1: Wilson, "Study of Administration.

"
1: Stillman, "Study of Administration in US."
2: Max Weber "Bureaucracy"
3: Stillman's introduction: Environment, Ecology of Public
Admin.
3: John M. Gaus, "The Ecology of Public Administration"
4: Norton E. Long, "Power And Administration"
5: Lawrence O"Toole, "American Intergovernmental
Relations: An Overview."
6: Elton Mayo, "Hawthorne and the Western Electric
Company"
7: Stillman, "Inside Public Administration: The Concept of
Competing Bureaucratic Subsystems"
8: Lindblom, "Science of Muddling Through." [Stillman's
Introduction] [SPS notes]
9: James Garnett "Administrative Communication: It's
Centrality"
10: Stillman's introduction | Hal Rainey & Paula
Steibauer, "Galloping Elephants: Developing Elements of
a Theory of Effective Government Organizations."
11: Lois Recascino Wise, "The Public Service Culture"
[Wise's page at IU] [Wise's note]
12: Irene Rubin, "Politics of Public Budgets"
13: Matland, "Ambiguity-Conflict Model: Synthesizing the
Implementation Literature." | Matland Model
14: Hugh Heclo, "Issue Networks and the Executive
Establishment"
15: James Q. Wilson, "Bureaucracy and the Public
Interest."
16: Waldo, Public Admin. and Ethics."

Stillman Chap. 1: Scope & Purpose

Stillman 1 The Search for the Scope and Purpose of Public
Administration
Charles U Walters 08, Spring '07
Woodrow Wilson is considered the founder of the American Public
Administration (the discipline)
Woodrow Wilson, The Study of Administration
The big question for Wilson was how Americans could incorporate Public
Administration into the Constitution which did not mention it. Also in
developing Public Administration, Wilsons basic difficulty was how to
reconcile the differences in notions of democracy (popular rule) and the
systematic rules. To do this he says there are two spheres: Politics and
Administration Politics = choices of government are made by the elected
and Administration = carries out the choices by the (popular consent) free of
political meddling> politics-administration dichotomy
Before entering into the science of administration Wilson felt it was needed
that first there should be some account of the history of what others have
done in the field, secondly there should be an ascertainment of its subjectmatter, and thirdly the it should be determined the best methods to develop
it and the most clarifying political conceptions to carry into it. Without
knowing these first, he feels that there should be no compass or chart to go
by.
The question was always: Who shall make the law, and what shall the law
be? The other question, how law should be administered with enlightenment,
with equity, with speed, and without friction, was put aside as practical detail
to be determined by clerks after the doctors determined the detail.
The reason administration has come into context only now is because now
there appears to be trouble in it, the big constitutional questions on the right
of government have been answered for now.
The Science of Public Administration= seeking to straighten the pathos of
government to make its business less un-business like; to strengthen and
purify its organization, and to crown its duties with dutifulnessall in order to

all the government to see more clearly how it ought to do the things it sees it
should do.
This science originated overseas in foreign lands such as France and
Germany but from it must be adapted to not a simple and compact state but
a complex and multiform state to fit highly decentralized forms of
government, it must of course learn to be Americanized
England and America has been making government just and moderate rather
than well-ordered and effective. We need to be free in spirit and proficient in
practice according to Wilson.
Organizing rule is difficult for popular sovereignty unlike the ease of a
monarch who could declare with one mind/opinion a simple plan.
It takes years and scarcely 3 generations to get public opinion to curve
Though Wilson says that Administration is for the most part separate from
Politics, he also says the administrator to the politician relationship is not
exactly a Will to Deed relationship because the administrator has a will of his
ownhow he will accomplish his work. The administrator is not a mere
passive instrument.
Administrative study is based constitutionally in one respect, according to
Wilson, concerning the distribution of powers. If administrative study can
determine which powers should go to which administrators without
hampering the authority (splitting it into shares), the responsibility, and also
not obscuring the power (who gets praise or blame for actions) then the
study of administration has done an invaluable service.
Public opinion should play the part of and authoritative critic in the conduct
of administration
Self-government does not need a hand in everything like a cook does not
cook entirely with her hands, but with stoves, pots, utensils. We should not
raise everything up to a vote, but rather give large discretions to public
officials, according to Wilson. It must at all points sensitive to public opinion
however.
The duty of administrative study should teach the people what sort of
administration to desire and demand, how to get it and it should also drill
candidates for the public service.
In conclusion Wilson states that our governmental study should be
comparative, we can borrow a murderers idea to sharpen his knife without
his motive to kill.

Richard J. Stillman II, The Study of Administration in the United

States: The Eminently Practical Science
Charles U Walters 08, Spring '07
Statism doctrines and ideas that advocate strengthening the role and
sovereignty of the state institutions in society
Antistatism ideas and doctrines expressly hostile to these central
governing institutions in society, which argue for reducing, limiting, even
elimination their roles and activities.
The Constitution was created with a night watchman style government
provided for the people courts, defense, foreign affairs, trade relations,
moneyand little else.
America at the time of the Constitution had a belief in Antistatism due to
many of them having come from oppressive regimes
Paraphrased, America in the early stages was not so much a country with a
post office but a post office with a country. 85% of the growth of the
government was within this department until the Civil War.
This antistatism led to a late development of public administration study
within the United States, why did we need it without administration? Training
and research did not truly gain significance until the 30s and 40s. The
development of civil services (professional), military and diplomatic corps
became our needed administrative enterprise due to migrations, technology,
clashes between labor and management, economic rises/falls, drive for
international markets, etc.
The intense antistatism caused the American process to occur in reverse
the Constitution, next the state, then the study.
American PA bubbled up through grassroots reforms quietlyby adding a
civil service system, executive budget, etc here and there.
The 20th Century saw progression away from machine politics, to social
services and the like extending the fingers of government
The four eras of public administration: 1926-46, 47-67, 68-88, 89-present.
POSDCORB Orthodoxy, 1926-46:
First American textbook appeared in 26the year for the intellectual birth of
PA in America
Leonard Whites Introduction to the Study of Public Administrationearliest

volume to label the subject PA (In America)

Succeeded in pulling together different aspects of administrative
innovations
POSDCORBacronym for logical sequence of steps for practicing good
administration, in the order they should be accomplishedplanning,
organizing, staffing, directing, coordination, reporting, and budgeting.
allowed the field to grow and flourish with some national prominence. The
POSDCORB was full of contradictions, unscientific, value-laden, time-bound,
and rigidbut yet it had good points that were needed during the Great
Depression and WWII that helped with organization.
Social Science Heterodoxy 1947-67:
The Cold War had profound influence on American society and
Administration
Massive military buildup, the space program, educational assistance,
scientific research and the National Defense Highway Act all became part of
our PA (just to beat the Russians)
POSDCORB seemed inadequate to fulfill the problems that now faced the
nation
Robert Dahl challenged normal assumptions on the dichotomy between PA
and politics also to expand conception of human behavior to understand how
the man really acts within organizations and to embrace broader historical,
economic, and social conditionsit stressed therefore: realism,
behavioralism, and scientific rigor
All in all during this time American PA became more respectable, broader,
and more theoretical with new ideas and data/facts. Realism, science, and
behavioralism became important in the study of PA.
The Reassertion of Democratic Idealism, 1968-88:
During this time America saw its harshest and greatest outcry against
statism. It was considered by Herbert Kaufman a fear of bureaucracy
Minnowbrook and Ostrom best symbolized the temper of the times, seven
distinct marks are left by literature of the time:
Clashing moral absolutes
new values were importantethics, law, and economics compared prior
economy, efficiency, and effectiveness
A cry for relevancyold texts seemed outdated
Fragmentation/decline of generalist PAmore specialization of study came
about
The proliferation of subfields and techniquesnew fields emerged
Field in Intellectual Crisiswhat defined PA became more problematic as it
grew, just what defined it?
Widening gap between theory and practice
The Refounding Movement, 1989-Present:
The study still has many unanswered questions but there are seven
identifiable clusters of thought with shared perspectives:
The Reinventors: (Osborne and Gaebler) more of advisors which focus on

pragmatic administrative reforms to enhance efficient entrepreneurial

government operations for customers
The communitarians: wrestle with rebuilding citizenship and community
VPI refounders: Virginia Polytechnic Institutionsenior scholars that seek a
fundamental philosophical, institutional, and theoretical refounding of the
entire field.
The Interpretivists: oriented toward phenomenology or subjectiveintersubjective relations, they explore values, assumptions, and ideas that
concern the very nature of being
The Tool-makersoffer new ways of analyzing PA
New bureaucratic analystsinfluence the field in the broadest and most
profound political issues of the fieldethics and how good policy made
From management to governanceemphasizes the importance of
managerial effectiveness for delivering public goods based upon
extensive empirical evidence, diverse contemporary literature and date, and
with far less rigid models compared to those such as POSDCORB

Top of page
Stillman Chap. 2: Formal Structure of Bureaucracy.
Max Weber, Bureaucracy Stillman Chapter 2
Walker Garrett (2005)
Characteristics of Bureaucracy
I. Activities required within structure are distributed as official duties
II.
Authority and delegation power is given to officials to
properly complete duties
III.
Provisions are in place to have continuous fulfillment of
duties and persons in charge of duties are qualified
a.
In public, these 3 characteristics make up the bureaucratic
authority
b.
In private, bureaucratic management
c.
Bureaucracy can only be developed in modern states or most
advanced institutions of capitalism.
IV.
In bureaucracy, there is a system of hierarchy where
authority is distributed in a manner which the lower offices are supervised by
higher offices.
a.
In full development, hierarchy is monocratically organized
b.
Once established an office tends to continue even after
fulfilling task and be held by another incumbent
V.
The management of the modern office is based upon
written documents, which are preserved in their original form.
a.
Bureaucracy separates public and private life, business

from home, in all aspects.

VI.
Most specialized office management has expert training
before employment
VII.
Bureaucratic offices when fully developed are a full time job
VIII.
Authority within modern public administration gives the power
to regulate not for each case of a matter, but to regulate that matter
abstractly
The Position of the Official
I.
Office holding is a vocation which requires training, an
ability to work for long periods of time, and requires examination before
employment
a.
Entrance into an office, including one in the private economy, is
considered an acceptance of a specific obligation of faithful
management in return for a secure existence.
b.
A political official isnt the personal servant of a ruler.
II.
Public or private, officials strive to obtain distinct social
esteem as compared to those governed
a.
Educational certificates are linked to not only qualification for
office, but serve to enhance the status element in the social position of
the official.
b.
The pure type of bureaucratic official is appointed by a
superior authority.
c.
The official who is not elected but appointed by a chief normally
functions more exactly, from a technical point of view, because, all other
circumstances being equal, it is more likely that purely functional points of
consideration and qualities will determine his selection and career.
i.
Judges appointed in US as opposed to quality of elected
1.
Appointed are generally more qualified
2.
The monocratic rule within bureaucracy contradicts the
formally democratic principle of a universally elected officialdom.
d.
As a factual rule, tenure for life is presupposed, even where
the giving of notice or periodic reappointment occurs
i.
Where legal guarantees against arbitrary dismissal or transfer
are developed, they merely serve to guarantee a strictly objective discharge
of specific office duties free from all personal considerations.
ii.
Those officials with more dependence on the master are more
likely to conform with status conventions
e.
Officials usually receive a fixed salary with old age security
provided by pension
i.
This security of income and rewards of social esteem make the
office a sought after position
f.
Officials become involved in their office as a career within the
hierarchal order of public service.
i.
General personal and intellectual qualifications are

taken into consideration over education with regards to the highest

political offices.
Technical Advantages of Bureaucratic Organization
I.
Precision, speed, unambiguity, knowledge of the files,
continuity, discretion, unity, strict subordination, reduction of
friction and of material and personal costs----these are raised to the
optimum point in the strictly bureaucratic administration, and especially in
its monocratic form.
a.
Bureaucratic work is more precise and cheaper than honorific
service on complicated tasks
b.
Work organized by collegiate bodies is inefficient
because of delays and compromises which lead to less precise, more
independent, slower work
c.
Very large, modern capitalist businesses are unequalled
models of strict bureaucratic structures.
d.
Individual performances are allocated to specialists who
have specific training and constant practice
e.
Bureaucracy produces calculable results which are needed
by modern culture
f.
Bureaucracy is dehumanized, eliminating personal
feelings, the special nature of the organizational theory
i.
It demands the personally detached and strictly objective
expert
The Permanent Character of the Bureaucratic Machine
I.
Bureaucracy has been and is a power instrument of the
first order for the one who controls the bureaucratic apparatus.
a.
Officials are entrusted with specialized tasks, so the general
mechanism cannot be disrupted except by the very top of the hierarchy
b.
Bureaucracy rests upon expert training, a functional
specialization of work, and an attitude set for habitual and virtuoso-like
mastery of single yet methodically integrated functions.
c.
The fact that the bureaucratic structure is impersonal allows for
anyone who knows how to gain control over it to use it by simply replacing a
few top officials.
Economic and Social Consequences of Bureaucracy
I.
The legal leveling and destruction of firmly established local
structures ruled by notables which takes place with bureaucratization has
usually made for a wider range of capitalist activity.
II.
The mere fact of bureaucratic organization does not
unambiguously tell us about the concrete direction of it economic effects,
which are always in some manner present.
III.
Bureaucracy strives merely to level those powers that stand in
its way and in those areas that, in the individual case, it seeks to occupy.

