The Multiple Functions of Public Administrators: Their Major Activities, Responsibilities, and Roles 210
8 Decision Making: The Concept of Incremental Choice 212
Reading 8: Introduction 212
The Science of “Muddling Through” 215
Charles E. Lindblom
Case Study 8: Introduction 226
How a City Slowly Drowned 227
Michael Grunwald and Susan B. Glasser
9 Administrative Communication: The Concept of Its Professional Centrality 239
Reading 9: Introduction 239
Administrative Communication (Or How to Make All the Rest Work): The Concept of Its Professional Centrality 242
James L. Garnett
Case Study 9: Introduction 257
The Shootings at Columbine High School: The Law Enforcement Response 259
Susan Rosegrant
10 Public Management: The Concept of Collaborative Processes 283
Reading 10: Introduction 283
Collaboration Processes: Inside the Black Box 286
Ann Marie Thomson and James L. Perry
Case Study 10: Introduction 301
Government as Catalyst: Can It Work Again with Wireless Internet Access? 302
Abhijit Jain, Munir Mandviwalla, and Rajiv D. Banker
11 Public Personnel Motivation: The Concept of the Public Service Culture 318
Reading 11: Introduction 318
The Public Service Culture 320
Lois Recascino Wise
Case Study 11: Introduction 330 Who Brought Bernadine Healy Down? 331
Deborah Sontag
12 Public Budgeting: The Concept of Budgeting as Political Choice 343
Reading 12: Introduction 343 The Politics of Public Budgets 345
Irene S. Rubin
Case Study 12: Introduction 360 Death of a Spy Satellite Program 361
Philip Taubman
13 Administrative Reorganization: The Concept of the Tides of Reform 372
Reading 13: Introduction 372
The Tides of Reform Revisited: Patterns in Making Government Work 375
Paul C. Light
Case Study 13: Introduction 391
Expectations 392
Katherine Boo
14 The Relationship Between Politics and Administration: The Concept of Issue Networks 410
Reading 14: Introduction 410
Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment 413 Hugh Heclo
Case Study 14: Introduction 422
Reinventing School Lunch: Transforming a Food Policy into a Nutrition Policy 423
Laura S. Sims
Topical Contents
Budget and Finance
Reading 1.2: The Study of Public Administration in the United States 17
Case Study 4: The Columbia Accident 105
Reading 5: From Cooperative to Opportunistic Federalism 120
Case Study 10: Government as Catalyst: Can It Work Again with Wireless Internet Access? 302
Reading 12: The Politics of Public Budgets 345
Case Study 12: Death of a Spy Satellite Program 361
Case Study 13: Expectations 392
Reading 14: Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment 413
Case Study 14: Reinventing School Lunch: Transforming a Food Policy into a Nutrition Policy 423
Bureaucracy and its Accountability
Reading 1.1: The Study of Administration 6
Reading 1.2: The Study of Public Administration in the United States 17
Case Study 1: The Blast in Centralia No. 5: AMine Disaster No One Stopped 31
Reading 2: Bureaucracy 54
Case Study 2: How Kristin Died 64
Reading 4: Power and Administration 99
Case Study 4: The Columbia Accident 105
Reading 5: From Cooperative to Opportunistic Federalism 120
Case Study 5: Wichita Confronts Contamination 137
Case Study 6: American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center 160
Reading 7: Inside Public Bureaucracy 172
Case Study 7: The Decision to Go to War with Iraq 195
Reading 8: The Science of “Muddling Through” 215
Case Study 8: How a City Slowly Drowned 227
Reading 9: Administrative Communication (Or How to Make All the Rest Work): The Concept of Its Professional Centrality 242
Case Study 9: The Shootings at Columbine High School: The Law Enforcement Response 259
Reading 10: Collaboration Processes: Inside the Black Box 286
Case Study 10: Government as Catalyst: Can It Work Again with Wireless Internet Access? 302
Reading 11: The Public Service Culture 320
Case Study 11: Who Brought Bernadine Healy Down? 331
Reading 13: The Tides of Reform Revisited: Patterns in Making Government Work 375
Case Study 13: Expectations 392
Reading 14: Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment 413
Case Study 14: Reinventing School Lunch: Transforming a Food Policy into a Nutrition Policy 423
Reading 15.1: Public Policy and the Nature of Administrative Responsibility 441
Case Study 15: Torture and Public Policy 454
Reading 16: Public Administration and Ethics: APrologue to a Preface 472
Case Study 16: George Tenet and the Last Great Days of the CIA 483
Case Study 15: Torture and Public Policy 454
Reading 16: Public Administration and Ethics: APrologue to a Preface 472
Case Study 16: George Tenet and the Last Great Days of the CIA 483
Ethical and Moral Issues of Public Administration
Case Study 1: The Blast in Centralia No. 5: AMine Disaster No One Stopped 31
Case Study 2: How Kristin Died 64
Case Study 3: William Robertson: Exemplar of Politics and Public Management Rightly Understood 87
Reading 4: Power and Administration 99
Case Study 4: The Columbia Accident 105
Case Study 5: Wichita Confronts Contamination 137
Case Study 6: American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center 160
Case Study 7: The Decision to Go to War with Iraq 195
Case Study 8: How a City Slowly Drowned 227
Reading 9: Administrative Communication (Or How to Make All the Rest Work): The Concept of Its Professional Centrality 242
Case Study 9: The Shootings at Columbine High School: The Law Enforcement Response 259
Reading 11: The Public Service Culture 320
Case Study 11: Who Brought Bernadine Healy Down? 331
Case Study 13: Expectations 392
