PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Question 1

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Answer 1

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Public administration has battled between establishing a reputation as a normative or empiricist-like field. A reflection of this is the dilemma between the Old Public Management and the New Public Management. Riccuci (2006) provided a good overview of this.

Question 2

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Riccucci, N. (2001). The Old Public Management Versus the New Public Management

Answer 2

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Riccucci, N. (2001). The Old Public Management Versus the New Public Management
*Asserts that Laurence Lynn’s (1996) critique of NPM is based more so on the normative methodology that it incorporates. This scientific approach is new because traditional PA and Public Management has for so long promoted the use of a more scientific-based approach to research. Lynn’s true critique is against the less-rigorous approach of studying PM because it is not predicated on sound scientific reasoning.

Question 3

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Riccucci, N. (2001). The Old Public Management Versus the New Public Management

Answer 3

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Riccucci, N. (2001). The Old Public Management Versus the New Public Management

-For too long there has been a identify crisis in PA regarding the use of a more normative methodology of study or a more scientific-based approach. Riccucci ultimately asserts that both approaches have a place in the field of PA. Knowledge can be derived from impressions both on the senses (observation, value) and on the intellect (scientific testing).

Question 4

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Riccucci, N. (2001). The Old Public Management Versus the New Public Management

Answer 4

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Riccucci, N. (2001). The Old Public Management Versus the New Public Management

New Public Management (NPM) and its normative approach has historically dominated PA research. Emerged in the early 1970s as a result of dissatisfaction on the part of scholars of public policy and public administration (Lynn, 1996). NPM is grounded in and has been dominated by a methodology that is descriptive, normative, behavioral-based, prescriptive, qualitative, and artsy- seen as lacking analytic rigor and failing to generate a strong empirical base). TOO PRESCRIPTIVE because moral and value statement are merely emotive. Uses case studies and best practices.

Question 5

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Riccucci, N. (2001). The Old Public Management Versus the New Public Management

Answer 5

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Riccucci, N. (2001). The Old Public Management Versus the New Public Management

Old Public Management (OPA) -is the based on the traditional paradigm of PA and is predicated on logical positivism i.e. rigorous scientific testing-seen as the one best way of conducting research in PA/Public Management. EMPIRICISM is the right way and truly scientific-in turn this generates knowledge. Positivist stipulate that the goal of knowledge is to simply describe the phenomena experienced (by way of scientific testing) as opposed to stipulating that which ‘should be’.

Question 6

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Waldo, Dwight. (1975

Answer 6

Waldo, Dwight. (1975)- PA is a profession because it draws from so many disciplines and because there is no single unifying theory underlying the field. Drawing strictly from political theory would leave the field incomplete because it leaves out concerns of management. Likewise, subscribing strictly to a theory of organizational analysis would mean that questions of democratic responsibility would be overlooked. Therefore PA needs to draw from all of these disciplines.

Question 7

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Daneke, Gregory, A. (1990). Science of Public Administration

Answer 7

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Daneke, Gregory, A. (1990). Science of Public Administration

   George Daneke believes that is policy and administrative studies do not begin to incorporate empirical and philosophical modes of inquiry, then it will continue to be relegated to the lower levels of the social science field. Daneke proposes a new paradigm of learning for public administrative studies call Advanced Systems Theory. This new paradigm will incorporate traditional general systems theory and contemporary economics as well as new principles as derived from recent advances in the physical, biological, and cognitive sciences.

Question 8

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Daneke, Gregory, A. (1990). Science of Public Administration

Answer 8

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Daneke, Gregory, A. (1990). Science of Public Administration

Daneke believes that the textbook model of science which follows an inductive path from facts to the arrival of laws ultimately does little to explain the progress of the physical sciences. The most ubiquitous of the social science (economics) is a deductive process that begins with abstracts which interprets reality and is part of Whitehead’s “fallacy of misplaced correctness.

Question 9

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Daneke, Gregory, A. (1990). Science of Public Administration

Answer 9

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Daneke, Gregory, A. (1990). Science of Public Administration

Elinor Ostrom contends that the lack of progress within the social sciences can be attributed to an environment which is dominated by data analysis over theory construction. A separate contention made by Wimsatt is that the complexity of the social science systems may exceed the power of analysis of social science researchers. Recently, criticisms have been aimed at the the positivists epistemology have been increasing and alternative forms of science have been influencing the writings on public policy and PA.

Question 10

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Daneke, Gregory, A. (1990). Science of Public Administration

Answer 10

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Daneke, Gregory, A. (1990). Science of Public Administration

White states that the growth of knowledge in PA involved recognizing the availability of alternative modes of empirical inquiry in the interpretive and critical traditions. Many postpositivists’ scholars have sought to integrate new methodologies into quantitative studies. Systems theory has been one new paradigm for social science research. However, criticism has been directed at systems theory due to its association with engineering and operations research

Question 11

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Daneke, Gregory, A. (1990). Science of Public Administration

Answer 11

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Daneke, Gregory, A. (1990). Science of Public Administration

Proponents have continued to push for systems theory implementation. They assert that modifications in systems theory could make it applicable to social science research. Several advantages of system theory incorporation have been listed by Daneke. One of the advantages is that systems theory allows for the maintenance of its rigorous methodologies while permitting the incorporation of elements of other existing theories and explaining new phenomena. As summed up by Daneke, by applying alternative conceptual domains, systems theory would allow for the development of a new generation of practical tools and strategies which operationalize the notion of PA as a catalyst for constructive social change.

