Defining Public

Administration
Lecture 1a – INST 275 -
Administrative Processes in
Government
Political Definitions of Public
Administration
Public administration is what government does.
As a profession, public administration has
developed values and ethical standards, but as an
activity it merely reflects the cultural norms,
beliefs, and power realities of its society.
Public administration is the totality of the working
day activities of all the world’s bureaucrats –
whether they are legal or illegal, competent or
incompetent, decent or despicable.
Political Definitions of Public
Administration
Public administration is both direct and
indirect.
Direct – provision of services like
mortgage insurance, mail delivery, and
electricity.
Indirect – when the government pays
private contractors to provide goods and
services to citizens (space shuttle, dams).
Political Definitions of Public
Administration
Public administration is a phase in the
policy-making cycle.
Decisions and nondecisions are public
policy.
Administration does not end with
implementation because someone will
always think it can be done better.
Political Definitions of Public
Administration
Public administration is implementing the
public interest.
The public interest is the universal label in which
political actors wrap the policies and programs that
they advocate.
The public interest is a commonly accepted good.
The rise of administrative discretion in the face of
legislative vagueness means that the job of the
anonymous administrator is to define the public
interest.
Political Definitions of Public
Administration
Public administration is doing collectively
that which cannot be done so well
individually.
The legitimate object of government [is] to do
for a community of people, whatever they need
to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot, so
well do, for themselves – in their separate, and
individual capacities – Abraham Lincoln.
Twentieth century communications has given
rise to “a revolution of rising expectations.”
Legal Definitions of Public
Administration
Because public administration is what a state
does, it is both created and bound by an
instrument of the law.
Public administration is the law in action.
Public administration is inherently the execution
of a public law.
Every application of a general law is necessarily
an act of administration.
In the United States, the Constitution of 1787 is
the law of the land. All legislation must conform.
Legal Definitions of Public
Administration
Public administration is regulation.
It is government telling citizens and
businesses what they may or may not do.
Regulation is one of the oldest functions of
government. Code of Hammurabi – “The
mason who builds a house which falls
down and kills the inmate shall be put to
death.” Driving to McDonald’s –
regulation.
Legal Definitions of Public
Administration
Public administration is the king’s
largesse.
It is whatever goods, services, or honors
the ruling authority decides to bestow
(monarchy). Plaques and political
machines.
Legal Definitions of Public
Administration
Public administration is theft.
The primary culprit is redistribution.
Ayn Rand – the only proper function of the
government of a free country is to act as an
agency which protects the individual’s rights.
John Kenneth Galbraith – It is a simple matter
of arithmetic that change may be costly to the
man who has something; it cannot be so to the
man who has nothing.
Managerial Definitions of
Public Administration
Public administration is so much a
branch of management that many
graduate schools of management (or
business or administration) are
divided into public and private – and
now increasingly nonprofit –
programs.
Managerial Definitions of
Public Administration
Public administration is the executive
function of government.
Government agencies put into practice
legislative acts that represent the will of
the people.
Managerial Definitions of
Public Administration
Public administration is a management
specialty.
Top managers make the big decisions and are
responsible for the overall success of the
organization.
Public administrators are found in middle
management, the group responsible for the
execution and interpretation of top management
policies and the day-to-day operation of an
organizational unit.
Managerial Definitions of
Public Administration
Public administration is Mickey Mouse.
Anything that requires considerable effort with
few results.
Often used to mean “red tape”, excessive
formality and attention to routine. Red ribbon
that official used to use to tie up public
documents.
• Use because they promote efficiency and equity
overall, although not always in individual cases.
Managerial Definitions of
Public Administration
Public administration is art, not science – or
vice versa.
Public administration is actually both.
• It requires judgment, panache, and common sense.
• It also requires technical skills that allow for the
digestion and transference of information.
Just because you have the academic credentials
does not mean that you can function as a high
level administrator.
Occupational Definitions of
Public Administration
Public administration is an
occupational category.
It is whatever public employees in the
world do.
• Most of the 18,000,000 public employees in
the U.S. would not describe themselves as
administrators, but they are.
Occupational Definitions of
Public Administration
Public administration is an essay
contest.
