in and call home.
This article defines and identifies the two processes for decision-making and change.
The articles influence (as example of its own theory) became felt more over time as
other have had the opportunity to build on it and write follow-up to the article (as
others venture into the "theory muddle").
Why It Is Still a Significant Article Today:
Theorists are constantly referring to this article as a defining moment in political
decision-making. Lindblom re-emphasizes the reason government changes in ways
different from the private sector by defining the ways decisions to change can be
made. He is stating the obvious, yes, but in a dramatically clear and concise format.
By doing so, he not only defines the change processes, but also what it is to be a
public administrator someone who can live in a world where "muddling through"
and incremental change (do in part to political influences), are the norm.
Article Title: The Study of Administration
Author: Woodrow Wilson
First Appeared In: Political Science Quarterly, Volume 2, June, 1887
Woodrow Wilson saw public administration as a "detailed and systematic execution of
public law" in which public administrators exercise their own discretion to carry out
the elected officials policies. He saw public administration as apolitical because public
administrator merely took orders from legislatures and implemented these
legislators policies. He therefore believed that administration not only couldbe
apolitical and neutral, but should be apolitical and neutral. Wilson called for public
administration to focus on effectiveness and efficiency, not just personnel reform.
Wilson stressed that administration must focus on the executive method and the
application of the law. He advocated that "the field of administration is a field of
business." Probably most importantly, Wilson also established

politics/administration dichotomy, viewing the two as separate and divided.
the

Wilsons article really wasnt "rediscovered" until 40 years after it was written
when it was republished by Political Science Quaterly in 1941. So, originally, there
was very little fuss. In fact, Wilsons article was not cited in political or social
science works at all between 1890 and WWI and only sparingly between WWI and
WWII. Beginning in 1941, however, this article has marked the study of public
administration as a unique discipline.
This article is, without question, the most cited article in the field of Public
Administration (confirmed by a study). This article has been used over and over
again to define not only the Progressive tradition of public administration, but the
overall discipline of public administration. Although, when it was reprinted in the
December 1941 issue of the Political Science Quarterly, it became very important and
heavily cited. Wilson was the first person to separate politics from administration. His
article is probably most cited, however, for its management theory of public
administration. Especially since WWII, reformist and theorists have really focused on
making the doing of the publics business look much more like the doing of private
business, emphasizing the need to incorporate efficient and effective ways to get
governments work done. For other articles explaining the influence of this work on
the field of public administration, See "Woodrow Wilson and Public Administration,"
in Public Administration Review, volume 16, Spring 1986. See also "Woodrow
Wilson and the Study of Administration: A new look at an Old Essay," by Stillman II
in American Political Science Review, volume 67, June 1973.
Today, most scholars in public administration no longer believe in the
politics/administration dichotomy that Wilson proposed in this article. His position in
this article has been under attack for being too apolitical and too premised on
centralized bureaucracy. Nevertheless, it retains its symbolic importance in the field of
Public Administration.
Article Title: The Principles of Scientific Management
Author: Frederick Winslow Taylor
First Appeared In: Bulletin of the Taylor Society (1916)
Frederick Winslow Taylors organizational theory of scientific management centered
on the examination of the workmans processes and the active role that managers
should take in developing those processes. In his article "Principles of Scientific
Management", Taylor identified the workers belief that it is in his own best interest
to move as slow as possible and constrict output. Taylor believed that the introduction
of scientific management into all business would result in higher production, no labor
strikes and a better relationship between labor and management that would result in
increased efficiency. According to Taylor, scientific management requires that
management personnel voluntarily accept additional duties. He outlines the following
four principles of scientific management.
1. The management must gather knowledge from the workman and develop rules,
laws and formulae that can be applied, to the work of the workman.
2. The management must study the workmen under them and get to know them
and then deliberately train the workmen to do better work and then pay
increased wages for that work.
3. The management must then bring together the science that has been
accumulated and the worker that has been studied.
4. The management must institute a complete re-division of the establishments
work with the management taking over a section of the work previously done
by the worker.
Taylor explains that this type of management "represents a democracy, cooperation, a genuine division of work which never existed before." He goes on to
explain that the workmen would be consistently monitored and when one did not
perform up to standard, he would not be fired, but instead be taken aside to review his
methods, pinpoint his mistakes and be shown the correct method.
At the time of Taylors article, management did not focus on how the worker did his
work, just that the tasks were completed. There was also a very wide hierarchical
separation between management and the worker that resulted in distrust and many
labor strikes. The organizational theory of scientific management was revolutionary
because it called for initiative on the part of the manager to fully understand and study
the work of every employee in the organization and convert that knowledge into a
more efficient process.
Why It Is Still a Significant Article Today: Taylors principles require
management to look at no just the outcome but the process by which the outcome is
achieved. These principles hold true today. In many organizations the most effective
managers are those who started at the bottom and worked their way up. They have a
more integral understanding of the workers and processes that eventually achieve the
organizations goals. Scientific management, itself, is an on-going process. As
Taylor expressed in his article, scientific management is not just a device but requires
a "mental revolution" that is not instantaneous but is developed over a long period of
time.
Article Title: Notes on the Theory of Organization
Author: Luther Gulick
First Appeared In: Papers on the Science of Administration (1937)

Luther Gulicks article expressed the theory of organization as it has to do with the
structure of co-ordination imposed upon the work division units of an enterprise.
Gulick explains that work division is the reason for organization. Division of work is
required because of the constraints of time, place and human nature. It allows better
utilization of skills resulting in specialization and is more efficient. The limitations of
division arise from the 1) volume of work involved in man-hours; 2) technology and
custom at a given time and place; and 3) the physical division into inorganic division.
Just as work must be divided, co-ordination must be implemented. Co-ordination is
achieved by interrelating the subdivisions of work by assigning them to men in
authoritative positions and developing the singleness of purpose in the minds of the
worker. Coordination must be approached differently in small and large organizations.
To achieve organization, an authoritative system of effective communication and
control must be implemented to monitor the central objectives. The executive expands
the span of control to others to direct specific groups of workers and so on. However,
the administration must maintain the "unity of command" so as not to spawn
confusion, inefficiency and irresponsibility. The group must be unified and work
together. An expert in one field is not necessarily competent in another field. Gulick
writes that the essential validity of democracy is a way of government in which the
common man is the final judge of what is good for him. Organizational patterns are a
source of dispute, as to whether they work from the top down or from the bottom up.
Gulick reveals that any practical solution must be approached from both the top and
the bottom. The executive function must also be organized. POSDCORB is a word
Gulick formulated to describe the functions of the chief executive, Planning,
Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting and Budgeting.
Gulick expressed the need for subdivision of duties and an authoritative structure for
organizations. He indicated that the division of work is needed for an organization to
run efficiently and once the work is subdivided, the role of co-ordination is crucial.
This article outlined the importance of the middle manger.
As our society grows, so do our organizations and bureaucracies. It is important to

keep in mind Gulicks basis for subdivision of work and the equally important
coordination of those efforts into an efficient organization. Implementing these efforts
while maintaining a "unity of command" is still a struggle.
Article Title: The Giving of Orders
Author: Mary Parker Follett
First Appeared In: Scientific Foundations of Business Administration (1926)

Folletts article focused on the attitudes, beliefs, prejudices and desires of the
individual worker and how those elements play a role in the act of giving and taking
orders in an organization. The psychology of the worker is very important when
understanding their reaction and perception of an order. She indicates that the
language, circumstance and manner in which the order is given has as great an impact
on the worker as the actual order itself. If the manager gives the order in a
disagreeable manner or with abusive language, the worker can become angry and
sullen or perceive this as an intrusion on his individual rights. By contrast, an order
not given with authority can jeopardize the organization. Follett recommends the
depersonalization of orders. She suggests that the orders should not be directed from
one person to another. Instead, both persons, worker and manager, should take orders
from the situation. The two should conduct a joint study of the situation and determine
a solution together. She also places importance on the role of responsibility upon the
part of the worker. According to Follett, responsibility is a vital matter to every human
being and the most difficult problem is reconciling between receiving orders and
taking responsibility. The fact that situations are constantly evolving is an opportunity
for the worker to take responsibility.
Follett offers three fundamental statements on this subject:

1. that the order should be the law of the situation;
2. that the situation is always evolving; and
3. that orders should involve circular not linear behavior.
She goes on to indicate that she has merely brushed the surface on the subject of
organizational theory and that many other areas are left to be explored.
Follett applied psychology to the workplace. The article focused on the feelings,
background and attitudes of the individual worker and how these factors effect the
workers perception and reaction to orders. The behavior of the manager was also
focused upon in intricate detail, for example, the place the order was given, the
language of the manager and opportunity for feedback from the worker.
Managers and executives look closely at psychology and sociology when determining
the effectiveness of certain procedures. The study of organizational behavior is
common in schools of business and public administration. A direct correlation is made
between the workers attitudes and feelings and the success of the business.
Article Title: The Lack of A Budgetary Theory
Author: V. O. Key, Jr.
First Appeared In: American Political Science Review, December, 1940
Key is calling for refinement in the budget allocation process. He points out that
funding is based greatly on assumption of need and political pressure, and that
systems for evaluating the value of programs, policies and agencies, as well as
evaluating the efficiency in which funds are used as needed. This article is famous for
prompting the phrase "on what basis do we decide to allocate X dollars to Activity A
versus Activity B."
There must be placed more of an economic emphasis on efficiency in budgeting and
not just bean counting of political sways. Are alternative programs being weighed?
Are costs to other programs being factored into the budget allocation process?
Key recognizes the fact that the public sector answers to a different call than the
private sector does when it comes to allocating resources. He is encouraging the
development of a theory that will envelope both the realities of political pressure in
budgeting with the efficiency theories used in economics; basically a call for
developing quantitative methods of budget analysis.
Government budgets were growing as we entered into the 1940s and little emphasis
had really ever been put on appropriating funds with regard to policy making and
decision making. Though budgets were growing so were areas in which to allocate the
finances. More agencies and public service outlets were being established and added
into the bureaucratic mix. Thus, Key recognized a need to find a way to factor and
evaluate expenditures with efficiency. This article was defining and setting the tone
for the next phases to come in program evaluation, budget allocation and policy
making.
Students of Public Administration take courses in Policy Analysis and Quantitative
Methods; courses that utilize the basic theories Key was calling for in his article over
fifty years ago. Sometimes, while struggling through the text or problems posed in
these courses, student may wonder if they are necessary or even applicable to their
future. Keys article reminds us of a time when the applications were absent and
what it potentially cost our government and our citizens.
Article Title: A Theory of Human Motivation
Author: Abraham H. Maslow
First Appeared In: Psychological Review, Vol. 50 (1943)
In his article "A Theory of Human Motivation," Abraham H. Maslow outlines a
hierarchy of human "needs" that he believes are essentially what motivates human
beings to act. The most basic human needs are the physiological needs such as hunger
and thirst. A person who has absolutely nothing in life will focus on satisfying his
hunger or quenching his thirst. Maslow asserts that until the need for hunger or thirst
is met, the human can focus on nothing else. Once the physiological needs are met,
the safety needs present a prominent role. At this point almost everything looks
unimportant in comparison to having safety. The lack of safety and the reaction that
ensues is difficult to view in adults, however, it is much easier to observe in small
children. When a child feels that his safety is threatened they often act out by crying
or screaming. Society has taught adults to hide their true reactions when their safety is
threatened. A human that has acquired safety will then begin to feel the need to be
loved, according to Maslow. The love needs include the human desire to have
affection, belong and to be loved. Maslow at this point stresses that love is not
synonymous with sex and that sex should be studied as a physiological need. The next
step in the hierarchy of needs is to be occupied by esteem needs. Maslow classifies
esteem needs in two sets. The first set includes the desire for strength, achievement
and respect from others while the second set calls for recognition, attention and
appreciation. These needs lead to a feeling of self-confidence and worth. Maslow
highlights the last human need to be satisfied is the need for self-actualization. Even if
all the prior needs are met in a human, there often is a restlessness the individual will
have to do what he is made to do. Self-actualization refers to self-fulfillment and the
realization of his purpose.
Maslow stresses that this hierarchy of needs must be met in the same order. Therefore,
a human must have his physiological needs met before he realizes that he has safety
needs and those must be met before he realizes that he needs love, esteem and selfactualization.
Maslow was the first to take such a comprehensive look at organizational behavior
and the importance of human needs. His ideas were revolutionary for his time and
helped evolve organizational theory from its scientific management beginnings.
Maslows hierarchical structure of human needs is still used in developing
organizational theories and patterns. It is hard to imagine that there would be time
when his self-actualization theory would not be important. For that to happen, humans
would have to be removed from the workplace.
Article Title: The Proverbs of Administration
Author: Herbert A. Simon
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review (1946)
Herbert Simon in "The Proverbs of Administration" directly addresses the subject of
principles in public administration and provides a basis that they are merely proverbs.
Simon points out that proverbs rationalize behavior and justify action, but they cant
be used to prove scientific theory because they always prove a truth and never what is
false. His purpose with the article is to substantiate criticisms of administrative theory
and present suggestions. Simon begins with four accepted principles of
administration. They state that administrative efficiency is increased by 1)
specialization, 2) Arranging a determined hierarchy of authority to preserve unity of

command, 3) limiting span of control to small number, and 4) grouping workers by
purpose of control a) purpose, b) process, c) clientele, or d) place.
Specialization seems like a simple principle but Simon points out that this is
deceptive. Specialization, he asserts is not a condition of efficiency but a characteristic
of group effort that will lead to administrative efficiency. Unity of Control, the second
principle, is incompatible with specialization according to Simon. The premise of
specialization is to provide experts in a specific area for use in decision making.
However if that expert is a subordinate of someone not in the same specialization, a
contradiction arises. Span of Control which calls for limiting the number of
subordinates under an administrator is contradictory to the principle that the number
of levels in an organization should be limited. The last principle of organization by
purpose contradicts itself. At any time three of these purposes (purpose, process,
clientele and place) are sacrificed for the fourth.
Simon points out that none of the four original principles survives this analysis. He
indicates that a valid approach to this is that all relevant criteria should be identified,
each situation should be analyzed and research should be instituted. Simon suggests
that a description of administrative situations be developed that avoids simplification
and lack of realism. The emphasis of study should be shifted to the conditions under
which principles are applicable. It is next necessary to diagnose administrative
situations and examine the exact proposition of administrative theory. Simon asserts
that administrative theory must be interested in the factors that determine skills,
values and knowledge that the organizational member undertakes in completing work.
The individual is limited by the skills and habits to which he is unconscious, by his
values and conception of purpose by the extent of his relevant job knowledge.
Simon concludes that a vocabulary must be developed for description and the limits of
rationality should be studied and weighed in evaluating organizations. Finally,
empirical research must be completed, two conditions of which must be 1) objectives
of the administrative organization must be concretely defined and 2) experimental
control should be exercised.
Simon takes what were recognized popularly as principles of administration and

asserts that they are merely contradictory proverbs. Out of this he makes a case for
judging particular issues on a case by case basis and calls for more research into
administration.
As organizations become more complex, we turn away from generalities, just as
Simon does, and realize that we must take a closer look at specific situations. There is
more to administrative theory than simple principles.
Article Title: Toward a Theory of Budgeting
Author: Verne B. Lewis
Lewis picks up where V.O. Key, Jr. left off over a decade earlier with an argument that
an economic approach to budgeting should be taken. He professes the benefits of
using economic equations and laws (such as marginal utility, law of diminishing
returns, and relative values), to determine government budgets for services and other
expenditures, reminding the reader that economics is used to determine the best way
to utilize scarce resources to achieve the highest value.
Lewis refutes the arguments that number values cannot be applied to services. He
reminds us that the service, if provided by a private agency, would have a determined
cost and value in order that the private company would generate a profit.
The author then proposes his theory of budgeting "the Alternative Budget
Procedure." He describes how it would include ideas of economics with four other
common budget setting procedures, and roles them all into one plan. Lewis does
conclude, however, that real life factory that come into play with all other political
action will arise, and admits that his alternative budget procedures theory does not
acknowledge these things. It does, never the less, create a starting point for budget
making and budget analysis.
Lewis stimulated many thoughts of budget planning and policy analysis. He was one
of the first to spur the creation of Planning Programming Budget Systems and future
Zero-Based Budgeting plans two decades later. Budgets were being planned,
requested and approved in myriad ways. He was pointing out the weaknesses of four
of these, then combining their strengths to help develop a uniform procedure.
This article not only defines different ways to plan a budget, it points out each ways
strengths and weaknesses. It then explains how to work through the budget approval
processes. Students of Public Administration will see all of the ways of planning a
budge utilized in his or her career and should be reminded that they are not
reinventing the wheel by combining several ways of doing a budget into one to get the
proper results.
Article Title: The Human Side of Enterprise
Author: Douglas Murray McGregor
First Appeared In: Management Review, November, 1957
Douglas Murray McGregor in "The Human Side of Enterprise" develops two theories
on management their view of the employees. Theory X, or the conventional view,
McGregor explains is based on several beliefs: 1) management is responsible for
organizing productive enterprise; 2) management should direct, motivate, control and

modify the behavior of employees to fit the organizations needs; 3) without
intervention people are passive and resistant to the organizations needs; 4) the
average person works as little as possible; 5) people lack ambition; 6) people are selfcentered; 7) people are resistant to change; and 8) people are gullible. Typically,
management has sought to control these human propositions by either "hard"
management, using methods of coercion and threats, or "soft" management, by giving
into demands in order to achieve harmony. McGregor questions the validity of the
conventional view. He feels that this is not inherent human behavior, but instead a
reaction of humans to the current industrial organizations and management practices.
He presents a structure of human needs. Physiological needs, the need for food and
shelter, are the most basic human needs to be met. After man has acquired these, he
then focuses on safety needs, the need to have protection against dangers and
deprivation. Social needs are next in McGregors hierarchy and are met through
association and acceptance with other humans. Following are the ego needs the
need that humans have for self-confidence, independence, status and recognition.
Finally, self-fulfillment needs are the needs of the person to realize his own potential.
McGregor states that management is inherently afraid of the organizations
personnel gaining the social and ego needs they require. Management sees the
fulfillment of these needs as a threat to the organization. McGregor argues that the
employees realization of these needs is not a threat to the organization and, in fact,
benefits the organization. By not being granted the opportunity to achieve these goals
within the organization, the employee will become passive and resistant focusing on
the material aspects of employment such as increased wages and better benefits.
McGregor suggests a counter-theory, Theory Y, which presupposes the following: 1)
management is responsible for organizing the productive enterprise; 2) people are not
by nature passive and resistant to the organizational needs; 3) people already possess
the potential for development and it is the role of management to recognize and
develop these characteristics; and 4) the essential task of management is arrange
organizational conditions so that people can achieve their own goals while working
toward the organizational objectives. Theory Y, however cannot work in the context of
Theory X. Specific management strategies such as decentralization and delegation,
job enlargement, participation and consultative management and performance
appraisal have been applied successfully in organizations. The application of Theory
Y recognizes that the talents that come from the human side of enterprise will only
work to enhance the organization.

McGregor correctly identified the conventional thought of management at that time in
Theory X . The viewpoint that it was inherent human nature for employees to work as
little as possible was identified by Taylor in "The Principles of Scientific
Management." McGregor countered this thought with his hierarchy of human needs
and pointed out the employees, once they achieved physiological and safety needs,
inherently sought social and ego gratification as well as self-fulfillment.
McGregor highlighted the methods of certain organizations that were attempting to
implement Theory Y. These methods are still being used successfully today. His
theory about human nature and managements role in helping the individual to
satisfy his higher needs have proved to benefit many organizations. The overall
outcome allows the employee to achieve personal goals that, in turn, lead to the
accomplishment of the organizational objectives.
Article Title: Rescuing Policy Analysis from PPBS
Author: Aaron Wildavsky
Wildavsky is pointing out that the lack of effectiveness of Planning Programming
Budgeting Systems has had in encouraging good policy making decisions. He
suggests that policy analysis still must thrive, just on its own, away from PPBS.
He starts with an example of the Defense Department and how PPBS originated there.
The reason for its positive effectiveness with the Defense Department was the fact that
they were dealing with very large budgets, and experienced strategic planners were
already in place. In smaller agencies, especially those that services the disadvantaged
(more domestically concerned agencies), strategic planning experts where not
available and budgets were small. Things taken away had a much greater negative
effect. People brought in to do the strategic planning were not familiar with the
agencies goals and therefore plans fell short.
Wildavsky states that policy analysis could be all the agencies need. However, he
points out that there were not enough analysts to go around. Change would come
slowly. Creative strategic thinkers were not readily available, and he called for schools
to start adding such courses to their curriculum. In the short term, he believed some
agency personnel could be taught the objectives of policy analysis.
He concludes that the time (1969), was ripe for a change from PPBS as the country
was ready for new ideas. If the government got serious about improving public policy
we could do it without the cumbersome approach of PPBS.
Lyndon Johnson had originally mandated PPBS. To do so, for every agency in
government was not a great idea. Every agency, just like every citizen, has a different
set of needs and with each different combination, a different approach to fulfilling
them must be taken. One uniform approach, PPBS, actually made things more
difficult for more organizations than it made easier. With Johnsons departure from
office, the domestic issues that were suffering under the stringencies of PPBS now
had the opportunity to experiment with a new way of doing things under the new
leadership. But what way?
Wildavsky was making a case for keeping policy analysis as a more effective form of
planning and budgeting. Policy analysts could learn to be flexible to the needs of the
agency, while at the same time finding the most efficient way for them to be effective.
Wildavsky was a major player in policy development and structure. He was reiterating
the thoughts of V.O. Key, Jr. in ways more attuned to the time period. It is important
for students of Public Administration to see that "as things change the more they
become the same." They can be reminded that government is always searching for the
one best way, but in essence there is none, and that things cannot change overnight.
This last thought should remind them of Lindbloms theory of incrementalism.
Article Title: Bureaucratic Structure and Personality
Author: Robert K. Merton
First Appeared In: Social Forces (1946)
Robert Merton in "Bureaucratic Structure and Personality" examines the structure of
bureaucracy as offered by Max Weber and the incidences of dysfunction that occur in
bureaucracies. Merton cites Webers classical analysis of bureaucracy as the ideal
type of formal organization because it provides a clear division of activities and
integrated duties. Merton explains that bureaucracy is administration that almost
completely avoids discussion of techniques, yet the discussion of policies is prevalent.
This is most often the case so as to not divulge tactics to competitors or foreign
groups. The bureaucratic structure places pressure upon the official to be "methodical,
prudent, disciplined." Bureaucracy must attain a high level of reliability of behavior.
Merton also outlines the structural sources of over-conformity. Inadequacies in
orientation that involve trained incapacity derive from structural sources. Merton
explains that trained incapacity refers to that state of affairs in which ones abilities
function as inadequacies or blind spots. Also the fact that the bureaucrats life is
planned out for him in terms of promotion, pensions and incremental salaries often
leads him to have an increased concern with regulations. The camaraderie that comes
from relatively low job competition can lead the bureaucrat to defend entrenched
interests instead of assisting clientele.
According to Merton the stress of depersonalized relationships also plays a part in the
bureaucrats trained incapacity. The strain exists when the structure requires
depersonalized relations between the bureaucrat and clientele and the clientele are
interested in the opposite. Merton asserts that increased research into bureaucracy and
personality should be completed to gain a better understanding of social structure.
Merton asserted that bureaucracy, as Max Weber describes in his article is detrimental
to the employee. He questioned the effect that organizations can have on their
members. Merton not only sees the bureaucratic structure affecting the organizational
behavior, it also determines the behavior within the organization.
As organizations grow larger it is important to constantly take a look at the effect that
the structure has on the employees and members of the organizations. The article
points out areas in which the organizations take over and command organizational
behavior.
Article Title: Bureaucracy
Author: Max Weber
First Appeared In: From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (1946)
Max Weber in "Bureaucracy" outlined a framework within which a bureau functions
including the Characteristics of Bureaucracy and The Position of the Official. Weber
indicates that bureaucracy can occur in both public and private organizations and the
characteristics include the following:
I.
The bureaucracy has a specific jurisdiction that is ordered by rules, laws or

