Business and Government Relations (Bus 401)

Introduction to Public Administration

Chapter One

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Definitions of Public Administration

Public administration is both an academic discipline and a field of practice;

Public administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work

As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its fundamental goal is to advance management and policies so that government can function.

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Public Administration: more definition

“The management of public programs” “Translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day” “The study of government decision making, the

analysis of the policies themselves, the various inputs that have produced them, and the inputs necessary to produce alternative policies”

Public administrators are public servants working in public departments and agencies, at all levels of government.

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Government, Governance and Politics

1) Governmenta) Is the legal entity that is charged by a constitution to make

and enforce laws and exercise the highest authority among human institutions (state or local government).

b) The word originated in the Greek term for the pilot of a ship, suggesting that to govern is to steer a society's development and make choices that shape its future.

2) Governance2) Governance Recently, the term governance means a cooperative process

with many partners, both within and outside governments, who interact to determine policy choices and their implementation.

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Definitions of Government, Governance and Politics

3) Politics We can think of politics as conflict and cooperation

over the distribution of benefits and costs in society, which entail the exercise of power by those with the ability to influence public choices.

Politics is concerned with "who gets what, when how" in a society.

Experience has made it clear, though, that politics appears wherever there is disagreement over goals and means, even over the finest details.

Definitions of Government, Governance and Politics

Public Policies A policy is a plan that guides the actions taken by a person or

group. Public purposes must be framed in specific policies to have any effect on the nation's life. These policies are the choices of actions intended to serve these purposes. They therefore target a desired outcome and the means for its achievement.

The Policy Cycle The bottom line of public administration is making public policy

work, its implementation. This is, most simply, a cycle with three basic stages.

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Definitions of Government, Governance and Politics

The first stage This refers to embody the public purposes in specific

programs, with budgets, responsible agencies, and legal powers.

The second stage Is the application of those program resources to the target

populations. This calls for management skills (POSDCORB). These functions encompass all the actions that meet a program's objectives.

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Definitions of Government, Governance and Politics

The third step the public policy reaches the highest point with outcomes and impacts. An outcome, is the specific result of the program on the targeted situation; an impact is the broader change achieved by the program along with other public and private efforts over a period of time.

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The Tools of Public Policy

Governments can use many instruments to implement policies, and the choice of one or another can be vital to a program's success. We refer to these instruments as tools, each with its unique political and administrative features.

Each of these tools consists of:1) A tangible good or activity that government provides to citizens, (such

as public school teaching, mail delivery by the public postal service, inspection of food....)

2) A means by which it is delivered to those who benefit from it, cash payments to individuals (such as pensions and social assistance to low-income families, and subsidizing of basic goods and services.)

A body of rules and policies that control its delivery and use.

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The Tools of Public Policy

3) Enable citizens to act in publicly desirable ways. One example is the deduction taxable income for contributions to charitable organizations, intended to encourage private contributions to social services.

4) Encourage private organizations to provide desired services with financial support and legal authority.

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The Essential Public Purposes

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Public Purpose Example1. Protect the lives, property, and

rights of citizens National defense Public health and disease control Police and fire protection Workplace safety Antidiscrimination regulations

2. Maintain or ensure the supply of essential resources

Protection of oil imports Emergency food supplies Water, electricity, and gas supplies

3. Support persons who are unable to care for themselves

Pensions for retired and disabled people Homes and therapy for the disabled Foster homes for children Unemployment compensation

The Essential Public Purposes

Public Purpose Example

4. Promote steady and balanced economic growth

Interest rate regulation Financing for new businesses Promotion of international trade Employment-skills training Construction of transportation facilities Local development of business and jobs

5. Promote quality of life and personal opportunity to succeed

Education, early childhood to adult Housing assistance Cultural amenities Recreational facilities

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The Essential Public Purposes

Public Purpose Example

6. Protect natural environment Conservation of water and soils Wildlife protection Pollution control Waste management

7. Promote scientific and technological advancement

Patents for inventions Medical research Space exploration Agricultural improvement

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Challenges facing the Public Sector

1. Growth and Complexity of Government As governments responded to the expansion of public

purposes, they themselves grew in size and complexity.