Case Study 15: Torture and Public Policy 454
Reading 16: Public Administration and Ethics: APrologue to a Preface 472
Case Study 16: George Tenet and the Last Great Days of the CIA 483
Health and Human Services
Case Study 1: The Blast in Centralia No. 5: AMine Disaster No One Stopped 31
Case Study 2: How Kristin Died 64
Case Study 3: William Robertson: Exemplar of Politics and Public Management Rightly Understood 87
Case Study 5: Wichita Confronts Contamination 137
Reading 6: Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company 149
Case Study 6: American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center 160
Case Study 9: The Shootings at Columbine High School: The Law Enforcement Response 259
Reading 11: The Public Service Culture 320
Case Study 11: Who Brought Bernadine Healy Down? 331
Case Study 14: Reinventing School Lunch: Transforming a Food Policy into a Nutrition Policy 423
Case Study 15: Torture and Public Policy 454
Implementation
Case Study 1: The Blast in Centralia No. 5: AMine Disaster No One Stopped 31
Reading 3: The Ecology of Public Administration 80
Case Study 3: William Robertson: Exemplar of Politics and Public Management Rightly Understood 87
Case Study 4: The Columbia Accident 105
Reading 5: From Cooperative to Opportunistic Federalism 120
Reading 15: Public Policy and the Nature of Administrative Responsibility 441
Case Study 15: Torture and Public Policy 454
Personnel and Civil Service
Reading 1.1: The Study of Administration 6
Reading 1.2: The Study of Public Administration in the United States 17
Case Study 1: The Blast in Centralia No. 5: AMine Disaster No One Stopped 31
Reading 2: Bureaucracy 54
Case Study 2: How Kristin Died 64
Case Study 3: William Robertson: Exemplar of Politics and Public Management
Rightly Understood 87
Reading 4: Power and Administration 99
Reading 6: Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company 149
Case Study 6: American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center 160
Reading 7: Inside Public Bureaucracy 172
Reading 11: The Public Service Culture 320
Case Study 11: Who Brought Bernadine Healy Down? 331
Case Study 13: Expectations 392
Reading 14: Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment 413
Case Study 14: Reinventing School Lunch: Transforming a Food Policy into a Nutrition Policy 423
Case Study 15: Torture and Public Policy 454
Reading 16: Public Administration and Ethics: APrologue to a Preface 472
Case Study 16: George Tenet and the Last Great Days of the CIA 483
Planning and Policy Development
Reading 3: The Ecology of Public Administration 80
Case Study 3: William Robertson: Exemplar of Politics and Public Management
Rightly Understood 87
Reading 4: Power and Administration 99
Case Study 4: The Columbia Accident 105
Reading 5: From Cooperative to Opportunistic Federalism 120
Case Study 5: Wichita Confronts Contamination 137
Case Study 6: American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center 160
Reading 7: Inside Public Bureaucracy 172
Case Study 7: The Decision to Go to War with Iraq 195
Reading 8: The Science of “Muddling Through” 215
Case Study 8: How a City Slowly Drowned 227
Reading 9: Administrative Communication (Or How to Make All the Rest Work):
The Concept of Its Professional Centrality 242
Case Study 9: The Shootings at Columbine High School: The Law Enforcement Response 259
Reading 12: The Politics of Public Budgets 345
Case Study 12: Death of a Spy Satellite Program 361
Reading 14: Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment 413
Case Study 14: Reinventing School Lunch: Transforming a Food Policy into a Nutrition Policy 423
Reading 15.1: Public Policy and the Nature of Administrative Responsibility 441
Case Study 15: Torture and Public Policy 454
Case Study 16: George Tenet and the Last Great Days of the CIA 483
Third-Party Government
Case Study 3: William Robertson: Exemplar of Politics and Public Management Rightly Understood 87
Case Study 4: The Columbia Accident 105
Case Study 5: Wichita Confronts Contamination 137
Reading 7: Inside Public Bureaucracy 172
Case Study 9: The Shootings at Columbine High School: The Law Enforcement Response 259
Case Study 10: Government as Catalyst: Can It Work Again with Wireless Internet Access? 302
Case Study 11: Who Brought Bernadine Healy Down? 331
Reading 13: The Tides of Reform Revisited: Patterns in Making Government Work 375
Case Study 13: Expectations 392
Case Study 14: Reinventing School Lunch: Transforming a Food Policy into a Nutrition Policy 423
Case Study 15: Torture and Public Policy 454
Women and Minority Issues
Case Study 2: How Kristin Died 64
Case Study 6: American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center 160
Case Study 8: How a City Slowly Drowned 227
Case Study 11: Who Brought Bernadine Healy Down? 331
Case Study 13: Expectations 392
Case Study 14: Reinventing School Lunch: Transforming a Food Policy into a Nutrition Policy 423
Preface
The publication of this ninth edition marks thirty-three years since this text’s first appearance in print. When the first edition was published, I hoped that this text would offer an improved way to teach the “basics” of public administration that would be both exciting and challenging for students. Over the intervening three decades, it has succeeded more than I could have imagined. I hope that readers of this ninth edition will find that this edition continues to meet their needs for a different and better way of introducing the field of public administration to both new students and “old hands.”
