AYANDA MAPHUMULO

ITUMELENG MOKOENA
POLITICS2042S GROUP 5

THE BUREAUCRACY AND

PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY
GOVERNANCE THEORY AND THE INVOLVEMENT
OF PUBLIC IN DECISION MAKING.

When we discuss the governance theory, within the many forms it may arguably come
in, an intrinsic preoccupation arises concerning the balance of policy making authority
between the public and bureaucrats. The philosophy behind governance theory implies that it
is imperative to consider the role of public in the policy making process as this would perhaps
affect organizational performance. The relationship between public administration and good
governance begins with an analysis of public administration through a periodization and
development, seeking its functions in the epoch of globalisation. The definition of good
governance is supported by an account of application, implementation and the planning of
good governance indicators and the significance between theory and practice. Although there
is a variety of meanings and different approaches of governance, in which its popularity has
stemmed to counter the narrower term “government”, what has made it attractive is its
capacity to cover the whole range of institutions and relationships involved in the process of
governing. The concept of governance is theoretically looking at how to essentially navigate
society and the economy through the collaboration of public administration and
bureaucracies, and if public participation had to take place, the argument is, would there be
efficient and effective organizational performance as an outcome. This concept advocates that
governments should strive for comprehensive legislations, rules and regulation in the efforts to
enhance good, transparent and corruption free governance, therefore demanding firm
leadership, essential elements and efforts to place and maintain transparency, accountability
and corruption free financial imperatives. Public participation in administrative decision
making is supported by theorists and practitioners of public administration, public sector
practitioners, new governance scholars have also shown advocacy for the mechanism of direct
public participation in the administrative decision-making process.

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 Regardless of the significance of citizen engagement, there is a limitation in knowledge
in relation to its impact on the performance of government agencies. It is in question; is
participation only normatively desirable or does it constitute of practical value. To this end
we consider tests and results that have relevance of two theoretical perspectives with regards
to the effect of public participation on organizational performance. The traditional/
Weberian perspectives hold that there is a trade-off between democratic and administrative
decision-making, however a competing/new governance model suggests that public
contribution provides administrators with valuable site-specific information that contributes to
more efficient and effective service delivery and public programs. There has been a strong
advocacy for the latter perspective, however there is not necessarily a trade-off between the
values of democracy and bureaucracy. As Gawthrop notes “The engines of bureaucracy and
democracy run on different tracks, leaving from different stations and heading for different
destinations.” (1997, 205) Even though democracy promotes participation, equality, and a
bottom-up approach to decision making, bureaucracy values efficiency, hierarchy and top-
down decision making. (Denhardt, 2006) In the duration of bureaucrats’ careers, they are
required to develop expertise in their line of work or specialization, which advances them to
attain more knowledge about policies, compared to the public or its elected representatives.
(Meier, 2002) The complexity of public policies requires administrators to possess technical
knowledge to successfully implement the policies that will consequentially affect the public.

Due to bureaucrats often having a professional, narrow judgment on the basis of their
specialized knowledge, the question is, how will they incorporate or consider citizens interest?

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