Question 12

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Neumann, Francis, X. (1996). What Makes Public Administration a Science? Or, Are Its “Big Questions” Really Big?-

Answer 12

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Neumann, Francis, X. (1996). What Makes Public Administration a Science? Or, Are Its “Big Questions” Really Big?-

 Neumann states that the three big questions posed by Behn apply more to application and does not probe into the origins of the nature of public management. It is asserted that Behn places his questions on Public Management at the lowest tier of knowledge seeking where accepted and proven theories are made to concrete problems.  Neumann asserts that there is no big questions in public management or public administration.  Neumann suggests that there are no big questions relating to basic nature or origins of PA or PM and the field can only be seen as a no more than a self-conscious adjunct to the political sciences. The true science of PA and PM are known by the big questions that they address. Neumann also suggests that perhaps that there are big questions but they have yet to be addressed due to the three cardinal sins of ignorance, fear, or pride (hubris) in the academic fields of PA and PM.

Question 13

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Neumann, Francis, X. (1996). What Makes Public Administration a Science? Or, Are Its “Big Questions” Really Big?-

Answer 13

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Neumann, Francis, X. (1996). What Makes Public Administration a Science? Or, Are Its “Big Questions” Really Big?-

 Pride may compel scholars in the field of PA and PM to assume a level of self-confidence that all big questions have already been answered.  Fear will cause members of the discipline of PA/PM to refrain from addressing the true big questions because they are under attack by outside elements. Neumann proposes that the true big questions in the field are:

1. ) What is the nature of an organization?
2. ) How is public organization related to its environment?
3. ) What does it mean to manage or to administer the public organization?

Question 14

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Neumann, Francis, X. (1996). What Makes Public Administration a Science? Or, Are Its “Big Questions” Really Big?-

Answer 14

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Neumann, Francis, X. (1996). What Makes Public Administration a Science? Or, Are Its “Big Questions” Really Big?- r

 Though many studies have addressed the basic organizational theory, Neumann contends that public organizations should be studied all over again. Of particular importance is the application of various principles towards the promotion of greater organizational efficiency. The big question as Neumann puts it is never completely answered because by their very nature, are multifaceted and extend into dimensions of which we are never fully cognizant of at any one time. Neumann believes that a paradigm shift in PA and PM have rendered the older understandings of organizations inadequate

Question 15

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Neumann, Francis, X. (1996). What Makes Public Administration a Science? Or, Are Its “Big Questions” Really Big?-

Answer 15

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Neumann, Francis, X. (1996). What Makes Public Administration a Science? Or, Are Its “Big Questions” Really Big?

An interest in the origins and basic nature of this new paradigm naturally generates new big questions. The new paradigm of PA and PM is labeled a “nonlinear system.” These nonlinear systems are highly complex and are suitable for coping with the complex environments with which they exist. In order to cope with complex environments, regulating organizations would have to contain similar complexity themselves. Under this new paradigm of nonlinear systems the tasks of the organization is unknown. In the new paradigm, Neumann asserts that the new definitions of efficiency and effectiveness are in order. In order to attain the most effectiveness, Neumann calls for more public inputs into agency decision-making. In order for public administration to meaningfully readdress organizational questions in the nonlinear paradigm, it will have to borrow generously from other sciences (both hard and soft).

Question 16

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Kirlin, John, J. 1996). The Big Questions of Public Administration in a Democracy

Answer 16

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Kirlin, John, J. 1996). The Big Questions of Public Administration in a Democracy

  John Kirlin begins by asserting that the big questions facing public administration in democracy and public management are indeed different. John Behn provides the three big questions for public management which are based on micromanagement, motivation, and measurement.  These questions place the public manager at the center of the enterprise of government. These questions fail to confront the issues issue of public administration in a democracy.  The questions proposed by Kirlin give primacy to public administration in a democracy are must satisfy four (4) criteria: (1) Achieving a democratic polity; (2) Rising to the societal level; (3) Confronting the complexity of instruments of collection action; and (4) Encouraging more effective societal learning.  In order to attempt to satisfy these criteria, Kirlin proposes seven (7) questions.  Public bureaucracy and democratic polity complement one another. However studies in public administration tend to begin on one but not the other.  Waldo (1948) concluded that over-attention to perfecting administrative processes was harmful to democracy.

Question 17

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

 Moe and Gilmour (1995

Answer 17

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

 Moe and Gilmour (1995) assert that the foundations of public agencies was founded in the constitution whereas the foundations of  businesses was founded in judge-made common law which protected the rights and established the obligations of private parties pursuing private interest. A fundamental flaw in making public bureaucracy the starting point of public administration is that it undermines the democratic polity (collective choices, opportunities for effective citizenship and political leadership, limited government, public authority, protecting individual rights and freedoms) and focuses more on organization survival. One argument against policy implementation is that policies, programs, and funding flows from the from the top down makes effective action at the point of impact very difficult. However the instruments for collective action among citizens include more than just the government. They include the market, the institutions of civic infrastructure, and other complex systems.  Government legalizes collective action through policies and collective public action creates institutional frameworks through which individual rights are born.  Government is the creator and shaper of desired results but citizen values and choices are the ultimate controller. Social science is ultimately rooted in categories of and values of ordinary lives and languages and can therefore not escape relationships with human beings.  When society (humans) learn what it wishes to pursue and how to achieve those outcomes, citizens can then participate effectively in policy choices and collective action. Improving societal learning can in turn improve effective understanding of what is taking place, appreciate choices made, and improve strategies of action that improve odds of achieving desired goals. Learning can be accomplished through science.

Question 18

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Fragemented and Disarticulated State (Frederickson, 1998)

Answer 18

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ART, SCIENCE, OR PROFESSION?

Fragemented and Disarticulated State (Frederickson, 1998)