IV.
Democracy is opposed to rule of bureaucracy
The Power Position of Bureaucracy
I.
The drawing in of economic interest groups or other nonofficial experts, or the drawing in of non-expert lay representatives, the
establishment of local, inter-local,
or central parliamentary or other representative bodies, or of
occupational associations---these seem to run directly against the
bureaucratic tendency.
a.
Under normal conditions, the power position of a fully
developed bureaucracy is always overtowering.

Max Weber "Bureaucracy" (Stillman Ch 2 or Curtis v2)

Larry McLemore
Max Weber was a German lawyer who was influenced by the teachings of
Karl Marx. He was also a historian and economist. Weber was the first to
really examine the bureaucratic organization and its officials.
Characteristics of Bureaucracy
Bueraucratic Authority is in the public sector.
Bureaucratic Management is displayed in the private (economic) sector.
1. Bureaucratic authority has guidelines that make the activities,
authority, duties taken out in a fixed manner. To have the existence of
authority within the agency the duties must be established.
2. The heirarchy office type is found in all bureaucratic structures--public
and private. Weber claims that the character of the bureaucracy remains
unchanged if its authority is public or private. The authorities at the lower
levels are able to examine others actions.
3. Documents and files that have been all kept on record are the means
for management of the organization. The rules are
written for specific reasons and should not be changed. Rules
guarantee guidance in the organization.
4. Thorough and expert training are essential for good, specialized office
management. An office manager is expected
to be familiar with all rules and regulations.
5. The full working capacity of the official is a must for official activity.
The official is responsible for fulfilling his or her job
once the duties have been established and the office has totally
developed.
6. The office management follows general rules that do not change and
can be learned.

The Position of the Official

A true bureaucratic official is appointed by an authority that is superior.
An elected official is not a true bureaucratic official.
The official must be effective and efficient to survive in office.
Appointed officials (especially judges) are chosen for superior
qualifications and integrity.
Civil Service agencies tend to protect employees and put pressure and
constraints on officials.
Most officials want a law for the Civil Service that protects them from
being removed.
Techincal Advantages of Bureaucratic Organization
A developed bureaucracy is like a machine.
The bureaucratic administration can provide the best precision, speed,
clarity of issues, knowledge of issues and information, continuity, discretion,
unity, and so on.
Bureaucratization allows for specializing administartive functions.
Bureaucracies are made up of "calculable rules" which provides stability
and efficiency.
"The great virtue of bureacracy-indeed, perhaps its defining characteristicwas that it was an institutional method for applying general rules to specific
cases, thereby making the actions of government fair and predictable."
-- Max Weber
Stillman Chap. 2: Max Weber, "Bureaucracy" (part 2) Sections 10-12
(Will Steineker)
The Permanent Character of the Bureaucratic Machine

Bureaucracy is the way in which we translate "community action" into

"societal action"

Bureaucracy is, therefore, quite powerful and well entrenched

Individual bureaucrats cannot remove himself from the system

Individuals in society cannot do without the bureaucracy

The mechanism of bureaucracy works easily for those who control it

The mechanical nature of bureaucracy makes true revolution nearly

impossible
Economic and Social Consequences of Bureaucracy

The consequences of bureaucracy depend on the direction that ruling

powers give it

Bureaucracy has often served capitalist ends

Bureaucracy is agile enough to serve any number of political or

economic ends


Democracy is by no means the only system under which bureaucracy
can or does function

Democracy creates obstacles for bureaucracy, yet allows it to flourish

The Power Position of Bureaucracy

The modern state is constantly undergoing bureaucratization

Whether or not the actual power of bureaucracy is increasing is an

open question

The power of bureaucracy does not lie in its highly developed

machinery or in its

"indispensable" nature

Top of page
Chap. 3: Environment, Ecology of Public Admin.
by Charles U Walters, Spring 07
Economics and Ecology are closely related but Ecology is much wider, it
deals with all the interrelationships of living organisms and their environment

An ecological approach to public administration builds from the ground

up (demographics of an area, social habits, technology etc).

Gaus uses seven factors he feels are useful for explaining the process of
public administration: people, place, physical technology, social
technology, wishes and ideas, catastrophe, and personality.

Changes in distribution of people over different places has effects on

policy (people moving to cities or to farms)

Physical technology has impacted policy for an increase in paved roads

social technology the invention of the corporation

wishes and ideas being influenced by information or values/thoughts

that lead you to a particular action

catastrophe the effects of a catastrophe are relatively short lived in

many cases because after the first response often the older forces
flood back and cancel out most of the first reaction (catastrophe i.e.-

night club burned killing service men, legislation was passed for fire
inspection)

personality it is left to our own interpretation I would assume

John M Gaus, "The Ecology of Public Administration"

Walker Garrett (2005)
Ecology deals with all interrelationships of living organisms and their
environment.
There is a lineage between physical area, population, transport, and
government.
7 Axioms
1. Continuous, efficient discharge of government is necessary to a great
society
2. As complexity grows, so do functions of the government and the
relationship between those
functions and the people.
3. Government is strong in proportion to its capacity to deliver functions for
the people
4. Legislation respecting functions is easy, but enforcement of that
legislation is not
5. Effective and wise administration is the central prerequisite for survival of
government and society
6. Administration should be drawn from different classes, talents, prepared
with education, and
subjected to constructive internal and external criticism or a bureaucracy
dangerous to society may develop
7. Administrative system must operate to keep alive local and individual
responsibilities, not just
central government.
Eco approach elements: from ground up- soils, climate, location

Factors of ebb and flow of government: People, Place, Physical

Technology, Social Technology,
Wishes and Ideas, Catastrophe, Personality
People and Place
Movement from Farms to Cities from 18th Century to 20th Century
led to no jobs for the
old. This created a pension society.
City to Suburbs
Values of lands and buildings changed, and transport and utility had
to be adjusted to meet
growing demand in country.
Physical
Where there is an exhaustion of resources, there must be renewal
and restoration and it
takes a long time to restore sources of production. Ex. Forest replanting for
timber
Changes in place, or the use of the resources and products of a place are
coercive in their effect
upon public administration.
Changes in physical technology, however slowly their institutional influences
may spread, are more
obvious even to the point of being dramatic, to the citizen.
Pooling and application of the savings of many through the invention of the
corporation has set new
forces to ripple through the social order, disarranging human relationships
and creating new
possibilities of large scale enterprise financially capable of utilizing extensive
equipment and
personnel and creating new relationships between buyer and seller,
employer and employee-from
which coercions for a new balance of forces, through consumer, labor, and
investor standards have resulted.
The originators of ideas and of social as well as physical invention are
persons.
Catastrophes
Preparation and training are essential for coming through a
catastrophe and evolving from it.
Similar to a forest fire where the soil is enriched and produces better growth

than before, a
Catastrophe can shake up popular opinion and awaken administration to the
reality of things or
improve previous ideas. In many ways, catastrophes are an adapting time of
the ecology of public
administration. When the terrorists struck the World Trade Center Towers on
9/11, the government
had to change its way of thinking and adapt with new policies. This is part of
the ecology talked
about with public administration.
It is through growth and formulation of public policy from environmental
change that the
administration is linked to the environment.
John M. Gaus, "The Ecology of Public Administration"
by Amy C. Garrett
"ecology" as defined by Webster's dictionary "is the mutual relations,
collectively between organisms and their environments"
Charles A. Beard created 7 axioms in which environmental changes are
linked with public administration (found on pg 83)
the ecological approach builds from the ground up, it studys the roots of
government functions, civic attitudes, and operating problems
7 Factors effecting the Ebb and Flow of ecological public administration
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

People
Places
physical technology
social technology
wishes and ideas
catastrophe
personality

the ecological approach is difficult because you must observe

these seven factors combined in different ways tells why certain agencies
are formed
Top of page
Stillman Chap. 4: Political Environment & Power.
Norton E. Long, "Power And Administration"
by: Jessica R. Fails

-Administration is power
-the sources of power is derived and limited
-the top of hierarchy of the administration structure of power is irrelevant
- the power of a hierarchy flows down the chain of command
-Congress or the President can impart power as a form depends on the lineup of forces in particular case
-focus on general political energies of the communities
-power is not concentrated by the structure of government or politics in the
hands of a leadership with a capacity to budget it among a diverse a set of
administration activities
-to deny that power is derived from superiors in a hierarchy is asserted that
subordinates stand in a feudal relation to a degree they fend for themselves
and acquire support particularly their owns.
-this structure is important to determine the scope of possible action.
- a source of power and authority is a competitor of a formal
hierarchy
- power flow in from the up the organization to the center
- the American system of politics does not generate enough power at any
focal point of leadership to provide the conditions for an even successful
divorce of politics from administration
-the theory of administration has neglected the problem of the sources and
adequacy of power
- the bureaucracy under the American system has a large share of
responsibility for the public promotion of policy and more in organizing
political basis for its survival and growth
-a major time consuming aspect of administration consists of a wide range
of activities designed to secure enough acceptance to survive
- the balance between executives and legislative is constant subjected to a
shift of public support
- the unanswered question of American Government " who is boss?"
constantly plagues administration