We can attribute this growth in government to urbanizing and industrializing with technologies that closely link widely dispersed areas, and due to citizens often view government as the problem solver of last resort.

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Challenges facing the Public Sector 2. Enhancing the understanding of ethical values of

government system wide and provide incentives to practice them creatively and consistently.

3. The Principal-Agent Relationship (customer or client-agent relationship).

4. The new public service movement a- serve, rather than steer b- creation of shared interests and shared responsibility c- Think strategically, act democratically

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Challenges facing the Public Sector

d- Serve citizens, not customers, they should be attentive to more than the market; they should also attend to constitutional law, community values, political norms, professional standards, and citizen interests.

e- Treat citizens with respect so that they treat you with respect, too.

5. Citizen participation in decision making (political, economic, and social decisions.)

6. Applying the e-government and e-governance within today’s technological dynamic world.

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Contrasting Business and Public Administration

Most observers would agree that the primary distinction between business and private service is primarily concerned with making a profit, while public service is concerned with delivering services or regulating individual or group behavior in the public interest.

There are 3 apparent differences beside the above –mentioned:

1. Ambiguity difficulty of measurement of many outputs in terms of financial bottom line.

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Contrasting Business and Public Administration

2. Pluralistic Decision Making In public and non-profit organizations, decision making require input from many diverse groups and

organizations. 3. Visibility The public service in a democratic society is subject to constant scrutiny by both the press and the public.

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The Tension that public Administration is living now-a- days

1. Efficiency versus Responsiveness Those in public administration have long wrestled with the

issues of politics and administration, and democracy and bureaucracy, public managers have begun to experience these tensions more frequently in the day-to-day problems they face in terms of efficiency versus responsiveness. On one hand, there is there is the hope that public and nonprofit organizations will operate in the most efficient way possible, getting things done quickly and at the least cost to taxpayers and donors. On the other hand, public managers must be constantly attentive to the demands of the citizen, whether those demands are expressed through the chief executive, through the legislature, or directly.

The Tension that public Administration is living now-a- days

2. Bureaucracy versus Democracy Early discussions of public administration raised a problem had

to do with the potential for conflict between democracy and bureaucracy as following points explain:

The development of the individual is the primary goal of a democratic political system. In contrast to the democratic value of individuality, there stood the bureaucratic value of the group or organization.

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The Tension that public Administration is living now-a- days

All persons created equal, that differences in wealth, status, or position should not give one person or group an advantage over another. In contrast to the democratic values of equality, there stood the bureaucratic hierarchy.

Democratic morality emphasizes widespread participation among the citizens in the making of major decisions. And in contrast to the democratic values of participation and involvement, there stood the bureaucratic value of top-down decision making and authority.

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The Tension that public Administration is living now-a- days

Set against these tenets of democracy are the ideals of bureaucratic management: The early scholars and practitioners in public administration were, of course, writing at a time when businesses were growing rapidly and beginning to use more complicated technologies and new ways of organizing appropriate to those technologies. To some extent the public sector looked to the field of business for models of organization.

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The Tension that public Administration is living now-a- days

They found that the growth of large-scale business had led to the development of large and complex bureaucratic organizations, organizations that were built around values quite different from those of democracy. (Although the term bureaucracy is often used in a pejorative sense, but we here are using it in a neutral and scientific sense: a way of organizing work). The values of bureaucracy included first the need to bring together the work of many individuals in order to achieve purposes far beyond the capabilities of any single individual. Also, bureaucratic systems were to be structured hierarchically, with those at the top having far greater power and discretion than those at the bottom. (Top – Down chain of command) 23