Public Administration: Scope and Growth

Public Administration Overview

• Public Administration refers to the actions a government chooses to take or not take.
• It involves implementing public policy in the public interest and executing public laws.
• Administration depends on law, and government actions necessitate legal authorization.
• Public Administration is associated with the executive branch.
• It involves organizing and directing resources to achieve desired ends.
• Broadly, it includes activities of groups cooperating to reach common goals and applied to state affairs.
• Public administration involves implementing government policy.
• It is an academic discipline that studies this implementation.
• It also prepares civil employees for public service.

Growth and Scope of Government

• Government expanded in the 1960s, especially during LBJ's administration (1963-1969).
• The Great Society initiatives followed JFK’s technocratic innovations and expanded government roles.
• Great Society policies included the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 along with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
• Additional policies focused on poverty reduction, food assistance, immigration, healthcare, and environmental protection.
• Numerous federal agencies and organizations were created by it, requiring more administrators.
• Around 14% of American workers are government employees, who are generally better educated with stable employment.

History of Public Admin in US

• Public administration in academia involves how governments operate.
• Mosher identified periods of public administration, starting with Government by Gentlemen (1789-1829)
• Upper-class individuals filled federal positions during this time.
• Government by the Common Man (1829-1883) was characterized by the spoils system.
• Government by the Good (1883-1906) involved civil service and the merit system with the creation of the Pendleton Act.
• Government by the Efficient (1906-1937) focused on scientific management processes for greater efficiency.
• Government by Administration (1937-1955) expanded due to the New Deal and professionalization.
• The Administrative Procedures Act of 1946 (APA) governs federal agency procedures, including public interactions and transparency.
• The APA includes public notice and comment periods, administrative hearings, Federal Register publication, and judicial review.
• Modern public administration saw state and local government growth in the 1960s and 1970s, especially in education.
• Government actions shifted from overt to covert, using mechanisms like contracting, grants, and regulations.
• Deregulation and responses to growing government, such as regulatory capture, also influence modern public administration.
• Watergate scandal exemplified a loss of trust in government.

The Public Sector

• The public and private sectors differ in objectives, governance, funding, and management.
• The private sector relies on voluntary exchanges, while the public sector has coercive power.
• You interact with governments every day through building codes, FCC regulations, speed limits, and more.
• Special purpose governments include special districts (like rural water districts) and public authorities.
• Government corporations provide market-oriented public services, while quasi-governmental entities have legal ties to government.
• Federal employment has declined especially due to the Postal Service.
• During federal FY 2023 spending was $6.1 trillion, revenue collected $4.4 trillion and GDP was $27.4 trillion.
• What justifies government intervention in the private sector is market failure.
• Market failures include market power, externalities, imperfect information, and missing markets.
• Types of goods are categorized as private, common pool resources, toll goods, and public goods, based on excludability and rivalry.

Organizational Theory and Management

• The Treaty of Westphalia (1648) established state sovereignty and nations.
• Organization theory studies the structure, behavior, and function of organizations.
• It tackles questions about how organizations form, function, achieve goals, and respond to change.
• Classical theory emerged, focusing on economic objectives, optimized production, and efficiency through specialization.
• Adam Smith's ideas on specialization and division of labor and staff concept.
• Taylor said organizations should function like machines while Fayol said to function with people.
• Bureaucracy structure is often related to the executive branch of government.
• Max Weber theorized bureaucracy as an optimal organizational structure, featuring hierarchy, formal rules, and division of labor.
• It also includes impersonality, meritocracy, career civil servants, official record keeping, and review capabilities.
• Weber's work influenced impartial, efficient, predictable, and accountable public administration.
• Neoclassical organizational theory emerged in mid-20th century as a response to bureaucracy's shortcomings.
• Herbert Simon emphasized bounded rationality, where people satisfice due to cognitive limitations.
• Administration discretion happens where bureaucrats make decisions.
• Modern Structural Theory emphasizes that organizational structure influences behavior and performance.
• Contingency theory states that there is no one best way to organize.
• Systems theory views an organization as interconnected subsystems that use feedback loops.
• New Public Management (NPM) encourages public organizations to be managed like private sector.

Organizational Behavior

• Organizational behavior focuses on human behavior in organizations.
• Organizational development (OD) aligns structure, culture, and processes with objectives.
• Bureaucratic structures foster consistency, compliance, and top-down communication.
• Bureaucratic dysfunction includes trained incapacity, rules becoming objectives, and territoriality.
• Dysfunction includes red tape, inefficiency, corruption, poor communication, and inflexibility.
• Organizational structure shapes perspectives.
• Groupthink involves the desire for consensus which overrides rational decision making.
• Impersonality promotes equality but can lead to inflexibility.
• Bureaucrat bashing involves unfair criticisms of bureaucracy and individuals.
• The Hawthorne effect occurs when people change behavior when they know they are being observed.
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs can guide managers in understanding employee needs.
• Motivation-hygiene theory identifies motivational factors (satisfiers) and hygiene factors (dissatisfiers).
• Expectancy theory states states that Motivation happens when Expectancy, Instrumentality, and Valence are all present.