regulations. Regular activities are distributed in a fixed way, the authority to
issue commands is distributed in a stable way and a methodical provision is

made for fulfillment of duties.
II.
There is an office hierarchy and an ordered system of authoritative levels.
III.
Files and other documents are maintained. These along with the public official
comprise the "bureau."
IV.
The management is assumed to have expert training.
V.
VI.
The official activity bureau demands the full working capacity of the official
The management of the bureau consists of general rules, knowledge of which
represents technical learning on the part of the official.
Weber goes on to outline the position of the official. The office that the official holds
is a vocation which demands a prescribed course of study. By entering into the office,
the official accepts the "specific obligation of faithful management in return for a
secure existence." The position of the official is patterned in the following way:
I.
The official enjoys distinct social esteem, however, this is primarily the case in
old civilized nations and less so in emerging bureaucracies.
II.
Pure bureaucratic officials are appointed and receive their position "from
above" whereas the elected official receives his position "from below."
III.
Normally the official holds the position for life, but this in no way entitles him
to the "possession" of the office.
IV.
The official receives a fixed salary that is measured in terms of status, or rank,
and a pension. This along with the social esteem make the official a sought
after position.
V.
A career within the hierarchical structure of public service is mapped out for
the official.
Max Webers "Bureaucracy" was the first document of its kind to characterize a
bureaucratic institution, public or private, and the ideal role of its public official or
bureaucrat. It outlined, in detail, the structure and environment of the bureaucracy as
well as an ideal job description and benefits package that would allow the public
official to be most effective.
"Bureaucracy" is the first article to focus entirely and so distinctly on the subject. It
has become the base from which all other public administration theorists begin and
compare the their thoughts against. The ideal bureaucratic situation that Weber paints
has enabled other theorists to look the specific characteristics of bureaucracy and the
position of the public official and formulate additional theories on bureaucracy.
Article Title: Toward a New Public Administration
Author: H. George Frederickson
First Appeared In: Toward a New Public Administration, 1971
Frederickson saw the threads of public administration as consisting of the following
components:
1. representativeness
2. political neutral competence
3. executive leadership
He believed that public administers should not only strive for efficiency and economy,
but even more importantly, he believed that they should strive for social equity. He
advocated public administrators working for change by reversing the "system" that
discriminates against disadvantaged minorities. He felt that public administrators
should work towards enhancing the position of and empowering the political power
and economic well-being of minorities in our society. In opposition to Woodrow
Wilsons theory, he believed that public administrators should not be neutral, but
rather should be committed to the social good. He thus believed that public
administrators had an additional duty to certain groups of citizens, the oppressed ones.
His idea of "New Public Administration," then, went far beyond carrying out
legislative mandates, good management, and efficiency. Specifically, it encouraged
public administrators to influence and execute policies that improved the quality of
life for all people. His article challenged public administrators to consider alternative
solutions and approaches in order to refocus the issue at hand. Instead of focusing
public administration on the institutional, departmental, or agency level, he felt public
administration should be centered on the problem at hand. He felt that the "public"
component of public administration was more important than the "administration"
component. He laid out three things for all public administrators to do in their work:
to distribute goods and services to the public through an equity lens, to integrate
systems and have less hierarchy in government, and to institute bottom-up decisionmaking with more input from those groups affected by the policy.
By arguing that social equity should be the supreme objective of public
administration, his article was very controversial and in direct conflict with the
historical definitions of public administration.
Frederickson introduced the idea of "New Public Administration." He brought politics
back into public administration in a constructive way and emphasized their
importance in working for the public. By encouraging public administrators to not be
neutral and to take political risks, he instigated debate on the role of public
administrators in our society.
Article Title: The Self-Evaluating Organization
Wildavsky delves into one of the biggest paradoxes facing public administration. He
starts out by expressing that the ideal agency should be self-evaluating. However, he
states that it may be impossible for organization and evaluation to coexist.
Organization implies stability. Evaluation implies change.
For an organization to be self-evaluating, every person within it would have to relish
the notion of change. It also, however, implies a lack of commitment to the standard
way of doing things.
Wildavsky warns that all this change from self-evaluating could cost efficiency within
the organization. Therefore, he advises having separate roles for administration and
evaluation. Of course, departure from the norm eventually leads back to a similar
situation with a similar problem. It becomes cyclical.
Though a self-evaluating organization is idyllic, he concludes it is basically
impossible to achieve. However, by looking at it as if it could be possible, one can
learn a great deal about the need to evaluate organizations.
We were early into the 1970's when this article was written. It was an election year
and the public was calling for change. Bureaucracy was a slow moving giant. The
industrial ate was waning and nothing new was yet on the horizon's brim.
Wildavsky was studying line-item and program budgeting as they coexisted within an
agency. Instead of trying to determine which budget system was superior, Wildavsky
began to investigate why organizations did not evaluate themselves.
To first speculate one would think issues of service and policy changes would be
realized and changed overnight. Then one realizes that this is not the way government
and administration works; he is implying (once again), that change must be gradual even when we think we want it to come quickly.
This is a great article for taking the student through the twists and turns of government
and administrative analysis. It all circles back, however, to the need to do things
incrementally, as Lindblom said in his article on muddling through.
Article Title: Policy Analysts: A New Professional Role in Government
Author: Yehezkel Dror
Economics was making its presence felt in the public decision making process. Using
economic theory and quantitative decision analysis, Dror, advises that this evolution is
inevitable and a good thing, but that precautions need to be in place. Systems analysis
and Planning Programming Budgeting Systems would get public administration out of
a rut of incrementalism and on to new ways of innovating change. However, this
could lead to higher expectations by the public and falling short of their expectations
might be viewed as failure.
Dror goes on to talk about making the switch from systems analysis to policy analysis;
the hurdles that must be jumped to move from one to the other and what role policy
analysts would play in government positions. In the conclusion, he calls for a new
approach for those studying public administration and political science to further these
efforts in the future, while small changes in government systems start to be made to
make room for the current students that could fill the needs of these new positions.
Dror also includes a chart that presents time comparative features of systems analysis
and policy analysis. It shows in easy to read terms the different effect quantitative
analysis can have on policy making versus qualitative analysis. It also points out the
need for changes in education.
Dror was introducing or calling for a new field of study in public administration; that
of quantitative analysis to evaluate decisions and policy making. He posed an
argument for how this would bring about creative and speedier change in government.
He covered his bases by pointing out the dangers involved in utilizing quantitative
based decision-making analysis. He also recognized the need for changes in education
to fulfill the changes in the field of public administration.
Students of Public Administration are now required to take courses dealing with
quantitative methods and policy analysis. Changes have been made within the field
and thus within the field of study. We can trace some of the roots of these changes
back to this time period and this article.
Article Title: Organizations of the Future
Author: Warren Bennis
First Appeared In: Personnel Administration, (1967) September-October
In "Organizations of the Future" Warren Bennis shows the conditions of modern

industrialized world that bring decline of bureaucracy, suggests a rough model of
organizations for the future and sets forth new tasks and challenges.
Bennis writes that the end of bureaucracy as we know it is near and the rise of social
systems better suited to the 20 th century will evolve. There are four relevant threats to
bureaucracy that Bennis outlines. They are 1) rapid unexpected change, 2) growth in
size, 3) complexity of modern technology that requires diverse, highly specialized
persons and 4) a change in managerial behavior a new concept of man, power and
organizational values.
As these changes affect organizations of the future, new problems and tasks emerge,
which Bennis sees as the core for future organizations. The first is integration or the
ratio between individual needs and organizational demands. Second, social influence
power and how power is distributed. Collaboration that produces mechanisms for
control of conflict is third. Fourth is adaptation or the problem of responding
appropriately to changes induced by environment. The fifth and final is revitalization
or the problem of growth and decay.
Bennis states that, "integration, distribution of power, collaboration, adaptation and
revitalization are the major human problems of the next 25 years. How organizations
cope with and manage these tasks will undoubtedly determine the viability and growth
of the enterprise."
Bennis sets forth some conditions that will determine organizational life in the future.
The first will be environment, technological change and diversification will lead to
partnerships between government and business. Population characteristics will change
with increased continuing education and job mobility. People will have different work
values and be intellectually committed to their professional careers. The tasks and
goals will be more complicated, less programmed and rely on intellect instead of
muscle. Adaptive, problem-solving, temporary systems of diverse specialists that are
linked together will replace bureaucracy, as we know it. (Bennis calls this an organicadaptive structure.) This organic-adaptive structure will increase motivation and
effectiveness.
Bennis states that training requirement for future organizations will include training
for change, systems counseling, changing motivation, socialization for adults,
developing problem-solving teams and developing supra organizational goals and

commitment.
Bennis stated that organizations in the future will have to be less structured and more
flexible. He developed a number of predictions that were based on more behavioral
and humanistic models.
The article is significant because Bennis predictions in 1967 have come true in the
1990s. His suggestions for the organizations of the future and tasks and challenges he
laid out are easily identified in the organizations of today. It is almost as if this article
was a prophesy of thing to come in the managerial world.
Article Title: Public and Private Management: Are They Fundamentally Alike in All
Unimportant Respects?
Author: Graham T. Allison
First Appeared In: Proceedings of the Public Management Research Conference,
November 19-20, 1979
Allison first addresses the question, "What is Public Management?" He breaks down
the duties of a public administrator into 3 functions: 1) policy management 2)
resource management and 3) program management. He stresses that beyond these
broad functions, there is little data on what public administrators actually do with their
time. He goes on to identify the commonalties that these two managers share. Allison
argues that all managers must plan, organize, staff, direct, coordinate, report, and
budget. Despite their similarities, Allison also notes some of the differences between
public and private managers. He points to 6 differences between public and private
managers, as laid out by John T. Dunlop: time perspective: government managers
make decisions based on short term political duration: public managers tend to be in
their leadership positions for shorter tenure; measurement of performance: it is much
more difficult to determine if a government agency (or a public administrator) has
been successful than it is to determine if a private manager has been
successful; personnel constraint there is no conflict between political appointees and
career civil servants in the private sector. Moreover, in the private sector (especially
non-union private sector workforces), there is more ability to exercise authority and
direct the employees of the organization to follow and implement your personal
vision.; Equity and efficiency: the emphasis of the private sector on efficiency is very
different than the public sectors basic goal of equity; Role of the press an media:
the public is under much more scrutiny from the public than are their counterparts in
the private sectors. Thus, officials in the public sector will undergo more backlash
from the media and public than someone from the private sector. Allison also points
out some other differences as between a CEO of a private company and the President
of the United States, pointing out the sharpest distinction between the two as lying
with the U.S. Constitution. In particular, in business, "the functions of general
management are centralized in a single individualthe CEO. In contrast, in the U.S.
government, the functions of general management are constitutionally spread among
competing institutions: the executive, two houses of Congress, and the courts.
In 1979, there began a tendency to make the government more efficient by using
market forces and private business models for conducting the governments
business. This was one of the first articles exploring the feasibility.
With the government increasingly using private sector models (i.e. IRS referring to
tax-payers as customers) it is important to keep in mind that basic difference between
the public and private sectors and how managers must respond differently according
to what sector their in and what forces their surrounded by and what goals they have.
Article Title: The Road to PPB: The Stages of Budgetary Reform
Author: Allen Schick
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review (1966)
Allen Schick in "The Road to PPB: The Stages of Budgetary Reform" states that the
PPB (planning programming budgeting) system is being touted as a radical change in
the central function of budgeting. However, Schick sees that the budget system of the
future will be a product of the past and encompass all previous forms of budgeting.
Planning is not the only function to be served by a budgeting system. In the past
management and control were very significant to the budgeting system and remains so
today. Schick states that every budget system must have planning, management and
control. The major aim of PPB is to outline specific future goals and aims over the
annual routine of preparing a budget.
Schick outlines three major stages of budget reform. The focus of the first stage,
occurring between 1920 and 1935 was to develop a system of expenditure control,
focused on control orientation. The second stage, occurring at the time of the New
Deal focused on performance budgeting, focused on management orientation. Schick
states that the third stage must await the institutionalization of PPB and can be traced
to earlier efforts to link planning and budgeting, focused on planning orientation.
Schicks analysis identifies the difference between the existing and emerging
budgetary processes as a difference between management and planning orientations.
The budget system of the future will be compilation of the systems of the past. He
concludes "that the ethos of budgeting will shift from justification to analysis.
The year before Schicks article was published, Lyndon Johnson mandated the use
of PPBS for all federal agencies.

Schicks article provides a historical account of the development of budgeting
processes in the public sector. This account allows us to recognize the features of
budgeting and how systems have evolved and how new systems contain the
components of previous systems.
Article Title: Administrative Responsibility in a Democratic Government
Author: Herman Finer
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, Volume 19, 1941
This article by Herbert Finer directly responds to Freidrichs ideas about public
administration ethics which Freidrich laid out in his 1940 book entitled "Public Policy
and the Nature of Administrative Responsibility." In this book, Freidrich proposed
that there should be little explicit control over a public administrator. Instead,
Freidrich believed that the administrator owed responsibility to two dominant factors
in fulfilling his/her obligation and duty to the public. Specifically, an administrator
owed a duty to 1) technological knowledge and 2) popular sentiment. He thus
believed that any policy which violates this standard makes the official irresponsible
to the public. In summary, Freidrich believed that public administrators must exercise
a moral, not a rule-bound, responsibility to the public. Freidrich also believed that the
quality of administration depends upon an officials sense of responsibility to the
profession (and the sense of duty to the public).
Finer believed that administrative responsibility and ethics was just as important to
democratic government as administrative effectiveness. In order to make
administrators responsible and ethical, it was necessary to have a correction system
with known punishments and sanctions for administrators who violate the "rules." He
cautioned against public administrators from using their own discretion, instead
believing that public administrators are responsible to the elected representatives for
the public. Finer advocated the use of the courts and as well as clear lines of authority
in administrations (sanctions). Finer defined public administrators responsibility to
the public as threefold. First, he believed that public administrators should work for
what the public needs, not what the public wants. Second, that public administration
can only function through institutions. And third, public administrators must be
obedient to the orders of their superiors. Finer felt that the a public administrator
should have little or no flexibility or discretion and that in order to be truly
accountable to the public, administrators must be provided with more than a sense of
moral responsibility. Finer believes that moral responsibility is likely to operate in
direct proportion to the strictness and efficiency of political responsibility and to fall
into disarray if this political responsibility is not strictly enforced via sanctions. He
was firm in his belief that professional standing and a duty to the public were not
enough; sanctions were necessary to keep public administrators ethical.
This debate between Finer and Freidrich over how to make public administrators
ethical actors and responsible to the public became extremely important for
administrators practices of how to enforce ethical behavior, whether through
sanctions or through moral obligation and guilt.
The exchange between Finer and Freidrich is the most cited article/exchanged
discussing the "best" strategy for achieving accountability in public administration.
Article Title: Developments in Public Administration, 1929.
Author: Leonard D. White
First Appeared In: The American Political Science Review, 1930

Leonard White in "Development in Public Administration, 1929" writes about the
progress being made in the field of public administration. He outlines several
commissions appointed by President Hoover and the duties they are charged with.
White reports that program in the research of public administration began at the
University of California. Seven special research projects are being planned, including:
1) a study of interrelations of the communities comprising the San Francisco region;
2) the administrative relationships between federal, state and local governments; 3)
personnel problems; 4) legislative drafting; 5) the administration of criminal justice in
California; and (6-7) the annual publication of critical annotated guides to the
literature of state and federal administration. The subject of police administration was
actively examined at the annual International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Nationwide efforts were initiated to develop uniform crime records and a new
publication, The American Journal of Police Science was debuted by Northwestern
University. The University of Southern California held, for the second consecutive
year, a short course in training for public service and had an increase in participants. A
survey and audit of the New Jersey state government was initiated and others like it
were planned for Maine and Arkansas. In the field of personnel administration,
extensive classification and compensation studies were made in New Jersey and
Massachusetts.
The field of public administration was just emerging at the time of this article. White
had written just four years earlier, in 1926, his pioneering textbook on the study of
public administration. All the developments that White lists are innovative for the time
period.
Although this article offers no theories or concepts for the study of public
administration I feel that it is still important today because it is a diary of the field.
Write writes about what efforts were being made at that time in public administration
and given that none of these things had happened before, it is very important. Often
times as we forge ahead with technology we forget our roots and how things started.
Whites article reminds us of the beginnings of public administration.
Article Title: The Task of Administrative Law
Author: Felix Frankfurter
First Appeared In: University of Pennsylvania Law Review, volume 75, pages 614621, May 1927
In this law review article, Frankfurter questioned the new authority that Congress
delegated to administrative agencies. He observed that executive agencies are charged
with "filling in the details" of a policy set forth by Congress. He goes on to say that
what this "filling in the details" means is that these bureaucrats are making the essence
of the law by giving meaning and content to vague contours. He states that "the
control of banking, insurance, public utilities, finance, industry, the professions,
health, morals, in sum, the manifold responsibilities of government to the forces and
needs of modern society (is law written by agency bureaucrats)." He insists that if
America is to continue as a government of limited powers then these agencies of
regulation must themselves be regulated and limits of their power of the citizens must
be set.
Frankfurter also notes that administrative law is bound up in constitutional law.
Administrative law deals predominantly with "law in action" and is markedly
influenced by the specific interests entrusted to a practical administrative agency. In
this article, Frankfurter also discussed the relevancy of "judicial review" when
reviewing "administrative discretion." He noted that the two cannot be studied in
isolation, but rather judicial review must be related to the implications of the
particular interest that invokes a judicial review or as to which the administrative
discretion is exercised. In other words, judicial review must not only be studied
horizontally, but vertically as well in terms of the different administrative agencies

(judicial review of the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) decisions) (judicial review of
postal fraud) (judicial review of deportation of warrants). Frankfurter believed that the
physiological study of administrative law in action will disclose the practices of
administrative decisions because of the fact that administrative law is largely
concerned with society and economy.
Frankfurters article represented the voice of the judicial establishment which
desperately called for a new set of "administrative laws" to establish the boundaries
around the growing powers of regulatory agencies.
Frankfurter observed, as early as 1927 a trend that is still common todaythat
government agencies and bureaucrats, not the legislature or even the courts, are
charged with making the vast proportions of American law. Frankfurter also
forecasted many of the same very relevant issues we see today with the increasing
frequency of judicial review of administrative agency decisions.
Article Title: Foundation of the Theory of Organization
Author: Philip Selznick
First Appeared In: American Sociological Review (1948)
Philip Selznick in "Foundation of the Theory of Organization" explains that
organizations function in a rational manner but do not deal with the irrational realities
of organizational behavior. According to Selznick organizations can be viewed in two
ways, as an economy and as an adaptive social structure. Formal organizations are
cooperative systems and persons are viewed functionally as participants in assigned

segments of this system. However, humans resist the depersonalization of the formal
system and participate as whole persons. The organizational act of delegation deals
with the formal assignment of work. In theory these assignments are to the roles or
positions, not to the individuals. However, the individuals that receive the assignments
have goals and that do not always coincide with those of the organization.
Selznick offers a structural-functional analysis that relates contemporary and variable
behavior to a presumptively stable system of needs and mechanisms. The assumption
of the structural-functional approach is that the basic need of all systems is the
maintenance of the integrity and continuity of the system itself. Selznick also offers
co-optation as a mechanism of adjustment for organizations. Co-optaion is the
"process of absorbing new elements into the leadership or policy determining
structure of an organization as a means of averting threats to its stability or existence."
Selznick identifies the relationship of the economy of an organization and its social
structure. He takes an in-depth look at the role that human goals and aspirations have
on the overall economy of the organization.
We are well aware in this day and age the effect that goals and feelings of the
individual have on the organizations outcome. Selznicks identification of this
relationship with the structural-functional analysis and co-optation provide a clearer
understanding of the formal organization.
Article Title: The Advanced Commission on IGR: Unique Features and Policy
Author: Deil S. Wright
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, volume 25, 1965

Wright provides some basic background on the ACIR: Advanced Commission on
Intergovernmental Relations. Specifically, he outlines the unique structural
characteristics of ACIR. He notes that it was a legislative, not an executive initiative.
Wright explains that the AGIR was created because of the recognized need for
smoother functioning of federal government systems. Though the term IGR was first
coined in the 1930s, it didnt become recognized by Congress until 1953.
Wright also provides an overview of the structure of the first ACIR: it was composed
of 26 people from federal, state, and local government levels. Many of these officials
were appointed by the President, along with the 3 lay citizens that the President
appointed. The group, then, was very diverse and was intended to foster an exchange
of views from many segments and levels of government. ACIR reflected the
decentralized nature of government and served to try to coordinate the levels better.
ACIR was formed to have a macro-view of the federal system and advise all levels on
"questions of policy." It encouraged discussion at every stage of public problems that
are likely to require intergovernmental cooperation. It thus was in instrumental in
forming a permanent bipartisan forum for working out "cooperative federalism" for
the future.
This was the first academic article about the ACIR and its effectiveness and purpose
in our complex multi-government system. Wright concluded that IGR would become
of increasing importance and would have a large impact on our efforts to perfect our
federal system. And to this prediction, he has been largely right.
Recently, Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) has become more and more important,
especially with the federal government trend toward decentralizing its powers to state
and local governments in the form of block grants and other such mechanisms. This
article represents an important historical examination of the first attempt to
institutionalize the workings of relations between levels of government.
Article Title: Alexander Hamilton: Advocate of Executive Leadership
Author: Lynton K. Caldwell
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, Volume 4, number 2, 1944
This article very nicely articulates Alexander Hamiltons insight as to the best
government for the United States. Caldwell explains that Hamilton, George
Washingtons first Secretary of the Treasury, believed in a strong central
government. In this respect, thus, he clashed with Jefferson and the federalists. He
believed in shifting the federal balance of power towards the center because it could
best plan public affairs. He further believed that the executive branch was the only
branch capable of controlling individual actors and preventing individual groups from
taking control of government in ways that would only benefit their individual selfinterest. As to the purpose of government, Hamilton once said that it was to,
"reconcile divergent interests and amalgamate them into a rational public policy."
Hamilton thought the absolute greatest danger to a free people was if in the time of
crisis or despair, they, through their insistence of their legislatures, allowed into
government precedents laws which later would prove to be fatal to their self-interests.
Thus, he believed, power must be taken from legislatures and placed into the rational
hands of the president. Only, the president, Hamilton alleged, was able to resist
popular pressures and change society for the better in an orderly and well-thought out
manner.
Hamilton advocated that we should divide government powers according to function
with the legislative branch defining objectives and granting powers and with the
executive branch having freedom from legislative interference in executing the law.
For power to be ordered in its proper channels, Hamilton believed, the executive
branch must be responsible for pursuing the public interest in any way that it saw fit
and that it was the president himself who could best represent the people of America.

