Orthodoxy Of Public Administration Flashcards
Classical PA Orthodoxy Define PA Orthodoxy
This period of Public Administration saw the proposal of many theories on how government should best be conducted. It saw the proposal of the politics-administration dichotomy (stating that politics could be separated from administration), value-free administration, suggestions as to the reasons for the establishment of the bureaucracy and the need for a science of administration-growing decentralization of government, industrial revolution, doing away with the spoils systems, the need for efficiency, the need for adhering to a democratic polity, incorporating administrative practices from Europe and making it more American, making the delivery of government services more expeditious and efficient (less costly), and to find the one best way. Questions that scholars posed in this period were related to organization, management, and efficiency.
Classical PA Orthodoxy-Denhart 2011
According to Denhardt (2011), early writers of PA concluded that the problems of PA were the same as problems of private organizations that was subject to being solved through scientific principles of administrative management. Democracy would be best preserved through the efficient operations of government agencies and efficiency, in turn, as best produced through sound business management, centralization, politics-administration dichotomy, and strengthening executive authority. Hence, public administration theory was centered on organizational structural issues, scientific management, and organizational efficiency.
Classical PA Orthodoxy- Fry and Raadschedlers 2008 Dwight Waldo defines and characterizes Five notes
Fry and Raadschedlers (2008) stipulates that Dwight Waldo notes five (5) characteristics of this period. 1) Acceptance of the politics-administration dichotomy, 2) a generic management orientation (centralization, use of private management in the public sector, use of a business ideology, business-like budgetary practices), 3) the search for principles of administration through scientific analysis, 4) an emphasis on centralization of executive authority, and 5) commitment to democracy.
Classical PA Orthodoxy- Principles of this period and roots of PA in Political Theory Denhart and Denhart 2007
Principles include unity of command, hierarchical authority, and division of labor. The roots of PA in political theory were neglected in favor of more immediate technical concerns-efficiency, centralization, hierarchy etc. The behavior of individuals in organizations, and of organizations themselves are the same regardless of being in the public or private sector. Very generic approach to organizational analysis. Primarily associated with bureaucracy, hierarchy, and control (Denhardt and Denhardt, 2007).
Classical PA Orthodoxy- Efficiency-Wilson, Woodrow (1887)-The Study of Administration
*Business-like principles should be permitted to guide the operations of public agencies in order to gain efficiency. The field of administration is a field of businesses and in order to attain efficiency, PA should turn to the private sector for models of administrative management. Implicit here is that the problems of private and public organizations are one in the same. Government (including PA) should take on a more hierarchical/centralized structure.
Classical PA Orthodoxy- Efficiency-Wilson, Woodrow (1887)-The Study of Administration
Wilson advocated for a study which understood what government could properly do at the utmost efficiency and with the least amount of cost of money and energy. Woodrow defines administration as government in action and promoted it as being the obvious and visible aspect of government. A science of administration is needed due to the growing complexity of government, to reduce the costs of government operation, and to find the one best way. “It is the object of administrative study to discover, first, what government can properly and successfully do, and, secondly, how it can do these proper things with the utmost possible efficiency and at the least possible cost either of money or of energy.”
Classical PA Orthodoxy- Efficiency-Wilson, Woodrow (1887)-The Study of Administration
It views it as practical to borrow administrative practices without incorporating the motives or political principles of European government. “The principles on which a science of administration for America must be principles which have a democracy policy very much at heart” (Page 27). The major challenge poses by Wilson is to determine how the vast, multi-layered (bureaucracy, local, state, federal), complex, and decentralized American government can administer policy in a manner that best serves the community as a whole.
Classical PA Orthodoxy- Efficiency- Wilson, Woodrow (1887)-The Study of Administration
*Separation of politics and administration *Comparative analysis of political and private organizations *Improving efficiency with business-like practices and attitudes toward daily operations *Improving the effectiveness of public service through the management and by training civil servants, merit-based assessment Public opinion should serve as a criticism for administration. The administration should therefore be sensitive to public opinion. Politicians are viewed as the link that connects administrators to the people.
Classical PA Orthodoxy- Efficiency Goodnow, Frank J. (1900)-Politics and Administration
*Promotes the politics-administration dichotomy. Administration must be separated from politics because politics hinders efficient administration. Administrative law-which is confined by the constitution and legal procedures can bind and hinder expeditious administration. Politics, with supervision, detailed regulations can hinder administration.
Classical PA Orthodoxy- Efficiency Goodnow, Frank J. (1900)-Politics and Administration
There are two distinct functions of government-1)Politics and 2) Administration. Politics deals with the policies or expression of the will of the state and administration deals with the execution of that will. The political branch must maintain over the bureaucracy/administrative branch. Expression of the will of the state will be meaningless without execution. “In order for there to be harmony between the expression and execution of the state’s will, the independence either of the body which expresses the state will or of the body which executes it must be sacrificed” (Page 30).
Classical PA Orthodoxy- Efficiency Goodnow, Frank J. (1900)-Politics and Administration
Harmony and political necessity requires that the executing authority (bureaucracy) be subordinate to the expressing authority (political body). It is impossible to think of politics as being separate from administration. “Politics must have a certain control over administration” (Page 30)-in order to attain this harmony. Political control over administration has not been granted by the constitution, but instead by the political party system which is as much predisposed with electing bureaucrats who share certain political ideologies and whose execution will reflect those l ideologies (expression) thus bringing about synergy between politics and administration. However, White (1926) proposes that administrative law-which is confined by the constitution and legal procedures can bind and hinder expeditious administration.
Classical PA Orthodoxy- Efficiency White, Leonard (1926)- Introduction to the Study of Public Administration
*Promotes the politics-administration dichotomy and efficiency. White defines public administration as “the management of men and materials in the accomplishment of the purposes of the state” (Page 50). Public administration’s objective is to conduct the business of government by utilizing available resources (both material and human) in the most efficient/economical manner to achieve completion of public programs in the most expeditious manner possible. White proposes four primary assumptions about administration.
Classical PA Orthodoxy- Efficiency White, Leonard (1926)- Introduction to the Study of Public Administration
He first proposes that administration is a single process that is uniform in its characteristics regardless of whether administration is viewed at the municipal, state, of federal level. In other words, administration is administration regardless of the level of government in which it is carried out.
Classical PA Orthodoxy- Efficiency White, Leonard (1926)- Introduction to the Study of Public Administration
Secondly, he proposes that administration is more of a management field than a legal/law field. It must also be noted that administration is different from administrative law. While public administration is the efficient conduct of public business, administrative law frames the context that protects private rights, gives legitimacy to the bureaucracy, determines competencies of the administrator, and dictates the repercussions for violation of private rights. The two fields are often at odds. Administrative law (democracy-accountability) can at times be in conflict with PA because it can bind the expeditious administration of government business. Increased administrative power calls for increased safeguards (administrative laws) to protect against the abuse of power by administrative bureaucrats. White posits that bureaucrats-with all their expertise-are highly relied upon by political officials. Administration, as he states may come to manipulate and influence government.
Classical PA Orthodoxy- Efficiency White, Leonard (1926)- Introduction to the Study of Public Administration
Third, that administration is more of an art but has the tendency to be transformed into a science. Fourth, that administration is at the core/heart of government. The study of PA needs to be related to broad generalizations of political theory-justice, liberty, obedience, and the role of the state in human affairs.