People in bureaucratic careers tend to rise
and fall on how well they can write. In a
game of shuffling paper, the person whose
memorandum ends up on top wins.
Oral presentations are also useful, but
writing is more decisive.
Occupational Definitions of
Public Administration
Public administration is idealism in
action.
Many people enter public service careers
because they are idealists; they believe in
and seek to advance noble principles.
Idealism draws people into public
administration because it provides them
with worthwhile and exciting things to do
with their lives.
Occupational Definitions of
Public Administration
Public administration is an academic field.
The study of the art and science of
management and incorporates as its subject
matter all of the political, social, cultural, and
legal environments that affect the running of
public institutions.
Cross-disciplinary – political science,
sociology, business administration,
psychology, law, anthropology, medicine,
forestry, and so on.
Occupational Definitions of
Public Administration
Public administration is a profession.
A body of academic and practical
knowledge that is applied to the service of
society.
A standard of success theoretically
measured by serving the needs of society
rather than seeking purely personal gain.
A system of control over the professional
practice that regulates the education of new
members and maintains both a code of
ethics and appropriate sanctions.
The Evolution of Public
Administration
The core content
Organization theory.
Bureaucratic behavior.
Personnel management.
Public finance and budgeting.
Policy analysis.
Program evaluation.
Administrative ethics.
Case Study: Government
Response to the
Destruction of the World
Trade Center
Lecture 1b – INST 275 -
Administrative Processes in
Government
September 11, 2001
American Airlines Flight 11(8:46 a.m., One
World Trade Center) and United Airlines
Flight 175 (9:03 a.m., Two World Trade
Center).
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Richard Sheirer, Director, New York City
Office of Emergency Services.
Activated Emergency Operations Center, 7 World
Trade Center.
Closed all roads below Canal Street and all tunnels
and bridges.
September 11, 2001
Destruction of Emergency Operations Center
by second crash.
Sheirer closes New York Harbor and ask
Pentagon to close New York air space.
Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik
spearheaded movement of personnel to “hot
zone”.
Sporadic communication, but established
Condition Omega.
Command post at 75 Barclay Street.
September 11, 2001
NYPD Emergency Service Units and FDNY
arrived four minutes after first plane crash.
Began task of evacuating 25,000 people.
500 firefighters and 200 Port Authority Police.
FDNY Commissioner Thomas Von Essen.
Collapse of South Tower damaged 75
Barclay Street.
Response team moved to library of Police
Academy.
Operated there for 48 hours.
September 11, 2001
Transportation Commissioner Iris
Weinshall.
Isolated in Washington Heights, but set up a
system of ferries and express and franchise
buses.
Watercraft of all types escorted 500,000
people out of Manhattan.
PATH deputy director Victoria Cross
Kelly (on the concourse of World Trade
Center station).
September 11, 2001
City Council member and mayoral
candidate Peter Vallone.
Food and water, 59th Street Bridge.
By noon, securing New York City was a
local, state, and federal job.
Significant help from Governor George Pataki.
Mayor Giuliani served as primary
spokesperson.
Government Response after
9/11
FEMA.
National Guard.
NYPD.
Pier 92 command center.
FEMA – Door-to-door alerts on aid.
Ground Zero task force. Congressman Jerrold
Nadler. 25,000 residents of lower Manhattan.
Hilary Clinton and Chuck Schumer $20
billion aid package.
Analysis
Skill and intensity of government’s
response to the emergency.
Planning for emergencies was clearly
present and helped mitigate the tasks.
Daily, high-level coordination meeting
proved beneficial.
Emergency workers should possess
most modern communications
equipment.
Analysis
Firefighter should reexamine their
own standard operating procedures.
Decentralization of administration
worked in the city’s favor.
City demonstrated depth of
leadership.
Wartime mobilization temporarily
eliminated political differences.
Lessons Learned
Emergency response planning is essential.
Emergency response institutions,
procedures, and resources must be retained,
even when threats seem distant.
Lessons Learned
Communications systems must be made
more redundant.
Emergency response procedures must
assume communications breakdowns and
allow for decentralized decision-making.
There is no substitute for inspiring
leadership during a crisis.