preview

New Is Always Better : The Movement Of Old And New Public Administration

Good Essays
New Is Always Better: The Movement of Old to New Public Administration
The transition from old to new Public administration is the largest transition in governmental public administration. From municipalities to nationally run organizations like the Environmental Protection Agency, the transition from the highly structured Weberian hierarchy to a more open, communicative environment is clearly apparent from old to new public administration. Further, the transition from measuring output and efficiency to working with people and the adoption of vulgar ethics clearly shape American history from Jacksonian era politics and gilded era spoils system to the reformation of federal government towards more merit-based policies. Throughout this transition, some civil servants began to be viewed more positively overall. Originally, old public administration was based on political theory and very basic social sciences that provided a very rigid idea of a basic public administration. Weber and Frederick Taylor were the social scientists behind classical or “old” public administration. They both believed in a very rigid structure for public administration, hierarchy and a paper trail were both important for improving efficiency and accountability. Frederick Taylor focused on creating methods to determine the most efficient ways of performing tasks, and consequently measured efficiency by looking solely at the output produced by factory workers. Additionally, the success of government
Get Access