Introduction to Administrative Process 405/505
        Lecture of August 26, 1998:  Public Administration,

                Its Definition, History and Scope
        
     Public administration itself is probably as old as the
pyramids but the self-conscious study of public administration
itself probably dates back to 1887 with Woodrow Wilson's essay "The
Study of Administration."  Much of the academic literature on
public administration has been pre-occupied by the issue of how
best to define it.  One simple definition of it is: "the
administration of public policy, whether by elected officials,
publicly-paid officials, or non-public officials."  What is more
important than just being able to repeat a definition of public
administration is being able to describe features of public
administration that distinguish it from business enterprise or else
non-profit, private organized activities.

     The earliest attempts to formulate principles of public
administration used administration in private business as the model
of efficient administration.  They also tried to distinguish
rigorously between politics and administration.  They also tried to
define public administration more or less purely in terms of the
functions each agency was supposed to fulfill.  Today these efforts
are viewed as mistaken:  public administration serves different
goals than private enterprize and operates in a different (non-
competitive, non-autonomous) environment.  Although overall
policies may be determined by elected officials the various
agencies and departments charged with carrying out the policies
still have to translate them in regulations, apply them and
adjudicate disputes using these rules and respond to the concerns
of groups affected by these regulations.  In other words they not
only implement policy but create it as well.  Finally to describe
fully the work of any public administrator it is not enough to say
what he does---one must know what part of the public is being
served by his work and how does he acquire the resources needed to
do his work (who is paying for it?).

Why Public Administration Is Not Separable from Politics:

1.   Legislation is Ambiguous:  The process whereby a bill becomes
law involves several hurdles by which interested groups ensured
that their voices are heard.  Through congressional hearings and
procedural motions interest groups indirectly exercise "multiple
vetoes."  To get legislation passed through both Houses of Congress
and singed into law involves compromise and diluting the language
of the bill sufficiently to be acceptable to many points of view. 
The resulting legislation may be very general and vague.

     When regulating departments and agencies received copies of
the new laws they must then translate them into specific and
enforceable regulations.  In effect they have to engage in
legislation.  TO do this they often must consult with the staffs of
the congressional committees that drafted the bills as well as with
representatives of the groups which they are regulating to secure
acceptance and compliance.  All of this is essentially political
activity.

2.   Bureaucratic Legitimacy:  TO be perceived as legitimate,
bureaucratic officials have to be perceived as responsive to public
opinion and concerns.  This means, in effect, they must be
politically sensitive and responsive.

3.   Not All Politics is Partisan Politics:  The "Administration
versus Politics" dichotomy was formulated with the "Spoils System"
in mind in which politics meant partisan politics and the wishes of
political bosses.  However, in its broadest sense, politics is
simply the competition for control of the resources of government. 
Even if government agencies and departments hold themselves aloof
from the ideological quarrels and power struggles of Democrats and
Republicans each agency or department will still seek to protect
its own administrative turf, its share of the budget and will try
to cut into the terrain and budget share of other agencies if it
can get away with it.  In other words public administrators may
pursue their own "Bureaucratic politics."

     Agencies and departments become, in effect, lobbyists for
themselves when they compete with each for government resources and
over questions of jurisdiction.

4.   Politics "by Default" - Public administrators do not like to
make decisions where they have no clear legal mandate to act.  If
a President and Congress disagree over public policy bureaucrats
will stonewall attempts to force them to change existing policy
when there is no clear public consensus and mandate for them to do
so.  By resisting political direction from the executive, however,
they are in fact behaving politically.


What Makes Public Administration "Public"

     What makes public administration essentially different from
private business is that the public manager must not be concerned
exclusively with effectiveness and efficiency but moreover must
also be concerned with democratic values.  That is, one must be
responsive to the various groups that participate in defining the
public interest---elected officials, legislatures, constituent
groups, and the public at large.  This also explains why public
administration cannot be truly "non-political."
     