Format and Approach
The methodological format and design of the first eight editions remain intact in the ninth edition. The approach seeks to interrelate many of the authoritative conceptual works in public administration with contemporary case studies. By pairing a reading with a case study in each chapter, the text serves four important purposes:
1.The concept-case study method permits students to read firsthand the work of leading administrative theorists who have shaped the modern study of public administration. This method aims at developing in students a critical appreciation of the classic administrative ideas that are the basis of modern public administration.
2.The text encourages a careful examination of practical administrative problems through the presentation of contemporary cases—often involving major national events—that demonstrate the complexity, the centrality, and the challenge of the current administrative processes of public organizations.
3.The book seeks to promote a deeper understanding of the relationship between the theory and practice of public administration by allowing readers to test for themselves the validity of major ideas about public administration in the context of actual situations.
4.Finally, the concept-case method develops a keener appreciation of the eclectic breadth and interdisciplinary dimensions of public administration by presenting articles—both conceptual and case writings—from a wide variety of sources, using many materials not available in the average library.
The immense quantity of literature in the field has always made selecting the writings a challenge. My final choice of what to include is based upon affirmative answers to the following four questions:
1.Do the writings focus on the central issues confronting public administrators?
2.Does the material, individually and collectively, give a realistic view of the contemporary practice of public administration?
The Instructor’s Guide
The Instructor’s Guide complements the text by offering insights, practical suggestions, and resources for teaching introductory and graduate students. The guide is organized as a set of memoranda from myself to the instructor. Each memo addresses a separate important topic, such as “How to use case studies in the classroom.” The guide also includes sample quizzes, exams, and course evaluation forms, as well as helpful student handouts such as the Federalist Papers, nos. 10 and 51.
Acknowledgments
Thanks must also go to my editors at Cengage Learning for their generous support and enthusiastic encouragement throughout this difficult writing and editing assignment, particularly Edwin Hill, Nathan Gamache, and Aileen Mason. Also, I could not have developed this new edition without the invaluable research and editorial assistance of Ms. Elizabeth Couch, as well as Mr. Keith Blue’s suggestion for adding the new case study no. 13. To these and many others, I owe a debt of gratitude for their assistance.
R.J.S. II
CHAPTER 1
The Search for the Scope and Purpose of Public Administration
Our own politics must be the touchstone for all theories. The principles on which to base a science of administration for America must be principles which have democratic policy very much at heart.
Woodrow Wilson
READING 1.1
Introduction
A definition of the parameters of a field of study, that is, the boundaries, landmarks, and terrain that distinguish it from other scientific and humanistic disciplines, is normally considered a good place to begin any academic subject. Unfortunately, as yet, no one has produced a simple definition of the study of public administration—at least one on which most practitioners and scholars agree. Attempting to define the core values and focus of twenty-first–century public administration provides lively debates and even deep divisions among students of the field.
Amajor difficulty in arriving at a precise and universally acceptable definition arises in part from the rapid growth in the twentieth century of public administration, which today seems to be all-encompassing. Public administrators are engaged in technical, although not necessarily mundane details: they prepare budgets for a city government, classify jobs in a post office, have potholes patched and mail delivered, or evaluate the performance of a city’s drug treatment centers. At the same time, they are also concerned with the major goals of society and with the development of resources for achieving those goals within the context of a rapidly changing political environment. For instance, if an engineering staff of a state agency proposes to build a highway, this decision appears at first glance to be a purely administrative activity. However, it involves a wide range of social values related to pressing concerns such as community land-use patterns, energy consumption, pollution control, and mass transit planning. Race relations, the general economic well-being of a community, and theallocation of scarce physical and human resources affect even simple administrative decisions about highway construction.