Top of page
Stillman Chap. 5: Intergovernmental Relations.
by Charles U Walters, Spring 07
The US is founded on Federalism, not a system where authority flows straight
down such as a unitary form of government, but one built to establish
arenas for conflict and controversy.
In the US administrators must work where authority is shared by various

levels, jurisdictions, and units of government. IGR (intergovernmental

relations) must be studied therefore.
Laurence J. OToole Jr., American IGR
IGR is how our varied and numerous governments in America deal with each
other and what their relative roles, responsibilities, and levels are and should
be.
The Federal-State relationship is interdependent upon each other and
must deal with each other
There are several levels of government: National, State, and local; local
consists of: counties, municipalities, townships, school districts, and special
districts (special districts are those which manage specific functions such as
the formation of bridges, supplying water and sewage, etc.)
The Founding and the Framework: founders wanted to minimize instability,
injustice, and confusionbut they created a system built on two levels of
government which insured state autonomy (needed for ratification) and also
created a relatively strong federal state to provide unity (its duties where
limited however)dual federalism
Conflict and cooperation in Earlier Times: labor, social welfare, and
economic regulation were only some of the matters that national and state
government quarreled over. IGR loopholesjoint stock companies, land
grants to the states
Developments in the Early Twentieth Century: society and economy could
not tolerate a completely unregulated free market (limited natural resources,
powerful corporations, some states refused social welfare legislation)
Federal Financial Aidincome tax in 1913 created a large steady income
for the government where they could supply aid to states (grant-in-aid given
for specific purposes)
Validation of Grants in Aidfederal grants=coercive inducements and
violated the notion of separate spheres for the two levels of government. The
Supreme Court ruled that they were voluntary agreements and acceptable
Basic types of Assistance: block grants, revenue sharing, categorical grants,
formula grants, project grants, etc.
There is the Legacy of the New Deal
Creative Federalism and Its Implications: Johnson proposed creative
federalism in order to assist states, localities, individuals to solve domestic
issues, as a result many cities became relying more and more on the federal
government for aid than their states.
Intergovernmental Activismthe grant system required up-to-date
procedures and professional personnel, created an interest group explosion
in order to influence Congress, state and local officials found it crucial to
know more about Washington and the decision making process
Tensions and frustrations emerged from changes, duplicated grants, patterns
become complex.
Interdependence, Complexity, and Intergovernmental bargaining: actions

need mutual consent between levels of government, no part can work alone.
Nixons New Federalism: shifted power from Washington to field offices
trimming red tape, believed in revenue sharing, block grants, and
administrative initiatives
Reagan: proposed additional block grants, simplified intergovernmental aid
dramatically, devolution of responsibilities for many policies from the
national level to the states, created more simplified administration
Struggles for Reform, Pressures toward Globalization: UMRA
(Unfunded Mandates Reform Act) sought to impose tight budgets and cut
many programs drastically, TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needed Families)
put an end to long-term welfare assistance, designed to encourage welfare
recipients to move permanently into the workforce, NPR (National
Performance Review) called for a rationalizing of the nations approach to IGR
and trumpeted an need to end unfunded mandates to the state/local
governments
Laurence J. OToole, "American Intergovernmental Relations: An
Overview"
by Walker Garrett (2005)
-Intergovernmental relations is the subject of how our many and varied
American governments
deal with each other and what their relative roles, responsibilities, and levels
of influence are and
should be.
-Federalism means a system of authority constitutionally apportioned
between central and
regional governments.
-Fed-State relationship is interdependent: neither can abolish the
other and each must
deal with the other.
-Types of Governments
-Local
-Counties: General-purpose governments originally created throughout
most of the
country to administer state services at the local level.
-Municipalities: local governments established to serve people within an
area of
concentrated population.
-Municipalities have sometimes have bad relationships with
parent state
because they lack independent status similar to the states within
the US
Framework
-Municipalities have often develop defensive and somewhat

conflictual
relations with both state and national authorities---as they have
also
sought to develop additional revenue sources and less one-sided
dependence on the other levels.
-Townships
-School Districts
-Special Districts
-Special districts are currently responsible for managing public
housing; building
and maintaining bridges, tunnels, and roads; supplying water and
sewage
services to residents; assessing and regulating air quality; and caring
for the
districts mass transit needs.
The Founding and the Framework
-The framers of the US Constitution sought a way to combine the several
states into a structure
that would minimize instability, injustice, and confusion, in the words of
James Madison
-American states had agreed on a formal arrangement that is now called a
confederation (states
loosely joined for certain purposes).
-Federalists
-Suggested that states themselves remain independent governments
with
correspondingly independent jurisdictions.
-Constitution
-Divides responsibilities between the two levels of government according
to subject.
-10th Amendment: the powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution,
nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively,
or to the
people.
-National Congress given authority to provide for thegeneral Welfare
and to make
all Laws which shall be necessary and proper.
-Founders established overlapping two level structure where states and
central
government are not independent of each other.
The Idea of Dual Federalism
-Dual Federalism involves each of the two levels of government operating

independently within
its separate jurisdiction without relying on the other for assistance or
authorization.
Conflict and Cooperation in Earlier Times
-The Civil War is the prime example of disagreement over the limits of
authority between
National and State Government.
-Intergovernmental loopholes
-Joint Stock Companies
-Part public and part private entities created to surmount the
restrictions on
direct participation by the national government.
-Land Grant
-The Federal government would offer some of its land to the states for
specified
purposes.
-Land grants were intended to help achieve goals in the fields of
education,
economic development, and social welfare.
-It was not until the 20th century that the dual federal perspective declined
in significance and
American intergovernmental relations developed into a system with
sustained high levels of
interdependence and consequent complexity.
Developments in the Early 20th Century
-Power concentrated in large corporations, regulation needed
-Natural resources limited, must be conserved
-Newly developing and professionalizing state bureaucracies, which saw in
federal involvement
opportunities for upgrading and expanded funding
-With the income tax, the federal government created a source of money
that they could
repeatedly use, such cases were called grant-in-aid.
-These grant-in-aids are a transfer of money from one government to another
for a certain
reason. There very fine details of each transaction that stipulate how the
money will be
managed.
-Federal aid is large, new, and has the capacity to produce large-scale
alterations. Because of
this, they are considered an extremely significant part of Americas fiscal
federalism.

Validation of Grants-in-aid
-A pair of landmark decisions in 1923 by the Supreme Court greatly
expanded the grant
system. The court asserted that grants were voluntary arrangements and
the federal government
was not violating the constitution.
Basic Types of Assistance
-Grants come in many shapes and sizes, and the donor can structure the
purpose to whatever it
feels like. These are called categorical grants
-The donor may also design an intergovernmental program for many
purposes in a particular
field, and this is called a block grant.
-1970s, a new form of aid called revenue sharing was created to make sure
that one
government could offer financial aid with virtually no restrictions.
-Some grants specify a precise formula, these are called formula grants. The
formula largely
depends on the purpose of the grant.
-Project grants allocate funding on a competitive basis, and potential
recipients have no
advanced knowledge about the size of the grant.
Why do we distinguish between different types of grants?
The answer is that the different grants are designed to produce different
relationships between
the governments that are involved.
The Legacy of the New Deal
-During the time of the New Deal, the grant-in-aid was repeatedly used.
This time period also saw an increase in the importance if intergovernmental
relationships. This
continued to grow under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
-Efforts to reduce the interdependence and complexities of the
intergovernmental system have
been unsuccessful..
-Mandates, however, have been a major issue in our most recent decade.
Creative Federalism and Its Implications
-Johnson proposed creative federalism which was designed to signify
multiple national
committees to assist states and such. The efforts of this administration were
directed primarily
at the problem of racial discrimination. Most new programs were categorical
grants.

Intergovernmental Activism
-Increased governmental help was welcomed by state and local
governments. Johnsons
administration greatly increased the role of government grants, but with this
came many
controversies.
Emergent Frustrations and Tensions
-Interagency competition for clients led to loosening of federal requirements
-Grants for same basic things have different requirements and approval
processes
-Instead of spending on local needs, cities work to get matching funds for
national priority
programs
-Greater number of specialists within governmental levels in administrative
duties
-When responsibility becomes diffused, the mechanisms of democratic
government cannot
readily ensure that policy reflects the will of the people or their
representatives
-Creative Federalism while bringing energy and inventiveness, also bring
escalating costs and
frustrations
Interdependence, Complexity, and Intergovernmental Bargaining
-Interdependence means that power is shared among branches of
government
-Complexity means that the intergovernmental network is large and
differentiated
-These two things led to a system of bargaining under conditions of partial
conflict among
participants
-Unfunded mandates used in recent years as mechanism of coordination
across governments.
-Shift over last two decades+ have led to alteration in the types of
bargaining and issues subject
to negotiation.
-No matter how much the intergovernmental relationships change, value and
conflicts with exist
Nixons New Federalism
-Revenue Sharing: Federal to state and local governments. All state and local
governments
eligible for aid on basis of complex formulas

-Block grants: proposed by Nixon with set of enactments in six policy fields
along with the
elimination of a series of closely related categorical grants.
-Administrative initiatives- Reforms to simplify and expedite the grant
application and review
process, still subject o criticism from all directions
The Carter Period
-Worked on developing links among PIGS with state and local governments,
advancing
administrative reforms, and getting attention to economic problems of cities
-Carter did not propose or recommend and major changes
-Federal spending increased slowly and reversed direction in 1978, limited at
a time when many
units of government depended on the funding
-Congress held tightly onto other units of government during this period
Reagans Attempted Revolution
-Believed in strong state power, limited national government power
-Priorities of tax reductions and defense renewed vulnerability of
intergovernmental aid to sizable cuts
-Proposals
-Additional block grants
-Dramatic Simplification of the system of intergovernmental aid
-A devolution of responsibilities for many policies from the national
level to the
states, new programs suggested
-Administrative simplification-trim red tape and lighten burden of
federal
mandates.
Crosscurrents at Centurys End: Struggles for Reform, Pressures toward
Globalization
-Complexity and interdependence, will continue to shape the details of
intergovernmental
bargaining and frustrate the efforts of reformers to impose or craft a clear
and coherent design
-Temporary Assistance to Needy Families TANF
-TANF put an end to long-term welfare assistance, a frequent
occurrence under the
older program, and was designed to encourage welfare recipients to move
permanently into the
work force.
-Both political parties find reasons to support mandating, even if the
mandates and policy
sectors vary. Using legislation is a way of trying to prevent

intergovernmental regulation and

bargaining doesnt address the more fundamental sources of these ties.
-Under Clinton, the growth in federal aid was concentrated in a few sectors
and devoted
primarily to big increases in spending for transfer payments.
-Increasing economic pressures toward globalization have now added
another set of actors and
considerations to the constraints and opportunities in the intergovernmental
system.
-The overall system is, furthermore, even less transparent to citizens---with
potential
implications for responsiveness and the quality of democratic life.
-The most fundamental aspects of American intergovernmental relations,
including the strengths,
weaknesses, frustrations, and dilemmas of the pattern, have remained
prominent
-The choices made centuries ago created opportunities for dramatic shifts
toward new forms of
interdependence and complexity in the intergovernmental network
Top of page
Stillman Chap. 6: Internal Dynamics & informal Group.
Elton Mayo, "Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company"
Vance McBrayer
Mayo begins by describing an experiment involving the changing of
illumination and how it affected work production.
Results were not expected. Work production increased when illumination
was decreased, increased, and even when it remained the same.
There must have been other factors affecting the experiment
In modern large scale industry the three persistent problems of
management are
1.The application of science and technical skill to some material good or
product.
2.The systematic ordering of operations.
3.The organization of teamwork - that is, of sustained cooperation.
If these are out of balance, the organization will be unsuccessful.
The first two make the industry effective. The third makes it efficient.
Experimenting was conducted to show that in the same conditions, a
group that has sustained cooperation, or teamwork, will work more
efficiently than a group of individuals, and they will also feel less
tired, stressed, less under pressure, etc.
The Interview Program was seen to be ineffective when done is a question-

answer style. Workers wished to talk freely.

