BLUE TEAM

Administrative Reform

“Administrative reform means an induced, permanent improvement in administration” (Wallis 1989, 170)

Part I: Golden Oldies

Miewald: Life and Hard Times of Bureaucracies

Organizations aren’t instrumental – i.e., they ‘are not supposed to accomplish anything beyond their own existence’ (100)

Problem with way organizational theory sees organizations (rational)

In reality, can look at them as technical, human relations and political problems Technical Personal: ‘can bend an organization out of shape’ (105) Political: most important; key is budgeting (‘clash of values

and the making of allocative decisions’ [107])Stages of the bureau

Birth, growth (survival), maturity (little search); death

Miewald: Responsibility

Difficult to get a grasp of. What is it? Responsiveness, flexibility, consistency, stability, leadership,

probity, candor, competence, efficacy, prudence, due process, accountability (237)

‘Sins’ of bureaucracies Arrogance, political involvement, corruption, unethical

behavior, inefficiency, failure to respect legislative intent, ignoring procedures, information manipulation, abuse of subordinates, failure to show initiative

Concrete ways to prevent/remedy irresponsibility Administrative law (discretion vs Rechtsstaat); ombudsman

(the public’s ‘agent’); individual responsibility (human values and self-regulation of bureaucrats; encouragement of whistle blowers)

Marini: The Minnowbrook Perspective

In light of ‘new public administration’Make PA relevant to societal problems of the

dayMoving away from value-free (positivist)

research approachesFocus on what schools/education of PA should

look like More comparative, empirical, focused on social equity Teach PA as the applied social science PA as ‘educational’ versus merely ‘training’ Curriculum: ‘up to date, alive, problem oriented, and

relevant’ (361)

Policy, Implementation and Local Institutions in Botswana (Picard and Morgan 1985)

• Focus of this chapter– the relationship between rural development goals and central-local

institutional arrangements• “Governments has many good ideas but we don’t know too much

about them out here” (125)• In an interview with one administrative secretary to the district Land

Board in Botswana• Challenges of local officials

– Implementation decisions taken far away in the national capital– Little knowledge of the reasoning behind the policy– Few resources, financial and administrative to carry out the policy

• Agenda and the reality: Tribal Grazing Land Policy (1975)– Original policy: generating responsibility for the control of land

use/writing a land use plan for the district/supervising the division of district land/protecting the interests of the poorer people

– Reality and implementation: the land boards understaffed/ill-equipped/ without adequate office space

Policy, Implementation and Local Institutions in Botswana (continued)

Why? Dynamics of policy implementation Multi-dimensional policies and institutions Interplay between policy and institutions/reciprocal effects

Framework for analysis The degree of asymmetry between the public policy goals and the

organizational capacity of local institutions Policy implementation as the main consideration within the

“policy context” Local government: Devolution and retreat

The evolution of district councils, 1966-1970 Faith in the center, 1970-1976 Stalled attempts at local government perform, 1977-present

Organizational capacity at the local level Central government, unwilling to increase the capacity of local

government The affective dimension of local government

The Mouse that Roared: Taiwan’s Management of Trade Relations with the

United States (Chan 1987)

Main focus: How dependent country like Taiwan has faced

conditions of basic asymmetry in international relations?

How we can understand the trade relationship and predict the future?

How small and dependent economies have tried to lessen or evade the full impact of U.S. protectionist pressures?

The Mouse that Roared: Taiwan’s Management of Trade Relations with the United States (Continued)

Micro level of bargaining tactics Problem redefinition, damage limitation, exploring

loopholes, linkage politics and transnational coalitionsMacro level factors

Taiwan’s policy capacity and U.S. accommodating behavior

Taiwan’s institutional capabilities especially in terms of the autonomy and strength of the state; its historical niche in U.S. domestic policies and Washington’s cold war containment policy

Metagame: Taiwan’s coping behavior in the trade can be understood in the broader context of a “metagame” that seeks to preserve the vital political and security contributions from the U.S.