Hamiltons greatest contribution to public administration was is belief of and
rationale for having the president and executive as absolute leader in forming public
policy.
Clearly, the debate of which branch should have the most power is still thriving today.
Hamiltons argument and rationale are still used today by proponents of strong
centralized federal government power and even by modern presidents (such as Clinton
and the 1992 NPR Report) who call for more presidential discretion in the making of
public policy. Much of Hamiltons rationale is further used by administrators who
resent judicial interference of their discretion in forming public policy.
Article Title: Development of Theory of Democratic Administration.
Author: Dwight Waldo
First Appeared In: American Political Science Review 44 (1952) March
In the "Development of Theory of Democratic Administration" Dwight Waldo traces
the history of administration, both private and public, in democracy and highlights
people and concepts that are key to its development. Waldo traces the development of
private administration and its relationship with democracy. He points out that private
administration grew along with business civilization. Private administration welcomed
the scientific calculation that was the basis of Frederick Taylors scientific
management theory. Changes occurred and private administration turned from a harsh
paternalism to a "trusteeship" or benevolent paternalism cites Waldo. The early public
administration theorists accepted democracy as the central meaning of the American

political system but also found it a threat to their central principle of efficiency.
Waldo highlights some of the writers that bear directly upon the development of
democratic administration as David Levitan and J. Donald Kingsley. He also notes the
contributions of two other writers to the field of general administration. They are
Mary Parker Follett and Ordway Tead.
Waldo cites that one real obstacle stands in the way of further development of
democratic theory of administration is the idea that efficiency is antithetical to
democracy. Another obstacle the democratic administration must face, according to
Waldo is authoritarianism. Waldo also cites that some of the most important writings
of that day were in the realm of sociology and the impact on public administration.
This article caused Herbert Simon and Peter Drucker to write responses to Waldos
paper. Simon was annoyed at Waldos assertion that there are no "factual decisions"
made free from values.
Waldos article provides a historical perspective on democratic administration. He
highlights many contributors and brings together the contributions of private and
public administration. It is good starting point for students interested in democratic
administration.
Article Title: Public Administration in a Time of Revolutions
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, (1968) July-August

In "Public Administration in a Time of Revolutions," Dwight Waldo identifies the
changing times and questions the role of public administration in a time of revolution.
This is a manuscript of a speech delivered to the Capital District Chapter of the
American Society for Public Administration.
Waldo presents several items that he calls a catalog items that are referred to as
revolutions or as having a revolutionary role. Among those items he names science
and technology, a growing reaction against science and technology and an increase in
the means of violence and the counterrevolutionary movement against violence.
Waldo goes on to discuss the reaction against gradualism and a growing commitment
to violence, explaining that a revulsion against violence and a commitment to violence
often occur in the same movement. He cites a crisis in race relations, a severe
generation gap, the growth of urban areas, increasing rates of crime and violence and
a revolution in morals and values. Waldo indicates that he is not in favor of
revolutions but believes that if one is in the midst of one, he or she must act
intelligently. However he does predict a revolutionary change.
After pointing out the changing times and listing items that are typically part of
revolution, he poses questions about the role of public administration and its
responsibility for contemporary revolutions. Waldo states that public administration
must bear some of the responsibility for the revolutions because these incidents cannot
be separated from the causes and nature of our spectacular affluence. In some cases
public administration is a revolutionary agent, and may be so through ignorance or
enforcement of the law. He lists specific examples.
Waldo reaches the conclusion that public administration should respond to the
revolutions of the day. He feels that any institution that doesnt adjust to the
changing environment will not be effective. Waldo advocates experimentation in new
organizational styles.
What All the Fuss Was Originally: We can look back and say that 1968, when
Waldo wrote this article was unquestionably a time of revolution in this country. It
was articles such as this that spawned the importance of social equity in the practice
of public administration.
Why It Is Still a Significant Article Today: It isnt difficult to look at each of the
items that Waldo highlights in this article and apply them to todays society. Each of
those factors has a strong presence today. By recognizing that, we should see that
revolutions are constant and public administration must constantly adapt.
Article Title: Power and Administration
Author: Norton E. Long
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, Volume 9, pages 257-264,
Autumn 1949
In this article, Long states that administration could not be explained in entirely
rational terms because its components represent an assortment of political interest and
pressure groups. For public administration to prosper, he felt it must dedicate itself to
studying the nature of political power in bureaucracy. He further asserted that
bureaucracy needs to build political support in order to carry out its mission. This
article is very anti-Woodrow Wilson and very anti-Progressive in its nature. He saw
political power as coming into the organization both laterally and vertically (bottomup). He argued that a major aspect of administration consists of a wide range of
activities designed to secure "customers" acceptance. He also believed public
administration must develop a consensus before an agency was able to implement and
execute a program.
Long recognized the difficulty in coordinating government agencies in their mission
towards one goal. This difficulty was because agencies want to survive and this
survival instinct may conflict with the governments overall purpose. He saw the
task of reorganizing government as very difficult because it involves so many external
factors. Moreover, because government power centers compete with each other,
coordination among them was further blocked.
He saw the balance of power between the executive and the legislature as subject to
shifts based on how much support each branch had from the public. Thus, it was not
easy to determine "Who is boss." He concluded by reinforcing that it is impossible to
look at administration without looking at power structures. Finally, because of the
partisanship of the America system, he saw it unlikely that Congress and the
Executive would ever thrive in one coherent program.
This article is credited with popularizing the argument that "the lifeblood of
administration is power." He brought into popular debate that the structure of
interestswhether friendly or hostile, vague or compact, defined each significant
center an administrators discretion.
In asserting that "administrative rationality demands that objectives be determined and
sights set in conformity with a realist appraisal of power position", Long challenged
public administrators to accept politics and power within their organizations and jobs
and then to work with it in maximizing their organizations goals and purposes. This
"call to action" continues to be very important today in public administration
professions at every level. He was also the first to refer to citizens and taxpayers as
"customers"terminology that has recently come into the forefront of public
administration with the 1993 NPR "re-inventing government" report.
Article Title: Political Implications of Budgetary Reform
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, Volume 21, page 183, Autumn
1961

In this article, Wildavsky argues that the idea of a "better budget" is not a neutral and
apolitical idea that is only dependent on skills and efficiency. Rather, Wildavsky
argues, budgetary reform contains important implications for the political system for
determining who (which branch of government) gets more decision-making power.
He argued that because the budget is so fundamental in determining a governments
agenda, that a theory of the budget is essentially just a theory of what the government
ought to do. He argued that a budgetary theory could not be normative by purporting
to strive for neutral efficiency, but must be democratic in nature. He believed that if
we treat society as a consumer, that there would be less social conflict.
He argued that the most significant way to influence the budget was to introduce
basic political changes (i.e. give the president more powers or empower congress). In
other words, any change in the how the budget is formed, by definition, affects the
political process of who gets power. For example, by giving the president an item veto
power in the budget process, his power was increased to the detriment of Congress.
Although Wildavsky did think that efficiency was important, he also pointed out that
we know very little about what exactly "the budget process" is. There is little public
information about how agencies go about asking for money and how the influence
people to get the money that they want. He thus believed that in addition to calling for
reform, we need to describe the budget process morenot just normalize it and
reinforce it. In addition to a theory of reform, he called for a "theory of influence" in
the budgetary process which would describe power relations among participants and
explain what makes the winner successful. He further believed that we need to be able
to isolate what factors affect decision-making about the budget.
By arguing, in essence, that the "study of budgeting" was really just another
expression for the "study of politics", Wildavsky was significant in questioning many
peoples positions that because the budget consisted of "just numbers" that it could
be easily solved by economics, mathematics, and scientific formulas. Rather,
Wildavsky was instrumental in showing how persuasive politics is in public
administration, even in (or maybe especially in) the budgetary process.

This article continues to be important to counter new "budgetary reform" theories that
purport to be capable of fixing the budget with apolitical solutions.
Article Title: Leonard D. White and the Study of Public Administration
Author: Herbert J. Storing
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, volume 25, March 1965
Because White primarily published books and not articles and it would be
inconceivable not to mention Leonard D. White among the top 100 most influential
articles in public administration, it is essential to cite this article about Whites
influence in the field of public administration. Moreover, White not only wrote the
first text in public administration, but he also was the first editor-in-chief of Public
Administration Review, the primary outlet of all subsequent influential articles in the
field of public administration. In his 1926 book, "Introduction to the Study of Public
Administration", White made four basic assumptions about public administration:
1. public administration is a single uniform process consistent over time
and space and uniform over federal, state, and local governments
2. public administration is more about management than it is about law
3. public administration is more an art than a science
4. public administration is one of governments primary problems
In a nutshell, White saw the objective of public administration as the most efficient
utilization of the publics resources by the government in the mission of achieving
the publics business. He clearly supported a welfare state, noting that because
laissez-faire economics and the free-market system resulted in inequities, the state
must intervene on behalf of the poor and weak segments of society. Like Wilson and
the progressives, however, he emphasized efficiency within government and believed
in a management way to "do" the publics business. Storing further explains how
White saw the study of administration through many paradigms including: through
law, through agency and management, through the history and evolution of public
administration, through sociology (the social structures of government and technically
questions), and social-psychology (why public employees do what they do. Storing
explains how White looked at the field of administration with fresh insight, and how
White sought the truth of the administration process. He further explains how White
was not only concerned the public administration, but also with its relation to justice,
liberty, obedience, and humanity.
When Storing first published this article, it was seen as an owed and deserving tribute
to one of the most important people in the foundation of American public
administration.
White wrote the first textbook in public administration; first editor-in-chief of Public
Administration Review. White is often referred to as the "father" of public
administration. As Storing noted in his article, "L.D. White did not plant the seeds
from which the field of public administration grew (as did Woodrow Wilson); but for
decades he tended the garden with unexcelled devotionthe vast majority of all
students of public administration today were shaped at least in part by their exposure
to Whites works." This article, then, is significant today to remind us of the
contributions of White to the field of public administration.
Article Title: Administration, A Foundation of Government
Author: Charles A. Beard

First Appeared In: American Political Science Review (1940)
"Administration, A Foundation of Government" is the text of speech that Charles A.
Beard gave before the American Political Science Association and the Society for
Public Administration. The focus was the establishment of the Society of Public
Administration. Beard highlights the beginnings of public administration and Frank
Goodnows work at Columbia University and the emergence of schools of public
administration across the country. Beard also offers seven axioms for the field that
include:
1. Continuous and efficient functions of government are necessary to
society.
2. As technology develops, government will enlarge.
3. A society is only as strong as its administration.
4. Creating legislation is not as challenging as implementing and enforcing
it toward the public good.
5. Administration becomes the central factor when government institutes
changes due to societal changes.
6. Diversity in the recruitment of administrators and constant constructive
criticism of those administrators is essential.
7. An administrative system must be constructed to encourage involvement
at the local level.
Beard asserts that unless these axioms are followed future societies may be studying
our society as we now do the extinct Roman Empire.
This speech marked the introduction of the Society of Public Administration, the first
professional organization in the field that is now known as the American Society of
Public Administration (ASPA). Out of the formation of ASPA came the publication of
Public Administration Review, the most significant journal in the field of public
administration.
The American Society of Public Administration remains the foremost organization for
those in the field of public administration. The articles published on Public
Administration Review are a forum for those in the field. This article, speech, is a
record of the thoughts and vision for the organization and this therefore significant to
the field.
Article Title: The Science of Public Administration: Three Problems
Author: Robert A. Dahl
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, January, 1947
Dahl balks at the notion that Public Administration is considered a science. He claims
that it will never be a science for three main reasons: normative values remain
unclear; human nature is involved and not predictable; and general principles for one
area or region may not apply to another area or region in the same way.
Dahl elaborates on each of the three reasons at length. Do administrators value
efficiency over morality? Can human beings offer enough predictability to be studied
as a science? Can generalizations be made between governments, countries? Even
when policies and practices differ?
Dahl was a bit before his time. The idea of scientific management and administrative
principles were top of mind. Looking at public administration from a more humanistic
approach was not really being done too much in 1947. His article did offer a very
different voice for the time, one that would later be combined with more scientific
leanings to again make changes in government and policies.
Sometimes its important to review and take note that different ides from those typical
of their time were circulating. Dahl provides a general perspective to students of
Public Administration for what they'll have to - learn even more so in the field than in
the classroom.
Since the writing of this article, ethics, values and morality has gone from a hot topic
to a whole subject of study. Human behavior and how they act in public service
situations in constantly under scrutiny, and we are still searching for the general
principles that transcend nations and their administrations. The idea of public
administration as a science, however, is still under debate.
Article Title: A Reappraisal of Federal Employment as a Career
Author: Paul H. Appleby
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, Spring, 1948
The author discusses the problems surrounding morale of Federal Government
employees. We had recently come out of a war and had gone from a Democrat in the
White House to a Republican. A similar transformation of party control had taken
place in Congress.
Due to the fact that the war was over, much "down-sizing" was taking place in
government and many bureaucrats were also used to working under a Democrat.
People were blaming the party change for most of the bad morale and cutbacks.
Appleby was pointing out that policy change and changes in conditions were more the
case. But because bureaucracy was part of the political machine, administrators
should not be offered any job protection or guarantees of employment amidst these
changes. He calls for some study of the current situation to better enable government
to handle it in the future, but reminds the reader that "administration is a distinct and
special vehicle of response to society and control by society." Administrators need to
move above and beyond policy changes by better understanding their roles in
government.
Appleby had written the book Big Democracy a few years earlier, denying the
separation of administration and politics. He claimed the separation was not possible.
The two were and always will be intermingled.
In this article he is reiterating statements from his book and citing examples from the
governmental situation of the day to do so. This further shattered any belief that
politics was not a part of administration.
Changes in government and employment factors have com a long way since the end
of World War II. Students can learn from this situation through Appleby's writing and
will realize some of the changes made since this time. One thing that has remained
constant, however, is the fact that politics and administration are still and will always
be intermingled. It is interesting to go back to where the realization was noted and
strongly argued.
Article Title: The Two Presidencies
First Appeared In: Trans-Action, December 1966

Wildavsky argues that the presidency is divided into two separate realms of power
foreign and domestic and that foreign policy setting is what presidents should
focus on in order to cultivate a successful and statesman-like image. He points out,
with the use of tables, that congressional approval for the presidents foreign policy
concerns was much more likely than was that of domestic issues. This is due to
stronger special interest group influences on domestic affairs, less ability for Congress
to restrict the presidents actions on foreign affairs and lack of information on the
part of the public to foreign affairs, enabling the president to "bring his issues to the
people," to garner support.
Wildavsky pointed out that knowledge was becoming power and that as the world was
becoming smaller, presidents could no longer sit back and watch what was going to
happen or hope that an issue would go away. The presidents presence in the world
political arena is required and much more of a presidents ability to remain viewed
as a strong leader depends on his/her ability to do well on this landscape, versus the
domestic front.
Wildavskys article came at a time when political unrest was being felt domestically,
as well as on foreign policy making. Americans were looking for a leader to move us
successfully through conflicts and wars in Asia, against the threat of Communism and
nuclear annihilation.
"The Two Presidencies" reminded readers that this is where our executive branch of
government was truly calling the shots as a world figurehead versus simply that of
a domestic leader.
"The Two Presidencies" has lead to many other articles researching, restating and
refuting Wildavskys arguments and reasoning. Students of domestic as well as
international administration will realize just how important a statesman-like
figurehead is to have in a countrys executive office.
This article is still important for its examination of the presidential image and how
that is effected by the handling of foreign affairs to his or her own constituents. This is
where the image of "presidential leadership" is either lost or won.
Article Title: Concepts of Organization.
Author: Chester Barnard
First Appeared In: Organization and Management, selected papers, (1948)
Chester Barnard writes the "Concepts of Organization" to further develop the concept
of organization outlined in his 1938 book The Functions of the Executive. Barnard
describes the difficulties he encountered when beginning to take on the subject of
organization. Terminology and ideals were vague and not adequate to apply to daily
functions.
Barnard sets forth to provide a definition for organization that includes his thoughts on
complex organizations. He points out that a single act can be completed by two or
more organizations at once, hence creating a complex organizations. A conceptual
scheme is needed to deal with a complex organization. Barnard points out the
importance of regarding each organization individually even though it participates in
one act with another organization. Using mathematical equations, Barnard describes
in detail the interactions or transactions between individuals, companies, employees
and customers.
Later in the article, Barnard proposes to apply the methods used in obtaining services
and actions from employees to relationships with customers. The methods are
maintenance of morale, maintenance of schemes of deterrents, supervision and
control, inspection, and education and training. By utilizing these methods, Barnard
shows that the business behavior in dealing with employees is essentially the same as
when dealing with customers. Each method, although termed different, applies to
customers as well as employees.
Barnard describes the concept laid forth in the article by applying an examination of
discourse and conceptual thought. In closing, Barnard provides the conceptual scheme
that was used in formulating his book The Functions of an Executive.
The article describes the concept of organization outlined in Barnards book and
provides additional detail to the subject. The relationship he draws between the
treatment of employees and customers was innovative at the time.
Businesses and organizations today are driven by customer satisfaction. Also,
companies are competing to acquire and maintain highly skilled employees.
Barnards concept that the relationships between the organization and its employees
and customers provides interesting insight into the methods by which to deal with
both important populations.
Article Title: Exploring the Limits of Privatization
Author: Ronald C. Moe
Moe argues that beyond the argument of economic efficiency, there are limits, both
constitutional and political, to privatizing the work of government. Moe points out
how the Privatization Movement has forced political leaders to reopen questions
concerning what an assignment of functions by a public charter really means. In other
words, there is currently no clear criteria to be used in assigning functions to the

public or to the private sectors. And although the U.S. Constitution encourages
cooperation between private and public sectors, it nonetheless mandates separation
between the forces. Moe uses the FADA (Federal Assets Disposition Association) as
an example of the blurring between private and public. He asks, "what is the FADA?
Is it an agency of the United States subject to the laws applicable to such bodies? Or is
it, as claimed by its President, a private organization established under state law?"
Because the rules and regulations and requirements are so vastly different for private
versus public organizations, the identity of the organization should not be ignored.
Overall, Moe stresses that the single most important characteristic that separates the
public and private sectors is sovereignty. Specifically, the public government
possesses the rights and immunities of the sovereign whereas organizations in the
private sector do not possess any sovereign powers. These sovereign powers, that are
granted solely to government agencies, include: the legitimate right to use coercion to
enforce its will, even if by harsh sanctions, the right to go to war with another
sovereign sovereigns can do no wrong; it cannot be subject to constraint or injury
except by its permission, sovereign is indivisible: IT CANNOT ASSIGN ITS
ATTRIBUTES TO A PRIVATE PARTY AND REMAIN A SOVEREIGN.
Considering the quick grow of privatization at city, state, and even federal levels,
administrators are threatened by privatization. Public administrators knew that there
were limits to privatization but had, up until now, been able to articulate these limits
in a way that was strong enough to counter the arguments of economic efficiency and
saving tax money. This argument highlighted some of the fundamental ways in which
the public and private sectors are dissimilar. As Wallace Sayre said in 1929, "the
public and private sectors may be alike in the nonessentials, but it is in the essentials
where they differ"
All too often, politicians and public administrators make their decisions to privatize
sectors of the government based solely on money and contract bids. This article
stresses the importance of resisting to look at privatizing only in terms of economic
efficiency, but rather to consider some of the many other political consequences of
privatization that may be less clear, yet equally important in its success, the economic
efficiency arguments.
Article Title: The Possibility of Administrative Ethics
Author: Dennis Thompson
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, September/October, 1985
Thompson questions whether Administrative Ethics is possible to achieve. He reminds
us that ethics of neutrality and structure must be rejected to achieve administrative
ethics. Then, he defines each of these in depth. Administrators, to achieve the ethic of
neutrality must do things by staying morally neutral, but to do this they cannot be held
ethically accountable for their actions. Ethics of structure means one administrator
cannot be held responsible or accountable for the policies or actions of the agency or
department s/he works for.
Though the two arguments above have gotten many an administrator off the hook for
an action or decision that was later deemed undesirable, other ways of enforcing a
code of ethics are out there. Using a history of repeated error shows where one
administrator could have used foresight before acting again in a similar manner.
Showing that an administrator does not take the steps to rectify an unethical situation
once it is uncovered is another. Following a person's work history from department to
department is another way to assess that person's actions for ethical accountability.
Thompson reminds us that it all comes out in the wash and that with a little basic
research administrative ethics is possible.
"Ethics" "accountability", "morality," and "responsibility" were all buzz words of the
1980's. Organizations were developing and adopting codes of ethics and attention to
individual responsibility was at its height. Thompson not only stepped away from all
the fuss to create his own by asking if all this hoopla was necessary, useful or even
achievable, he then reassures us that it is all those things, and provides cases as to
why.
Thompson's article stands the test of time because it provides both sides of the coin
when arguing a case where someone has been "ethically challenged." Not only does
Thompson provide ways for an administrator to argue his or her case towards
innocence, he shows ho to make some of those cases inexcusable by using history of
procedural flaws, personal knowledge on the part of the actor and repeated inaction of
an agency or an individual. This article provides ample warning to students of Public
Administration that excuses will take them only so far in their careers. It is important
to always aim to achieve a level of ethical standards.
Article Title: What Are Unions Doing to Merit Systems?
Author: David Stanley
First Appeared In: Public Personnel Review, April, 1970
This article is a report on a recent study of the day by Stanley and some of his
colleagues to determine general information on local public service unions; how do
they organize; how do they change the make-up of public service staffs; what are their
main concerns and issues to fight for their members; what are they most successful at;
where might they fall short; where are local governments headed and how are unions
affecting the way they get there? The report was sponsored by the Brookings Institute
as one in a series of five pertaining to public employment unions and collective