Rules for an interviewer
1. Give your whole attention to the person interviewed, and make it
evident that you are doing so.
2. Listen - don't talk.
3. Never argue; never give advice.
4. Listen to a) What he wants to say, b) What he does not want to say,
and c) What he cannot say without help.
5. As you listen, plot out tentatively and for subsequent correction the
pattern that is being set before you. To test this, from time to time
summarize what has been said and present for comment. Always do this with
the greatest caution, that is, clarify but do not add or twist.
6. Remember that everything said must be considered a personal
confidence and not divulged to anyone.
It is impossible to relate oneself to a working group one by one; it is easy,
however, if that group are already a fully constituted team. Communication
will flow from the supervisor to one person who will then relate it to the rest
of the team.
Experiments stressed the need for people to have an "emotional release," to
be able to vent or pour out emotion in confidence. This ability to be free and
open will better open the lines of communication between management and
the crew.
Failure of free communication between management and workers leads to
the exercise of caution by the working group until such time as it knows
clearly the range and meaning of changes imposed from above.
The interviewer must be able to distinguish between personal matters
and group matters when talking to individuals.
Through experiments, the third part of a management's problems,
teamwork, is the most important.
5 summarized points
1. The early discovery that the interview aids the individual to get
rid of useless emotional complications and to state his problem clearly.
2. The interview has demonstrated its capacity to aid the individual
to associate
more easily, more satisfactorily, with other persons.
3. The interview not only helps the individual to collaborate better with
his group of workers, it also develops his desire and capacity to work better
with management.
4. The interviewing possesses immense importance for the training of
administrators
in the difficult future that faces this continent and the
world.
5. The interview has proved to be the source of information of great
objective value to management.

Top of page
Stillman Chap. 7: Decisionmakers & Subsystems.
Chapter 7: Stillman, "Key Decision Makers Inside Public
Administration:
The Concept of Competing Bureaucratic Subsystems"
(Amy Halpin & Anna Michelle Cox)
"Our public bureaucracy is composed of identifiable clusters of individuals
who work and act in influential ways inside bureaucracy. Each of these
subsystems shapes the broad outcomes of bureaucracy." -Richard J. Stillman
II
The Subsystems are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Political Appointees
Professional Careerists
General Civil Service
Unionized Workers
Contractual Employees

-Subsystems have certain important similarities and differences in their roles,

values, missions, power, status, functions, activities, and influence within
public organizations.
The Political Appointee Subsystem: The Birds of Passage
Most political appointees fill the top level policy making posts within
federal, state, and local
bureaucracies.
Most political appointees have limited background in government. Very
few serve repeated spells in government; few work for more than one
administration.
The roles of a political appointees in a bureaucracy can be conceived as
rings that circle the office of the elected chief executive--a president,
governor, or mayor. The first ring is the inner cabinet. Second is outer
cabinet. Third is the sub-cabinet. Fourth are advisors to the secretaries and
directors of agencies. And finally there are the individuals occupying limbo
land between quasipolitical and non-political territory.
Seven Influences of the Political Appointee Subsystem:
1. Appointees occupy the highest, most prominent posts within public
organizations.
2. Influences depends upon the policy positions they hold, the length
of their government service, their connections with top elected officials, their

own personalities, their support from outside groups, the immediate tasks at
hand, and whether these lend themselves to imminent solutions.
3. As one moves down the hierarchy of political officials, one finds
greater degree of specialization.
4. Battles occur between different levels of political appointees due to
differences in perspectives.
5. Close ties or friendships develop between top officials and the
chief executive.
6. Degree of loyalty results from job instability.
7. Despite operating in an ambiguous world, ultimately they are
central to the governing processes at all levels of government.
The Professional Careerist Subsystem: Permanent Clusters of Powerful
Experts
-Professional Elites comprise the core group of experts. These are the senior
and most prestigious and respected members of the profession.
Elites proved the leadership as well as set the work standard, the
qualifications for entrance and advancement, and the overall values for the
profession.
Line Professionals, who fall just below the level of the senior elites,
actually carry out the day-to-day functions of the public agency.
Staff Professionals include a wide assortment of specialists and technical
assistants who have unique and specialized expertise that may not be
directly connected with the central tasks of the agency.
Administrative Professionals are critical to the activities of the agency
because they essentially serve as "the directing brain" of the organization.
Paraprofessionals are paid substantially less but still play a vital role in
achieving the assigned tasks on the organization.
Six Influences of Professional Careerist Subsystem:
1. They are essential to the performance of the central mission of public
agencies.
2. Careerists have a large longevity within agencies compared to
appointees.
3. They are part of well established pecking order, from elites to "paras".
4. Continuing political strength and popular support of professionals
ultimately rest upon their recognized expertise and competence as well as
on their ability to exercise these skills in a regular, uniform manner in the
public interest.
5. Professionals influence policies by moving upward and outward beyond
the contours of their roles within agencies.
6. Conflicts are hidden from public because they arise from disputes
between clusters of key professionals.

The General Civil Service Subsystem: Ladders of Bureaucratic Specialists,

Generalists, and
Workers
Civil Service Members are the bulk of government personnel.
Civil Service is based on the merit system, where rank is inherent in the
job, not the person.
It was built on a negative moral reaction to what was perceived as "evil"
rather than on a positive and deliberate design.
The federal civil service work force has stayed fairly constant in size over
the past 40 years, but the local and state work force has nearly tripled.
Members of the general civil service subsystem generally lack the
cohesiveness and unity found among professionals. This is due to the lack of
mobility within the civil service.
In comparison with appointees, civil servants are more realistic and
conservative due to worth of incrementalism.
In 3 studies, the following were points were all stressed as areas needing
attention in civil service:
1. Poor Public Image
2. Competence Crisis
3. Removing Barriers to a High Performance Work Force
The Unionized Subsystem: Cadres of Workers Inside Bureaucracy
Today there are three prominent and powerful public service unions that
speak for many, through certainly not all, public employees: the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the American
Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of
Teachers.
Five Significant Aspect of Union Involvement:
1. Variety
2. Growth
3. Some unions have matured, but not become dominant
4. Won Positive Reforms
5. "Civil Service-like" practices and philosophy suffers
Contract Employment: The Newest, Fastest-Growing Bureaucratic
Subsystem
-Only slightly more than one-eigth of Th. total federal budget is spent on
directing activities that the government performs itself.
Therefore, almost 60 percent of Th. total obligation for goods and services
is contracted out.

Contracting Out effects on political agencies and their outputs:

1. The growth of the contractual subsystem makes it increasingly hard to
tell where government bureaucracy begins and ends. (Contracting out
enables politicians to gain services for their constituents and then claim that
they have "kept the lid on government personnel costs.")
2. Some sectors of +government are controlled by their contractors.
3. There is less and less use for traditional bureaucratic techniques.

Top of page
Stillman Chap. 8: Decisionmaking & Incremental Choice.
Stillman's Introduction to Incrementalism: [SPS notes]
by Bill Butler, Spring 2011
Charles Lindblom, a Political Science and Economics Professor at Yale, said
that there are two types of decision making: the rational comprehensive
(root) method and the successive limited comparisons (branch) method.
Lindblom argues that the root method is thought to be the ideal, what is
supposed to happen, while the branch method is what actually occurs most
often. Lindblom acknowledges strengths and weaknesses to both strategies.
Rational Comprehensive method:
-the administrator lists the desired aspects of an objective in order of
importance. Then comes the formulation of multiple alternatives that attain
said aspects. The administrator then chooses the best alternative that
maximizes the number of aspects met.
-deemed to be rational because of the selection and weight of the objective
aspects and the possible solutions.
-root method assumes that there are absolute values on all sides to agree
on.
-also time-consuming.
Successive Limited Comparisons method: [incrementalism]
-the objective is determined, but often gets amended or added to, widened
or narrowed.
-administrators often outline a wide range of possible alternatives, but rarely
stray from trusted small steps history has said are acceptable.
-allows for administrators to avoid serious mistakes.
-works with our system
Lindblom also makes several observations about the actuality of
administrative decision-making.
-decisions are incremental
-limited scope of options open to taking

-must be flexible because of the mutability of policy.

-decisions are usually to determine what 'gets us by'
-many different entities have a hand in the making of government policy.
Top of page
Stillman Chap. 9: Communication.
Dr. James Garnett "Administrative Communication: It's Centrality"
Jamie Jordan
The first executive function is to develop and maintain a system of
communication.
Dr. Garnett's beliefs
Stresses the importance of communication within administration.
Cites several cases within this book that show the importance of
communication.
Although communication is important in life and death situations, the larger
consequences of miscommunication occur in the countless daily interactions
among public servents, citizens, officals, etc.
Communication is not a universal remedy.
Central public Sector Communication Processes and Roles
Centering around news making process is a detriment of our understanding
of
key communication processes.
Revolutionizing the news making process.
* increasing demand for direct interaction with public officials rather than
media filtered.
* the result is direct interaction through broadcasted live speeches from
the official
* televised "town meetings"
* need for combination of communication skills and ethics
Communication specialists of today are being demanded to play a more
involved
managerial role than before.
The internal communication process is important because of the effect the
whole system.
"communication is too critical to managerial success to be left solely to
the professional communicators."
Internal communication can be thought of as downward, upward or lateral.

* Downward is issuing task directives, giving task-related information

feedback on performance and conveying an overall sense of mission.}
* Upward is feedback on whether downward messages are received,
understood
, and acted upon; warnings about problems needing attention; intelligence
gleaned by subordinates about key stakeholders; soundings about
organizational morale and performance.}
* Later communication is the communication among organizational peers in
the same or different unit. Key functions include task coordination,
information sharing, multidisciplinary problem solving, and mutual emotional
support. They tend to be more honest and accurate because they are shared
among equal status
Three factors contributing to the rise of the interorganizational dimension in
public management
* economic interdependence--globally and locally
* networks through which political policy decisions are made have tended to
become larger and more diverse
* greater access to information communication technology and liberalizing
of many political economic and service institutions have enabled looser
coupling in various ways.
Gaining and maintaining credibility is hard if not impossible in the American
system.
Linking diverse audiences , using diverse media are important elements of
communication.
Communication ethics involve accuracy, usefulness, openness, and fairness,
violations tend to damage credibility.

Top of page
Stillman Chap. 10: Executive Management & Effectiveness.
Charles U Walters Spring 07
Understanding of modern organizations comes from different theoretical
perspectives, such as the analogy of blind men touching an elephant
they are all touching one elephant but in different places thus producing a
radical difference in opinion to the nature of the beast.

There is a tendency to identify good government management with good

business management. (apply entrepreneurial talent to public enterprises)
The Brownlow Committee Report (1937) considered high point of
influence on public administration, mirrored business practices of the day
(continues with performance budgets, cost-benefit analysis, management by
objective, etc).
The Three Esefficiency, economy, and effectiveness (root of making
government run like a business)

Hal G. Rainey and Paula Steinbauer, Galloping Elephants:

Developing Elements of a Theory of Effective Government
Organizations
By Cole Muzio, Spring 2009
*Elephant- symbolic of large, cumbersome, lumbering being. However,
elephants can run very fast. They are thick-skinned yet display sensitivity
*Like elephants, our bureaucracies contain seeming paradoxes. They are
large, cumbersome, and bungling, however, they perform very well.
Likewise, despite being seen as unresponsive, they are quite sensitive and
responsive to needs of individuals. Recent research indicates that typical
assumptions of bureaucracies may be false and the evidence indicates
bureaucracies have displayed entrepreneurial, innovative, and effective
performance.
*Social Security Administration is administratively efficient (costs run at .08
% of benefits). These numbers have been getting better since the 80s.
During the 80s SSA cut 17,000 employees. They have improved storage and
also computerization of claims. It ranked #1 in telephone service, beating
out private companies.
*Dept. of Defense showed tremendous improvement from Vietnam to the
Gulf War. Low number of casualties and success in operations were striking
improvement.
*Centers for Disease Control receive favorable assessments of
performance/professionalism. U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Customs Service, U.S.
Passport Office and some city governments identified as well managed and
successful.
*Limited success of privatization. Success of privatization depends heavily on
sound management by government employees. Business is not the perfect
model as it produces waste, inefficiency, blundering, and fraud. Business

(private) does not necessarily mean efficient and bureaucracy (public) does
not necessarily mean inefficient.
*Bureaucracies must focus on leadership, mission, and organization culture.
Definition of agency effectiveness: The agency performs well in discharging
the administrative and operational functions pursuant to its mission.
*Stakeholders for bureaucracies are executive, legislative, and judicial
oversight, constituent groups, and the general public. Effective agencies will
have supportive, delegative, and attentive oversight authorities. Authorities
who devote attention to agency demand higher performance. Example of
Congressman Wilbur Mills who led to have problems with SSA fixed in the
70s. Agencies also need diverse and mobilizable interest groups on their
side. Favorable perception by the public is also influential towards
effectiveness (this is perhaps also a chicken and egg type thing). While
oversight authorities need to be involved, autonomy is crucial for an
agencies success.
*The higher the value of the mission the more likely the agency is to have
success (more likely to be supported, get funding, have motivated workers
etc.)
*Strong organizational culture is important. However, this culture does not
need to be insular, isolationistic, or arrogant (FBI). Leadership is also
important for organizational culture success. Leadership qualities include:
creativity, innovation, motivation, conflict management, team building,
business acumen, communication skills, political savvy etc. Stability is also
important factor for agency leadership. Commitment to agency mission is a
very important aspect of leadership.
*Extrinsic rewards- coming from employer in the form of pay, promotion,
benefits etc.
*Intrinsic rewards- involve psychology of worker such as enjoyment of work,
sense of purpose, growth and development etc.
*Agencies need to maximize intrinsic rewards since extrinsic rewards are not
easy to do in government. Task design is crucial to this. Likewise, keeping a
professional workforce is key to success. Workforces productivity also
increased by patriotic, purposeful, and mission oriented motivations.