Public administration does not operate in a vacuum but is deeply intertwined with the critical dilemmas confronting an entire society. The issue then becomes: How can a theorist reasonably and concisely define a field so interrelated with all of society?
Chapter 1/The Search for the Scope and Purpose of Public Administration
The rapidly increasing number and scope of activities involving public administration have led theorists to develop a variety of definitions. Consider fifteen offered during the past two decades by leading textbook writers:
Public Administration is the production of goods and services designed to serve the needs of citizens-consumers.
Marshall Dimock, Gladys Dimock, and Douglas Fox, Public Administration (Fifth Edition, 1983)
We suggest a new conceptual framework that emphasizes the perception of public administration as design, with attendant emphasis on participative decision making and learning, purpose and action, innovation, imagination and creativity, and social interaction and “coproduction.”
Jong S. Jun, Public Administration (1986)
In ordinary usage, public administration is a generic expression for the entire bundle of activities that are involved in the establishment and implementation of public policies.
Cole Blease Graham, Jr., and Steven W. Hays, Managing the Public Organization (1986)
Public administration:
1.is a cooperative group effort in a public setting.
2.covers all three branches—executive, legislative, and judicial—and their interrelationships.
3. has an important role in the formulation of public policy, and is thus part of the political process.
4.is different in significant ways from private administration.
5.is closely associated with numerous private groups and individuals in providing services to the community.
Felix A. Nigro and Lloyd G. Nigro, Modern Public Administration (Seventh Edition, 1989)
... Public administration is centrally concerned with the organization of government policies and programs as well as the behavior of officials (usually nonelected) formally responsible for their conduct.
Charles H. Levine, B. Guy Peters, and Frank J. Thompson, Public Administration: Challenges, Choices, Consequences (1990)
The practice of public administration involves the dynamic reconciliation of various forces in government’s efforts to manage public policies and programs.
Melvin J. Dubnick and Barbara S. Romzek, American Public Administration: Politics and the Management of Expectations (1991)
scientist at the time. Wilson (1856–1924) is better known as the twenty-eighth President of the United States (1913–1921), father of the League of Nations, Commander-in-Chief during World War I, and author of much of the “New Freedom” progressive reform legislation. Wilson is also credited by scholars with writing the first essay on public administration in the United States and therefore is considered by many as its American founder. His short but distinguished essay, “The Study of Administration,” was published a century after the U.S. Constitution’s birth. Wilson had just begun his academic career, teaching political science at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, after earning his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University. The editor of a new journal (Political Science Quarterly) asked Wilson to contribute an essay on this developing subject. At that time, public administration had been a well-established discipline in Europe but was largely unknown in America.
Geographic isolation, agrarian self-sufficiency, the absence of threats to national security, and limited demands for public services, among other things, had allowed the United States to get along reasonably well during its first century of existence without the self-conscious study of public administration. However, many events were forcing Americans to take notice of the need for public administration. By the late nineteenth century, technologic innovations such as the automobile, telephone, and light bulb and growing international involvement in the Spanish-American War, combined with increasing public participation in a democratic government, created urgent needs for expanded, effective administrative services. As a consequence, we also required an established field of administrative study. Wilson wrote his essay at the time when civil service reform had been instituted in the federal government (the Civil Service Act or “the Pendleton Act,” named for its legislative sponsor, had been passed in 1883). Much of Wilson’s centennial essay was, not surprisingly, a plea for recognizing the central importance of administrative machinery, especially a well-trained civil service based on merit, rather than politics, to operate a modern democratic government.
Just as the Federalist Papers, authored by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay had a century before advocated the passage of the U.S. Constitution, Wilson called in 1887 for the necessity of this new field “to run a constitution” during its second century. His essay strived to encourage the development of public administration and to underscore the importance of effective administration for the Constitution’s survival in the future.
But how could Americans graft public administration into their Constitution, which had not mentioned this subject? For Wilson—and modern students of the field—this was the critical issue. In developing public administration—both practically and academically—Wilson’s basic difficulty was to reconcile the notions of constitutional democracy with inherent concerns for popular control and participation with theories of efficient, professional administration,and their stress on systematic rules and internal procedures as distinct from democratic oversight and influence. For Wilson, this inevitable conflict could be settled by dividing government into two spheres—“politics,” in which choices regarding what government should do are determined by a majority of elected representatives, and “administration,” which serves to carry out the dictates of the populace through efficient procedures relatively free from political meddling.
Although modern administrative scholars generally reject the possibility or desirability of drawing any hard-or-fast line between politics and administration, or what most call “the politics-administration dichotomy,” the issues Wilson raised are enduring and important. Read the essay for yourself and see how you judge the validity of Wilson’s arguments.