bargaining. This article discussed the current trends of the day within unions and at
the bargaining table.
Unions in local government employment were increasing in numbers. Protocol for
recruiting and hiring, training and pay, position classification and many other areas of
local government human resources were being affected and needed to change. This
article shed light on those areas and provided recommendations for steps to be taken
to make those changes it stated would be necessary.
It is often necessary to reflect as to where situations were to assess a current situation.
This article, by listing what unions were working towards reminds the student of
public administration as to what is was like to be a public sector employee less than
30 years ago. Though some issues remain, many have evolved as a reaction to the
changing times. The fact remains, however, as Stanley states, "How good or how bad
this is [the idea of collective bargaining and unionization], depends on the value
system of the beholder."
Article Title: The Responsibility of Administrative Officials in a Democratic Society.
Author: David M. Levitan
First Appeared In: Political Science Quarterly, 1946.
In "The Responsibility of Administrative Officials in a Democratic Society," David
Levitan explores in depth the role of administrators in a democratic government
historically and outlines some concepts for the future. He questions the responsibility
of higher civil servants and analyzes the current position of administrative personnel.
Levitan points out that according to our democratic government structure the only
people that have the right to make policy are elected officials because they are held
accountable for the decisions they make through elections. However, many times it is
the administrative official that must interpret, what are sometimes vague laws, and
implement them. The way in which the laws are enacted leaves the administrative
official with power to influence the process. The backgrounds and outlooks of
administrators sometimes play a role in how policies are developed and implemented.
The suggested theory of responsibility for administrative officials is that of neutrality.
However, the facts dont agree with the theory and accountability must be reexamined. Levitan agrees with the distinction of "politics" and "administration."
Further explained that is a distinction between "the expression of the will of the state
and the execution of that will."
Levitan finds uncontrolled and unaccountable power in government distressing. The
solution he feels is not in additional external controls but in internal controls for
administrative officials. To keep bureaucracy more responsible, Levitan feels the
following initiatives are necessary. 1) Recruitment of administrative officials should
be representative of society. 2) Academic training of administrative officials should
include social, political and economic ideas. 3) Civil liberties, privileges and
immunities should be guaranteed for government workers. 4) The administrative
branch should include non-career public servants dedicated to the elected
administrations policies and programs. Levitan believes that for better administrators
to exist we must foster better citizenry as a whole.
At this time technology was advancing and the government was becoming larger.
Levitans article provided insight into the historical role of the administrative
official and examined the implications that can arise from unaccountability.
The government continues to grow and we must still be concerned with the role of
administrative officials in a democratic society. Levitans conclusion holds true that
if we concentrate on fostering better citizens we will in turn, reap the benefits from
more knowledgeable, representative administrative officials.
Article Title: T-Groups for Organizational Effectiveness
Author: Chris Argyris
First Appeared In: Harvard Business Review, (1964)
In "T-Groups for Organizational Effectiveness," Chris Argyris explains how
laboratory education can increase the effectiveness of executives and employees. The
overall premise of laboratory education is to unfreeze the values of the executive,
change those values and then refreeze the values. In order to prepare an executive to
learn via laboratory education, he must learn as much as he can about his own
behavior. It is beneficial to give that executive a dilemma and ask him to solve the
problem. As he tries to do so with the old values and cant, he then realizes that it is
time to re-examine his values and change them.
T-Groups (T is for training) is the fundamental method of laboratory education. Most
of the learning done in these groups is non-directive although there is an educator
present. Other components significant to laboratory education are diagnosing
problems, consultation groups, lectures, role playing of "real" situations, developing
and testing recommendations and intergroup problems. Within the article Argyris
addresses misconceptions and misunderstandings about laboratory education
including the ideas that it is a manipulative process, that the leader is covertly in
control or that the goal is to suppress conflict and make everyone like one another.
Argyris admits that the impact is difficult to measure and doesnt suggest that this
method is made for every organization. In his conclusion he states that laboratory
education is: 1) a promising educational process; 2) not a process that can help every
organization; 3) programs that are not all alike; 4) effective when a supportive climate
is provided; 5) a lab program that also has risks; and 6) a program in which
participants have difficulty in articulating their experiences.
At this time managers were seeking new ways to increase effectiveness in employees
and executives. Sensitivity training, or laboratory education gave executives the
opportunity to take a look at their current values, experiment with new methods and
adopt those that were beneficial.
Sensitivity training is still utilized in organizations today but is most effective when
incorporated with other components when attempting to institute an over-reaching
organizational change.
Article Title: The Sickness of Government
Author: PF Drucker
First Appeared In: The Public Interest, volume 14, Winter 1969
Drucker begins his article by recognizing that government is big, but he goes on to ask
if it is strong? His article centers around the publics disenchantment of government.
He points out how citizens distrust government, although they continue to rely on it
for providing services to them. He further concedes that although people are still
turned off by private business and profits, they no longer believe that government is
the solution to private greed. He stresses that the biggest reason why people are
disenchanted with government is because government has not performed the way
people had hoped it would. Instead, government has demonstrated only mediocre
performance.
Drucker points out that the main problem with government is that it is no longer
holistically policy-driven. Rather, each government agency becomes concerned with
its own power and agenda and detaches itself from the governmental process. He
notes that "the growing disparity between apparent power and the actual lack of
control is perhaps the greatest crisis of government." He critiques agencies for
thinking that they are ends in themselves and in thinking so, they end up defying
public will and public policy.
Despite his problems with government, however, Drucker still sees a need for a
vigorous, strong, and active government. He thinks government should be the central
institution in society that expresses the common will of the people and that makes
each organization accountable to the public. To do this, Drucker advocates
"reprivatization" which he argues will enable government to focus its energies on
directing, not doing governmental activities.
This article set a foundation for a trend that has been implemented in full force. It
brought to the forefront the idea that government should make decisions and govern,
but not try to actually provide services. This article presented decentralization (later
termed "contracting out") as an efficient and desirable means for running government
more efficiently and effectively.
This article is still used to justify "contracting out" government obligations to nonprofits and for-profits organizations. It is cited for its proposition that government is
but one institution, not the institution, that can meet the needs of the public. It is well
cited for the idea that the private sector can do the governments business better than
the government itself.
Article Title: Administration Decentralization and Political Power
Author: Herbert Kaufmann
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, page 289, 1969
In this article, Kaufmann explained how disadvantaged groups of society feel as if
they are not receiving their fair share of political, economic, and social benefits. These
groups attribute this unfairness not to individual legislators or administrators, but
instead with an ineffective system. The public blames administrators because they are
the ones charged implementing the day-to-day laws of the legislatures general
mandates and the public gets frustrated when administrators results do not equal the
legislative promise of the program. The public also blames administrators because of
the slow system of change, although this is more due to the pluralistic nature of our
government and the opportunity to veto. And finally, the public feels lost in the huge
size of government and its bureaucracy and feel that they can make no impact or bring
about no change for themselves or their particular group.
Kauffman argues that the traditional models of representation (by legislatures) is not
longer sufficient and that administrators must literally represent the members of the
public. The article goes on to talk of decentralization, whereby programs are run not
just for a certain group, but by that group. He also emphasized the importance of
making certain agencies more representative of the people they purport to represent,
like by including more minorities. He sees the future as one of decentralization with
local influence on public policy becoming more and more important.
This article helps to shape the meaning of a true democratic political system in our
country. By emphasizing that public administrators must represent the public, he calls
for a new breakdown of the traditional duties of the administrator to the public.
Article Title: The Political Economy of Efficiency: Cost Benefit Analysis, Systems
Analysis and Program Budgeting
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, December, 1966
Wildavsky begins with a basic description of the differences between economists and
political scientists. Economists search for rational decisions based on efficiency and
political scientists realize much more is involved in decision-making when politics is
involved.
He then goes on to define different types of efficiency, then delves into extensively
defining Cost Benefit Analysis, Systems Analysis, and Program Budgeting. He
provides examples of where each is effective and where they have not been effective.
He acknowledges that in the 1960s we were starting to finally see a blending of
economic analysis with political realities to make decisions. He calls this "political
rationality."
Wildavsky advises, however, that if a decision is too heavy on the economic side, the
policy constructed will still err on the side of efficiency. He is demonstrating how far
the pendulum has swung since V.O. Key, Jr. wrote his article 26 years earlier calling
for more economic evaluation in budget appropriation.
In 1966, our country was embroiled in a war. Numbers and equations were being used
to defined our need to be in the war and to create policies and affect budgets to keep
us there, with little regard for political changes that were taking place or that could
take place over the duration of the war. Wildavsky was reminding public
administrators that they must look beyond the numbers when making decisions or be
prepared to fail, no matter what agency one worked for or with.
Public administrators are reminded that political tides will alter efficiency of
programs, policies and the budgets to support them. Sometimes being super-efficient
isnt enough to keep one or ones own agency afloat. Drastic changes in policy
based on pure Cost-Benefit analysis are advised against, as Wildavsky reminds us of
Lindbloms theory of incrementalism. This is definitely the way to implement
change with positive results and at the least political cost.
Article Title: Public Administration Theory and the Separation of Powers
Author: David H. Rosenbloom
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, Volume 43, pages 219-226, 1983
Rosenbloom argues that public administration has been pulled in three separate
directions: management, politics, and law. These three directions correlate to the three
branches of government laid out by the U.S. Constitution. The "management" theory
of public administration is advocated by the executive branch of the government. It
calls for business-like public administration and Woodrow Wilsons famous 1887
article ("The Study of Administration") is often cited as the theoretical example to
follow. The management theory asserts that the goal of public administration should
be to maximize effectiveness, efficiency, and economy. Because the management
theory has typically looked to private organizations for guidance into how to organize
government, it has traditionally emphasized a bureaucracy approach to organization,
including a top-down management structure with a great deal of specialization, along
with a merit-based system of entry into public administration jobs. The management
theory views the individual worker/administrator very impersonally, as a machine
with a mission. The "political" theory of public administration is advocated by the
legislative branch. It stresses three thingsrepresentativeness, political responsibility,
and accountability of elected officials. This theory arises out of the importance of
democracy and unlike the management theory, it does not see efficiency as a desirable
end in itself. It sees public administrators as supplementary law-makers. And unlike
the management theory, it sees politics as an important factor in deciding who the
public administrators should be. Specifically, it advocates political pluralism within
bureaucracy, so that all political, economic, and social positions found in society at
large are also represented within government.
Finally, the "legal" theory of public administration is advocated by the judicial branch.
It sees public administrators mandate as three-fold. First, the law tells
administrators what they are expected to do. Secondly, law passed by legislatures
inherently limit their authority on how much they can do. Third, the laws set
substantive and procedural rights of individuals and groups and administrators must
abide by these laws in making sure no ones rights are violated. The three values
emphasized in this theory are: 1) due process 2) individual constitutional rights (ex)
equal protection under the law and 3) equity. It views individuals are people who are
members of larger groups and seeks to protect the individual rights of members of that
group.
As a leading authority on the constitutional aspects of public employment,
Rosenblooms article immediately gained respect and deference in the field of
public administration.
Rosenblooms paradigm of public administration as the intersection of management,
politics, and law has become the standard way that this subject is analyzed.
Article Title: The Civil Service: A Meritless System?
Author: E.S. Savas and Sigmund G. Ginsburg
First Appeared In: The Public Interest, Volume 32, Summer 1973
In this article Ginsburg and Savas put for the argument that the actual processes and
terms of hiring and promoting according to the civil service regulations are contrary to
the goals of what they are trying to (and purporting to) achieve. The authors explain
that the 1883 Civil Service Law was passed in order to assure that federal employees
would be selected, hired, and promoted to federal jobs based on merit, not patronage
or politics. Despite this noble mission, however, the authors critique the current civil
service system as being counterproductive. Specifically, they are critical of having a
written exam be the basis for hiring, of having a system where it is almost impossible
to fire an employee after he/she has worked for 6 months, of a system where
promotions are limited to employees already in that agency, and of a system whereby
salaries are not in any way dependent on performance.
The authors have particular problems with the civil service exam because high
performance on the exam has never been proven to predict job performance. In fact,
they note that the people with the lower passing scores are more likely to be hired for
federal employment that people with high passing scores. This is, in part, because of
the slow application process in government which results in the best and the brightest
(those with the highest passing scores) finding employment elsewhere before the
government offers them employment. The authors are so critical of the current system
that at one point, they recommend abolishing it altogether and to have it replaced with
the unions collective bargaining system (since so many things are duplicated
anyway).
This article recommended many reform tactics that would make the civil service truly
merit-based. These reform proposals included: determining promotions based on
performance so long as the promotion system was approved by the union; making
salary based on performance (if perform very high, would get a larger raise),
reforming exams to be more specific (related positions tested together) and only using
exams if proven to correlate to job performance; hiring based on other factors besides
exams (such as experience, recommendations, and an interview), filling high-level
positions based on management dissection (and being able to apply for positions
outside of organization), increasing the training of current employees. These
recommendations provided a concrete path to reforming the much needed civil
service.
Although the civil service has implemented many of these policies, this article
continues to serve as a guide in the continuous effort to make the civil service
program more merit-based, more efficient, and fairer.
Article Title: Organizational Review and Cutback Management
Author: Charles B. Levine
Levine recognized and pointed out that our country and the administration and
agencies that served it were going into a period of stagnation and decline in growth.
This stated, he also reminds us that most programming and budget planning is
processed with the exact opposite in mind. There was no plan of action in place for
decline, cutbacks or operating with less funds that one had before.
Levine advises that before anything effective can be done, a review as to the causes of
the situation should take place. Then, he defines four categories of organizational
decline. Once a cause has been determined, he advises the reader of the various tactics
available to properly manage cutbacks to be most effective and efficient.
Levine concludes with a call to action for government to prepare for inevitable decline
and to have tactics in place before action is absolutely necessary. He also suggests two
possible ways administrators can go to help the public deal with decline - "mandated"
cutting back by individuals and a reassessment by administrators of agencies and
individuals of their efficiency towards using resources. He concludes that the most
appealing future probably won't be the route we take.
We (the U.S.), were already starting to "fuss" when this article was written; interest
rates were climbing, the availability of natural resources was seriously being limited,
and a shift in areas of economic growth was obvious. However, government budgets
kept increasing because they were always developed under the assumption of growth.
Managed cutback and decline tactics were unheard of.
Levine, through this article, attempted to help administrators face the reality of what
was ahead and in many senses, forecast our country's future in this regard. A reader
alive at the time of this writing can reflect upon our country's history to find many
instances where Levine's options were executed at even the highest levels.
Many public administration students today can't reflect back on many times of
economic decline in our country, but they may face this issue head on in some sense
in the future. Using this article to assist in the determination of cause then for planning
a strategy (along with other historical accounts of results), will make an administrator
on any level more confident of his or her decisions, considering the options they may
have to work with.
Article Title: The 25th Anniversary of the American Society of Public Administration
Author: Luther Gulick
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, volume 25, 1965
In addressing the role of public administrators in the future of America, Gulick
emphasized that public administrators must be able to meet changes with promptness,
to fuse relevant knowledge and skills with public desires and policy factors, to evolve
a course of action that best meets the missions of their organization, and to carry out
their plans with the authority they are given. In meeting these goals, Gulick said that 3
things will help develop a new theory:
a. The Function of the Administrator: requires a new analysis now

that the politics/administration dichotomy advocated first by
Woodrow Wilson is no longer practical or relevant to the field.
Instead, a new analysis of public administration premised on
responsible democracy must be formulated.
b. Policy Planning Process: Gulick emphasized how a new theory of
public administration must center on the government policy
planning devices now present and new ones that will emerge. The
important thing here is the focus on process.
c. Concept of Politico-Administrative State: Gulick believed that in
order to understand the true nature of public administration, it is
necessary to have a comprehensive theory that doesnt separate
politics from administration, but rather sees the two as a holistic
and undividable mesh. For example, Gulick talks of his
experience in recommending to President Roosevelt that
individual cash accounts be eliminated because, on a purely
technical level, they were useless and wasteful. And although
FDR fully agreed that Gulicks argument was rational and they
accounts were wasteful, they were nevertheless politically
necessary and he thus refused to get rid of them. FDRs
rationale was that, politically, the republicans would never get rid
of the Social Security Program if it meant eliminating millions of
peoples individual cash accounts. Thus, looking at the technical
issue only was inadequate in this situation.
This article was important as a way of clearly demonstrating not only the theoretical
base, but the practical need for using a political-administrative analysis to look at the
issues of a public administrator. This article and forecast helped provide a new
direction for public administrators, a more holistic and cyclical analysis.
By laying out the task of public administrators in these three basic concepts, Gulick
was able to encourage new public administrators to use both their technological and
social knowledge in forming public policy. This idea remains very relevant even
today.
Article Title: Theory and Practice of Administration
First Appeared In: edited book by James Charlesworth, 1968
In this article, Waldo critiqued the field of public administration as being in the midst
of an identity crisis. He saw public administration at this time to be expanding its
periphery without retaining or creating a unifying center. He felt that the field of
public administration should adopt a more professional stance.
By arguing that public administration lacked morals or a soul, Waldo was the first
scholar to push public administration toward "New Public Administration" (which
Fredrickson eventually wrote more in depth articles on). This article spurred him to
sponsor the famous conference at Minnowbrook in which participants embraced a
new pro-active public administration that was concerned with social equity, concern
for clients, and adaptation to human concerns. This article, among other things, put
into question the role of public administratorswere they to make government policy
or merely implement it from the legislators.
In this article, Waldo insisted that we "see administration in terms of the environment"
because this perspective enables us to understand the differences in administration
between different societies which would be otherwise inexplicable if looked at merely
by an administrative analysis. Thus, this article did severe harm to Woodrow
Wilsons idea that administration can be an apolitical science and trade. Rather, it
called for the idea (still used by many administrators today) that we be more sensitive
the people we are effecting when administrating.
Article Title: Street-Level Bureaucracy: The Critical Role of Street-Level
Bureaucrats
Author: Michael Lipsky
First Appeared In: Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual a Public
Services (1980)

Michael Lipsky in "Street Level Bureaucracy: The Critical Role of Street-Level
Bureaucrats" asserts the importance of the low-level public service employees to the
agency and services delivered by government. Lipsky points out that the actions of the
employees that have direct contact with the people often add up to agency policy and
therefore, the street level bureaucrats are many times the target of political
controversy. According to Lipsky, there are essentially two reasons that street-level
bureaucrats dominate political controversy. The debates that arise about the scope of
governmental services are essentially debates over the scope of these employees and it
is the street-level bureaucrat that has direct impact on peoples lives. These
employees make decisions, often on the spot, about the eligibility of citizens for
governmental goods and services that can affect their life chances and become selffulfilling prophecies. Not only must they make the decisions, they must also deal with
the immediate reactions of the citizens involved. Lipsky points out that it is no
surprise that the most heated controversies since 1964 are those that involve teaches,
police departments and social service agencies because these are the sites of provision
of public benefits and sanctions. The street-level bureaucracies become a prime target
for community action because of the hope that individual benefits may accrue for
those taking part in group action. Also, community action is motivated by the
concerns for community character.
Lipsky asserts that the street-level bureaucrats become agents of social control. This
becomes a dual role for the street-level bureaucrat because the policies that are seen as
the highest reaches of the welfare state are to others the furthest extension of social
control. Public controversy also focuses on the proper kind of social control extended
by street-level bureaucrats. Lipsky explains that from the citizens perspective, street
level bureaucrats are as extensive as the functions of government. The collectively
absorb a high share of public resources and become the focus of societys hopes for
balance between public services and public expenditures.
The primary focus on the role of public administrators was on higher level officials
that had direct impact on policy formation. Lipsky pointed out that it is primarily the
low-level public servant that has the most profound impact on citizens and is therefore
the focus of attention.

We still see a lot of attention focused on the low-level public servant. Because they
have such an immediate and profound effect on the public, their roles must be
constantly examined. Many of the media stories that deal with government
impropriety are pointed at everyday public officials.
Article Title: What a Political Scientist can Tell a Policy-Maker about the likelihood
of Success or Failure
Author: Ira Sharkansky
First Appeared In: Policy Studies Review, Volume 11, 1992
In this article, Sharkansky argued the political competition influences public-policy
making at every stage; policy-makers must focus on politics in their decision-making
process; policy-makers can not be objective and rationalit is impossible because it
is too difficult to weigh all the costs equally (one thing might be objectively good for
saving money but objectively bad for its social costs). Instead, he saw politics are very
important in the decision-making processes of public administrators. He outlined 6
kinds of politics:
Populism: administrators must be sensitive to who is acting to get the
most votes Partisanship: be sensitive to political parties and their
influence on administrators
Patronage: looks to what policy benefits a certain org or a certain person
Ideology: emphasizes why people should act a certain way (higher
good?); often involves contradictions that an administrator must be
cautious of
Bureaucratic politics: the chief executives of government organizations