Hal G. Rainey and Paula Steinbauer, Galloping Elephants:

Developing Elements of a Theory of Effective Government

Organizations
Charles U Walters Spring 07
The authors compare bureaucracy to an elephant by saying it is large,
cumbersome, though thick skinnedit can display sensitivity and
responsiveness to needs, and they also can perform very well.
Motivation is vital whether it stems from: public service motivation,
motivation by mission, specific task-related motivation, or work in the tasks
themselves motivation, or is it for the pay/benefits?all of these can
contribute to performance, especially if they are seen as linked together.
An example of agency effectiveness is the Social Security Administration
their administrative costs dropped from $1.30 out of every 100 dollars to
$ .80 out of every 100 dollars from the early eighties to the 1998. In the 80s
they cut 17000 employees many of whom were replaced by computers.
Privatizationit seems the more carefully the study is performed on
privatization the smaller reported savings. It depends heavily on sound
management by government employees on the contracting and the level of
competition between companies. Privatization can also decentralize the
seemingly monolithic entity spreading its power among others.
Business blunders and fraud in the market place lead to the questioning
of whether or not they actually out perform government agenciesone
attribute that leads to effective PA is dedicated public servants not motivated
by economic self-interest but by loyalty and identification.
Agencies are more effective when they are allowed a certain level of
autonomy. It is best for an agency to have diverse stakeholders
(people/groups/institutions with interest in organizations outcome/activities)
they need to be attentive, interested, geographically dispersed, mobile, and
multiple.and favorable public support increases effectiveness
The higher the mission valence of an organizationthe higher it will
perform
Effective leadership is vital, along with an organizational culture that
includes the ability to adapt, surveillance of the environment, and
responsiveness.
Tasks need to be specific providing extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to
employees and groups (extrinsicpay, promotion, physical conditions;
intrinsicinterest in work, sense of growth and development, and worthwhile
accomplishment).

Organizations need to use professionalism and continue to utilize

technology and develop their human resources

Hal Rainey & Paula Steibauer, "Galloping Elephants:

Developing Elements of a Theory of Effective Government
Organizations."
Vance McBrayer, 2003?
Government organizations are like elephants: they seem large,
cumbersome, and lumbering, yet actually they are very fast animals; they
thick-skinned, yet they are very sensitive.

More and more authors are beginning to defend public bureaucracies

and
debunk stereotypes and negative allegations about them
Examples of Agency Effectiveness
Social Security Administration (SSA) - administrative costs are only 0.8
percent of benefits; in the 80's, only $1.30 of every $100 in the SSA program
goes to administrative expense; stores files in large industrial storage
facilities built into old caves, saving on building costs in cities; computers are
now doing many of the functions that employees once performed; SSA
ranked #1 in a survey of customer satisfaction; downsized workforce to be
more efficient
U.S. Department of Defense - extremely efficient in Gulf War; achieved goals
with minimum casualties
Centers for Disease Control, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Customs Service, U.S.
Passport Office are also others
Mixed Results of Privatization
An indication of effective performance by public agencies comes form the
limited success of privatization initiatives
Public organizations can and often do perform as well as private firms
Power Sharing and the Hollow State
The increasingly networked or hollow state character of many public
programs strain the depiction of the public bureaucracy as a centralized,
retentive, monolithic entity
Business Blunders and Generic Theories of Management
The prospects for effective public organizations is attributed to the presence
of dedicated public servants who are motivated not by narrow economic selfinterest buy by organizational loyalty and identification

Models of Excellence in Government Orgainzations

See page 304 for a list of Propositions About Effective Public Agencies
The meaning of Effectiveness
Effectiveness - The agency performs well in discharging the administrative
and operational functions pursuant to the mission. It achieves the mission as
conceived by the organization and its stakeholders, or pursues achievement
of it in an evidently successful way
Relations with Stakeholders
Stakeholders - persons, groups, and institutions that have an interest in the
activities and outcomes of the organization sufficient to draw their
participation and attention to the agency
Effective agencies will have oversight authorities that are supportive,
delegative, and attentive to agency mission and accomplishment
An agency is better able to obtain resources and autonomy of operations
when it has interest groups that, in addition to being attentive and
interested, are geographically dispersed, diverse along various dimensions,
movilizable, and multiple
Autonomy
Government agencies will be more effective when they have higher levels
off autonomy in relation to external stakeholders, but not extremely high
levels of autonomy
Autonomy to manage its mission and tasks tends to enhance an agency's
performance of the mission and tasks
Autonomy does not mean leaving out stakeholders
Mission Valence
The higher the mission valence of the agency, the more effectively the
agency will perform
The more engaging, attractive, and worthwhile the mission is to people, the
more the agency will be able to attract support from those people, to attract
some of them to join the agency, and to motivate them to perform well in the
agency
Organizational Culture
Effective government agencies have a strong organizational culture,
effectively linked to mission accomplishment
Leadership
The more effective the leadership of the agency, the more effective the
agency. More effective leadership is characterized by more stability,
multiplicity, commitment to mission, effective goal setting, and effective
administrative and political coping

Leadership has long been treated as an important determinant of an

agency's power and influence
Task Design
The more the task design in the agency provide extrinsic and intrinsic
rewards to individuals and groups, the more effective the agency
Motivation
Effective government agencies have high levels of motivation among their
members, including high levels of public service motivation, mission
motivation, and task motivation
Public Service Motivation - a general altruistic motivation to serve the
interests of a community of people, a state, a nation, or humankind
Mission Motivation - developing a sense of mission for the agency and
incorporating it into the culture of the agency through goal setting, symbolic
actions, and other techniques
Task Motivation - See section on Task Design above

Top of page
Stillman Chap. 11: Personnel Motivation & Culture.
11 Lois Recascino Wise, The Public Service Culture
By Brandon Shrout (Spring 2007); others are below
-The Change in the Public Service Culture
-1961, President Kennedy said to the country Ask not what your country can
do for you but what you can do for your country.
-During the 1960s and 1970s interest in public service was very high;
because people felt that they not only could make a difference but that it
was their duty to.
-Since then times have changed, people began moving to jobs in the private
sector for higher pay.
-What Do We Know? -There are four questions that this piece addresses.
-What are public service motives?
-What are the operating conditions of public service motivation?
-Is public service motivation more prevalent in the public sector?
-Seeks to explore the significance of public service motives.
-What are Public Service Motives?
-Public service motive is a type of human need.
-People have many types of needs and the desire to fulfill these needs
influence behavior. These different needs are in constant competition with
each other and are sometimes conflicting.
-People with public service motive can typically be found in public work
because governmental jobs usually focus on public services.
-Public service motivation relates to the process that causes an individual to

perform acts that contribute to the public good to satisfy their own personal
needs.
-Public service motives can be organized into three categories:
Affective- are based in an individuals emotions, a deep belief in the
importance of certain programs for the benefit of society.
Normative- Involves sense of duty to the community, loyalty to
government, and a desire to serve the public interest.
Rational- involve a desire to represent a special interest and personal
identification with a program or policy goal, along with desires for personal
gain and personal fulfillment. Rational motives are not truly public service
motives because they dont prioritize the public good over individual
interests.
-What are the Operating Conditions of Public Service Motivation?
-Human behavior is based on a mix of motives. These motives can change
as certain needs are fulfilled or if new needs arise. Motives can also change
due to an individuals environment (workplace, country, geographic region,
etc.).
-For example, when a government organization has to downsize or make
pay cuts, job security and monetary rewards overpower the public service
motives.
-The strength of the public service motives may give individuals the strength
to resist organizational norms or peer pressure that may conflict with their
interpretation of the public good.
-These tensions that occur daily in their work may develop into habitual
behavior which will lean more toward the individual interest than the public
good.
-Are Public Service Motives Exclusive to the Public Sector?
-Public service motives cannot be found exclusively in the public sector for
two main reasons:
-There is nothing to test individuals and then place them into specific sectors
based on their motives.
-Second reason is that the boundaries between different sectors are vague.
Ex. Healthcare industry in the U.S. can be found in public, private, and
nonprofit sectors.
-Of What Significance Are Public Service Motives?
-They anchor bureaucratic behavior and action, and provide a value basis for
governance.
-Educating the citizenry contributes to the responsibility for involving the
public in the democratic and administrative process. Educating public
causes tensions with efficiency and professionalism.
-Shared values can provide a solid foundation for organizations; they give
individuals a common goal, causing them to be more motivated to reach
their individual goals, which in turn cause the organizational goals to be
reached. Individual public service motives can also save an organization
falling into group think when faced with a problem. This thought directly

conflicts with the norm of neutrality, which means that administrators in a

bureaucracy should remain neutral.
-Engagement means public service officials should think about what ought
to be done instead of merely doing what must be done.
-Ex. Public servants should never take a passive role in policy
implementation.
-Working beyond contract- means doing more than the minimum the job
requires.
-Conclusions
-Public service motives have potential for advancement within the
democratic state, but they are at the heart of a fundamental tension with
some of the key parts of administrative behavior.
-These motives do, however, set the culture of the public service sector
apart from other sectors by making them operate for the common good in
reference to values, engagement of work, educating of citizens, and
selflessness.
Stillman 11 Lois Recascino Wise, "Public Service Culture
By: Walker Garrett (2005)
Note: Dr. Wise sent an email complimentary of the quality of this page, 29
Sep. 05. Congratulations, Amy & Walker!
-Public Service Culture of today versus the past
-During the 1960s and 70s, there was a sense of commitment to
nation via the taking
up of responsibility as part of our life purpose, whereas today, we focus not
on a purpose
driven life, but rather on the pursuit of monetary gain.
-What are Public Service Motives?
-A public service motive is a type of need.
-Because we have different needs, those needs are in competition
with one another and
sometimes conflicting with one another.
-There are power motives, spiritual motives, emotional motives, and
monetary motives
which guide our desire to perform and work at a job: the public service
motive is similar to
these other motives in that it has its own means of reward for the worker.
-Behavior contributing to the public good is a human need which is
seen as being
primarily addressed in the public sector, especially the government where
the public services
operate around the people.
-Public service motives are organized into three broad categories:
-Affective, Norm-based, and Rational motives