Part II: Literary Maps and Synthesis

Preview

The meaning of public sector reformLiterary maps - how we have conceptualized the

fieldHow bureaucracy provides services

PrivatizationRole of personnel

Human resource management Accountability

Implementation Governance Accountability Corruption

Development

The meaning of public sector reform

“Induced, permanent improvement in administration” (Wallis 1989, 170)

Administrative reform strategies (Turner and Humle 1997) Restructuring Participation Human resources issuesAccountability Public – private mixes

Challenges Management (finance/human resource/leadership) Measuring performance Accountability/responsibility for implementation Governance

Marini (Minnowbrook Perspective)

Picard and Morgan

Privatization

Governance

Picard and Garrity/Nelson

Human Resource

Management

Accountability

Corruption

Klitgaard

Development

Implementation

Miewald/

Barzelay

Arnold and

Morgan

Fuller/ Savas

White

WallisTurner

and Hulme

How bureaucracy provides services

Privatization Savas: “the key to better government”

Alarmed by growth in government Lays out a spectrum of privatization options from contracting

out, to franchising, to government vending Arnold and Morgan: projects, plans, and programs

Need organizational framework for managers Distinguish between project and program management

• Project: clear objectives; defined roles and responsibilities; plans and schedules; rewards/sanctions; feedback/adaptation mechanisms

• Program: design, implementor capacity; expanding resources/support; collaboration with other organizations; proactive leadership

Result: towards better effectiveness in implementation of public policy goals

Role of personnel

Human resource management A key way to reform, over time Education rather than technical training (Minnowbrook)

Accountability Barzelay: need to move to “post-bureaucratic” structure where

officials, civil servants “build” rather than “enforce” accountability Often seen in terms of accountability to overseers, line agencies

and staff Should move from “guardianship to problem solving” (99) Need “new routines” and a new culture

• “way things should and could be”• Problem-solving• “customers and public policy”• “producing value”• “caring about people”

Implementation

Governance World Bank Policy and NGOs: World bank has expanded

collaboration with private agencies and grassroots groups in projects (Nelson 1995).

NGOs tendencies to process-oriented programming contradicts the interests of World Bank (Nelson 1995).

Beyond the market, beyond the state (Turner and Hulme 1997, 200) the rise of non-governmental organizations

Governance and creating civil society (Garrity 1996) Institutional development/changing organizational

behavior and management practices (Garrity 1996)

Implementation (Continued)

Corruption (Klitgaard 1991) Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption

(ICAC): analyzing the ICAC’s success: several principal-agent client relationships

Singapore: Cleaning up corruption Changing rewards and penalties Gathering information Restructuring the principal-agent-client relationship

Case of Korea: collusion in bidding/attempts to make competition work

Administrative reform and development

Bureaucracy and development (Turner and Hulme 1997) Leading issues relating to bureaucracy and

development Size Capacity: project implementation and capacity Culture: bureaucracies of developing countries are

heavily influenced by endogenous cultures. Power, politics, and authority: power distribution in

society/in government Bureaucratic bias Gender and bureaucracy Corruption

Administrative reform and development

(Continued)

Reform cases (Wallis 1989) China – public health program/Kenya - tea development

authority/Korea - government invested enterprises NGOs, empowerment and politics (Turner and Hulme 1997)

Empowerment as a grand object NGOs claim to be redistributing power at the local level

and influencing policy People-centered development

Referneces

Marini, Frank. 1971. Toward a new public administration: the Minnowbrook perspective. Scranton, PA: Chandler Pub. Co.

Chan, S. 1987. "The mouse that roared: Taiwan's management of trade relations with the US." Comparative Political Studies 20 (3):251-92.

Picard, Louis A., and Philip E. Morgan. 1985. "Policy, implementation and local institutions in Botswana." In The evolution of modern Botswana, ed. L. A. Picard. London: Rex Collings.

Miewald, Robert D. 1978. Public administration: a critical perspective. New York: McGraw-Hill.

References

Baker, Randall. 1994. Comparative public management: putting U.S. public policy and implementation in context. Westport, CN: Praeger.

Barzelay, Michael, and Babak J. Armajani. 1992. Breaking through bureaucracy: a new vision for managing in government. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Picard, Louis A., Michele Garrity, and International Institute of Administrative Sciences. 1994. Policy reform for sustainable development in Africa: the institutional imperative. Boulder, CO: L. Rienner Publishers.

Savas, Emanuel S. 1987. Privatization: the key to better government. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers.

References

Klitgaard, Robert E. 1988. Controlling corruption. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Wallis, Malcolm. 1989. Bureaucracy: its role in Third World development. London: Macmillan.

Nelson, Paul J. 1995. The World Bank and non-governmental organizations: the limits of apolitical development. New York: St. Martin's Press.

White, Louise G. 1990. Implementing policy reforms in LDCs: a strategy for designing and effecting change. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Turner, Mark, and David Hulme. 1997. Governance, administration, and development: making the state work. West Hartford, CN: Kumarian Press.