Political Control of Bureacracy

• The Pendleton Act initiated merit-based civil service.
• Waldo and Simon argued that politics and administration are linked.
• Democratic self-government requires elected officials to control outcomes.
• Differences exist between politics (policy goals) and administration (policy implementation).
• The council-manager form of government a political council oversees and administrators operate under city manager.
• Bureaucratic capture has versions like agency influence over time, issue networks becoming exclusive, and policy elites capturing bureaucracies.
• Client responsiveness involves bureaucrats prioritizing their clientele, common among street-level bureaucrats (SLBs).
• Principal-agent theory states elected officials (principals) delegate policy implementation to civil servants (agents).
• Performance measurement and policy evaluation determine if administrators are correctly implementing policies.
• South Carolina has nine statewide elected officials.

Public Finance

• It focuses on fiscal policy (taxing and spending decisions) and its administration.
• Fiscal policy is made by the legislative branch.
• Monetary policy involves decisions about the value of money, made by the Federal Reserve Board.
• Fiscal policy is important since budgets reflect priorities, and it is needed for spending.
• Core principles of public financial management include accountability, probity, prudence, equity, transparency, and democratic consent.
• Budgets reflect political priorities, enable efficient management, set economic goals, and provide an accounting framework.
• Macroeconomic visions include Keynesian (countercyclical spending) and Hayekian (market-driven) economics.
• The congressional Budget Act of 1974 created budget committees and the CBO.
• Congress has the power of the purse.
• Public sector organizations collect revenues through taxation, user fees, grants, business activity, and borrowing.
• Income taxes are often progressive, while non-income taxes are usually flat.
• State and local governments have diverse revenue sources and spending priorities, such as education, healthcare, and transportation.

Public Budgeting and Finance

• Budget formats include operating and capital expenditures.
• Operating budgets cover regular government functions, while capital budgets fund long-term projects.
• Line-item budgets track appropriations but lack clarity on expenditure purposes.
• Performance budgets connect funding to outputs and outcomes, enhancing accountability.
• Zero-based budgeting requires justification for all spending each cycle, promoting instability.

Public Personnel Management

• Human resource management (HRM) in the public sector involves recruiting, hiring, training, managing, promoting, and firing.
• HRM is crucial for implementing and enforcing governance, representing a large organizational cost.
• The spoils system (patronage) awarded jobs based on political loyalty.
• The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 established a professionalized civil service system.
• Key provisions included merit-based hiring, competitive examinations, a Civil Service Commission (CSC), and civil service protections.
• Agencies took more control, and HRM became less centralized with merit-based hiring.
• DEI initiatives, including affirmative action.
• Government employees are motivated by public service.
• HRM includes duties like job design, HR law compliance, and productivity measurement.
• Recruitment involves reevaluating workforce needs; many jobs require posting for a minimum period and merit selection based on competency.
• Governments use position classifications with pay ranges, such as the federal government’s General Schedule.
• Performance management is a holistic approach, aligning strategic planning with individual performance and using ongoing feedback.

Personnel Management

• Training includes education requirements, onboarding, ongoing skills development, and cross-training.
• Management development includes identifying leadership potential and succession planning.
• Privatization transfers responsibility to private organizations, while outsourcing hires outside organizations.
• Government contracts may require competitive bids and are subject to review and oversight.
• Labor unions collectively represent members' interests.
• Collective bargaining agreements cover wages, safety, workload limits, and training.
• Strikes are a significant threat.
• Public sector unions include the NEA, AFT, AFSCME, and AFGE.
• Private sector unions negotiate over profits, while public sector revenue comes from taxes.
• States that contain right-to-work laws, limit union security agreements.
• Janus v. AFSCME (2018) ended agency shop dues collection.

Recent Developments

• The Trump Administration implemented changes.
• An EO created a new employee categorization, similar to Schedule F.
• Another EO prioritized merit hiring and prohibits factors like race, sex, and religion in hiring.
• An EO from 1965 requires affirmative action plans for federal contractors.
• Another EO terminates DEI programs and positions.
• Conflicts exist in federal HRM such as the role of the president, democracy, merit vs. DEI, and legal factors.

Explore public administration: government actions, policy implementation, and public interest. Understand its link to the executive branch, resource management, and academic study. Examine government expansion, notably during LBJ's Great Society initiatives, which broadened governmental roles.