-Normative- Involve sense of duty, loyalty to gov., desire to serve

public interest
-Affective- Individuals emotions, personal belief in importance of
certain programs to
the benefit of society.
-Rational-Represent some special interest and a personal
identification with a program
or policy goal, as well as desires for personal gain and personal fulfillment.
Because rational
motives tend to be self-serving, they are not truly public service motives
since they do not
prioritize the good of the public over individual interests.
-What Are the Operating Conditions of Public Service Motivation?
-Human behavior is a mix a motives, and those motives are fluid, so
individuals may
vary and change from one set of motives to another as their needs require. A
rational person
acts under the belief that effort produces so result. Motives may change due
to an environment
which does not allow results from the current set of motives.
-There is a tension and conflict between personal interests and the
interests of the public
good. There is a balance represented between the worker interests and that
of the public, and in
most cases, the personal interests is put first.
-The public service motivation may be present in the private sector as
well: some
corporations have public policy programs.
-There are other outlets for a need to serve, ex. Ministry, community
service
-The boundaries between public and private overlap many times
-Government generally provides a broader range of opportunities to
serve the public
service needs, because public organizations have separate value
orientations; however, even in
the public sector, individuals will adapt to the operating incentive structure.
-The mission, policies, administrative structure, and culture of
organizations affect the
opportunities present for an individual to fulfill public service needs.
-Of What Significance Are Public Service Motives?
-Public service motives anchor bureaucratic behavior and action, and
they provide a
value basis for governance.
-While education is important to link between citizenry and their
contribution to
democracy and community responsibility, it can be a hindrance to the

traditional stigmas of
efficiency and professionalism.
-Values are integral to the cohesion of a public organization because
they result in higher
job satisfaction and motivation, contribute to solutions of public
administration questions, and
challenge the individual to reject the ideas of the norm or group when in
conflict with personal
discretions. This forces out the old norm of neutrality in bureaucracy where
administrators
should remain emotionally unattached to problems they addressed.
-Engagement requires operating outside the box in order to get the
job done effectively.
It requires thinking about what out to be done rather than what must be
done.
-Working beyond contract theory-doing more than the minimum or
standard
-There is a moral responsibility associated with being a public servant
which requires
imagination and creativity to be brought to the job.
-Conclusions
-There is a conflict between the fundamental tenets of administrative
behavior and
public service motives because a focus on values, education, and
engagement are not in line
with traditional notions of good public administration, efficient and
professional.
-Public service motives set the public service culture apart as
organization operating for
the concern for the common good along the lines of values, engagement of
work, education to
empower citizens, and selflessness.
Lois Recascino Wise, "The Public Service Culture"
by Amy Garrett
What are public service motives?
* A public service motive is a type of human need. The desire to
fulfill human needs influences behavior.
*These needs will be stronger for some people than they are for others
* Public service motivation pertains to the process that causes individuals to
perform acts taht contribute to the public good as a way of satisfying their
personal needs.
* Three categories of public service motives:
1. Affective: rooted in emotion
2. Norm Based: based on social values and norms of what is proper

appropriate and include a desire to serve the public interest; fulfill a sense of
duty;
and to express a sense of loyalty to the government
3. Rational: represent some special interest or personal identification
as well as sdesires for personal gain and personal need fulfillment
*Some do not see this as a true service motive as it is self serving
What are the operating conditions of public service motivation?
*people that have public service motives also have other motives and human
needs
*Contextual factors are also an important part of why people join the
public sector such as job security
* Situational factors: motives may be dominant in individual behavior or
behavior occurs as a consequence of other motives
Are Public Service Motives Exclusive to the Public Sector?
*Many people do not consciously choose a sector of employment and may
not be fully aware of their own motives for joining a particular organization.
*Boundaries between the sectors are vague and tasks overlap
Three Central Ideas in conflict:
1) Education: educate the citizens on the issues but it costs too much
(efficiency vs professionalism)
2) Values: using individual values vs remaining neutral
3) Engagement: taking an active role in policy vs structure not being
held morally responsible
Top of page
Stillman Chap. 12: Public Budgeting.
There is certainly room for a volunteer to improve on this old outline -- JRTL
Irene Rubin, "Politics of Public Budgets":
by Jake Graffeo
*Budgets are contracts agreed upon by goverments to raise/spend
money (normally through a fiscal year, July 1-June 30)
*Budgets are efficient in leading coordination between different groups
*Tend to reflect current attitudes/ways of thinking of
economy/social orders; can show priorities or current beliefs
*Influences economy-more money saved through budgeting and not
wasted means more jobs created to spend money, and less layoffs when
monetary waste is found.
*Budgets must balance, or become ineffecient (borrow and pay
back, save and spend later)
*Cannot compare budgets (no too alike, too many variables)-can
only find similarities and make predictions
*Must have process's- what must be included, what is included,
and what can't/doesn't need to be included.

*Office of Management and Budgeting- once hoarded money, didnt

want it spent, now is not so stingy with gov. funds.
*Special Interest groups, individuals can influence budgets (Pres., boss,
parents)
*Must be able to bend to outside influence, flexible to times and crisis.

Top of page
Stillman Chap. 13: Implementation.
Stillman 13: Implementation: The Concept of an Ambiguity-Conflict
Model
Charles U Walters, Spring 07 (another is below)
Sound implementation is the bottom line of administrative enterprise
Policy implementation must be judged to be effective and not ambiguous
(The failure of the Great Society was not that legislation wasnt passedit
just wasnt carried out)
Implementation was at one time considered the missing link
Richard E. Matland, "Synthesizing the Implementation Literature:
The Ambiguity-Conflict Model of Policy Implementation"
Top-downers have a desire to present prescriptive advice while bottomuppers have placed more emphasis on describing what factors have caused
difficulty in reaching stated goals.
Top down
o Three general factors
? Tracked ability of the problem
? Ability of statue to structure and implementation
? None statutory variables affecting an implementation
o Lack of parsimony
o Common advice is make policy goals clear and consistent
o Minimize the number of actors
o Limit the extent of change necessary
o Place implementation responsibility in an agency sympathetic with the
policies goals
Bottom up
o Macroimplementation
? central actors devise a government program
o Microimplementation
? local organizations react to the macros plans, develop their own programs
and implement them
Forward and Backward Mappingan attempt to combine top-down and
bottom-up perspectives

o Forward Mapping-stating precise policy objectives, elaborating detailed

means-ends schemes, and specifying explicit outcome criteria
o Backward Mapping-precisely the behavior to be changed at the lowest
level, describing operations that can insure the change, repeating the
procedure upwards by steps until the central level is reached
Successful Implementation can be defined as agencies complying with
directives statutes, agencies held accountable for reaching indications of
success, statute goals achieved, political climate improved around the
program
Policy Conflictfor conflict to exist there has to be some interdependence
of actors, often process results in no action because no agreement is made.
Policy Ambiguitycharacterized by an ambiguity of goals and means
Comprehensive Model
o Administrative Implementationlow policy ambiguity and low policy
conflict
? Outcomes are determined by resources
o Political Implementationlow policy ambiguity and high policy conflict
? implementation outcomes are decided by power
o Experimentalhigh policy ambiguity and low policy conflict
? contextual conditions dominate implementation process
o Symbolichigh policy ambiguity and high policy conflict
? coalitional strength determines the outcome
Conclusion
o Article tries to give a theoretical approach to implementation
o Top down modelspresent accurate descriptions of implementation
process when policy is clear and conflict is low (new models emphasize
importance of structuring access and providing resources aware of political
atmosphere)
o Bottom up modelspresent accurate descriptions when policy is
ambiguous and conflict is low
o Ambiguity should not be seen as a flaw in policy, it can ease agreement,
opportunity to learn new methods, technologies, and goals. Neither evil or
good, but a characteristic
Matland: The Ambiguity-Conflict Model of Policy Implementation
By Samantha Mosier, Spring 2007
2 schools of thought developed as to the most effective method for
studying and describing implementation of policy:
o Top-down (Macro)- see policy designers as the central actors and
concentrate their attention on factors that can be manipulated at the central
level. Tend to choose relatively clear policies
o Bottom-up (Micro)- emphasize target groups and service deliverers,
arguing policy really is made at the local level. Study policies with greater
uncertainty inherent in policy

 Most agree that some combination of these 2 is ideal

o Top-Downers
? Mazmanian and Sabatier present 3 general sets of factors which they argue
determine the probability of successful implementation.
Tractability of the problem
Ability of statute to structure implementation
Non-statutory variables affecting implementation
? Top-downers have exhibited a strong desire to develop generalizable policy
advice.
Make policy goals clear and consistent
Limit the extent of change necessary
Place implementation responsibility in an agency sympathetic with the
policys goals
? 3 sets of criticism for top-downers
top-down models take the statutory language as their starting point. This
fails to consider the significance of actions taken earlier in the policy-making
process. May fail to consider broader public objectives
Have been accused of seeing implementation as purely administrative
process and either ignoring the political aspects or trying to eliminate them.
Top-down models have been criticized for their exclusive emphasis on the
statue framers as key actors.
o One side argues from a normative perspective that local service deliverers
have the expertise and knowledge of the true problems, therefore they are in
a better position to propose policy.
o Second side argues from a positive perspective that discretion for streetlevel bureaucrats is inevitably so great that it is simply unrealistic to expect
policy designers to be able to control the actions of these agents.
o Bottom-up Model
? Sees policy implementation on the microimplementation level in which
local organizations react to the macrolevel plans, develop their own
programs and implement them
? Have placed emphasis on describing what factors have caused difficulty in
reaching stated goals.
Allows for adaptation to local difficulties and contextual factors
? 2 criticisms
normative criticism is that in a democratic system policy control should be
exercised by actors whose power derives from their accountability to
sovereign voters through their elected representatives
it overemphasizes the level of local autonomy
o Previous attempts to combine the 2 models
? Elmores Concept (early 1980s) forward and backward mapping
Argues that policy designers should choose policy instruments based on
the incentive structure of target groups
Forward mapping consists of stating precise policy objectives, elaborating
detailed means-end schemes and specifying explicit outcome criteria by
which to judge policy at each stage.