may be working to serve their own career interests
Self-interest: some administrators place their own interests over the
publics best interests
Thus, because Sharkansky saw politics as at all stages of politics, he advocated 10
things that policy-makers could do to maximize their aspirations. These 10 things
included: developing a clear notion of the problem, defining policy goals clearly and
simply; avoiding goals with contradictions; educating policy-makers and the public to
accept realistic aspirations, being wary of overloaded political goals; knowing your
available resources; understanding coordination problems between departments,
monitoring evaluation, recognizing politics in the evaluation process, and developing
persuasion skills.
answering why presidents distrust bureaucrats, he looks merely to partisanship. The
point of his article is that although some political appointees are good (to assure
responsiveness from the agencies), the trend toward increasing political appointees
should be reversed because by not having enough expert bureaucrats in office,
government agencies will become ineffective.
This article argues that policy-making is not only impossible to be free of politics, but
even more, that knowing the mechanics of politics is a necessary prerequisite to
effective policy-making. By emphasizing how politics can make policy-making more
effective and efficient, then, this article helps bring the reality of politics in
government into public discourse and utility.
Politics are becoming even more pervasive in the decisions of public administrators
and policy-makers and they must know the logistics and tools of dealing with politics
in their professional environments
Article Title: Toward a Feminist Perspective in Public Administration Theory
Author: Camilla Stivers
First Appeared In: Women and Politics, volume 10, number 4, 1990
Stivers uses gender as a lens through which to critically analyze womens current
status and role in public agencies. Her article shows how the affects of sexism have
unnecessarily limited new ideas and theories from coming into the discipline of public
administration. She puts forth that public administration is not gender-neutral, but
rather the idea of leadership, expertise, and virtue (all characteristics of public
administration) have masculine features that privilege masculinity over femininity.
She argues that the administrative state has functioned as well as it has for the past
100 years because it depends on women dutifully performing certain roles in the
private sphere. Thus, she thinks that public administration structure in the U.S. is
inherently dependent on the oppression of women to be effective. She insists that,
given the opportunity, gender has the potential to positively influence public
administration. She sees feminists as offering a "relational" perspective to public
administration. This perspective can help give public administrators more respect
from the media and the public by emphasizing the connectedness of all people and the
women heroes of public administration. Critical of the politics/administration
dichotomy that Woodrow Wilson established over 100 years ago, Stivers emphasizes
the importance of politics in the public administration process. YNOPSIS: new
heroes. Power = enabling capacity; creativity in public administration; separate
private and public spheres
By drawing on the idea that even though women do not have the established history in
the profession of public administration, they nevertheless have something to offer
(aka. their personal experience) to the discipline, new doors were open for directing
the future of public administration both in the academia and in practical applications.
This article was one of the first theoretical works from a feminist perspective about
the field of public administration. It helped establish that the feminist paradigm was a
legitimate alternative paradigm through which public administration can be viewed.
Thus, by arguing that public administration, up to now, has not been gender-neutral,
but rather dominated by masculine meaning, she calls for new debate and dialogue
into public administrationone that pro-actively encompasses the womans
perspective in the public arena. Her article has challenged public administrators to
rethink fundamental ideas about public administration theory and its "rational"
assumptions
Article Title: Public Service in a Temporary Society
Author: Frederick C. Mosher
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, January/February, 1971
Mosher is making predictions of the directions public administration in the U.S. is
heading and advising administrators, agencies and educators as to what will be
necessary to met the needs of the future society and its issues.
He revamps the Bennis/Slater definition of "temporary society" to not only include the
fact that we face rapid and constant change but also that institutions themselves will
not be permanent fixtures. People who use them and are employed by them should
expect the agency or institution to evolve considerabley or to be dismantled and
recreated as needed.
Mosher goes on to make several other predictions dealing with economics, wealth,
technological growth, changes in organizational and managerial philosophies,
decentralization of agencies and the need for specialization by agencies and personnel.
At the same time, agencies will need to be more flexible and personnel, he predicts,
would need to work in a team-oriented atmosphere.
Mosher wraps up with a call to universities to change the emphasis of their
coursework to provide for broader but more professionally minded thinkers. Students
must be prepared to work in a temporary society. Just as parents must prepare their
children to live in a society they can only imagine, schools of public affairs must learn
to educate in the same way.
We were pulling out of the industrial age and not yet on the verge of the information
age, but inklings were there. Writers of this time often mentioned the "knowledge
explosion" that was coming. Mosher seemed to realize that this would make society
even more "temporary" and was urging those in a position to affect change to take
some sort of lead.
It is interesting for students of public administration to read the article and then
determine which predictions held water. Also, after reading this article, one might
come to realize why there is so much professional emphasis within the course
framework of today's public administration programs. It's not all learning history and
theory. Were classes such as "Strategic Management" and Community Organizing
Strategy and Tactics" offered 30 years ago?
Article Title: Job Evaluation After 50 Years
Author: Robert Milkey
First Appeared In: Public Personnel Review
Milkey provides the reader with a general overview of Job Evaluation. At the time of
the writing, job evaluation, which had been recognized as part of the Chicago Civil
Service Commission of 1909, was hitting its half-century mark. Milkey runs through a
general definition of job evaluation, then provides historical information as to its
evolution. He acknowledges that industry was the leader in providing tests for the
fortitude of job evaluation, but notes that growht was occurring at the same time in the
public sector.
Milkey then defines job evaluation's purpose and gives information on various
systems used to evaluate. He sums up by appraising some key developments of the
earlier 50 years and where he thinks public sector evaluating might be heading.
It was almost as if Milkey knew what the public sector was in store for in the 1960's.
During that decade, there was a great deal of change in the public sector work
environment. Unions gained a major foothold and growth within the sector required
systems to be in place as far as personnel management was concerned. Things were
moving to a new level of professional recognition. Ways of evaluating necessary
positions, proper pay and expected output had to be refined. Refinement would only
be possible by looking to the past, seeing where we came from and determining from
there where to go. This article brought much of the necessary information together
into one package.
Job evaluation is still used in the public sector today though it has been modified to
suit new management philosophies and trends. It is still important to be able to refer to
the past to move into the future. Milkey's article provides and excellent source of
definition, history and methodology. He summarizes the earlier decades and JE's
emergence onto the public sector/public management front. With luck, someone will
conduct a study and writie a similar article in 2009 to summarize the second 50 years.
Article Title: Groupthink: The Desperate Drive for Consensus at Any Cost
Author: Irving L. Janis
First Appeared In: Psychology Today Magazine, 1971
Irving Janis in "Groupthink: The Desperate Drive for Consensus at Any Cost" takes a
look at pivotal times in history when groupthink has superseded critical thought and
offers an analysis including symptoms and ways to combat groupthink. In each of
Janis case studies each group displayed social conformity and a development of
group norms that bolstered morale at the expense of critical thinking. Janis makes the
observation that " the more amiability and esprit de corps among members of a policy
group, the greater the danger that independent critical thinking will be replaced by
groupthink." Janis highlights eight symptoms of groupthink, which are: 1)
Invulnerability group takes extraordinary risks and doesnt respond to warnings
of danger; 2) Rationale victims rationalize why they dont respond to warnings or
criticisms; 3) Morality victims believe they are unquestionably moral and ignore
moral/ethical dilemmas; 4) Stereotypes victims hold stereotypical views of the
enemy; 5) Pressure victims apply pressure to dissenters and those that express
doubt; 6) Self-Censorship victims keep silent about misgivings; 7) Unanimity
when victims censor themselves, silence gives the illusion of unanimous agreement;
and 8) Mindguards victims appoint themselves mindguards and protect the leader
and fellow members from adverse information.
The consequences of groupthink are inadequate solutions that are products of poor
decision making. According to Janis, the group tends to limit discussion to few
alternatives and fails to reexamine the course of action after they learn of drawbacks.
Members spend little time discussing non-obvious gains and make no attempt to
obtain information from experts who could provide more precise answers. They show
positive interest in information that supports their ideas and ignore facts that dispute
their decisions. They spend little time deliberating the chosen policy and, therefore, do
not work out contingency plans. Janis explains that groupthink is a "mutual effort
among group member to maintain self-esteem and emotional equanimity by providing
social support." Janis offers the following remedies for groupthink. 1) The leader
should give high priority to expressing doubts and objections. 2) Members should take
impartial stance when utilizing member of their own organization. 3) The group
should set up outside policy planning and evaluation groups. 4) Group members
should be encouraged to discuss issues with their associates if possible. 5) The group
should invite in outside experts. 6) One member of the group should play devils
advocate. 7) The group should thoroughly examine rivals and warning signals. 8)
Members should meet in sub-groups to discuss policy alternatives and rejoin the
group to work on differences. 9)After reaching a consensus, the group should
reconvene to discuss residual doubts. Janis admits that recommendations have
disadvantages and could not be used in every situation.
The high profile groups that Janis examines had incredible power over human lives
and policy decisions. To think that these, some of the most influential policy makers
of our time could be swept up and so easily led astray is a real cause for close
examination of groupthink.
Groupthink is dangerous for organizations. To be aware of it is to have power over it.
Article Title: One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?
Author: Frederick Hertzberg
First Appeared In: Harvard Business Review, (1968) January/February
Frederick Hertzberg in "One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?"
examines the methods that managers use to motivate employees and the negative and
positive impact. Most managers are looking for a quick an easy was to motivate
employees and they often use negative or positive KITA (kick in the pants). Negative
KITA can be physical or psychological and leads to movement not motivation.

Whereas, negative KITA is blatant and obvious, positive KITA works by offering the
employee material perks for improved work. Hertzberg makes the point that "negative
KITA is rape while positive KITA is seduction." Some methods of positive KITA are
reducing time at work, spiraling wages, fringe benefits, human relations training,
sensitivity training, communication, two-way communication, job participation, and
employee counseling. These lead to short-term movement not motivation.
Hertzberg explains that there are two types of needs, biological and psychological
needs. The growth or motivator factors are intrinsic to job achievement, recognition
and responsibility, while dissatisfaction or hygiene factors are supervision, working
conditions, salary, status, and security. Hertzbergs Motivation-Hygiene Theory
states that factors that produce job satisfaction and motivation are separate from
factors that lead to job dissatisfaction. Hence, motivators are the primary cause of job
satisfaction while hygiene factors are the primary cause of job dissatisfaction.
There are three general philosophies of personnel management based on
organizational theory, industrial engineering and behavioral science. Organizational
theory establishes that human needs are irrational and adjustable if jobs are organized
in the correct manner. Industrial Engineering asserts that the work process must be
designed to specific working conditions that result in the most efficient human
machine. The Behaviorist that the attitudes and sediments of employees should be
examined and proper attitudes lead to an efficient employee.
Hertzberg gives a case for Job Enrichment stating that it provides opportunity for
employees psychological growth while on the other hand Job Enlargement just makes
a job structurally bigger. Job Loading is horizontal and enlarges a meaningless job.
Hertzberg outlines ten steps to job enrichment in the article. Employee centered style
of supervision will come about by changing the jobs that they do. Job enrichment is a
continuous management function and will lead to human satisfaction and economic
gain.
Hertzberg examines methods that are commonly used in motivating employees. He
indicates that pay increases, more time off and other similar "incentives" are negative
and what employees really strive for is job enrichment. He also distinguishes the
difference between job enrichment and job enlargement, stating that they are often
confused.
More so now in our society, people looking for jobs that not only pay the rent but
have a beneficial purpose. By understanding Hertzbergs ideas that pay raises and
increased vacation are not the real "perks," but instead job enrichment should be the
primary focus when dealing with employees.
Article Title: Reinventing Government? Appraising the National Performance
Review
Author: Donald A. Kettl
First Appeared In: The Brooking Institute, 1994
Kettls article about the National Performance Review Report, "From Red Tape to
Results: Great Government that Works Better and Costs Less" gives a brief summary
of the report. He explains that the report was created by the Clinton administration in
order to: increase the publics confidence in the federal government, to make
government more efficient, and to make government cost less. It was created to look
into the truth of public beliefs that government is wasteful, loaded with ineffective and
unnecessary regulations and that its social systems dont work at actually helping
people. The report vowed to end this kind of government inefficiency. Bur rather than
focusing on what government does, the report focused on HOW government works.
The report recommended a new government that would go beyond cost-cutting and
emphasized the need to make a government that provided what the people really
wanted. The report centered on a very management view of administration, one that
would "revolutionarize" the way government does business by improving services and
reducing costs. The report saw the problem not so much as government administration
being stuck in a management theory, but rather being stuck in the wrong (out-dated)
management theory. They emphasized the need to model government around
business. It emphasized producing results and pleasing customers. The entrepreneurial
model would: cut red tape and unnecessary regulation, put customers (taxpayers) first,
empower employees to get results, and cut back to basics in order to get better
government for less money. The strategy, then, was to make government into a
customer service contract with citizens where Public Administrators would give
taxpayers the same responsiveness and consideration as businesses give to their
customers. Kettle praises the NPR Report for asking the right questions. He also
praises it for launching a revolution without pressing its form because this ambiguity
has led to great enthusiasm for change in the government. He explains the reinventing
government movement was spurred by the public in a quest to answer the question,
"What do we expect from government?" He cites NPRs most valuable contribution
as its frank recognition that the top-down bureaucratic authority approach which has
guided American government since the progressive era is no longer effective.
This is "THE" academic article about this famous "NPR" report. Instead of being
partisan, this article looks at the Report for what it was. This article provided the first
forum to analyze the promises and questions presented by the NPR Report, noting the
NPR promised bureaucracy more power and citizens a smaller and more effective
government.
This article brings the reinventing government movement into a historical perspective
and challenges public administrators and public administration schools to carefully
analyze current affairs in the Clinton administration and use these mentalities and
work as a conglomerate in achieving a better government for all.
Article Title: The Rise of the Rhetorical

Author: James W. Ceaser, Glen E. Thurow, Jeffrey Tulis, and Joseph M. Bessette
First Appeared In: Presidential Studies Quarterly, Spring, 1981
The authors outline three reasons for the increasing significance of a strong
rhetorically skilled president in the United States: the modern doctrine of presidential
leadership; the mass media; and the need to campaign.
Woodrow Wilson, is mentioned as a leader in this trend. Speaking, as the century
continues, becomes equated with governing. The ability to provide journalists with the
right "sound bite" and mastering the proper way of saying things so that journalists
will interpret the quotes in a positive light becomes an art - much more that public
administration as a profession is an art. Full scale campaigning, visiting several cities
and delivering many speeches, with even more media exposure, becomes a
requirement as the ability to travel increases.
In conclusion the authors call for reforms in campaign procedures and for cutbacks in
the amount of access the president has to go directly to the people. They expect that
this will change the image of the president as THE policy maker and will let the
legislative body designed to make and set policy do so.
The article was calling for campaign reforms and speaking policies. Jimmy Carter had
recently lost the presidency to Ronald Reagan - a former actor and captivating public
speaker. The authors were calling for a "speech free" campaign before the primaries
and nominations, less presidential speeches all together and to cut all of the
inspirational talk that goes into most public addresses by presidents. They claim all
this provides is a faade of strength and unity. The authors see the president and the
people forming a "fleeting sense of oneness" and losing site of the issues and the
needs of our institutions.
Campaign reform is still a hot topic today, but is more focused on financing than on
rhetoric reform. However, more financing means more speeches and more travel and
more media, and vice versa, so the two are intertwined. If anything, the rhetorical
abilities of the president and presidential hopefuls must be even more honed than
before - the exact opposite of what the authors were advising. It is interesting to look
back on what the "problem" was thought to be many years ago, and to see how we got
tow where we are with the situation today.
Article Title: Personnel Opinions: What Impact Will the Trend Toward Unionization
and Collective Negotiations with Public Employee Organizations Have on the Merit
System?
Author: Collections of Comments by Jerry Wurf, Robert Garnier, Arvid Anderson,
Elder Gunter, and Nelson Watkins
First Appeared In: Public Personnel Review, January, 1966
The editors of Public Personnel Review posed the title question to the above
mentioned individuals because they represented all aspects of the answer. Wurf was
the International President of AFSME-AFL-CIO, Garnier was a city personnel
director in Milwaukee, Anderson, a commissioner on Wisconsin's Employment
Relations Board, Gunter a city manager of Pasadena, CA, and Watkins was the
executive secretary of Ohio's Civil Service Employees Situation, Inc.
As the ready can imagine, each brings a different perspective to the situation. Some
see significant impact; others not much. Some call for higher levels of professionals to
be sought for personnel positions, and still another writes that both the union and the
employer must work together on a system for change.
By 1960 there were over 8.7 million people in the U.S. working for government in all
areas. Organized labor groups started to form and really take a foothold during this
decade. Governments had to rethink their make up and were thrown into the collective
bargaining process. Merit systems was only one area that would be changing.
This article provides reader with an abundance of different information: 1) how many
different people in various areas of the labor relations prcess thing differently on these
issues and 2) what impact unions and collective bargaining were having on the public
sector workforce and 3) why labaor relations, due to various perspectives can be so
difficult to manage. Students of Public Administration, especially those desiring to
head into the field of human resources management can learn a lot from the
viewpoints expressed in this collection of responses.
Article Title: A Critique of "Democratic Administration" and its Supporting Ideation
Author: Robert T. Golembiewski
First Appeared In: American Political Science Review, Volume 71, #4, 1977
Golembiewski critiques Vencent Ostroms 1973 book, "Intellectual Crisis in
American Public Administration" which purports to guide American Public
Administration in the direction of a democratic administration. In particular,
Golembiewski explains that Ostrom offers an alternative to the traditional "top-down"
hierarchy paradigm of public administration which views public administration as
concentrated central government power in which a single executor leads a body of
political neutral professionals. Instead, Ostroms proposal is to view public
administration as a bottom-up democratic administration process. Ostrom is critical of
a central base of power in which decisions are made and proposes a public sector in
which authority is fragmented among diverse decision-making centers where multiple

veto capabilities are possible. In a nutshell, then, Ostrom would like to increase the
role, duties, and responsibilities of the individual public administrators by taking
power away from centralized forces. He believes that this kind of "democratic
administration" will result in better public policies.
Ostrom calls this "democratic administration" a "public choice" system. The public
choice system, as seen by Ostrom, has three basic components. First, decentralization
is the preferable system of administrating public affairs since it is necessarily more
democratic. Second, smaller organizations are more efficient. And finally, this
noninterventionist style is appropriate when resources are scarce because it directly
provides answers to questions as to who gets what.
Golebiewski, critiques Ostroms methods in that this "public choice" position
emphasizes a closed system He argues that this public choice model does not provide
an acceptable forum for values and instead simplifies these values by emphasizing
consumer preference and market decisions. In other words, Golembiewski believes
that Ostroms proposal a public choice system of administration wrongly assumes
that citizens and policy makers are rational decision-makers, and this is not always the
case.
By putting down the idea that people and decision-makers will not always act
rationally or in their own self-interest, Golembiewski pointed out some very practical
and concrete reasons for why a consumer-based "public-choice" method to public
administration is problematic at best and disastrous at worst.
With the increasing movement to treat citizens and tax-payers as "consumers" of
government services, it is very important to keep in mind that consumers will not
always be rational or led solely by market forces. Instead, we must look to values and
effective administration of public affairs and think about efficiency for what purposes.
Article Title: The Problem of Moral Reasoning in American Public Administration:
The Case for a Code of Ethics
Author: Ralph Clark Chandler
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, January/February 1983
Chandler describes the then current debate against and for adopting a Code of Ethics
for the American Society for Public Administration. He breaks down each sides
case into categories then describes how the categories are used for a basis of debate.
He shows counter-arguments to the illustrations negating the ratification of the Code
of Ethics, stating at one point, "Theoretically one could sit in prison in violation of
fundamental professional norms and simultaneously maintain membership in ASPA,
because the organization has never stated its norms in an enforceable code of ethics.
Surely this condition militates against the coming of age in public administration in
the United States."
Chandler concludes that the Code of Ethics should be adopted.
The move towards a standardization of professional behavior among public
administrators, especially those with membership in ASPA finds its origins in 1981,
with the adoption of a set of moral principles. A Code of Ethics was looked upon by
many as a way to elevate the field of Public Administration in the publics eye as a
legitimate profession employing those with attention to values and pride in service.
Moral Majority buzz-speak infiltrated many topics of discussion. Increasing
awareness and access to scandal information via the ever-growing mass media reach
made everyones ethics subject to question. The soon to be presented Code was a
great source of debate among those in Public Administration, especially members of
ASPA.
A Code of Ethics was approved in 1984 and then revised in 1994. Chandlers
presentation of both sides of the debate gives new blood in the profession a sense of
the Codes importance in the daily practices of the field they are entering.
Additionally, it serves as a reminder to old-timers as to why the code came to be;
knocking some settled dust off theory models presented by Woodrow Wilson and Max
Weber, arguing a need for individual responsibility to be upheld within the
responsibility to the "machine."
Article Title: Guidelines to Federal Budget Reform
Author: Naomi Caiden
First Appeared In: Public Budgeting and Financing, Winter, 1983
Caiden is discussing the needs for budget reform, recognizing the fact that it is often
given lip service in Congress but that not much ever seems to change. Caiden
provides some educated speculation as to why reforming the Federal budget may be
so difficult. She discusses some of the reform proposals that were currently on the
table, the differences between them, and the pros and cons of each.
There were, in 1983, four main reasons for reform: the current budget format had
many expenditures classified as "uncontrollable" (entitlements, multi-year contracts,
loan interest); lack of ability to predict economic fluctuations that made the budget
forecast unstable; lack of ability to scrutinize every program the budget covered,
leaving it fragmented; and the ease in just repeating what's been done in the past, since
the budget had become so cumbersome to push through the approval process.
Caiden suggests that current reform proposals reviewed in the article wouldn't solve
much. She expected they would somewhat fix some things but would cause problems
of their own. She proposes a thought out strategic plan of reform, starting with goal
setting. She lists that the budget planning should have foresight to create a responsive
and credible budget with the ability to relate programs to resources, with consistent
policies for taxing and spending. Spending on programs could then be integrated,
contain some expectations for economic fluctuations - critical in unstable times. As
much as possible it should remain neutral to partisan demands - more leanings
towards centralization. The cycle for a budget might need to be reviewed as well.
Some things should be reviewed once a year; others could go longer. Budgeting
should be an ongoing process, which would aid in financial flexibility.
She concludes that reform won't make us have more money to work with or
necessarily improve economic times, but it would give us a better idea of what to do
with our scarce resources. By making changes in format, possible but not necessarily
the economy might follow.
Caiden's article came at a time of much instability. Congress was struggling to
produce a budget every year, let alone a balanced one that was more efficient, with
resources used wisely and unnecessary expenditures cut. Some had come up with new
plans, but couldn't garner enough support to get them passes through Congress which may have been a good thing. Many called for change that was more radical
(and you'd think we'd know by now that change should happen in slow deliberate
steps).
Caiden's article is probably more significant today than it was at the time she wrote it.
She spoke of reform - any type of reform - though better in the long run, causing some
short term discomfort, such as a large deficit, high inflation, high interest rates, or tax
increases. There was going to be no perfect way of doing this. She had excellent
foresight in the writing of her article and was correct in her speculation. We can only
hope that the people in Congress have had as much motivation to use foresight in
planning and reforming today. Her article reminds us that reform comes slowly in
government, just as Lindblom had advised years before.
Article Title: The Coming of the New Organization
Author: Peter F. Drucker
First Appeared In: Harvard Business Review (1988)
In "The Coming of the New Organization" Peter Drucker asserts that within two
decades, the typical large business will have half the levels of management and onethird the managers large businesses today. Within those organizations, the work will
be completed by specialists that are assembled into task forces which will cut across
traditional departments. Self-discipline will be essential for employees. Changes in
informational technology will remove layers of middle management and the demand
for knowledgeable personnel will be on the rise. New information-based organizations
will require a clear set of objectives that translate into specific actions. Also, the
structure will demand employee self-evaluation of their particular role in the
informational structure. Special management concerns will arise in these informationbased organizations. Methods in which to reward and motivate specialists, the
formulation of a management structure that works with task forces and the assurance
that the supply, preparation and testing of top management personnel will be just a
few of the challenges that large businesses will face. The resolutions to these
problems will remain a constant challenge, according to Drucker.
In 1988, when Druckers article appeared the surge of informational sources was
just beginning. To predict that middle management would not be essential to large
organizations in the future was a revolutionary idea. At that time, many companies
had very large middle management structures.
Ten years later, we are experiencing the changes that informational-technology has
brought us. It is very common now to hear of large organizations "down-sizing" and
the brunt of these measures are weighed heavily upon middle management. We are
also seeing an increased need for highly-skilled employees that, for the most part, are
self-disciplined and do not need the constant instruction from a middle manager.
Article Title: The President as Manager
Author: Dwight Ink
First Appeared In: Public
September/October 1976
Administration
Review,
volume
36,
508-515,

In his article, Ink asserted that only the president is in a position to make government
manageable. The U.S. Constitution says "executive powers shall be vested in the
President who is to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Ink interprets this
power as granting the President fairly broad powers to manage the nation.
Ink points to four reasons why only the President has the necessary authority and
position to manage the nation in a way that establishes meaningful goals for the
country and responds quickly to the needs of citizens and the other sectors of
government. First, because the United States is a federal system, the national
government typically establishes policy and then state and local governments
implement that policy. Thus, the national agenda must be managed at the federal level.
Secondly, there is a blurring of powers as to who, at the federal level, has the power to
make management decisions. Third, the president must manage because of the
considerable overlap and interdependence between agency and state jurisdictions. In
other words, since no single agency can deal with ALL aspects of an issue (like
pollution), the president must make sure all necessary information is being
communicated across agencies and jurisdictions. And finally, government must be
able to act decisively in a time of crisis.
Ink then turns to how can the President manage. He looks to a number of ways
including: gaining the cooperation, the trust, and the loyalty of his bureaucracy. The
president must explain to his bureaucracy his philosophy and objectives for his
administration and win their support. The president must also take the effort to have a
good rapport with Congress by consulting with the leaders often and even proposing a
bill which authorizes the president to reorganize the structure of federal government (a
traditional power of management). Ink believes that it is a myth that the government is
not manageable.
Because much of the public perceives government as being ineffective, this plan was
and is an important suggestion for government "winning back" public support by
making the separation of powers seem less problematic in dividing the country and
making it inefficient because, above all else, the President is in charge and can take it
upon himself/herself to manage the nation in a direction he/she deems appropriate.
This article is still important today because much of Clintons "reinventing
government movement" revolves around increasing the power of the executive branch
by the President mandating that federal agencies treat taxpayers and citizens as clients
and customers. This change in how things are done is essentially a management
decision.
Article Title: The Study of Ethics in the PA Curriculum. (1976)
Author: John A. Rohr
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, (1976) July/August
John Rohr in "The Study of Ethics in the PA Curriculum" suggests a method for
integrating the study of ethics into the public administration curriculum. Rohr does
not believe that political philosophy and humanistic psychology, although they are
important to the study of public administration, should be the foundation for a course
in ethics. As an alternative to these, Rohr suggests that the values of a regime are the
most suitable starting point for ethical reflections. Rohr goes on to make a case for the
study of regime values as the most appropriate method of integrating the study of
ethics into a public administration curriculum.
Rohr suggest that the method of regime values involves the identification of American
values and the search form meaningful statements about those values. More difficult
than the listing the American values, is the task of infusing them with meaning to use
in ethical reflection, says Rohr. He highlights four characteristics of Supreme Court
decisions that make them suitable for ethical reflection. The decisions are 1)
institutional, 2) dialectic, 3) concrete, and 4) pertinent. By studying these Supreme
Court decisions, Rohr asserts that the bureaucrat will be exposed to many conflicting
interpretations of American values. He concludes that it is important that bureaucrats
accept the moral obligation to put themselves in touch with the values of the American
people, but the decision of what those values are is up to the bureaucrat himself.
Rohr highlights the importance of ethics to be taught to future public administrators.
Courses on ethics for public administrators did not exist at this time and Rohr takes it
upon himself to suggest a method by which ethics should be taught. This article was
written in 1976 prior to the development of the ASPA Code of Ethics.
There is an ongoing examination of the importance of ethics for public administrators.
Facing the scandals we have in recent years, we are reminded of the essential need for
not only efficient administrators but ethical ones as well.
Article Title: Management By Whose Objectives?

