Street Level Bureaucracy : The Dilemmas Of The Individual Essay

HEADER: PAD709 BOOK REVIEW 1 Book Review Maynard-Moody, S., & Musheno, M. (2009). Cops, Teachers, Counselors: Stories from the front lines of public service. Riccucci, N. (2005). How management matters: Street-level bureaucrats and welfare reform. Key Findings

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.

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.

The increased of industrialization in American cities brought a new social demand to public officials who were unprepared to target the existing issues of society. Administrative officers started to gaining power to conduct intervention programs or institutions. However, people started to distrust public administrators and institutions for their inefficiency and incapacity they gave to the treatment of social issues. The author

“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

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

Street-level bureaucracy is an organization theory that focuses on the front-line workers of the welfare state and their relationships with their clients (Eriksen, 2001). According to Lipsky (1980), the street-level bureaucrats are professionals and semi-professionals, found in a variety of occupations. Street-level bureaucracies are important because they decide what and in what form clients receive public services. This is linked to the fact that street-level bureaucrats use administrative and professional methods of discretion in relation to vague public policies (Lipsky, 1980). According to the author, a major aspect of Lipsky’s theory is the relationship between the conditions of work for street-level bureaucrats and their development of coping strategies. The working conditions are characterized by a problematic resources situation, unclear goals and strained relationships with clients. In response, street level bureaucrats tend to develop coping strategies such as rationing of services and modifications of work and clients (Lipsky, 1980). The consequence of this is that the coping strategies shape the way the street-level bureaucrats work with their clients and thus implement public

The fifth narrative “Street-Level Bureaucracy: The Critical Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats written by Michael Lipsky in 1980 whose ideas can be observed in the Reforming the Government School of though. The reading analyzed the significance of the actions of public workers to determine discretionary judgement when delivering services to the public. Government workers are the face of the government and the representation of the conditions of policy to the people. The problem that government workers face is the constant changed in policies and procedures that tend to directly affect the demands of citizens and services. Lipsky argued, “They are constantly torn by the demands of service recipients to improve effectiveness and responsiveness to improve effectiveness and responsiveness and by the demands of citizen groups to improve the efficacy and efficiency of government services” (p. 402). The function of government workers is usually questioned by citizens since they feel that any decision of street-level bureaucrats scan affect the stability of the people’s lives. In addition to the problems in relationships with clients, the increased in administrative cost for the government’s services was questioned and placed under scrutiny.

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

Street-level bureaucrats try coping strategies or even survival strategies to deal with these unaccommodating working situations, inadequacies and uncertainties. In fact, in their daily routines, street-level bureaucrats

Politics/administration dichotomy- when viewing this opposition, it should be seen as politicians writing and making rules while bureaucrats implement and put in place the policies and programs for the public to utilize. Administration and politics are seen as two separate components where they should not interface with one another. Even with them being a separate field of study, they have no choice but to integrate. As Woodrow Wilson looked at how politics and administration were forming, he felt the importance of government employees conduct themselves in a professional business manner while ensuring their accountability of providing proper services to the people and not partake in political philosophies. Politics are aligned with elected officials who write and pass the policies to be implemented by government agencies which are then applied by civil servants. By achieving this responsibility, public sector employees are required to embrace the values and principles to ensure efficiency, legitimacy, and

My thoughts about public service before I entered the Master of Science in Public Administration (MSPA) program at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA), were most likely different from those of someone who received an undergraduate degree in Public Administration. My undergraduate degree was in Criminal Justice, and my thoughts of public service were conceived from my personal interactions I had with public service agencies and media portrayals. My thoughts on public service were that there was a massive hole in “customer” satisfaction, economic efficiency, and effectiveness causing a lack of confidence in the system.

In this chapter, Lipsky (2010) highlights client-processing procedures and various aspects of a street-level bureaucracy that gain client compliance and routine control. The environment that street-level bureaucracies engage with their clients signifies, supports, and limit the relationship (Lipsky, 2010). While each agency may be structure differently, the setting is not unintentional and is a means to gain control of the client. Another attribute to routine client control is that clients are secluded from one another to eliminate information and knowledge. Services and procedures that take place within these organizations are often times viewed as benevolent, and assumed to be in the best interest of the client (Lipsky, 2010). However, this

In the following paragraphs, I will explain the dominant theory in public administration practice and elaborate on the major theoretical assumptions of the Old Public Administration. As stated in the question, the world has transformed through globalization, information technology, and devolution of authority since the latter part of the last century. The dominant theory in public administration has been replaced from the traditional rule-based, authority-driven processes of the Old Public Administration with market-based, competition-driven tactics in the New Public Management, beginning in the 1980s (Kettl, 2000, p. 3). This was an effort to privatize government and streamline public administration to maximize efficiency and productivity. Heavily relying on market mechanisms to guide public programs, public administrators in the New Public Management are encouraged to “steer, not row,” meaning they should not bear the burden of delivering services, but instead define programs that others will carry out, through contracting or other means (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2011, p. 13). Core values of the New Public Management include using private sector and business approaches to the public sector, squeezing as many services as possible from smaller revenues, market style incentives, providing customers more choices, and focusing on outputs and outcomes instead of mainly processes.