 Backward mapping consists of stating precisely the behavior to be changed

at the lowest level, describing a set of operations that can insure the change,
and repeating the procedure upwards by steps until the central level is
reached. By using this method you might be able to find more appropriate
tools than originally planned.
? Sabatier (1980s-1990s)
Argues how policy needs to be analyzed in circles of more than ten years.
The longer time allows for an opportunity to consider policy learning.
Policies operate within parameters most easily identified by using a topdown approach- includes socioeconomic conditions, legal instruments, and
basic government structure.
Advocacy coalitions should be the main unit of analysis in the study of
these actions. Coalition comprised of policy advocates from both public and
private organizations who share same beliefs and goals.
? Goggin (1990)- communications model of intergovernmental policy
implementation
Sees state implementers as the means of connection between several
communication channels. There are 3 clusters of variables that affect state
implementation:
o Inducements and constraints from the top (federal level)
o Inducements and constraints from the bottom (state and local levels)
o State specific factors defined as decisional outcomes and state capacity
? Berman (1980)
Argues implementation plan should be developed using either the topdown or bottom-up approach depending on a set of parameters that
describes the policy context.
Argues that these situational parameters are dimensions that
implementation designer cannot influence. It includes scope of change,
validity of technology, goal conflict, institutional setting, and environment is
stable, goal conflict is low, and institutional setting is tightly coupled.
o WHAT IS SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION
? Top-down theorists desire to measure success in terms of specific outcomes
tied directly to the statues that are the source of a program.
? Bottom up theorists desire a much broader evaluation, in which a program
leading to positive effects can be labeled a success.
? Failure to specify what is meant by successful implementation causes
considerable confusion
Ingram and Schneider note several plausible definitions of successful
implementation including agencies comply with the directives of the statues,
agencies are held accountable for reaching specific indicators of success,
goals of the statute are achieved, or there is an improvement in the political
climate around the program. Deciding which one is appropriate hinges on
whether the statutory designers values should be accorded a normative
value greater than those of other actors (esp local actors if the designer is an
elected official)

o A COMPREHENSIVE MODEL OF IMPLEMENTATION: THEORETICAL BASES

? Policy conflict
Plays central role in distinguishing between descriptions of the
implementation process
Rational and bureaucratic politics models of decision making assume the
individual actors are rationally self-interested.
Rational model assumes goals are agreed upon and therefore one can max
individual or social welfare functions, subject to a set of situational
constraints. Makes conflict not exist
Bureaucratic politics models on the other hand lay that a utility function
cannot be written because there is no agreed-upon set of goals. Make
conflict primary emphasis
Policy conflict will exist when more than one organization sees a policy as
directly relevant to its interests and when the organizations have
incongruous views.
? Policy Ambiguity
Arises from a number of sources but can be sorted broadly as falling into 2
categories
o Ambiguity of goals- leading to misunderstanding and uncertainty and
therefore often is culpable in implementation failure. The clearer the goals
are the more likely they are to lead to conflict.
o Ambiguity of means- - are ambiguous when there are uncertainties about
what roles various organizations are to play in the implementation process or
when a complex environment makes it difficult to know which tools to use,
how to use them, and what the effects of their use will be.
o A COMPREHENSIVE IMPLEMENTATION MODEL: EXPOSTION OF THE 4
PERSPECTIVES
? Administrative implementation:
Low policy ambiguity and low policy conflict provide conditions for rational
decision-making
Central principle-outcomes are determined by resources
Low levels of ambiguity make it clear which actors are active
3 mechanisms for gaining compliance from an actor:
o normative- mutually held goal or to the legitimacy of person requesting
action
o coercive-threatens sanctions for failing to comply with a request for action
o remunerative- sufficient incentives to make desired course of action
ex: Emergency Energy Assistance- this policy theory was to allow market
prices on energy, tax windfall energy, tax the profit, of energy companies,
and recycle money back to the citizens via emergency energy rebate.
? Political Implementation
low policy ambiguity and high policy conflict
actors have clearly defined goals are incompatible.
Central principle is that implementation outcomes are decided by power
An actor of coalition or coalition of actors have sufficient power to
influence. Such system is more open to influences from the environment

 Coercive and remunerative mechanisms will dominate

Ex: Where EPA sanctions threatened TVAs central mission, compliance was
quickly forthcoming. Where controversy didnt threaten it took awhile for TVA
compliance
? Experimental Implementation
High policy ambiguity and low policy conflict
Central principle is contextual conditions dominate the process. Outcomes
depend heavily on resources and actors
Defines cases where preferences are problematic and technology is
uncertain. Lack of conflict is likely to open arena for large # of actors.
Policies and goals are agreed upon yet means of reaching that goal remain
unclear.
Examples: Clean Air Act of 1970- technology did not exist before policy was
passed. & Headstart
2 pitfalls:
o process should not be forced into an artificially constrained form
o demanding uniformity when processes are poorly understood robs us of
vital info and limits the street level bureaucrats use of their knowledge
? Symbolic Implementation
High policy ambiguity and high policy conflict
Local level Coalitional strength is important towards its goal in confirming
new goals, reaffirming a commitment goal, or in emphasizing important
value principles. Differing perspectives will develop as to how to translate
the abstract goal into instrumental actions.
Professions likely to play important role.
EX: Youth Employment Program may have goal of improving opportunities
for disadvantage youths. This referential goal may include any of the
following subgoals: decreased crime, increased educational opportunities,
and on-the-job training.
Actors are intensely involved and disagreements are resolved through
coercion or bargaining. Any actors influence is tied to the strength of the
coalition he or she is a part of.

Top of page
Stillman Chap. 14: Politics & Admin -- Issue Networks.
The Relationship between Politics and Administration: The Concept
of Issue Networks
Charles U Walters, Spring 07
Until the 1970s the general thought in institutional reform and intellectual
thought (on public administrationexecutive branch) was in favor of
greater independence from legislative oversight.
Government prying on these issues and intricate details would make the
government too big and detached from important issues.
Until Watergate, Vietnam, failure of many Great Society social
programs, and the high turnover of congressional seatsthis thought
changed and led to:
widening requirements for Senate approval of presidential appointees to
executive office, Congressional Budget Office (fiscal watchdog), passage of
the Freedom of Information Act (allow Congress and public more access of
executives activities), War Powers Resolution (restricted presidential initiative
in foreign military involvements).
Iron Triangle
fashionable argument in 60s and 70s of a three-way interaction
between Congress, bureaucrats, and special interest lobbies where:

 Congress writes and passes legislation, bureaucrats implement for bigger

budgets, and interest groups help congressional members get elected
(monies and support).
Hugh Heclo, "Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment"
Hugh Heclo says the triangle concept is not so much wrong as it is
disastrously incomplete.
Looking for the closed triangles of control we miss the networks that
increasingly impinge government they more likely are these:
Growth in mass of government activity, loose-jointed play of influence
from this growth, and layering and specializing that has taken over the
government work force
Issue Networks:
the beginnings of these are hard to determine, they vary in degree of
dependence on others in their environment; they are straight outshared
knowledge groups having to do with some problem of public policy.
The true experts in the networks are the issue-skilled those informed
on a particular policy debate.
Knowing what is right is impossible anymore which makes knowing those
deemed knowledgeable crucial.
Shared-action groups and shared-belief groups are not as crucial for it is
those who are knowledgeable networking to get policy issues refined,
debated, and alternative options worked out.
The Executive Leadership Problem
Three advantages in the emerging issue networks system:
reliance on issue networks and policy politicians consistent with larger
societal changes (party-based politics to issue-based politics),
the issue networks link Congress and the executive branch in ways that
political parties no longer can,
increased room to maneuver offered to executives by loose-jointed play of
influence.
There is a lack of democratically based power which weakens the
executive level below the president.
Political technocrats make this worse. The more specialized the networks
the more separation from the average citizen.
Issue Networks have to become known as knowledgeable, make simple
choices complex so that policy objectives dont become vague and so that
results become measurable.
They provide a way to process dissension and better allow for consensus
(though understanding the issue is more important than a consensus.
New leaders cant take blame and they cant spread blame, rather
vagueness is key in order to allow policy problems to be dealt with by policy
specialists opinions.

Hugh Heclo, "Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment"

by Marie Wilkerson
The lack of interest in political administration is rarely found in other
democratic countries, and it has not always prevailed in the United States. In
the U.S. the 19th century between politics
politics and administration ,or party spoils, frequently ovrwhelmed any
motion of presidential leadership
Iron Triangles
Control is said to be vested in an imformanl but enduring series of "iron
triangles" linking executives bureaus, congressional committees, and iterest
group clienteles with a stake in
particular programs. The iron triangle concept is not so much wwrong as it is
disastrously incomplete.
Factors at work
1. growth in the sheer mas of government activity and associated
expectation.
2. the peculiar, loose-jointed play of influence that is accompanying this
growth
3. the layering and specialization that have overtaken the government
work force, not
least the political leadership of the bureaucracy
Issue Networks
-Issue networks are almost the reverse image in each respect.
Participants move in and out of the networks constantly.
-An issue network is a share-knowled group having to do with some
aspector public policy.
-It is through networks of people who regard each other as knowledgeable,
or at least as needing to be answered, that public policy issues tend to be
refined, evidence debated, and
alternative options worked out - thogh rarely in any controlled, wellorganized way.
*Technocrats an other people in white coats will expropriate the policy
process. If there is to be any expropriation, it is likely to be by the policy
activists, those who care deeply about a set of
issues and are determined to shape the fabric of public ploicy accordingly
The Executive Leadership Problem
E.E. schattschneider put it better when he observed that "new policies
create new politics"

There are at least three important advantages found in the emerging

system.
1. the reliance on issues networks and policy politicians is obviously
consistent with some of the larger changes in society.
2. they link Congress and the executive brance in ways that political
parties no longer can.
3. the increased number maneuvering room offered to political
executives by the loose -jointed play of influence.
*The first and foremost problem is the old one of democratic legitimacy.
Weaknesses in executive leadership below the level of the President have
never really been due to interest
groups, party politics, or Congress.
Policy activist have little desire to recgnize an unpleasant fact: that their
influential systems for know ledgeable policy making tend to make
democratic politics more difficult
There are at least four reasons.
1. Complexity
2. Consensus
3. Confidence
4. Closure
*It is not easy for a society to politicize itself and at the same time
depoliticize government leadership

Top of page
Stillman Chap. 15: Public Interest & De-Regulation.
Chapter 15: The Relationship Between Bureaucracy and the Public
Interest
The Concept of Public Sector Deregulation,
by Cole Muzio, Spring 09
Bureaucracy successes come from skilled executives who correctly identified
the critical tasks of their organization, distributed authority in a way
appropriate to those tasks, infused their subordinates with a sense of
mission, and acquired sufficient autonomy to permit them to get on with the
job
Armies: Putting their best people in specialized units and leaving leftovers
to the infantry

Prisons: Observers most favorable to prison execs with good intentions (fresh
ideas) such as rehabilitation, prison self- governance etc. over
accomplishments such as safe and decent facilities
Schools: Spend much time on reports and robotic efforts rather than
stimulating performance
These groups are attempting to manage situations in which they have little
control. Outside groups (politicians (legislative micromanagement),
interest groups, media, courts etc.) close in on their control. Expectations
and the past also confine those who seek more autonomy.
Herbert Kaufman: Whit House has feared agency independence more than
agency paralysis
Regulations define job for agencies. Today such regulations stifle creation of
such effective agencies (FBI, Marine Corps, Forest Service) as had been in
the past. These agencies had a single focused mission.
Bureaucrat bashing doesnt solve anything.
Deregulating government will improve matters. This liberates the
entrepeneurial energies of its members. This has a drastic effect on the
morale of workers who dont like every initiative stifled and every action
second guessed.
How can government be deregulated and accountable??? Deregulation
cannot be zealous but modest. Must rely on strong leaders. Leaders must be
inspiring, understand organizational culture, delegate responsibility
effectively, give workers the opportunity to make judgements, infuse agency
with a sense of mission. However, they must take steps to ensure that
important tasks that may not be apart of the core mission are not
overlooked. Must also negotiate with political superiors on what regulations
can be removed. Must also distribute authority effectively.
Organizations should be judged by results. Problem is legisltures etc. can be
unhappy with performance even then 9may not even realize what good
results are). Results are often hard to assess (education).
Experimentation: First, must identify a course of action that can be tested.
Second, detemine desired effect. Third, give action/ treatment to one group
and withhold from another (control group). Fourth, assess condition of each
group prior to test. Fifth, have outside evaluation

Only less bureaucracy if less government. Problems with bureaucracy comes

from fragmented and open system. They must say no and this can often
lead to problems for their growth.
Chapter 15: The Relationship Between Bureaucracy and the Public
Interest The Concept of Public Sector Deregulation,
by Charles U Walters Spring 07

The boundaries of public interest have been looked through in three

perspectives:

Rational machine modelthose who see PA as a tool to produce the

most efficient, economical, or effective result view the emergence of
public interests as the right value-free tool of analysis that will give,
automatically, correct results.

Sort of a reformist/creative modelpublic administrators are given key,

creative roles in promoting public interest and PA is essential to run
the constitution. By putting PA at center, administrative discretion and
influence are enhanced allowing public interest to be trained,
enlightened.

