The Study of AdministrationBureaucratic Politics

Introduction

• Why do we study public administration/bureaucratic politics?• Touches the lives of every American.

• “Today’s citizens awake in the morning to breakfast of bacon and eggs, both certified as fit for consumption by the United States Department of Agriculture

• (although the Department of Health and Human Services would urge you to eat a breakfast lower in cholesterol).

• Breakfast is rudely interrupted by a phone call; the cost of phone service is determined by a state regulatory commission.

• When our citizens drive to work, their cars’ emissions are controlled by a catalytic converter mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency.

• The cars have seat belts, padded dashboards, collapsible steering columns and air bags required by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

• When our citizens stop for gasoline, they pay a price that is partly determined by the Department of Energy.

• To take their minds off the bureaucracies regulating their lives, the bureaucratic citizens turn on their radios. Each radio station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission and all advertising is subject to the rules and regulations of the Federal Trade Commission.”

• This is where citizens have the most face to face interaction with government.

Introduction

• Why do we study public administration/bureaucratic politics?• The federal bureaucracy

makes up the bulk of government.• 1 President• 9 Supreme Court Justices• 535 members of Congress• 3,000,000 civil servants

• Dispel various myths surrounding the bureaucracy

• Other reasons?

Defining Public Administration

• Defining Public Administration• Multiple definitions• Public administration – all processes, organizations, and individuals acting in

official positions associated with carrying out laws and other rules adopted or issued by legislatures, executives, and courts.

• Public administration – the means used to translate the will of the state into the actions of the state.

• Definition for class• Public administration – the use of managerial, political, and legal theories and

processes to fulfill legislative, executive, and judicial mandates for the provision of governmental regulatory and service function.

• Crosses multiple fields• Political science• Sociology • Economics• Psychology • Physics

Bureaucracy

• "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.” – Ronald Reagan

• “Bureaucracy can be defined as 50,000 ants on a log floating down the Mississippi River and every one of them thinking that they are running it” – Mark Twain

Defining Bureaucracy

• Is this term interchangeable with public administration?

• Negative connotation

Three Approaches to Public Administration

•Managerial Approach• Traditional public management• New public management• Political Approach• Legal Approach

The Traditional Managerial Approach

• View of the administrator:• Administrators have no political or policy making functions.• The dichotomy between politics and administration – Politics and

administration should be separate.• Woodrow Wilson, “The Study of Administration”

• Values:• Effectiveness• Efficiency• Scientific management – Frederick Taylor• Time-motion studies• Treated workers as cogs in a machine

• Economy• Scientific method for developing knowledge

Traditional ManagerialApproach

• Organizational Structure:• Bureaucracy – system of organization based on principles of hierarchical authority, job

specialization and formalized rules.• Max Weber (the father of modern bureaucracy)• Division of labor – tasks are divided up amongst those who make up the organization.• Job Specialization – respect of each job position should be explicitly defined and division of

labor maintained.• Hierarchy – chain of command within an organization where officials have control of those

below them (precise division)• Formalized rules – standardized procedures whereby a bureaucracy conducts its operations

• View of the individual:• Impersonal

• People are cogs in a machine (processed):• Agency clientele• Workers

New Public Management

• Values:• Concern with outcomes/outputs, not behavior• Outcomes success measured by policy analysis

• Decision Making: • Very business like• Results oriented (GPRA)• Stakeholders• Customer focus• Outsourcing (non-profit)• Efficiency

• Purpose: • Maximize the ability to act like firms.• Serve customers.• Borrows heavily from business practices.

• National Performance Review (Al Gore)• Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector by

David Osbourne and Ted Gaebler.

New Public Management

• Organizational Structure: • More flat, less hierarchical• For example: Total Quality Management

• View of the Individual: • Customer • Served not processed

Political Approach

• View of the administrator:• Administrators are politically motivated.• Administration is a political process

• Decision Making: • Incremental, with a scientific basis (Lindblom)

• Values:• Empirical observation.• Politics and administration are not separate.• Efficiency is not a goal of administration• Focus instead on:• Representativeness• Responsiveness• Accountability

• We see the foundations of pluralism in the political approach to public administration

Political Approach

• Organizational Structure: • Dependent upon the political circumstances of the time.• Divided government

• View of the individual: • Aggregates the individual into social, economic, or political

groups.• The individual’s interests are the same as the group in

which they are aggregated into.

Legal Approach

• View of the administrator:• Actor applying and enforcing the law.

• Three sources of legal influence:• Administrative law (Administrative Procedure Act)• Judicialization of Public Administration (adjudication)• Constitutional Law

• Organizational Structure: • Adversarial approach (courtroom structure)• Two parties argue facts• Involves an impartial referee

• Values:• Efficiency• Stability• Equality

• Due process• Adjudication protects rights

• Reliability• Adjudication develops knowledge

• Against economy and managerial effectiveness

Legal Approach

• View of the Individual: • Viewed as a unique individual with a specific issue• Opposite of the traditional managerial approach

• Decision making: • Incremental• Derived from past decisions (stare decisis)• Not scientific however