Socio-Political Factors Affect Work Of Public Administrators (Term Paper Sample)

TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF KENYA
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNANCE AND POLICY STUDIES
BA INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION- ALSQ 1104
TERM PAPER-CAT1
LECTURER: DR. MARTIN ATELA.
NAME: ATELA FINNEY A. ISRAEL.
REG NO.: ASGQ/02031/2016.
ASSIGNMENT: How does socio-political factors affect the work of public administrators?
Given date: 29thMarch 2017
Due date: 19th April 2017
Introduction.
James McCanny explains that Public administration is a part of the wider term administration. So, to understand the meaning of public administration, we must first understand what administration means. The word administer is an English word derived from the Latin word administrare, which means to monitor, solve, manage and look after the affairs of others in an orderly manner. Here are some definitions of administration made by prominent scholars and academics.
CITATION Edg66 \l 2057 (Gladden, 1966) Says administration means to care for and manage affairs of individuals in a given society. CITATION Lut37 \l 2057 (Gullick, 1937) Administration has to do with getting things done, with the accomplishment of defined objectives. James L. McCanny, a pseudo-scientist, in his book Public Administration, defines administration as the organization and use of men and materials to accomplish purpose. It is the specialized vocation of managers who have skills of organizing and directing men and materials just as definitely as the engineer has the skill of building structure or a doctor has the skill of understanding human ailments.” CITATION Fri59 \l 2057 (Marx, 1959) Says administration is the systematic ordering of affairs and the calculated use of resources aimed at making things happen. CITATION Joh53 \l 2057 (Presthus, 1953) Defined administration as organisation and direction of human and material resources to achieve desired ends.
Having laid the foundation and established what administration is, what is public administration? Public administration refers to that part of administration which pertains to the administrative activities of the government executives.
What is Public Administration?
Professor Woodrow Wilson, the pioneer of social science of Public Administration says in his book ‘The Study of Public Administration’ published in 1887 that Public Administration is a detailed and systematic application of law. According to CITATION Sim50 \l 2057 (Herbert, 1950), public administration means the activities of the executive, national, state and local government. CITATION Lut37 \l 2057 (Gullick, 1937) Says public administration has to do with getting things done. He goes ahead and explains that it is the part of science of administration which has to do with the government and thus concerns itself primarily with the executive branch where the work of government is done.
CITATION Mar69 \l 2057 (Dimock, 1969) Says administration is concerned with the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the government. The what is the subject matter, the technical knowledge of a field which enables the administrator to perform his work. The How is the technique of management according to which co-operate programs are carried to success. According to Willoughby, in his book Principles of Administration, Public Administration denotes the work involved in the actual conduct of government affairs, and the operations of administrative branch only. Perry McQueen also defines Public Administration as administration related to the operations of government whether local or central. Another scholar, CITATION Len65 \l 2057 (White, 1965) Argues that public administration consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfilment of enforcement of public policies as declared by the competent authority.
CITATION Joh53 \l 2057 (Presthus, 1953) States that public administration consists of getting the work of the government done by coordinating the efforts of the people so that they can work together and accomplish their tasks. He farther explains it also involves managing, supervising, and directing the activities of thousands and millions of workers, so that order and efficiency may result from their efforts. According to Waldo, public administration is the art and science of management, applied to affairs of the state. CITATION Nic10 \l 2057 (Henry, 2010) Talks of its purpose as promoting a superior understanding of the government and its relationship with the society it governs.
So, who is a Public Administrator? What is their work? And what are these socio-political factors affecting their work?
CITATION Lar97 \l 2057 (Terry, 1997) A public administrator, also a civil servant is that worker in the government who becomes a hero when things go right in their various departments, and also becomes a villain to the public when things go wrong. CITATION Con16 \l 2057 (Bragaru, 2016) Says the public administrator (city manager) has to be a professional in mastering the science of planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, reporting, and budgeting. He must be equipped to research issues and offer solutions, draft proposals for legislation and regulations, prepare statements and presentations for testimony, conduct negotiations, build coalitions, and advocate client positions to legislators, other elected/appointed officials, and their staffs. Public administrator must provide representation at the state and other levels of government for businesses, associations, individuals, and non-profit organizations.
In a study of democracy and public Administration, CITATION Joh891 \l 2057 (Burke, 1989) Focused on the tension between democracy and bureaucracy. He defines the role of an administrator as a guide that is responsible for taking the efficient bureaucratic organization through the moral aspects of a responsive democracy. John P. Burke does not go into detail on how the administrator guides the organization but shows how the organization has an effect on the role of the administrator. Burke addresses the dilemmas faced by administrators on a daily basis. Administrators have their morals tested and are expected to follow organizational protocols impartial to what their personal beliefs entail. Burke gives administrators the role of actors because they have their personal beliefs and agendas in their private lives, but once they come into the work place, they are expected to act accordingly to the demands of an efficient and effective organization. This is one of the factors affecting them. Some may feel sorry for administrators but Burke points out that Administrators, in choosing careers in public service, are often well aware of the moral pitfalls. They are analogous to the stunt persons who are aware of the dangers the stunt may do to their bodies in an attempt to perform a spectacular act for the enjoyment of the moviegoers (clients/citizens) in exchange for the appropriate pay. They have come under contract and have agreed to perform such duties even at the possibilities of such risks.
In another study conducted by CITATION Pam03 \l 2057 (Teaster, 2003), the term Guardian is used when describing the responsibility given to administrators. She labels administrators as Surrogate Decision Makers. Some of these decisions, according to Teaster include medication and other medical decisions, habitation decisions, financial decisions, and care and quality-of-life decisions. The administrators must be aware of what procedures they may take, where available resources are located, and have the proper funding and planning available. If the administrators are not prepared in the event of catastrophes, the affected parties may file litigation against the agencies responsible for rendering these services.
CITATION Pet68 \l 2057 (Rodman, 1968) Says that there is a shortage of trained personnel, which is the most obvious and widely noted difficulty among public administrators. He farther states that ten people are needed for 'support administration for every one person at the top. We find that the additional problem is when the emerging nations' interest in foreign affairs absorbs many of the skilled administrators, and this further reduces the number available for development tasks. There is also a great waste of the limited talent that is available for administration. There are often large numbers of skilled people in administration, but with the wrong skills. For example, people who studied liberal arts or law. These subjects have prestige but little usefulness, and thus many new administrators are in effect untrained.
CITATION Wat64 \l 2057 (Waterson, July 1964) Claims that another major problem facing administrators is difficulty of organization and structure. He highlights the problems involved in the location of the central planning agency in the overall government structure. He explains that the major issue that causes this disorganization is ineffective co-ordination. He gives examples such as in Jamaica, where the Department of Housing was planning a housing project on the same land which the Ministry of Agriculture was preparing to flood for an irrigation project. In Madagascar the Ministry charged with repairing a highway after...