More of a pluralistic modelpublic interest is mainly the pulling and

hauling of various groups interests in society and therefore there is no
absolute such as public interest but rather a process. Public
Administrators are considered people-in-the-middle
James Q Wilson, Bureaucracy and the Public Interest
by Charles U Walters Spring 07

Success has a lot to do with skilled executives correctly identifying

critical tasks of organizations, distributing authority to correctly work
with them, infusing subordinates with a sense of mission, and it
acquires sufficient autonomy to permit them to get on with the job

A Few Modest Suggestions that may make a Small Difference:

Wilson says we must deregulate the government to help energize it.

The difference is that the price system and profit motive are missing
from the public sector. How can the government delegate and trust
and also maintain accountability when individuals are faced with a
choice between a control mentality and the mission
accomplishment mentality?

--(core mission) executives should understand the culture of their

organizations and know the strengths and limits of that culture. If
members widely endorse the culture then they have a sense of
mission. This allows executives to economize on scarce incentives;
state general objectives confident subordinates will achieve them, and
delegate responsibility knowing lower-level decisions will conform to
higher-level expectations

--negotiate with ones political superiors to get some agreement as to

which are the essential constraints that must be observed by your
agency and which the marginal constraints. (may have to fight for
elbow room)

--match the distribution of authority and the control over resources to

the tasks your organization is performing. (Authority should be placed
at the lowest level at which all essential elements are available.)

--Judge organizations by results

--Standard Operating Procedures: keep organizations small, but the

SOPs will represent an internally defined equilibrium that reconciles the
situational imperatives.

Bureaucracy and the American Regime

Governments of the US are not meant to be efficient and powerful but

tolerable and malleable. The founders new it would be hard to create a
new agency much less how it would be administered. The Civil War
thrust the problem of administration on us. Many worry about a
constitutional systems poor design for the now large government
when it was meant for a small liberty orientated system. We have a
system laden with rules unlike other countries, which seems to make
the system aloof from the people. Our system is covered with
participation and it can look like an inefficient, jerry-built contraption
filled with corruption and favoritism. Rules and Openness existing
together is a paradox. Despite astonishing paradoxes and apparent
inefficiencies, the American Bureaucracy seems to be fairly competent
in supplying needs to the people.
James Q. Wilson, "Bureaucracy and the Public Interest."
Alexander Zachos, Spring 2005

Makes a few parallels to Bureaucracy and the Public Interest

-German Army beat the French army in 1940

-Texas prisons did a better job than Michigan prisons

-Carver High School in Atlanta became a better school under Norris Hogans.
All successes resulted from:
1. skilled executives who correctly identified the critical tasks of their
organizations,
2. distributed authority to handle these tasks
3. infused their subordinates with a sense of purpose
4. aquired autonomy to permit them to get on with the job.
The critical tasks were different in each case, culture, and pattern of
authority
Focuses of
Armies: Pentagon in the U.S. is filled with generals who want to control
combat from headquarters or from helicopters using technology. The U.S.
does not concentrate on infantry fighting as much as putting qualified people
into specialized units (intelligence, engineering, communications.
Prisons: Many observers give favor to those who seem to voice the best
intentions rather than accomplishments. Rehabilitation rather than better
facilities
Schools: Many administrators keep principals weak and teachers busy filling
out reports, in order to minimize complaints from parents and such.
There has been a rise in legislative and presidential micromanagement
with hearings, reports, investigations, statutory amendments, and budgetary
adjustments.
A recent trend has been for executives to focus less on the tasks that their
organization is doing, and more on the constraints and rules that must be
abided by, no matter how many or what tasks are being performed.
From time to time, there is a gifted executive that makes things happen
differently. Every once in a while an administrator can effectively govern as
well as abide by the rules. Some examples:
-The Army Corps of Engineers
-The Social Security Administration
-The Marine Corps
-The Forest Service
-The FBI

These agencies have been notable exceptions to the stereotype that "all
bureaucrats are dim witted paper shufflers."
To do better, Wilson, suggests DEREGULATION. This would liberate the
entrepreneurial energies of members of the free market, deregulation could
lead to energizing of business and results.
Small staffs and a high level of delegation based on trust, are
methods that have made the private sector successful, that could work in
public bureaucracies.
In the public sector, procedure and rules stand in the way of action
and results.
Successful agencies in the past have all been forged the same way, by
strong leaders who were able to command personal loyalty, define and instill
a clear and powerful sense of mission, attract talented workers who believed
they were joining something special.
No one agency, no matter how efficient can control a truly diverse set of
tasks. But a good executive will delegate these neglected tasks to another
agency, or create a new one.
3 principles are important:
1. Delegate neglected tasks to another agency.
2. Negotiate with ones political superior as to which constraints or rules
are essential to keep.
3. Match the distribution of authority and the control over resources to
the task your organization is performing.
4. Judge organizations by their results.
You will have less bureaucracy only if you have less government.
BUREAUCRACY AND THE AMERICAN REGIME
The Central theme of the American constitutional system-the separation of
powers, makes problems worse for the bureaucracy.
The US governments were not designed to be efficient or powerful, but
tolerable and malleable.
The centralization of power ensures that the public organizations will be
more efficient.
America has a paradoxical bureaucracy unlike any other.
The paradox is the existence in one set of institutions of two qualities
ordinarily quite separate: the multiplication of rules and the opportunity for
success.

We have a system laden with rules, we also have a system suffused with
participation. The fact that these two traits can exist, rules and openness,
puzzles many contemporary students of the discipline.
Public bureaucracy in this country is neither as rational and predictable as
Weber hoped that it would be, but neither was it as crushing and mechanistic
as he feared.
We live in a country that despite all of its trivial rules, some people still use
government to rationalize society
And services are provided to the people regardless of this fact, more
efficiently than many countries.

Stillman Chap. 16: Ethics.

Stillman 16: The Concept of Ethical Obligations
Charles U Walters Spring 07
Critical issues of government involve moral choices.
Should officials give precedence to the public interest or to narrower
demands of profession, department, or clientele?

The chief qualification of an executive is the ability to resolve these

competing ethical codes (legal/personal/organization/etc).

Strength and quality is determined by the administrators ability to not

be weakened by choice.

Men who are unable to accept the amount of responsibility or those of

limited capabilities will lose one of the three: ability, responsibility, or
morality or all. Therefore commensurate ability is needed.

Paul Appleby writes that 2 safeguards are effective for administrative

morality: the ballot box and hierarchy.

(The electorate can judge performance-and-decisions can be pushed

higher to receive more political review.)

Three moral qualities needed in PA: Optimism, courage, and fairness

tempered by charity
(Courage is capacity to act when inaction is easier, Optimism is ability to
deal w/morally ambiguous situations w/confidence and purpose, fairness
allows for justice maintenance).

 The best solutions most always have costs.

Dwight Waldo, A Prologue to a Preface (PA and Ethics)
Charles U Walters Spring 07 (another below)
Moral and ethical behavior in PA is chaotic.
Public and Private Moralities

public morality as presented in the media is considered a simple

matter of obeying law and honestynot so according to Waldo.

Public morality is based on the collective good -- oftentimes it is

considered immoral from the standpoint of interpretations of moral
behavior for individuals (i.e.killing/war versus homicide).

The State and Higher Law

There is a source and measure of rightness that is above and beyond

both individual and government (this rightness inspired the Declaration
of Independence).

Higher law does not equate with or relate only to private morality
against the public but it can also be used by the public also.

The public-private distinction can be designated collectivity-person

should the person have moral standing apart from the collectivity?

Reason of stateconduct that violates all or nearly all right conduct

for individuals but is ok for a state in order to created, preserve, or
enhance power.

Ethical obligations of the public administrator:

They have an obligation to: the Constitution, law, nation/country,

democracy, organizational-bureaucratic norms,
profession/professionalism, family/friends, self, middle-range
collectivities, general welfare/public interest, humanity/world,
religion/God, science? conscience?.

Waldo says we have a need for maps of sources and types of

ethical obligations like the one above.

He also says that we need an instrument to guide us through the

historical dimensions of our ethical problems. Also it would help to
have instruments provided by the social sciences. Third, ethics needs
to be searched and ordered for the purposes of analysis and judgment.

Also religion needs to be surveyed to determine what navigation it can

provide.
The Pyramid Puzzle:

Hierarchy is represented as a force for morality and a source for

immorality, it works for soft power of democracy and also the hard
power (effectiveness, efficiency, and economy).

Democracy is only achievable if power is concentrated so it can be

held accountable. Responsibility was viewed as owed upward until
the top of the pyramid.

However there is an absence of hierarchal control which nearly

promises ethical irregularities and inefficiencies.

What difference does democracy make with respect to the morality of

actions taken by government?the people can be mistaken, but not wrong.

Does one states motion make it moral or not based on its leadership
(dictatorship or democracy)?

Observations and reflections: 20th century defined by a decay of

traditional moral codes/morality is relative if not meaningless or irrelevant.

-The matter of ethically proper conduct reaches far beyond sex and
money and traditional morality seems to provide misguidance
problems.

-If ambiguity cannot be eliminated then the tolerance for ambiguity

becomes an operating skill. moral complexity increases as members in
organizations increase.

-Administrators in public organizations face more moral complexity

than those in private organizations.

-Categories of public and private have been becoming more and

more of a gray areahierarchy is diminished and new
lateral/diagonal relationships grow and operate making it difficult to
understand who is in charge.

-The study of organizations has not been popular, but we must dig
around the foundations of morality in order (not to tear down an
existing piece) but to build a new foundation upon some of the old
materials and one that is to our purpose.

Dwight Waldo, Public Administration and Ethics: A Prologue to a

Preface
By Chrys Lake, spring 2007
- The concept of moral or ethical behavior in public administration is a
complicated matter, indeed, chaotic.
Public Morality v. Private Morality:
Public Morality- decisions made and action taken directed toward the good
of a collectivity which is seen or conceptualized as the public, that is, an
entity or group larger than immediate social groups such as family and clan.
Private Morality- decisions made and action taken directed toward the
good of the private sector, including economic, political, and global
influence.
The State and Higher Law:
Higher Law: (claims it is essential in understanding the conflicting moral
principals) is a source and measure of rightness that is above and beyond
both individual and government.
Two Important Issues:
- Higher law does not equate with or relate only to private morality as
against public. Its sanction can be claimed by the polity if the polity
represents the sacred as well as the secular.
- Public-private distinction is but one example of a class of relationships
that can be designated collectivity-person. (ex. People as a part of nation,
party, union, familywhich a person can not unidentified himself with)
Means By Which To Determine Private and Public Values Within the
Administration Process: Obligation to [some points combined]
1. the Constitution, Law, Nation, Democracy
2. Organizational-Bureaucratic Norms, Profession and Professionalism
3. Family and Friends, Self
4. Middle-Range Collectivities
5. the Public Interest or General Welfare,
6. Humanity or the World, Religion, or to God
Waldo points out that he did not attempt to order the 12 obligations by
importancebecause of the untidiness of the ethical universe. He points out
that until the people know what issues they are arguing on, no progress can
be made.
Things that affect obligations:
- History, Implication, Consequences, Self-awareness, Growth, Duty,
Organization,
- Personal Philosophy
The Role of Hierarchy in Ethical Administration:
Hierarchy is represented both as a force of morality and a source of
immorality, the soft values of democracy and the hard values of
effectiveness, efficiency, and economy are considered a single thing.

Democracy is, realistically, achievable only if power is concentrated so that it

can be held accountable, which is possible only through hierarchy.
Responsibility for moral and ethical behavior begins at the top of the
hierarchical pyramid and filter down. Authority is considered to move upward
through employees and officers.