Public Administration Lecture Notes PDF

Public Administration Dr. Mai Ghaith Contrasting Business and Public administration Certainly, there are similarities between business and public administration. Managers across all private, public and non-profit are involved in questions of organizational design, th...

Public Administration Dr. Mai Ghaith Contrasting Business and Public administration Certainly, there are similarities between business and public administration. Managers across all private, public and non-profit are involved in questions of organizational design, the allocation of scarce resources, and the management of people. But there are differences between business and public administration. Contrasting Business and Public administration These 3 differences are: Ambiguity Pluralistic Decision Making Visibility  Ambiguity The 1st difference between business and government lies in “the purposes to be served”. In the most businesses, even with services objectives, the bottom-line profit is the basic measure of evaluating how good a job the organization is doing. In turn, the performance of individual manager can, in many cases, be directly measured in a way, in terms of their unit’s contribution to the overall profit of the company.  Ambiguity But in public or non-profit agencies/organizations, the objectives of the organizations in which one works may be much more ambiguous and were making or losing money is not the main criterion for success or failure. The main objectives of public or non-profit organization can be stated in terms of services. For example: agencies that interested in environment or to provide an adequate level of rehabilitative services to disabled yet, such services objectives are much harden to specify and to measure.  Ambiguity So, businesses wouldn’t tolerate a money-losing operation in a depressed area, but a public or non- profit organization, through equally attentive to the money being spent, might well consider meeting human needs more important than the financial “bottom-line”. Pluralistic Decision-Making Public services, at least in a democratic society, requires that many groups and individuals have across the decision process. The result, decision that might be made rapidly by one individual or small group in business might in public or non-profit organization require input from many diverse groups and organizations. Consequently, it is difficult to speak decision centers in government. Pluralistic Decision-Making W.Michael Blumenthal, a business executive who become secretary of Treasury in the Carter administration, described the situation this way: “if president said to me, you develop (an economic policy toward Japan), Mike, the moment that becomes known there are innumerable interest groups that begin to play role. The House ways and means committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and every member on them and every staff member has an opinion and seeks to exert influence. Also, the foreign Relations Committee, the oversight Committee, and then the interest groups, business, the unions, the State Department, the Commerce Department, Council of Economic Advisors, and not only the top people, but all their staff people, not to the president’s staff and the entire press.” Pluralistic Decision-Making “The diversity of interests seeking to affect policy is the nature and essence of democratic Government” Blumenthal Visibility Managers in public and non-profit organizations seem to operate with much greater visibility than their counterparts in industry. The public services in democratic society is subject to constant scrutiny by both the press and the public. Donald Rumsfeld (1983): “In government, you are operating in a goldfish bowel. You change your mind or make a blunder, as human beings, and it’s on the front page of every newspaper.” Visibility Executives in government realize that it is essential to democratic society that their work be visible to the public and subject to the interest and control of the citizenry.