Important Differences between Public and Private Administration

1.   Different Mode of Operating

     Both private and public administration involve three aspects:

     1.   Political Management:  Responsiveness to public values
          and concerns.

     2.   Technical Management:    

          Planning - - - setting goals
          Decision-making - problem solving
          Organizing - achieving goals
          Leading - motivating others
          Implementation and Evaluation - "control
     
     3.   Resource Management:  Using personnel, money and
          information in the most effective manner.

     Public management involves a much greater share of Political
Management than Technical management.  Although private businesses
are regulated and subject to various laws their reason for existing
is essentially private and by and large they operate as they see
fit.  Publicly administered works are not independent from the
government and are accountable to society at large for how they
carry out their functions.  Decision-making in a private firm can
be autocratic and therefore quite simple.  Dissenters can just be
fired.  Decision-making in public administration is pluralistic,
requiring consultation with many interested groups and their
consensual support.  If key groups dissent this can kill quick and
effective decision-making.

     In private enterprises the inputs (costs) and outputs (sales)
are measured in the same way.  Their profits generate their next
inputs and sufficiently justify their continued activity.  In
public administration while the costs can be measured in dollars
the product, which is some benefit to the public, usually cannot be
directly measured in dollars.  Their "product" thus does not
directly produce more resources.  Whereas a private business like
MacDonalds would like to attract more customers (more customers =
more sales = more revenues = more resources with which to satisfy
more customers) a social welfare department will not similarly try
to attract more client.  More welfare recipients will simply
stretch the same resources more thinly without necessarily
generating more appropriations from the legislature.

     The public administrator cannot operate from a "profit"
motive.  Ideally he should operate from a "service" orientation but
in practice this means he has to please those who provide his
organization with its resources.

2.   Different Qualities Needed to Manage

     Public                                  Private

-Must be able to persuade and      -Must be able to market
 negotiate with resource            product to customers
 providers (not clients)

-Operates in a "fishbowl"          -Enjoys more privacy in 
 atmosphere of public scrutiny      planning and operating
 CAN'T HAVE A THIN SKIN             

-Must be a generalist: technician  -Can remain a specialist
 politician, human relations,
 counselor

-Must be able to use moral         -Need only use carrots
 motivations with subordinates      and sticks

-Lives in uncertain political      -Lives in uncertain political
 atmosphere                         and economic atmosphere

3.   Different Settings

     Fishbowl Environment - constant scrutiny, openness, and
     "leaks" mean that a large portion of work is devoted just 
     to maintaining the credibility of the agency and of its
     managers.

     Short-Term Horizons - whereas private planners can draw up
     long term investment plans the time horizons of public mangers
     are often limited by election dates and budgeting deadlines.

4.   Different Goals:

     Private managers can measure their bottom-line performance in
dollars and cents.  Public managers have a wider ranger of goals
and therefore do not have one un-ambiguous guide to performance. 
"Public Interest" has no common denominator or currency that all
can agree on.  

     Examples Environmental Protection vs. Jobs.

     Highway Safety versus fast and effective transportation

     
   Milestone in Developing Professional Public Administration

1789-1828      Period of domination by "Genteel Elites"

1828-1883      "Spoils System"

1881           Garfield Assassinated

1883           Pendleton Act  - Civil Service Exams
                              - Merit System
                              - Civil Service Commission

1939           Hatch Act - Civil servants could not
                           ---run for office
                           ---campaign for parties or
                              candidates
                           ---raise funds

1946           Administrative Procedure Act

               Regulations written by agencies must be
               published in Federal Register and subject to 
               appeal and revision

1978           Civil Service Reform Act

               - created Office of Personnel Management
               - created Senior Executive Service

Milestones in Administrative Thought

1856           Daniel McCallum invented organization flow-charts

1887           Woodrow Wilson's Study of Administration

1922           Max Weber defines phenomenon of "Bureaucracy"

1927           Elton Mayo conduct experiments at Hawthorne Works of
               Western Electric Company---leads to "human
               relations" school of management thought

1937           Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick popularized
               POSDCORB principles approach to management.

1947           Herbert Simon's Administration Behavior criticizes
               "principles" approach and advocates "systems"
               approach instead---you cannot study public
               management as something self-contained--it
               operates within a political environment--that is,
               within a political system.