As you reflect upon the material in the course, some basic facts stand out regarding the field of public administration. First, the field is truly multidisciplinary in nature. The theoretical foundation for public administration can be found in fields such as sociology, psychology, economics, law, and ethics. Second, from its very foundation, when the field separated from the study of politics, public administration has been in a constant state of reform. Each generation of practitioners and academics struggles with establishing a system of governance that balances managerial efficiency with accountability to the citizens it serves. The context in which public managers apply their trade today offers unique opportunities and challenges that will reshape the field. In many people’s eyes, the complexity of societal issues has demonstrated that our current bureaucratic organizational strategy is woefully inadequate.
The new public management model supports the position that public administration should be striving to build capacity to achieve measurable, public outcomes. Further, that government should be held accountable for these public outcomes. This is done through the development of performance indicators that provide quantitative evidence that a program’s outcomes have been successfully achieved. In simple terms, the methodology aligns inputs (tax dollars, personnel, etc.) and outputs (services produced) with outcomes (long-term impacts) to evaluate the value of the public agency’s programs. Over time, a set of productivity improvement guidelines have been developed to help public managers implement performance management tools in their agencies.
The concept of reinventing government was popularized by David Osborne and Ted Gaebler’s bestselling book Reinventing Government, which posited that the current approach of a one-size-fits-all government structure does not work. Facing the new realities of economic scarcity, they challenged public managers to become more entrepreneurial in spirit and demanded that organizations become more flexible to permit decisive decision making at all levels of government. The principles developed by Osborne and Gaebler and their contemporaries still guide reinventing efforts today.
Technology has proliferated throughout our society. As such, public agencies have also adopted information and communication technologies to transform the way government and citizens interact. Integrating technology into the daily work processes within public agencies has become a way of life. Time and place no longer have a bearing on communications. The old boundaries between governments, citizens, and sectors have faded into history.
Modern public agencies are expected to have websites that provide a comprehensive listing of governmental documents, services available online, and a means to interact with government officials. This ease of access increases the ability of citizens to track governmental actions and develop informed opinions on the effectiveness of the services provided. The use of interactive technologies such as Facebook and Twitter has challenged public agencies to redefine public engagement and the role of the citizenry in the decision-making process.
Throughout history, people have debated the role of government within society. Globalization is fundamentally altering this discussion. As such, public administration will need to adapt to the changing expectations of an increasingly boundary-less society. While at first glance the challenges posed by globalization seem insurmountable, public officials need to fall back upon the personal values and societal ethics that have always defined the profession. At the end of the day, public officials must remember that they are the guardians of the public trust, and their actions will be evaluated on this basis.
Good governance demands more than implementing efficiency improvements. In many cases, the efforts to reform government have gone beyond the implementation of new practices and have moved into the adoption of business values. Whereas return on investment, maximizing competition, and self-interest are vital components of success in the private sector, they negate or compromise core democratic values such as equality, participation, deliberative decision making, and justice. The restoration of public trust in government and the people who represent them is dependent upon making this distinction.
Reference
Denhardt, R. B., Denhardt, J. V., & Blanc, T. A. (2014). Public administration: An action orientation. Independence, KY: Cengage Learning.