A Study Of Public Administration

Throughout the rigmarole of political history of the United States of America, the growth of the “fourth branch of government”, the Bureaucracy, has been a prominent, controversial topic. Peter Woll, in his article “Constitutional Democracy and Bureaucratic Power”, and James Q. Wilson, in his article “The Rise of the Bureaucratic State”, discuss this developing administrative branch. The Constitution has no written mention of an “administrative branch”, and today’s Bureaucracy is often tedious, corrupt, and even undemocratic. But such a branch’s development and expansion is necessary in order to keep par with an evolving and changing society.

In his book, Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies do and why they do it, James Q. Wilson’s main objective is to better define the behavior of governmental bureaucracy, believing traditional organizational and economic theory does not adequately explain their actions. Wilson believes that government agencies are doomed to be perceived as inefficient entities by the public. He gives examples of commonly held perceptions of bureaucracies and reveals how these are mostly misconceptions. He points to the environment of bureaucracy, where rules and procedures, dictate goals, along with context, constraints, values, and norms.

My Introductory to Public Administration class has taught me the range that can come with public administration. Public administrators are employed in all levels of government, across various fields including social welfare, financial administration, and human resources (Denhardt, 2014, p. 1). Despite the various type of public administration jobs that exist, the one thing all public administrators are required to do is to maintain a commitment to public service (Denhardt, 2014, p. 1). In order to better understand how public administrators are responsive to public interests, I was assigned the task of interviewing a professional in public administration. I chose to interview Jeanell Emond, program manager for Central Valley Prevention Program (CVPP) and Mental Health Systems (MHS), because of my future in social work and my interest in developing and managing programs that benefit the community. Through the interview I was able to gain valuable insight on the agency and Mrs. Emond’s role as a public administrator. More importantly, I was able to learn how interorganizational partnerships, financial management, ethics, and leadership and management skills in public administration can help develop stronger communities.

Classical organizational theory supports two views. Scientific management which focuses on managing work and employees and administrative management which addresses issues which

The Federalist wanted a stronger central government compared to Anti-Federalist who wanted a weak central government.They both feared tyranny would come from the opposing side, The Federalist feared the tyranny of the masses as the Anti-Federalist feared government tyranny.

Political authority over the bureaucracy is not in one set of hands, but shared among several institutions

“The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy.” This quote by Woodrow Wilson fits perfectly with the topics that will be discussed. The major theme of this paper is bureaucracy. Bureaucracy refers to an administrative system in which agencies staffed largely by non elected officials perform specific tasks in accordance with standard procedures. The work of the bureaucracy involves implementing laws and procedures. Does this sound familiar? That is because most bureaucrats work for the executive branch of the government. The executive branch is the one that enforces the laws. Some of these law enforcing jobs include mail clerk, police officer, fireman, and first responder. These jobs are essential to our lives as Americans and are greatly appreciated. This paper will expound on the history, usage, and the Cabinet

Kernaghan, K. 2000. The Post-Bureaucratic Organization and Public Services Values. Interational Review of Administrative Sciences 66. 2000, pp. 92-93.

However, despite Max Weber’s theory that bureaucracies are like iron “iron cages” that are a efficient form of administration. Prior to modern government reform patronage, spoils, and bribery were just part of the political environment for Public Administrators. In today’s, modern government Public Administrators are hired based on the merit and technical qualifications that secure the individual can carry out the duties of the office. However, Public Administrators are forced to work in a hierarchical organization

The word “bureaucracy” has a negative connotation to many people. The fact is that our current system of government would not be able to survive without bureaucracies. The bureaucracy has become the “fourth branch” of the government, it has quasi-legislative and judicial powers and in it’s own field its authority is rarely challenged. The presence of these large, inefficient structures is necessary if the American people want to continue receiving the benefits that they expect.

To become a public administrator, you must have the ability to work with different people from different background, different age groups, and various economy classes. A Public administrator cannot be biased towards one group of people and turn around and be favorable towards the other. As an administrator, you have to be transparent to everybody that you encounter, even people that you will be working with, and people that you are working for. According to the publication, “Ethical Dilemmas in the Public Service,” by the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management, describes that the ethical issue that government officials face in any organization is nepotism and bias. The reason why this event occurs is that some of the individuals in the public administrative positions are not transparent in the workplace and are also influenced by personal gain.

Government policy can be described as the declaration that defines the objective of the priorities and goals of the government. Since these policies outline the rules, role, and procedures, they develop a framework in which the government and its citizens can carry out their specific duties. The public policies are created by all governmental levels and target the entire population or particular groups. The process of developing these policies involves the engagement of governmental officials and citizens. On the other hand, politics of government provide the platform for the development, establishment, and implementation of public policy. Therefore, the politics of government are the platform with which public policies are adopted and implemented.

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the public interest and the administrative responsibility. Discuss some of the recent ethical obligations confronting public administrators in their day to day decision making. Also we will examine the recent trend in privatizing government functions. Finally, we will discuss if privatizing posses any type of dilemma’s for the attainment of public interest.

The strengths of the POSDCORB model are that it provides managers with the basic functions and responsibilities needed for the organization to succeed. The model provides structure to a bureaucratic organization and helps analyze its activities. POSDCORB and Max Weber’s theory of bureaucracy are closely aligned and help form the basis of the structural-mechanistic approach to public management. The model provides the basis for establishing a division of work and authority. It establishes a chain of command and allows for the central control, coordination, and planning and the integration of all activities. It also provides other keep management functions like reporting and budgeting along with HR functions like staffing.

When the word Public Administration come accross one’s mind, people would think of government civil workers and bureaucracy in government office. However, Public Administration is wider than that. It comprises of many part among them are technical issues,financal issues and ethical issues.Among many of them is the importance of manegerial technique, a characteristic where an organization such as government office should have in order to organize, planned, co-ordinate and budgetting. Government office is a big