Author: Harry Levinson
First Appeared In: Harvard Business Review, April, 1970
Harry Levinson, sets out to question the usefulness and effectiveness of "Management
By Objectives" in practice. He argues that in its current text (that of 1970), MBO
actually decreases morale and in turn motivation and performance. Mostly this is
because objectives are not set with subordinate participation; they are passed down
from superiors who have little knowledge of the needs of their employees to get the
job done will or the motivations spurring these subordinates on.
Levinson advises opening the lines of communication between levels of an
organization to create objectives based on more personalized motivators and letting
subordinates participate in the objective-development process. This is expected to
diminish the anxiety of subordinates to perform well as thy will have more of a say in
what is expected of them. It should reduce the frustration among those who think the
only reward for meeting objectives in more difficult goals to achieve in subsequent
time periods.
MBO promoted and evolved into the use of measuring devices to gauge achievement.
In the public sector, where efficiency and effectiveness are goals, measurements and
statistics could become ways of quickly determining whether or not objectives were
met. A related example by Levinson suggest that if customer service is judged on the
number of customers processed without examining the quality of the service, the
incorrect objectives are being met.
Back in 1970, managers in the private sector were starting to realize the need to
change the appraisal process within their organizations to promote a more motivated
atmosphere. MBO was not a bad idea or way of doing things; it just needed some
revisions to keep up with the day. The one thing change will bring is more change.
Levinson was advising on the need to change, how to change and the ramifications of
the proposed changes as well as the ramifications of NOT changing.

MBO is still utilized today as a tool of management, but it has evolved from its
original text and practice theory in many ways. The need for change was being
recognized by many scholars and theorists, and alterations to the original plan were
often being proposed.
Students of Public Administration, aspiring to become managers in myriad
organizations need to know why management practices are where they are today, as
well as the reasoning and philosophies behind them. Being able to reflect on how far
things have come can give a new budding manager a better appreciation of where s/he
needs to be going, and why others within the organization behave, think, and react to
change the way they do.
Article Title: Accountability in the Public Sector: Lessons From the Challenger
Tragedy
Author: Barbara S. Romzek and Melvin Dubnick
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, May/June, 1987
This article describes one of the biggest, most spectacular disasters in U.S.
Aeronautics and the U.S. bureaucratic system as its cause.
A general history of NASA, its managerial evolution and the relevance of that
evolution in causing the Challenger explosion is provided. Four different forms of
accountability are defined and applied to the changes taking place within NASA's
management over time. It also descirbes where NASA is headed programmatically
and predicts how its accountability systems will again change. Romzek and Dubnick
express concerns that the changes taking place, or that were about to take place, were
the correct ones.
This article leads the reader to the understanding that the accountability system used
within any agency should be well suited to that agency's goas and tasks, but that often
within bureaucratic framework, this is not the case. Bending from inappropriate
accountability pressures is what causes agency malfunction.
The Rogers Commission, investigating the disaster of being too narrowly focused.
Basically, the article "clothed the emperor," pinpointing direct responsibility for the
failed shuttle launch on technical and managerial programs resulting from faulty
accountability policies, in contrast to the Rogers Commission, which based its
findings on faulty O-Rings and poor communication systems.
Romzek and Dubnick not only utilize a historical example, they take the
reader/student by the hand, defining types of accountability, the levels of stress placed
on an agency because of them, and how the defined categories of accountability are
shown evident through examples of NASA's managerial history. Students of Public
Administration are permitted a porthole to view "theory in action" versus just general
text on the subject.
Article Title: Making the Undiscussable and its Undiscussability Discussable
Author: Chris Argyris
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, (1980) May-June
Chris Argyris in "Making the Undiscussable and Undiscussability Discussable" finds

that the inability of organizations to discuss threatening issues or question underlying
organizational policies is threatening to the existence of the organization. According
to Argyris organizations should be managed in a way that produces less conformity
and groupthink. The point is to not get rid of or play down informational systems and
analytical procedures but to instead make those systems and procedures more
effective by reducing causes for people to distort information and unintended
organizational rigidity. Argyris states that if the causes of this information distortion
are bypassed by the use of organizational policies and practices, the effectiveness of
those policies and practices will eventually be compromised.
Organizational learning is when a mismatch between the intentions of a policy and the
results is detected or a match of the two is produced. Argyris puts forth two categories
of learning single loop and double loop learning. Single loop learning is when a
match is produced or a mismatch is corrected without having to question or change
organizational procedures. Double loop learning is when a match is produced or a
mismatch corrected and changes are implemented in basic assumptions or policies.
The strength of the management theory is to manage single loop problems used to
deal with the majority of every day actions. Opposition for these single loop issues is
minimal. Opposition to producing valid information for double loop issues comes
from fears and doubts in the organization. Although more research needs to be
completed in double loop learning, Argyris provides the following three known
features: 1) help individuals become aware of their theories in use; 2) offer an
alternative model for double loop problem solving; and 3) help administrators practice
their new skills.
Chris Argyris is one of the foremost figures in organizational theory, behavior and
development. This article cites specific initiatives in organizational learning that can
be practiced to help organizations become more effective and efficient.
In the ever innovative and technical world in which we live we are constantly being
called upon to be more efficient and effective. At times, we can be our own worst
enemy. The methods that Chris Argyris point out to implement organizational learning
can only help us understand what holds us back so that we can move beyond those
obstacles.
Article Title: The Proverbs of TQM: Recharting the Path to Quality Improvement in
the Public Sector
Author: Albert C. Hyde
First Appeared In: Public Productivity and Management Review, Fall, 1992
The public and private sector try many different philosophies to improve operational
costs, and service to customers while also improving the morale within their
organizations. The private sector is usually the guinea pig or testing ground for new
approaches to management, as was the case with Total Quality Management. At the
time of the writing of this article, public sector agencies were proposing the adoption
of TQM practices. Hyde, through this article was reassuring public administrators that
TQM was not a fad. He was a bit concerned though that like proverbs, the "14 Points
of TQM" end up contradicting themselves in certain situations.
He does point out six areas where private sector practices will need to modified for
the public sector. He cites many successes and failures of the private sectors
implementation of TQM. Hyde concludes that public sector management should be
able to learn from the evolution of TQM and need to make changes before making a
well thought out move to TQM especially in the area of evaluating the program.
Hyde was expressing concern about the "fad principle" of new management
philosophies and practices. Many public sector organizations were moving towards
"TQM Reform" for implementation.
As "Reinventing Government" became the word of the day just months later, TQM
practices were built in to the plan for many changes in government agency practices.
Hydes article provided a great guideline for public sector managers to use to plan
for the changes in advance
Total Quality Management is still quite prevalent and a major force in all areas of
management; private and public. Students of Public Administration especially
those with any prior work experience in the private sector will find the necessary
changes to be made from the private sector to the public sector very enlightening. The
examples of TQMs weaknesses were also noted and in some cases, solutions to an
issue were offered, making this article and excellent point of reference.
Article Title: Moral Responsibility of Public Officials: The Problem of Many Hands
Author: Dennis F. Thompson
First Appeared In: The American Political Science Review, Volume 74, 1980
Thompson provides discussion of the common excuses taken by public officials for
acting and making policies that are considered not moral by the public that they serve.
He argues that pursuit of personal responsibility is still an important factor in
maintaining and changing government for the better. Those in public service had no
professional guidelines at the time of this writing, but he emphasized the need for
these persons to learn to act in a manner that demonstrates some personal

responsibility for their actions and the actions of the organization as a whole.
Writing for the American Political Science Review, this was a significant hint as to the
direction Public Administration would be headed; towards a recognition of a need for
a set of standards for proper ethical procedures by public officials. This would
disallow many administrators from using many of the excuse forms that had been
used successfully in the past.
Thompson, however, writing in a separate article five years later, ("The Possibility of
Administrative Ethics," PA Review, September/October 1985), seems to be concerned
with ASPAs issuance of a "Code of Ethics." He may have been more inclined
towards it if it were called the "Public Administration Code of Behavioral Integrity."
Thompson shows many examples within his article of past excuses made by
administrators in top positions no less and why the excuses they made for their
behavior were in fact quite fallible when viewed through an ethical or moral
microscope. The examples and the arguments he provides can be compared to events
both new and repeating in Public Administration today. The reader will be able to use
the examples given to realize how some of these (usually weak), excuses are still
being used today and how easily the common people of the population let
administrators slide.
Article Title: In Praise of Hierarchy.
Author: Elliott Jacques
First Appeared In: Harvard Business Review, January/February, 1990

In his article, "In Praise of Hierarchy" Elliott Jacques makes a case for hierarchy,
calling it the most efficient and most natural structure for large organizations. Jacques
asserts that when hierarchy is properly structured it releases creativity and improves
morale. Its drawback, he states, is lies in how to release the thrust and initiative of the
entrepreneur within a hierarchy. We require a better understanding of how managerial
hierarchy works. Jacques maintains that the hierarchical organization we call
bureaucracy is the only form of organization that can employ large numbers and
maintain accountability. The problem, he states, is not to come up with a new system
but how to make this one work. He asserts that managerial hierarchy has never been
adequately described or adequately used.
Jacques writes that there are two complaints about hierarchy: 1) excessive layering
and 2) few managers that add real value to work. The present hierarchies bring out
greed and self-importance. This has sent behaviorists looking for group-oriented nonhierarchical models. However, solutions that concentrate on groups fail to take into
account the real nature of employment systems people are not employed in groups,
they are individually accountable. Jacques believes hierarchical systems ought to be
about accountability for accomplishing work.
Managerial hierarchies are systems that allow organizations to hold people
accountable for getting work done. Yet this goal is often lost and hierarchies exist
merely to accommodate pay brackets and careers. Jacques explains that managerial
hierarchy is the expression of two characteristics: 1) tasks become more complex as
they are separated out into discrete categories and 2) separations into distinct
categories permit hierarchy to meet more of any organizations fundamental needs.
The higher the position in the managerial hierarchy, the more complex the problems.
Jacques suggests that the level of responsibility can be measured in terms of
completion of time of the longest task. Through his research Jacques found that real
managerial hierarchies appeared at 3 months, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years and 20
years. He asserts that companies need 2 or 3 times as many pay grades as they do
working layers. Over-layering is bureaucracy in its worst form. Responsibility
measured in terms of time span indicates how many layers are needed in an enterprise.
Jacques concludes that managerial hierarchy or layering is the only effective
organizational form for employing people and tasks at complementary levels.

Administrators were attempting to formulate alternative structures to the managerial
hierarchy because it was viewed by so many as inefficient. Throughout the article,
Jacques asserts that bureaucracy itself is not the problem, but the way in which it is
structured.
It is becoming understood that a managerial hierarchy cannot simply be implemented
and thought that it will take care of itself. Constant analysis of the structure of the
hierarchy must take place in order for the organization to evolve and continually be
more efficient.
Article Title: Social Equity and Organizational Man: Motivation and Organizational
Democracy.
Author: Michael M. Harmon
As part of symposium on social equity in public administration in 1974, Michael
Harmon wrote "Social Equity and the Organizational Man: Motivation and
Organizational Democracy." In his article Harmon contrasts John Rawls "Theory of
Justice" with three dominant utilitarian conceptions of organizational man in public
administration. Another article in the same symposium argued for Rawls theory of
justice as the basis for social equity. Harmon asserts that if social equity is going to be
raised to a central position among the tenets of public administration an in depth
examination must take place in which "responsible" choices of administrators are
defined.

At this time the "new" public administration was calling for social equity to be made
an equal focus along with efficiency and economy. Many were saying that it was
equally important for public administrators to be concerned with the public welfare
and well being as it was for them to be efficient.
Social equity has been accepted and included in the ASPA code of ethics as a primary
focus of public administrators. However, it is still necessary to continually examine
and adapt what this means for administrative officials in order to guide them through
the field.
Article Title: Why Policy Analysis and Ethics are Incompatible
Author: Douglas J. Amy
First Appeared In: Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, volume 3, 1984
Amy states that up until now, there has been a basic neglect in the policy field of any
ethical issues. He finds that the argument of policy-makers that ethical analysis in
their fields is largely unnecessary, imperfect, impractical, and trivial as weak
arguments in answering the question of why policy-analysis are not subject to ethical
analysis. Instead, he finds that it is political factors that largely explain why a neglect
of ethical analysis currently exists. Specifically, he argues that public administrators
shun ethical inquiry because it threatens their professional and polticial integrity. In
fact, not only administrators resist moral evaluation, but legislatures do so as well.
Amy explains that by putting forth a technocratic argument (that administrators in fact
make decisions by practical problem-solving techniques), they deny (or dont
emphasize) the reality that administrators in fact engage in value-laden policy making
every day. Because ethical deliberations are unlikely to be made public absent this
proposed ethical analysis, policy-makers shun the idea of this intervention into their
decision-making.
By exposing the real (political) reasons why so little ethical analysis exists in the
practice of administration, Amy brought to light the fact that in an era when policymakers are increasingly called upon to make moral decisions, these decisions should
no longer be guised as technocratic amoral decisions and that reform is necessary to
make administrators ethically accountable to the public.
At the end of his article, Amy mentioned three reasons why ethical analysis will
become more and more important in the future. Specifically, he mentioned that:
a. the connections between policy and ethics are becoming more
prevalent in the decisions of public administration, with abortion
being a prime example
b. it is increasingly necessary to apply ethical analysis to policy
considering the complexity and overlap of many policy decisions
c. the normative style of policy analysis is still an option of policy
analysis, but only in the independent field, such as academia
Amy thus concluded that ethical analysis will never be possible until we steer away
from our mask of technocrats and recognize the politics in the system.
Article Title: Policy Implications Through Bargaining: Federal Grants-in-Aid
Program
Author: Helen Ingram

First Appeared In: Public Policy, volume 25, 1977
At the time this article was written, there was a new trend in the federal government in
which instead of providing services to the public itself, it would instead implement its
federal policy by giving grants to state governments for purposes of doing the federal
governments work. Ingram states that up until now the idea of grants-in -aid, as
well as other components of Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) has focused on the
allocation of power. In this paper, Ingram instead looks at the policy, not the structure,
of implementing the governments agenda through giving states grant money. She
views implementation as a process of bargaining between the state and federal
government (with the state as having more bargaining power) rather than a federal
intervention into state jurisdictions.
Ingram states that although the federal government purports to manipulate state actors
by changing the atmosphere in which decisions are made and by increasing the
benefits for acting in accordance with the federal objective, the reality, as Ingram sees
it, is that the states have more bargaining power. This, in turn, results, in the states
taking the federal money, but not implementing federal policy as mandated by the
federal government. Thus, the money that the federal government allocated for a
specific purpose ends up not being used to further that specific government intent. She
further points out that because Congress does not sanction state that fail to comply
with the legislative objectives, there is little incentive to follow legislative federal
mandates if the states happen to personally disagree with them. Moreover, since
federal agencies place a high priority on achieving the approval of their constituency,
(and the states receiving the grant money are in essence "clients" of the federal
agency), there is little oversight in how states spend this money. In other words, the
"grants-in-aid program places federal agencies in a position where the pursuit of longterm institutional interests conflicts with the program implementation goals of the
federal legislature. In order to fix this cycle, Ingram calls for more attention to grant
funds that actually and effectively implement government policy.
This article was written at a time when federal services were just beginning to be
delegated down to lower levels of government and privatized. This article was
important because it points out some of the political considerations that must be
considered up and beyond the mere structure of grant-in-aid programs
Twenty years after this was written, the national welfare system (known as AFDC)
was dismantled and replaced with a grant-in-aid program to the states. Many of the
concerns that Ingram points out are still relevant in the decentralization of welfare
debate today.
Article Title: A Concept of Organizational Ecology
Author: Eric Trist
First Appeared In: Australian Journal of Management, 1977
Eric Trist in "A Concept of Organizational Ecology" chooses to look at an
organizational field as a system instead of the individual organization. Trist feels that
in order to understand organizations, it is important to examine relationships among
dissimilar organizations that share boundaries.
The first decade beyond World War II administrators were concerned with structures
and processes in a single organization. There was the discovery of group dynamics
and a complex infrastructure of interpersonal relations. The second decade after WWII
placed a new emphasis on environment. In the early 1960s research became less
involved with single organizations and more focused on large-scale social systems
with many diverse organizations that must relate to each other. This is the field of
organizational ecology.
Trist states that bureaucratic organizations show diminished adaptive capacity in the
face of rising turbulence because they can cope with risk but not uncertainty. He
writes that there is a need to begin identifying and practicing an alternative
organizational principle. Trist believes this is found in the characteristics of
organizational ecology. These characteristics revise key bureaucratic roles and
promote self-regulation.
The objective is to forge a link between organizational behavior and the planning
field. Trist explains that the concept of social network is basic to the understanding of
systems of organizational ecology. Also essential are interface relations that require
negotiation distinct from compliance. As environments become more complex and
independent, organizational ecology makes more sense. It is based on a number of
organizations whose interrelations make up a system.
Trist concludes that if the social architectural task is approached using the principle of
organizational ecology then there is reasonable hope that domains would be
appreciated and institutions would be built in a self-regulating way.
Early on, organizations were seen as singular and analyzed on an individual level. The
concept of organizational ecology forces us to look at the role of they organization
within the context of its relations with other organizations. Its identity is no longer
one-dimensional, but multi-dimensional due to its relationships.
Systems are becoming more and more complex and therefore it is increasingly
important to define the role of an organization in relation to its contact and boundaries
with other organizations. More so than ever, inter-organizational relations are
dominant and will continue to become more prevalent.
Article Title: Power, Dependence and Effective Management.

Author: John P. Kotter
First Appeared In: Harvard Business Review, 1977
In "Power, Dependence and Effective Management," John Kotter identifies the
importance of power to mangers and describes the four types of power that managers
use in relation to their subordinates, superiors, colleagues and other managers.
According to Kotter, managers require power because they are dependent on
subordinates, colleagues and other managers for information and services.
In developing power in relationships, managers attempt to develop a sense of
obligation, belief in a managers expertise a sense of identification or perceived
dependence. Managers use their formal authority within an organization to develop
the four kinds of power explained above. Managers, for many different reasons in
different situations, seek to use their level of influence in a face to face or indirect
manner.
Kotter points out that those who generate and use power successfully generally
possess the following characteristics:
1. They are sensitive to others perceptions about acquiring and utilizing
power.
2. They are intuitive about what types of power are effective on which
people.
3. They develop all four types of power.
4. They establish career goals and objectively choose positions of power.
5. They utilize all resouces.
6. They engage in power-oriented behavior with maturity and self-control.
7. They recognize that they influence behavior and lives.

Power was perceived as fundamentally evil. Kotter provides the reasons that power is
necessary and helps others understand the components of control that those in power
implement.
Power is still perceived as fundamentally evil. We can still learn from Kotters
article the concepts behind power relationships and why they are essential to
managers in organizations.
Article Title: TQM: Surviving the Cynics
Author: Jonathan Walters
First Appeared In: Governing, September 1994
This article reflects on the successes of TQM in the public sector and urges
proponents and managers to stay positive about its ability to affect change in
operations and quality results. Walters points out that the major difference between
TQM applications in the public versus private sector is the politics, but that this does
not really need to be an issue. It does, however, alter the way progress is made in
small steps versus massive sweeps of change. But this is also the way any change is
made in government bureaucracies, so it is not that administrators must learn a new
way of doing things.
The article gives case examples of successes, problems and issues facing governments
in Ohio, New York state, Los Angeles and South Carolina.
W. Edwards Demings TQM theories started to be adopted in the private sector in

