The Study of Public Administration

Transcription

1 The Study of Public Administration How would you define public administration in one phrase, one paragraph, or an essay? Is public administration a profession or just an occupation? How does a public administration career offer the potential of a great adventure? What are the differences between public administration and private administration? Scope of and Understanding Public Administration 1. What is the public in public administration? 2. What is meant by administration? 3. The Concept of the Publicness 4. The idea of administration Determining the Publicness of Public Administration Public goods that are produced in the public interest. Some goods are found to be beneficial to the public, and therefore government looks after the production of these goods and services. a. The Extent of Public-Private Distinction Publicness is understood from the public s distinguishing features: including its service norms, such as impartiality and openness; its principles, such as equality and representation; its monopolistic and complex nature; and its longer and broader social implications. b. The Composition of Service Recipients The public, in this sense, represents a shared and universally accessible domain involving the interests of all citizens. c. The Magnitude and Intensity of its Socioeconomic Role Nature of the Role PA Places in Society PA s broader and more intensive roles represent its wider societal impacts, and thus greater publicness, whereas its narrower and weaker role implies its limited social impacts, and thus less publicness. Example: beer in Quebec vs. beer in Ontario d. The Degree of Public Accountability The process in which the public extracts accountability from the public sector. Example: procedures to address people s grievances

2 e. The Level of Public Trust The credibility, leadership, and responsiveness to serve the people. Administration In its broadest sense it refers to: The activities of groups cooperating to accomplish common goals, that is, a cooperative group behaviour. In its narrow sense, it means: Those patterns of behaviour that are common to many kinds of cooperating groups and that do no depend upon either the specific goals toward which they are cooperating or the specific technological methods used to reach these goals. Administration: How a job is done, not the method used. How the method was chosen. How the people were selected. How the task was divided. How employees learned their particular job. How they learned to perform. How their efforts are coordinated to achieve the goal. What is Public Administration? Why do we need Public Administration? US President Woodrow Wilson: Most important part of government. Prime Mister Harper wouldn t exist if there s no administration. Public Administration is: a government in action the executive the opportunity to operate the most visible side of government as old as government 1. According to Frank Marini: A professional practice Vocation, occupation, field of activity An academic field seeks to develop an understanding, criticisms, and improve professional practices. Public administration simple reflects, on one hand, to the administration or management of issues which have principles to do with the society, and its sup-parts which are not

3 essentially private (your family is not public), commercial or individualistic, and on the other hand, to the disciplined study of such issues. In its simplest form, public administration has to do with managing the issues and affairs of government and other public activities. 2. Jay M Shafritz and EW Russel have clustered the various definitions into: Political Public administration cannot exist outside of its political context. It is this context that makes it public, that makes it different from private or business administration. a. Public administration is what government does b. Public administration is both direct and indirect Government employees provide direct services to the public. Direct example: Canada post delivers mail for the country. Canada post employees are bureaucrats. Direct example: electricity is a direct service. Indirect example: garbage Hybrid services public city hires a private company to pick up garbage. c. Public administration is a phase in the public policymaking cycle Policymaking cycle never ends Example: changing technology cell phones texting and driving need to create new law d. Public administration is implementing the public interest e. Public administration is doing collectively that which cannot be so well done individually Legal a. Public administration is law in Action Police enforcing laws b. Public administration is Regulation Example: ingredients and nutrition facts on food products Example: CRTC regulates TV, cell phones, other media Example: drinking and driving; the amount of blood alcohol that is tolerated c. Public administration is the King s Largesse (generosity) d. Public administration is Theft Managerial a. Public administration is the executive function in government How do we manage government activities? How do we manage the people who work in government? How do we manage the removal of snow? How do we manage Human Resources?

4 b. Public administration is a Management specialty Occupational Public administration is an occupational category What is Public Administration? In common usage, it ferers to: The activities of the executive brances of national (federal), state/provincial, and local/municipal governments; independent boards and commissions set up by parliament and state/procincial legislatures; government corporations; and certain agencies of a specialized character. Inwood s Definition As a field of academic study derived from several disciplines, including political science, business administration, sociology, psychology, law, and economics. A sect of administrative practices and institutional arrangements geared toward the provision of public services and regulations as realised through the public bureaucracy. *Differences between Public and Private Administrations* a. Activities of a government agency are usually authorized by a statute or executive order based on statutory or constitutional authority. All organizations or operations, including private organizations, operate under legal law/charter. And the law requires the offices to carry out the activities under the law. However, the duties and responsibilities of the public administrator are usually prescribed by law in much greater detail than those in the private organization. There are also greater possibilities for holding the public administrator more accountable in the courts for the discharge of his or her duties. b. Interpretation of the relationship between the organization and the general public. The private administrator is given much more freedom in the way he or she interprets the relationship between his or her organization and the public. c. Differences in public attitudes toward public and private administration. There is the belief/widespread conviction that whatever governments do is inefficient, and therefore, governments are corrupt, stereotypes; the bureaucrats are lazy. In the private sector, it is efficient; business. If a public administrator wants to purchase something (even paper), there are rules and procedures.

5 From Inwood page *see this in the textbook!* a. Mission and Goals: i. Public administration is geared toward the provision of public service, not the bottom line. ii. Public managers tend to work with relative short time frames dictated by the electoral cycle. iii. Goal measurement iv. Differences in human resources management v. Differences in equity and efficiency vi. Media scrutiny vii. The provision of public goods b. Efficiency and Service c. Professionalism and Ethics The Growth and Restructuring of the Public Sector (or the State) In text: a. The pre-wwii era or the minimalist state b. The expansion of the public sector The emergence of the welfare state c. The retrenchment of the state The neoconservative state Hollow out the state have less government involvement in the economy. d. Brining the state back-in Era of public governance See other posted notes 1930 Great Depression 1970 first oil crisis created a recession unemployment went up 1979 new public management N L C NDP Liberals Conservatives Public Administration and Public Bureaucracy