Discussion Questions

1. The text states:

“On one hand, bureaucracy is viewed as a device to weaken government: red-tape-bound civil servants are seen as inefficient, unresponsive, negative, bored, impolite, and unhelpful to citizens seeking services. On the other hand, bureaucracy is feared for the power it concentrates: officials sometimes are seen as all-too-efficient in gathering power and arbitrarily deciding matters without providing citizens due process.”

As a public administrator, how would you respond to this assertion? Respond to this quotation. Does the government need to launch a better public relations campaign to educate citizens about tension?

2. What are the various identity crises facing the scholarly study of public administration? Did public administration’s entrance into policy formation drag politics into administration?

3. Some scholars choose to place the study of public administration within that of generic organizations. For instance, Waldo states “there is a movement away from a sharp distinction between public and private, and toward a blurring and mingling of the two.” Yet, Sayre argues, “business and public administration are alike only in all unimportant aspects.” Kettl argues “Public administration is public because the public’s business, as defied in laws passed on behalf of the people.” Who is right? What are the similarities between public and private administration? How is public administration distinct from administering private organizations? How does emphasis on the rule of law in public administration make it distinct from private administration? How do the relationships between public administration and the legislators, courts, and the media distinguish public administration from the private sector?

4. Administrative responsibility—which includes such external controls on behavior as statutes and regulations and administrators’ internalized guide of conduct—creates an interesting problem for government. How can one maximize an administrator’s internalized controls in order to minimize external controls, such as burdensome red tape? Begin by analyzing the various methods of internal and external controls and examine the underlying assumption that maximizing internal control is positive.

When are excessive internal or external controls most likely to prove disastrous for government? In what cases would one want a civil servant to have more internal control than external control? For example, an emergency search-and-rescue team might need more discretion to think and act proactively. Provide an example from your experience as a citizen dealing with local government.

5. Some of the major questions that plague the field of public administration concern its relevance across time and place. Woodrow Wilson, often viewed as the founder of the study of public administration, contended that there is “one rule of good administration for all governments alike,” but he also recognized that public administration should take account of a country’s particular type of government. What elements of public administration are independent of time, place, and political system? What elements have been called into question across these three? Why is the field’s applicability across time and place questioned?

6. Early on in the chapter, the authors discuss how much we are surrounded by government bureaucracy. Says the text, “None of us can even get our days started without encountering government bureaucracy. The water we drink, the cars we ride, the bicycles we pedal, the streets we walk—all are the product of government bureaucracy in action.” Does this reassure you or make you nervous? Why? Were you aware of so much government in your midst?

7. Dwight Waldo is known for his work on the rise of the administrative state, which prompted scholars to consider whether a large bureaucracy actually fosters or limits democracy. What do you think? Do we need lots of government in order to have the strongest democracy or does “big” government interfere with our democratic ideals? How do we compare to the global stage?

8. As the BP oil spill proved (recall Chapter 2), making policy does not ensure results happen. Why is this so? What are the benefits and the challenges associated with a system in which executing policy is often a complex process? Would you rather another way?

9. Woodrow Wilson is quoted saying “the object of administrative study is to rescue executive methods from the confusion and costliness of empirical experiment and set them upon foundations laid deep in stable principle.” Do you agree with Wilson? How much of what he is saying rests in the assumption that administration is a neutral instrument? Do you agree with this assumption?

10. Steven Kelman discusses that although all organizations must balance goals (value they produce or objectives they accomplish) and constraints (rules they must follow), the difference between private and public organizations is the emphasis placed on each. Private organizations emphasize goals—one might say they have the freedom to do so—and public organizations emphasize constraints. How does this influence your thinking about public and private institutions? How might this lead to different job descriptions for leaders in public verses private organizations? How about problems faced and solutions reached?

11. Although the term “bureaucracy” is neutral, it is endowed by deeply negative connotations. Why is this the case? Is bureaucracy doomed to this status because carrying out power is a necessary evil or are there other avoidable aspects to bureaucracy’s bad rap? The text cites a prime minister from the former Soviet Union saying “Creating the appearance of work, taking cover behind hollow rhetoric, bureaucracy may hold back the improvement of the economic mechanism, dampen independence and initiative and erect barriers to innovation.” What do you think?