the early 1980s and much cynicism surrounded the movement. It was called a fad
and some knocked the small early changes as realizations of ones own common
sense.
As TQM showed itself to be a long lasting theory it started to be adopted into the
public sector. Cynicism in the public arena is even more prevalent because changes
are even smaller initially. "Hitting many singles versus home runs" was one
administrators way of putting it. Walters was making issue as to where the
weaknesses can and do lie, but to encourage us to look beyond them to the positive
things that have and are happening.
TQM still hasnt been adopted everywhere, but some of it underlies the whole
1990s theme of "reinventing government." Students of Public Administration must
be aware of current changes in the management style of the field into which they will
be entering. They should know what hurdles they might have to overcome and where
underlying layers of resistance and cynicism might stem from. This article provides
and initial overview of all of the above.
Article Title: Political Corruption in America: A Search for Definitions and Theory"
or "If Political Corruption is in the Mainstream of Politics, Why is it not in the
Mainstream of American Politics Research?"
Author: John G. Peters and Susan Welch
First Appeared In: American Political Science Review, September, 1978
Welch and Peters had conducted a study in pursuit of defining political corruption and
this article summarized their findings. However, it did not lead them to a precise way
of defining corruption. The investigation basically led them to four ways of
determining the level of corruption achieved by a certain act by a public official. The
study also resulted in findings that the general public finds questionable acts more
reason to condemn than do other public officials and that other societies feel
differently about what is ethical and what is not ethical.
Welch and Peters call for more studies and research to be conducted. They provide
some ideas for what studies to conduct. The authors concluded that corruption in
government is too big and issue and so endemic to government operations that it
ought to be researched and drives towards a definition made.
This article came out after the Watergate scandal had somewhat died down, but
corruption and abuse of power and position were still top of mind with the public. For
example, Jimmy Carter had members of his cabinet sign agreements that they would
not work for agencies they were in charge of regulating for two years after leaving
office, and he reduced his use of the Presidential Limousine fleet. It seemed a hard
fact to swallow that after turning 200 years old, and with much lore on scandal, our
nation had yet to define corruption and ethical boundaries.
Watergate had a huge impact on the way government and bureaucracies operate and
how the public views them. Today, many instances of and claims of "being
condemned in the media" occur. On one table produced by Welch and Peters, students
can see that the writing for this phenomena was on the wall. In all instances put forth
in their study respondents expected that the public would condemn the act in question
at much higher rates than other public officials. Large advances in media technology
and its infiltration into the general populations daily lives have made many more
situations "scandalous." Though a code of ethics came about seven years later, still no
precise definition of corruption has been developed and in this day and age, it may
be even more necessary.
Article Title: The Changing Responsibilities and Tactics of the Federal Government
Author: Frederick Mosher
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, November/December, 1980
This article reviews the ways federal spending is though to have gone down as there
had been decreases in the number of employees on the government payroll, but
reveals that government spending may have actually gone up. Shifts in spending on
transfers (unemployment, welfare, social security, etc.), were on a major increase in
1980. The use of outside contractors to do the work done by government employees in
the past was also beginning to be implemented.
A major concern we should have (as Mosher points out), is that of accountability. It is
impossible for government and public administrators to oversee other officials
actions. With the hiring or contracting of outside independent agencies, attempts to
hold those acting on the behalf of administrators responsible for their actions is
impossible.
To summarize, Mosher points out that though government seems to be shrinking in s
size, but doing more, in actual scope it is doing less, but influencing more. We need to
proceed with caution in the direction of using too many outside contractors to the
work formerly done by bureaucrats, lest we become too dependent upon them.
This article came out just as a new president was to enter the White House. Inflation
was high, as was unemployment. People were looking to this new federal
administration to solve some issues and for a small rescue. More cuts to expenditures
had been foreshadowed. Mosher did not argue with these plans, but simply pointed
out how cuts for the most part are illusory. He then warned that this policy of cutting
now becomes an issue of accountability for those working for but outside of federal
government.
Mosher reminds students that in many fields, including Public Administration,
theres several ways to "make budget" without even trying too hard. His
demonstrations and tables in the article provide visual clarification. Students may
begin to realize that often statistical reports may be manipulated in a way to show
favor to the program, organization or policy. Public Administration students and
recent graduates need to be reminded of this .
Article Title: New Federalism: A New Vision of American Federalism
Author: Alice Rivlin
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, July/August, 1992
Rivlin emphasizes three dimensions of a new vision of government relations between
levels of government. Specifically, she envisions a new American government in
which: 1) the federal government would focus on international relations and foreign
policy and domestically would focus on providing a social insurance system to all
citizens (including a national basic health care plan) 2) the state governments would
assume the roles of providing education and infrastructure or their citizens as well as
other "productivity agenda items" and 3) there would be a new system of taxes in
which states and federal governments would have a common shared tax with the same
basic rate and base. It would be a value-added tax and would replace state retail taxes.
Rivlin proposes this new system of federalism because she sees a need, in our
increasingly global economy, to distinguish between federal and state roles. She
argues that the President should focus on the global economy and state and local
governments should focus on domestics. She sees a need for major policy changes.
She would limit the federal governments domestic intervention and control ot
matters whose activities spill over state lines (pollution, highways) and to matters
where a national uniformity in the laws is desirable (social security system). All other
social matters (teen pregnancy, crime control, drug problems, housing) would be
delegated to state control. She sees this new structure as both relieving the federal
deficit of burdensome spending and reducing federal fiscal stress, as well as
decreasing public dissatisfaction and disillusion with "government" by allowing
people direct access to the law-making bodies who control decisions (state) versus the
remoteness of the federal decision and policy maker.
If this system of federalism which Rivlin labels "Dividing the Job" takes effect, she
sees potential benefits as including: federal budget health (and even maybe a federal
surplus) and the improvement of social services to meet peoples needs better and to
be more economically efficient and responsive. If we continue with the 80s version
of federalism, there will be no progress in the improvement of social services and the
federal deficit will be obscenely high. And if we go to a liberal sense of federalism by
increasing taxes yet leaving control in the federal government, there will be no deficit
reduction, but likely an increase in the federal deficit.
This article was a theoretical predecessor to the reality the followednamely the
delegation of the welfare system to state authority. Obviously, Rivlins new system
made sense to many politicians and administrators, including Clinton.
Society, politicians, and public administrators are still struggling with which level of
government should do what tasks. Rivlins article offers insight into one possible
breakdown of government services.
Article Title: From Affirmative Action to Affirming Diversity
Author: R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr.
First Appeared In: Harvard Business Review, March/April, 1990
R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr. states in "From Affirmative Action to Affirming Diversity"
that affirmative action is based on a set of 30-year-old premises that badly need
revising. Corporations that were once dominated by white males now have an influx
of many minorities, of which, Thomas asserts, white males are just one set.
Affirmative action sets the stage for a workplace that is not biased toward gender, race
or culture. But when these minorities do not move up the corporate ladder, they tend
to get frustrated and quit, leaving the corporation to recruit and repeat the cycle.
Thomas believes that image of the American melting pot is no longer valid, instead it
is a sellers market for skills and those being recruited are refusing to assimilate. The
companies are faced with the task of managing this diverse group that refuses to
assimilate and getting the same commitment, quality and profit that was once
achieved. Thomas proposes that to reach this goal, companies must move toward a
totally multicultural workplace that taps the full potential of every employee without
artificial programs, standards or barriers. He then offers ten guidelines for learning to
manage diversity. They are:
1. Clarify your motivation, the manager should figure out why it is important to
manage diversity.
2. Clarify your vision, hold and communicate an image of tapping the human
resource potential of every workforce member.
3. Expand your focus, instead of assimilating minorities into a homogeneous
culture, create a dominant heterogeneous culture.
4. Audit your corporate culture, take a good, hard look at the companys current
culture
5. Modify your assumptions, dont force people to "belong" to a common

culture, work harder to define a new set of values and purpose.
6. Modify your systems, look at and modify promotion, mentoring, sponsorship
and other such programs.
7. Modify your models, recognize changes that need to be made in managerial
and employee behavior.
8. Help your people pioneer, manage diversity as a change process and enable
managers to be change-agents.
9. Apply the special consideration test, do not institute policies merely to give
special consideration to a particular group.
10.Continue affirmative action, this will enable your workforce to remain diverse.
Affirmative action has been a hotly debated subject since its inception. This article
made an important distinction between affirmative action and affirming a diversified
workplace.
Our corporations, public and private organizations are all becoming more diverse and
open to a multicultural atmosphere. Organizations that do not properly manage
diversity will not survive.
Article Title: Law, Morality, and the Public Servant
Author: Gregory D. Foster
Date: January/February 1981
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review

This article raises the questions of whether or not conduct that is by common
standards immoral is punishable by law. Another question raised is whether or not a
negative or a positive correlation between laws and morality exists.
Foster goes on to forecast the future with somewhat eerie accuracy. He describes
future administrators as people who will be inundated with information and with
situations never before experienced. The public, as the world becomes smaller, will
also be receiving the same information with rapid speed and will pass quicker and
harsher judgements on those who administer government services.
He suggests that those in public service will have a more difficult time acting morally
while still staying in the framework of the law, and that decisions towards action of
any sort on any topic will be more difficult to make.
This article was written at a time when murmurs in discussion led to conversations
pertaining to ethics in Public Administration. New leadership in top offices of
government was shaping trends by pledging to reinforce the high moral ideals our
country has come to claim it was founded on. Ethical and moral conduct were
becoming viewed as one and the same.
Foster made some amazing predictions that at the time were unimaginable by the
general population and by many in the field of Public Administration. Personal
computers were years away from being a part of mainstream American life. There was
no Internet. Yet Foster forecasted an information explosion and administrators,
because of it, being inundated with previously unexperienced situations that would
challenge their decision making based on ethics, values and moral principle.
We see ourselves today, with more information than we know what to do with, asking
ourselves "what is more important, right or wrong or illegal versus legal? Which is
more important, effective or efficient public service?"
Foster also states that instead of becoming more revered in the public eye, the
population would grow more sensitive and less tolerant as well as more cynical. This
is extremely evident when one views the circumstances going on in the 1998
Congressional and Presidential offices.
Article Title: Performance Appraisal: If Only People Were Not Involved
Author: John Nalbandian
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, May/June, 1981
The article starts out by reviewing current philosophies of the day pertaining to
evaluation of subordinates. Much effort had recently been placed on removing
subjectivity from the evaluation process, with performance contracts and emphasis on
goal clarification. Nalbandian goes on, however, to prospect potential costs of this
new movement, as well as almost "unhuman" requirements to fulfill and maintain
objectivity on the part of those in supervisory positions.
He identifies four behavioral elements trust, acceptance of the appraisal by those
who must do the evaluation, sensitivity to the inner world of performance evaluation,
and training designs that recognize the human dynamics of appraisal that either aid
or undermine the proper evaluation of subordinates.
Nalbandian summarizes the four "human" qualities that are necessary in order for an
objective management and evaluation process to take place. He reminds the reader
that most of these are not available at the high levels necessary for proper
implementation by most supervisors. This article reviews the dynamics of an
organization and reminds us of how employees within an organization look at this

practice as making the evaluation process glass half empty versus half full.
Nalbandian explains "Job Related expectations of Employees and Influences on the
Exercise of Power" in easy to understand passages, complete with simple,
comprehensive charts. At one point, he uses an example of a "machine" an analogy
often used in theoretic discussions of Public Administration and one students of Public
Administration need to become comfortable with.
The reader also becomes privy to what is necessary for a manager to do to effectively
evaluated and provides outcomes that may result . For those entering the profession,
initially faced with the prospect of evaluating others , the hypothetical situations in the
article my assist an entrant in developing a way to face the challenges involved in the
task at hand.
Article Title: Organization Development: A Political Perspective
Author: Anthony T. Cobb and Newton Margulies
First Appeared In: Academy of Management Review, 1981
Cobb and Margulies link the power perspective to the field of organizational behavior
in "Organizational Development: A Political Perspective." The movement of
organizational development (OD) into organizational politics has been slow and
cautious. Cobb and Margulies point out that there are two schools of thought in this
arena, the first that organizational development should be devoid of political
intervention and the second that it must not remain this way.
The purposes of including organizational politics in OD are the following according to

Cobb and Margulies:1) organizational development is not politically sophisticated but
not devoid of political orientation effectiveness can be enhanced when
professionals recognize and use political orientation in the service of organizational
change; 2) the ramifications of increased political involvement in intervention
programs must be explored. There is an interaction between social subsystems and
political subsystems to achieve change in one, a change must be achieved in the
other.
Cobb and Margulies describe a continuum of organizational political involvement.
The first phase is political pacifism or the fundamental commitment to clinical rather
than political intervention. The second phase is political moderation which advocated
the development of knowledge, models and strategies to overcome political
blindspots, but the use is supportive and subordinate to work within the social
subsystem. The final phase is political activism or the deep involvement in the
political subsystem as much if not more than social subsystem.
Cobb and Margulies indicate that their evidence supports a moderate position of
political involvement in OD. They do point out that there are several warnings
regarding increased political involvement. Political success requires political
sophistication that OD consultants may not have. The reactions of clients to the OD
profession OD requires honesty and cooperation, political activism limits channels
of communication and has hidden agendas clients dont expect this behavior
from OD consultants.
Organizational development consultants were seen in the industry as clinicians who
stayed away from political involvement. However, Cobb and Margulies make the case
the involvement of OD in organizational politics assumes that politics are a fact of life
in organizations which is true because many use it to further their own interests.
Politics are a very real part of any organization. For OD consultants to ignore this and
the role of politics within the organization would do their clients disservice. As said
above in order to effect change in social subsystems, change must also be evoked
in political subsystems.
Article Title: Editorial: Public Administration Centennial: 1887-1987 Footprints
of a Profession
Author: Louis Gawthrop
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, July/August, 1981
The article was basically a call to arms, of sorts, to bring Public Administration into
the future, to be reflected upon by the masses as a true profession. Gawthrop states a
need to set up and devise an "agenda" that will be used to give the profession
standards and objectives. He asks readers to send in their input as well as the input of
those outside the profession, in order that the powers that be in ASPA at the time could
devise a this outline.
In 1981, ASPA devised and ratified a set of moral principles. This article got the
wheels turning to what in 1984 became ASPAs "Code of Ethics." The Code of
Ethics has since been modified in 1994, and is now on the back cover of every issue
of Public Administration Review.
This editorial brings members of the profession of Public Administration and students
of the profession back to the roots of where those working the field in 1981 realized it
had matured to a point of deserved and needed recognition as such by the general
population.
Though people working in Public Administration for 100 years previous felt they were
employed in a profession, it was unclear if those they served saw them as
"professionals."
With the development of a Code of Ethics, Public Administration could now show
evidence of its set of standards for behavior and direction, two ingredients necessary
in the rank and files eye to be revered as a profession.
Article Title: Federalism, Intergovernmental Relations,
Management: Historical Reflections and Concepts Compared
Intergovernmental
Author: Deil S. Wright

First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, volume 50, pages 168-178,
March/April 1990
In his article, Wright presents an in-depth comparison between Federalism,
Intergovernmental Relations, and Intergovernmental Management. He comments that
interjurisdicational relations have shown an increase in the interdependence among all
branches of government in the U.S. He observed that over the past 50 years, elected
politicians, administrators, and program managers have all worked to shape national,
state, and local relations. He cited Woodrow Wilsons famous article that
"federalism means effective administration" and further believed that IGO and IGM
also make government more effective.
He traces the origins of Intergovernmental Relations to the same time when Woodrow
Wilsons "politics/administration" dichotomy broke down and lost credibility.
Intergovernmental Management, on the other hand, emerged because of the difficulty
in implementing intergovernmental programs and the recognition among
administrators that management skills were needed in this process. With IGM comes
the blurring of lines between career bureaucrat and political actor. Wright explores
different things, such as what each school primarily values. Thus, he argues that
federalism values its mission above all else, IGR values perspective above all else,
and IGM values results above all else. Similarly, in his comparison of "who leads?" he
explains that federalists believe that elected officials should lead, IGR believes that
administrative generalists should lead, and IGM believes that policy professionals
should lead government decision-making. These comparisons are very useful in
looking at this history for what its worth today.
In addition to showing the clear progression from federalism to IGO to IGM, Wright
also shows the different goals of the movements. For example, he points out that
where the ultimate goal of federalism is liberty, the ultimate goal of management is
efficiency, thus breaking down a linear progression that is perhaps not so linear and
similar as if often alleged. Overall, this article (which included an amazing chart
outlining the different approaches to the same goals between Federalism, IGR, and
IGM) provided a useable theoretical diagram to the different philosophies that shaped
administration at the time.
With increasing calls for having less and more efficient government, along with recent
trends involving both federalism (dismantling of welfare and making it more staterun) and intergovernmental management (teaching public administrators more
business and management skills), this article offers a strong backbone for comparing
what each school of thought (Federalism, IGR, and IGM) can offer to how the
governments business should be run today.
Chronological Ranking:97
Article Title: The "Reinventing Government" Exercise: Misinterpreting the Problem,
Misjudging the Consequences
Author: Ronald C. Moe

First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, volume 54, March/April 1994
Al Gore and the NPR Report attempted to challenge the culture of the Federal
Government. Optimism and effective communication were cited as the keys to
success. The Reinventing Government movement centers on putting people fist
through customer service, empowering employees, and foster excellence by having a
clear mission, delegating authority, replacing regulation with incentives, and
measuring success through customer satisfaction.
Moe critically analyzes the NPR by asking two questions: 1) where does the NPR
Report fit in with the history of the reorganization of executive branch in the past? 2)
what are the likely consequences if the recommendations of the Gore Report are
implemented and the government changes from one of bureaucracy to one of
entrepreneurialism. Moe distinguishes the Gore Report from other reports on
executive branch reform (such as the Hoover Report) because, unlike the others, if
does not emphasize the need of democratic accountability of agency offices. The Gore
Report is unlike the other reform movements in that in fails to recognize that because
the public and private sectors are governed by different sets of laws, they need
different management systems. Instead, the Gore Report makes four assumptions
about government which are necessary to apply the entrepreneurship model.
Specifically, it assume that: the private and public sectors are similar in essentials,
government agencies can be viewed as independent entrepreneurial bodies (which
function best in market-like competition), and management activities are guided by
budgetary decisions. Moe is critical of using a private management paradigm for
government. He cautions against the belief that applying a private business approach
of management to the public sector can "cast away" red tape and make civil servants
more accountable to the public. He critiques the NPR for its "unsubstantiated and
irrelevant use of statistics to support its major proposals for change." He also points to
how the management approach is at times ineffective at solving governments
problems. For example, he cites how the Clintons administrations dissatisfaction
of Inspector Generals can only be solved through the rule of public law (and
Congress changing the law), not through private management tools of changing
organizational culture.

This article is an important critique of the NPR because it compares it with other
historical reforms of the executive branch and notes the NPRs major digression and
weakness from the othersits failure to recognize differences between public and
private laws.
By proposing that the solution to reforming government is not entrepreneurialism, but
rather institutional and legal, Moe continues the debate about how the federal
government should manage.
Article Title: Public Administration and Social Equity.
Author: H. George Frederickson
H. George Frederickson outlines in his article "Public Administration and Social
Equity" the development of this theory that social equity should be the third pillar of
public administration. Historically, economy and efficiency were the primary focus of
public administration. Fredrickson points out that in the early years of the profession,
public administration was seen neutral and dominated by management theories. He
explains that economy and efficiency are primary theories of management, while
social equity is a primary theory of government. Now politics is part of public
administration and neutrality is nearly impossible so social equity can no longer be
dismissed.
The importance of social equity was first brought to the forefront in the study of
public administration in 1974 when a symposium was held entitled, "Social Equity
and Public Administration." For the most part, social equity and equality were without
definition within the field. The initial attempts at definition focused on justice as
fairness. Fredrickson offers a more descriptive definition he calls the "Compound
Theory of Social Equity." He outlines different components of equality including: 1)
simple individual equality; 2) segmented equality; 3) block equality; 4) domain of
equality; 5) equalities of opportunity; and 6) value of equality.
Fredrickson turns to the law to show the most significant developments in social
equity. He explains that this is because the courts are usually the last resort for those
seeking equality. Particularly in the realms of employment, contracting, government
service and education, the law has addressed problems arising from inequality. A
consequence of law of equality has been policy analysis. Both ideological and
methodological perspectives in policy analysis have been dominated by economics,
however, in recent years this has been tempered by measures of general and individual
well-being. Social indicators such as justice, fairness and individual rights are
considered in policy analysis.
Frederickson believes "a compound theory of social equity which details alternative
and sometimes competing forms of equality will serve to better inform the practice of
public administration."
Fredrickson initiated that idea that social equality was on the same level of importance
as economy and efficiency, two indisputable goals of public administration. This also
crossed the line of neutrality that public administrators were classically meant to
maintain.
Social equity had effectively developed into the third pillar of public administration. It
is mentioned in the ASPA Code of Ethics and that become a focus of public
administrators as the analyze the policies and laws that they implement.
Article Title: Tilting at Windmills
Author: Charles Peters
First Appeared In: The Washington Monthly, November, 1993
Peters provides short passages that reflect the current concerns over bureaucracies.
The one particular passage that applies to public administration is about President
Clinton and his relationship with his staff. The staff, Peters writes, appears to be as
tentative as Clinton himself. Peters calls for a staff that fosters boldness and creativity.
Peters points out that a major problem is the staff does not tell Clinton bad news
because he doesnt want to hear it. This is a very dangerous practice for those in
government. Peters goes on to say that it is the responsibility of the press to take a
good look at the activities of government. If bad news refuses to travel up to the top it
is impossible to make efforts to reinvent government work.
Clintons initiative to reinvent government was very popular and he staked a great
deal on its success. By refusing to hear bad news or face negativity, Clinton along
with his staff was hindering his own efforts.
Although the article is short and only makes this one point, the issue is of great
significance. By not being willing to accept bad news or negativity, it opens the
administration up to experiences of groupthink. As evidenced in Janis article, this is
a very dangerous disorder when found at high administrative levels.
Article Title: Using Performance Measures for Federal Budgeting

Author: Philip G. Joyce
First Appeared In: Public Budgeting and Finance, Winter, 1993
Joyce initially provides a quick history of recent developments in the areas of
performance measurement within the Federal Government. This includes details of the
Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 and Bill S.20 signed by President Clinton in
1993.
Joyce reviews the current philosophies in government, rooting to the
book, Reinventing Government, and its relationship to Al Gores National
Performance Review. He then provides a list of reasons we should temper our
expectations of the changes called for in the two studies and delves into each reason
with an in-depth explanation.
Summarizing, Joyce concludes that while the advised procedures may not result in
sweeping changes in budgeting, they would improve our ability to use resources
wisely to increase performance. He also advises that short tem expectations should be
developed proper measurement tools and once and only once this is done, should
measurements be used as a way to allocate funds.
Budgeting based on an agencys merit is the goal of the 90s it seems, with
foundations leading back to the book Reinventing Government, by Osborne and
Gaebler. Gores National Performance Review is based on the books theories.
Everyone seems poised for a drastic change.
Though changes does seem to be happening faster these days, Joyce provides a voice
of reason reminding us why things cant and should not happen overnight. This
reminds us of the potential for programs and performance management budgeting to
err if we dont proceed with deliberation and caution.
As we are living currently in the times described above, this article remains significant
for reasons described in the above paragraph. The future significance of this article
will be know if one of the following two things happen: 1) Joyces advice is taken
and in the long term future we see good measurement devices and outcome-based
budgeting working for government or 2) his precautionary advice is ignored and the
programs set forth in Reinventing Government and the National Performance Review
lose the faith of the public and are scrapped.
This article is still reflecting the advice of Lindbloms theory of incrementalism; we
must proceed slowly and build upon small changes to eventually have bigger changes.
Article Title: Conflict or Constructive Tension: The Changing Relationship of Judges
and Administrators
Author: Phillip J. Cooper
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, volume 45, pages 643-652,
November 1985
In this article, Cooper looks at why administrators resent judicial intervention and
intrusion into administrative operations. He looks at the reasons why administrators
allege that by interfering in their decisions and discretion, courts are only undermining
necessary administrative discretion. Cooper first explains that administrative
discretion is not inherently good, but instead exists to serve public purposes. And in
serving these public purposes, administrators are bound by the rule of law. He argues
that courts do not wish to take power away from administrators and indeed, led by the
Supreme Court of the U.S., courts have been willing to recognize the greater need of
administrative flexibility and have thus given more and more deference to
administrative positions. This is because without ample discretion, administration will
become so rule-bound that it will be unable to achieve equity or justice. Nevertheless,
if administrators are given too much discretion, their rulings may become arbitrary
and inconsistent across government agencies. Administrators put forth one primary
argument for why they should be granted ample discretion. The Executive branch and
administrators argue that because legislatures pass such ambiguous laws, it is essential
not to cripple the administrator in his/her charge to make the law workable and of
utility to the people it was meant to serve. In other words, administrative discretion is
necessary. To this argument, the courts respond that the purpose of law is to limit
discretion and that no one (not even administrators) are above the law.
This article served to provide a clear basis for why many allegations of administrators
about the courts attack on them was unfounded. Specifically, Cooper explained that
courts do care about costs and they are even viewing the due process concerns through
a fiscal lens. Cooper also explained how courts are more and more willing to abide by
the expertise of the administrators and deny judicial intervention. Furthermore,
Cooper demonstrated how the Supreme Court has limited the powers of the federal
courts to issue orders on administrators and how the Supreme Court is in reversing its
trend of favoring the employee over management by giving more and more deference
to the administrators.
Since this article was published, there has been an even greater number of
administrative decisions ending up in our federal courts because they are being
challenged by anyone who can allege standing. This article is significant today
because it provides ample insight in the relationship between the courts and
administrators, showing how they can work together in their common pursuit of
service and fairness to the American public.
Article Title: The Problem of Professional Ethics.
Author: John A. Rohr

First Appeared In: The Bureaucrat, Spring, 1991
Rohrs purpose in writing this article is to explain the tendency of professional
statements of ethics to be self-serving. He takes a look at the ethics of public
administration and hopes to enlighten the public administration community to a
particular aspect of professionalism. According to Rohr, the problem of professional
ethics is acute because there an elite nature of professional life and the foundation of
the professionals exception differs from the foundation of the exceptions demanded
by ordinary persons in day to day activities. Other professions enjoy a sphere of
autonomy. Rohr states that the "learned" professions of law, medicine and religion are
subject to a lengthy period of formal training that is followed by a certification
process. The profession of journalism relies heavily on its vital role to provide the
public with the information it has a "right to know." Public administration lacks these
advantages. Essentially, public administrators claim an expertise in governing a
profession that the public is not sympathetic to in a democracy. Rohr believes that this
is the reason that the question of professionalism in public administration will always
be controversial in the United States.
Public administration has always had to make a case for its professional status.
Doctors and lawyers, for example, are naturally thought of professionals because of
there long years of study and certification process. Those in the profession of public
administration are constantly seeking ways to boost up the profession so that is
regarded with the same esteemed as the aforementioned.
Professional ethics is an ongoing concern for those in the field of public
administration. The purpose of public administrators is to act as a public servant in the
publics interest. The importance of ethics in this process of administration becomes
evident when we hear of scandals in government and the effect that they have upon
the citizens.
Article Title: Merit Pay in the Public Sector: The Case for a Failure Theory
Author: James L. Perry
First Appeared In: Public Personnel Administration, Fall, 1986
Perry takes a different perspective on the arguments against pay-for-performance
incentives in the public sector for those at the mid-management level. Most believe
merit systems fail because top level management isnt properly committed to the
implementation of the programs. Though he agrees that the system is flawed, Perry
delves further into the reasons behind the failure.
Perry cites many other studies in his article and expounds on their findings. He
reviews some general incentive pay theories and policy reforms, and gives an
overview of 1978s Civil Service Reform Act and 1894s Merit Pay Reform Act.
The 1984 Act was put into effect to correct problems brought about by the
implementation of the CSRA in 1978.
The author goes on to point out that many mid-managers find their roles to be
constantly redefined but not their contracts, resulting in an inability to achieve the
goals deserving of merit pay. Another is the idea that to adhere to the incentivized
goals, employees will pull away from organizational missions and work on their
individual needs, or that information pertaining to goal achievement may be
manipulated.
Perry also suggests in his conclusion that though individual merit pay may not help
increase productivity for one or any variety of the above-stated reasons, group
incentives may clear up some issues, adhese an organization and increase productivity.
This article took the arguments against merit pay to the next level. Most arguments
against merit pay were based on private sector failure. Perry analyzes why public
sector contingent pay plans will and were failing. He pulls many other studies together
and effectively bundles them into one article, making this article an excellent point of
reference when a discussion of merit pay pros and cons comes up.
Great overview of the lacking of the CSRA and MPIA are given in this article, making
it a n excellent point of historical reference for students of Public Administration.
Students receive an excellent review of many different studies and arguments all in
one place. While doing so, the article also offers alternatives and suggestion of new
angles on the same plan for ways to improve practices. As the article is 12 years old,
students may need to do further research to see if any of the suggestions Perry made
have been implemented and what effect they have had.
Article Title: Political Appointees and Career ExecutivesThe Democracy Nexus in
the Third Century
Author: James Pfiffner
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, Volume 47, pages 57-65, January
1987
In this article, Pfiffner looks at the balance between presidential appointees and career
executives in governmental agencies and asks the question: Who should rule? He
notes that the recent trend (especially in the Reagan era) has been to use more and
more political appointees in order to exert presidential control in executive agencies.
Presidents have been doing this in order to assure that their programs are
unquestionably implemented. In answering why presidents distrust bureaucrats, he
looks merely to partisanship. The point of his article is that although some political
appointees are good (to assure responsiveness from the agencies), the trend toward
increasing political appointees should be reversed because by not having enough
expert bureaucrats in office, government agencies will become ineffective.
He points to a quote by Edwin Meese of the Reagan administration who stated that the
"president has to decide right off the bat that there will be one central control
pointthe presidentfor deciding who will run government (boards, commissions,
ambassadors, agencies). Pfiffner argues that this approach diminishes agency
efficiency and results in too much politicization of government. He believes that the
"basic dilemma that underlies government in the U.S. is that permanent bureaucracy
must be responsive to the current president, yet it must maintain the necessary
professionalism it its career managers to be efficient and effective.
In this article, Pfiffner laid out very persuasively the need to reverse the trend toward
having more and more political appointees run government. Specifically, he stressed
that democratic government needs to be capable of changing when a new government
comes in (President and Congress) and thus there is a need for a basic competent
career government bureaucracy to be ready to efficiently and professionally
implement the presidents agenda.
By clearly explaining the trade-off between the efficiency of the career bureaucrat and
the responsiveness of the political appointee, this article continues to be a useful guide
for deciding whether or not to increase political appointees of incoming presidents.
Article Title: Rediscovering Principles of Public Admin: The Neglected Principal of
Public Law
Author: R.C. Moe and R.S. Gilmore

First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, Volume 55, pages 135-146, 1995
Moe and Gilmore look at the question: Is the field of public administration at risk of
losing its theoretical distinctiveness? And to this question, they argue that the field of
public administration has lost nearly all of its theoretical distinctiveness and that it has
abandoned its roots in public law (the Constitution, statutes, and case law). They
further argue that public administration must go back to the traditional constitutionalbased methods of doing the publics business. It is therefore public law principles
that ought to govern the design of how administrators implement the law and make
decisions, even in the cases when government agencies "contract out" to private
companies. They base their argument on 10 basic principles of public law.
The 10 basic principles of Public Law are as follows:
1) public accountability requires governmental functions and tasks to be performed by
government officers 2) agency managers purpose is to implement law 3) policy and
program objections, incorporated in the legislation, facilitate agencies in effective
implementation of the law 4) elected chief executive is responsible for the execution
of the law 5) political accountability for policy implementation requires clear lines of
authority between the chief executive and the heads of departments 6) authority and
responsibility for policy program performance are located within certain single
administrators 7) executive management capability is increased by regular reviews of
general and specific management laws in order to get the best managers in
government 8) executive branch managers are accountable to the public and to the
courts for conforming to legislative deadlines and substantive standards 9) departures
from these principles of governmental organizations are made only when
circumstances are truly exceptional 10) congruence of statutory responsibility for
policy and administrative authority makes statutory achievements possible
By clearly distinguishing public institutions as operating under public law and private
institutions as operating under private law, Moe and Gilmore set the theoretical
foundations for the federal government. Their argument revived the theoretical base of
public administration in public law.
The 10 characteristics laid out defining public law are often cited and referred to by
academics in this field. In addition, by revisiting the protective purposes of the
Constitution as designed by the framers, Moe and Gilmore provided a new
perspective on this problem by not arguing that the public law paradigm has failed,
but merely that it has been taken for granted and neglected and thus can and must be
revived. How significant this article will be in the future is still unknown and will be
very significant if public administration heads in the direction of being guided by
public law principles.
Article Title: Public Administration and Public DeliberationAn Interpretative
Essay
Author: Robert B. Reich
First Appeared In: Yale Law Journal, Volume 94, page 1617, 1988
Reich looks at how the public decides what the role of public administrators should be
in our government and how should public administrators decide what to do. He views
the role of administrators beyond merely acting on the publics behalf, but rather he
believes that public administrators should help the public deliberate over the decisions
that they, as administrators, need to make. He sees public administrators as serving
three ends:
1. a vehicle to expose the public to issues and problems in the public

sphere by organizing and instigating speeches, media exposure,
studies, and legislative hearings
2. during these public deliberations, Public Administration will seek
to articulate visions of the future and as a result, public
administration will be better able than legislatures to foster a
national debate over certain issues because administrators deal
with specific applications of the general principles of law
3. public administration will, in time, function less like a neutral
manager and more like a teacher and a guide
This article helped to instigate new debate not necessarily of the role of the public in
policy decisions, but rather the role of public administrators in pro-actively engaging
the public in their policy decisions and their obligation to do so. New twist on
democracy in America.
Reich suggests an alternative approach to the dominant view of public administration
which emphasizes the administrative process instead of the public aspect of public
administration. His approach nurtures public deliberation and the discovery of shared
public values. His approach also has the potential for public administrators to enhance
social learning by telling citizens that THEY can play a part in the decision-making
process by deliberating and debating public issues; the publics input, then, may
send administrators back to the drawing boards; this approach is a means to discover
latent public values and to create new public values
Article Title: Adapting Total Quality Management to Government

Author: James E. Swiss
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, Volume 2, 1992
Swiss first briefly outlines the basic tenants of Total Quality Management (TQM) as
originally created to be applied to the private manufacturing sector. He highlights that
in TQM: the customer is always the ultimate determinate of quality, that the quality of
the product (or service) should be considered at an early stage of the production
(during design if possible), that one of the most important keys to quality is to prevent
variation in the product (or service), that quality results from a group effort and not
individual effort so that if there is a problem in quality, it is most likely the result of a
bad system and not bad people (and that MBOmanagement by objectives and
outcome is poor at producing high-quality), that quality requires the continuous
improvement of inputsas customer expectations rise, that quality improvements
require manager-worker cooperation and partnering, and finally, that quality requires a
total organizational commitment.
In applying TQM to government, Swiss first notes that difficulty in applying TQM to
services. He notes that the service sector is more labor intensive and it is difficult to
reduce variation in the providing of government services because the norms for
evaluation are unclear. He also notes that sometimes it is difficult to apply many of the
customer satisfaction criteria (access, communication, competence, courtesy,
creativity, reliability) to the providing of government services. Thus, it is more
difficult, in government, to monitor quality than it is in the manufacturing sector. He
also points to other problems, such as in many government agencies, it is difficult to
determine exactly who the agencies "customers" are. For instance, Swiss asks who are
the customers of the Bureau of Land Management? Are they the grazing interests?
The mining interests? Or the environmentalists interests? Should they serve all
these "customers" equally? Moreover, when the "customers" are the general public
and the public acts very disinterested and inattentive as a customer, what guidelines
should the agency then use to evaluate and improve the quality of the services that it is
providing? In fact, Swiss points out that Total Quality Management can do more harm
than good if it focuses on the particular demands of direct and specific "clients"
(interest groups) rather than the general public at large.
By recognizing that TQM had important contributions to government management,
yet if applied in its orthodox form could be very harmful to government, Swiss
article stressed the important differences between managing the government sector
and managing the manufacturing sector. Moreover, Swiss made it clear that issues
became more complex (i.e. who is the customer) when TQM was applied to
government.
The debate continues today of what aspects of private sector management should be
applied to the government sector. Swiss contributions are useful in light of the NPR
Report.
Article Title: Stories Managers Tell: Why They Are As Valid As Science
Author: Ralph P. Hummel
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, January, 1991
Most articles are written on the premise that public managers are not sure what they
are doing. This article argues the opposite; public managers do know what they are
doing. They just dont follow a scientific mode to make decisions or to execute
operations.
The mode they use is through "story telling" with other managers. Agreement seems
to be that managers in the public sector need to identify with a story and relate their
own particular situation to it. They story telling mode versus a scientific analysis is of
much more relevance to one already working in the field. Scientific analysis of a
situation is usually not possible and situations do not often lend themselves to what
exactly was written in a textbook. New disciplines will arise from the ranks through
evolution, not theories or new technology.
By the 1990s, managers from all sectors have seen TQM, MBO and many other
management trends pass through their offices. Some were more effective than others.
However, when it comes to dealing with "in your face" situations, often there is no
time to refer to a textbook or manual. Often there is nothing applicable in the textbook
or manual to refer to anyway. After all, human beings versus laboratory subjects are
involved.
Hummel is basically coming right out and saying that the knowledge base of public
administration management has been based way too much on science and not enough
on the people doing the job. Hummel argues that we may not need to improve
management through more scientific studies, but just through sharing stories and
relating incidents.
This article is pretty recent but we still see more studies and scientific-based
management ideas waiting to be picked up for use. For example, the recent buzz has
been much about "reinventing government" the way its managed, the way
programs are implemented, and so on. By use of a story telling, the author is
reminding students of Public Administration that often their question is already
answered. A little listening, a little sharing is all one needs.
Article Title: Performance Targeting and Productivity
Author: Arie Halachmie

First Appeared In: International Review of Administration Sciences, Volume 58,
1992
This article begins with definitions of judgmental and developmental appraisals, and
points out the possible problems with using either system. Halachmie also includes a
table of 13 countries that either have or were proposing a pay for performance system
within their government sector as well as where the system(s) were being used or
proposed.
The author then goes on to describe various inconsistencies, poor assumptions and
examples of how and why performance appraisals often are not useful or worthwhile.
For example, the cost of doing assessments is high, supervisors are often reluctant to
criticize subordinates and rating past performance is often guarantee of an equal rating
for future performance.
Halachmie advises that organizations adopt a new behavior of "performance
targeting" where supervisors and superiors assess organizational goals and what not
only is expected of the subordinate, but what is expected of the superior to enable the
employee to meet the set goals. He concludes the article with his expectations for why
this new procedure would improve the work environment at all levels.
This article finds fault with Total Quality Management and Management By
Objectives practices. Halachmie provides an international perspective of what is going
on in other countries, which reminds the reader that American government is not alone
in its struggles towards more efficient and effective management. The article suggests
a new way of doing things which isnt radically different from the status quo just
the next evolutionary step.
The article offers so many definitions and situational examples. Students of Public
Administration can see the arguments against pay for performance defined and actual
situations where they have not worked in the past, as well as reasons why they
havent worked. Readers are also given solutions and ideas for change and examples
of how they might be implemented. Further research might be done to see if any of
the suggestions were put into place anywhere since this article was printed, since
those changes would be current. If so, one could see if the suggestions resulted in
positive change
Article Title: Whose Bureaucracy Is It Anyway? Congress, the President, and Public
Administration
Author: Francis E. Rourke
First Appeared In: Political Science and Politics, December, 1993
Rourke initially poses the question as to who is running the government "Whose
Bureaucracy Is It Anyway?" then goes on to show how the balance of power has
shifted throughout American history. He points out that the Constitution set forth
somewhat precise looking, yet actually ambiguous guidelines for Congress and the
president to follow.
Rourke refers to pints in American history where it seemed Congress had more power
and to others where that power shifted back to the executive offices. He gave some
reasoning based on historical occurrences as to why that may have been the case. He
concludes through a series of questions posed and answers , that the dual to
completely run the bureaucracy will never end. His initial question will never have a
final answer. However, this is the beauty of a democratic organizational make-up.
During and earlier part of this decade, we saw two major party shifts in our Federal
Government; a Democrat moved into the White House and Congress became
dominated by the Republican Party. Vying for power over decision making and
recognition for participation in resolving domestic issues became rampant. Now that
we supposedly have a balanced budget, both the Republican Congress and the
Democratic executive branch want full credit for making it happen.
Rourkes article leads us to the answer that results would not have come about
without either, and that the struggles mentioned above actually helped in bringing
about results. He states, "In sum, while presidents fought for a more efficient
bureaucracy, Congress sought a bureaucracy in tune with the nation it served." You
must have both to make things happen.
This article is still very new. Its significance will remain, however, because of the
historical landscape it covers in setting examples for its questions and arguments.
Plus, Rourke reminds readers that no final answer to his title question will ever be
resolved.
Students of Public Administration and Political Science will find this article
enlightening when shifts and changes in political make-up occur. They will be
reminded that these shifts and struggles often result in progress.

Article Title: Visions of Corruption Control and the Evolution of American Public
Administration
Author: Frank Anechiarico and James B. Jacobs
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, September/October, 1994
The authors take the reader through the history of corruption control efforts, starting
with the 1870's and categorizing five different movements. Corruption and the
resolving of its causes seems to flow into the next phase of management systems.
They use the New York City government - particularly its Department of Buildings
and Department of Investigation to specify examples of corrupit behavior and
corruption investigation.
Most recently, however, the authors question whether corruption control gets in the
way of efficiency. They post the thought to the reader that if corruption seems to be
endemic to government and administration, there might be an acceptable level of
corruption that would be allowable and prevention not enforced, and actions not
investigated.
This article went to print in the mid-1990's in the light of the Reinventing Government
phase of administration. Efficiency is once again being placed in greater importance
that purely honest behavior on the part of administrators. We once again are forced to
question which quality in our administrators we may value more, and at what level. Is
it possible to be both efficient and free of corruption? So far, it doesn't seem that
American administration on any level has shown this to be the case.
We are still living in the last phase mentioned in this article. The authors do a nice job
of tracing corruption and the management of corruption through the ages. This gives
students of public administration a good perspective of where we've come from. They
state on a few occasions, that we could not move from one phase to another without
going through all of the steps - more indications of an incremental process at work.

Article Title: The Sources of Ethical Decision Making for Individuals in the Public
Sector.
Author: Montgomery Van Wart
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, November/December, 1996
Montgomery Van Wart in the article "The Sources of Ethical Decision Making for
Individuals in the Public Sector" examines the changes made in the American Society
of Public Administrators (ASPA) Code of Ethics. He takes a thorough look at what
other experts in the field of public administration have said on the subject of ethics
and explains the five overreaching roles that the code highlights. The real challenge
for public administrators, Van Wart explains, is decision making process that must
occur when two or more of those five roles functions are in direct competition.
Deciding which takes precedence is a real ethical dilemma.
Van Wart outlines the five major sources which administrators must consider and with
for decision making, for both the prohibitions and aspirations of the public sector.
Those five major sources are the 1) public interest, 2) legal interest, 3) personal
interests, 4) organizational interests and 5) professional interests.
Perhaps the most challenging ethical dilemmas for public administrators are not fullscale blatant corruption. Instead it is the instances when they must discharge a vague
law, balance rival public interest groups, sort out the appropriate organizational
interests from organizational ego, consider a higher but costly professional standard,
and not to overstate or abandon personal interests. Van Wart feels that the streamlined
ASPA Code of Ethics answers to the elementary level of unethical behavior but also
has sophisticated elements that recognize the difficult daily administrative decisions.
The ASPA Code of Ethics prior to its 1994 revision was seen as rambling and weakly
organized. The new version provided structure that relied on the five very important
roles of public administrators and more concisely outlined the ethical principles of the
profession.

This article called to attention the constant need of examination in the field of public
administrative ethics. A code serves absolutely no purpose if it cannot be referred to
during times of indecision. It must not only be a document that outlines what is
unethical but a working document that helps those in the field of public administration
navigate through the difficult daily decisions.

Article Title: www.ethics.gov
Author: Donald C. Menzel
First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, Volume 58, September, 1998
Menzel identifies some of the many ethical and management challenges facing public
managers when government agencies go "on line". He notes that as of 1/1/98, there
were 1,915 national level government agencies world wide with internet cites. The
U.S., he pointed out, leads with 205 government agencies with www cites. Moreover,
he recalls that over 2500 U.S. state agencies also have internet cites. Next, Menzel
explores the meaning of "cyber management", which encourages responsible internet
use. He notes that access to the internet changes how employees relate to one another
and to their supervisors and notes that a top-down management style may not be
effective in cyper workshops.
Menzel also notes that when government organizations go on-line, they must ask
"who in this organization should be granted access privileges to the internet?" He
notes that supervisors must be wary of employees abusing their internet privileges by
surfing for fun. In doing so, public administrators must develop clear internet
"acceptable use" policies. In other words, internet abuse must be balanced with
internet abuse possibilities. Because the internet has the potential to stimulate
innovation in the workforce, it can be an asset to allow access to government workers.

At the same time, however, the public cannot afford to have government workers take
time away from their work duties to "surf" the internet.
Menzel points to some innovative approaches to acceptable internet usage that some
public agencies are implementing. For example, he notes that the city government of
Fort Collins, CO has an internet use policy that calls for employees to use the internet
in a way that: enables them to contribute to the economic development of the city, to
aid in policy development and decision-making by giving access to research and
professional materials, to conserve resources by conserving paper (i.e. E-mail), to
foster participation by encouraging democracy and citizen involvement, to improve
service delivery by facilitating efficiency..
Though just published, this article has tremendous impact for the large number of
public organizations with internet access. The internet in the workforce reflects a rapid
diffusion of a new technology and makes for significant changes in government
organizational cultures. As Menzel pointed out, "thus far, there is (too) little research
about the relationship between work online and life in the organization off-line.
With every aspect of our society become more and more technically advanced, this
article will surely become more significant. It is essential to keep employees from
abusing their internet privileges. Moreover, because technology in cyperspace has
(and continues to) develop much faster than ethics in this area, Menzels proposals
are useful for all high level public administrators who have internet access in their
offices for their employees.

Quantitative Ranking

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originalbeschreibung:

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Quantitative Ranking

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Quantitative Ranking: 1

business." Probably most importantly, Wilson also established

What All the Fuss Was Originally:

Brief Synopsis of the Article:

As our society grows, so do our organizations and bureaucracies. It is important to

Brief Synopsis of the Article:

Follett offers three fundamental statements on this subject:

specialization, 2) Arranging a determined hierarchy of authority to preserve unity of

Simon takes what were recognized popularly as principles of administration and

organizing productive enterprise; 2) management should direct, motivate, control and

What All the Fuss Was Originally:

The bureaucracy has a specific jurisdiction that is ordered by rules, laws or

issue commands is distributed in a stable way and a methodical provision is

There is an office hierarchy and an ordered system of authoritative levels.

The management is assumed to have expert training.

What All the Fuss Was Originally:

In "Organizations of the Future" Warren Bennis shows the conditions of modern

developing problem-solving teams and developing supra organizational goals and

Why It Is Still a Significant Article Today:

First Appeared In: The American Political Science Review, 1930

horizontally, but vertically as well in terms of the different administrative agencies

cooperative systems and persons are viewed functionally as participants in assigned

First Appeared In: Public Administration Review, volume 25, 1965

What All the Fuss Was Originally:

administration theorists accepted democracy as the central meaning of the American

Brief Synopsis of the Article:

Brief Synopsis of the Article:

Why It Is Still a Significant Article Today:

Author: Charles A. Beard

First Appeared In: Trans-Action, December 1966

words, there is currently no clear criteria to be used in assigning functions to the

as one in a series of five pertaining to public employment unions and collective

a. The Function of the Administrator: requires a new analysis now

Brief Synopsis of the Article:

Why It Is Still a Significant Article Today:

Bureaucratic politics: the chief executives of government organizations

KITA can be physical or psychological and leads to movement not motivation.

Article Title: The Rise of the Rhetorical

which authority is fragmented among diverse decision-making centers where multiple

Brief Synopsis of the Article:

Article Title: Management By Whose Objectives?

Why It Is Still a Significant Article Today:

Chris Argyris in "Making the Undiscussable and Undiscussability Discussable" finds

these persons to learn to act in a manner that demonstrates some personal

Brief Synopsis of the Article:

What All the Fuss Was Originally:

What All the Fuss Was Originally:

Author: Helen Ingram

Article Title: Power, Dependence and Effective Management.

What All the Fuss Was Originally:

W. Edwards Demings TQM theories started to be adopted in the private sector in

5. Modify your assumptions, dont force people to "belong" to a common

First Appeared In: Public Administration Review

organization and reminds us of how employees within an organization look at this

The purposes of including organizational politics in OD are the following according to

Author: Deil S. Wright

Author: Ronald C. Moe

What All the Fuss Was Originally:

Article Title: Using Performance Measures for Federal Budgeting

Author: John A. Rohr

Author: R.C. Moe and R.S. Gilmore

1. a vehicle to expose the public to issues and problems in the public