Comp Exam Study Guid

Comp Exam Study Guid

Comp Exam Study Guide

Table of Contents

History

(Classical, Neoclassical, Modern, New Public Mgmt)

Theories

(Political Control, Reputation, Decision-Making, etc)

Reform

(Scientific Mgmt, War on Waste, Watchful Eye, and Liberation Mgmt)

Performance Management

(National Performance Review, Managing for Results, Accountable Government Initiative)

Budgeting

(Planning, programming and budgeting, Zero-based, Performance-based, Incremental)

Methodologies

(Quantitative and qualitative tools)

HISTORY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Positivism/ Scientific Management (1890 1920s)

Woodrow Wilson (1887) Study of Administration

Progressivism: Pendelton Act of 1883

Frank Goodnow (1900) Politics and Administration

Fields legitimacy lies in administrative law

Frederick W. Taylor (1911) Scientific Management

One best way to accomplish tasks and manage workers

Henri Fayol (1916) General Theory of Management

Universal approach to administrative management

Principles of Public Administration (1920s 1950s)

Mary Parker Follett (1918) The New State

Contradicted Scientific Management, only later accepted

Offered the first feminist perspective, web approach, network

Chester Barnard (1938) Functions of the Executive

Influence of values on decision-making, power of persuasion

Reconcile top down goals with bottom up compliance

Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick (1937) Papers on the Science of Administration

Principles of P.A. POSDCORB (Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting and Budgeting)

Public Administration as Political Science (1940s 1970s)

Herbert A. Simon (1946) Proverbs of P.A.

Attacked Wilsons P.A. Dichotomy as contradictory

P.A. should be based on study of human behavior

Humans are not rational and should not be perceived as such

Robert Dahl (1947) Science of P.A.: 3 Problems

Bureaucratic Efficiency vs. Democratic Values

Rethink normative assumptions about sharp dichotomy

Expand rational man to include human behavior

Embrace historical, economic and social conditions and impacts

Dwight Waldo (1948) The Administrative State

Administration is inherently political, Reject dichotomy

Human Relations/ Social Sciences(1930s 1950s)

Robert K Merton (1940) Bureaucratic Structure and Personality

Argued that Scientific Mgmt is inhumane and undemocratic, called for development of a theoretic basic social science, focus groups

Webers bureaucracy has characteristics that lead to inefficiency

Herbert A. Simon (1950) Administrative Behavior

Bounded Rationality and the concept of satisficing

Marshall Dimmock (1951) Free Enterprise and the Administrative State

Business uses economic power for profitability rather than to promote the national interest

Administration is law in action

Charles Lindblom (1959) Science of Muddling Through

Political process lead to an incremental approach to policy

Modern / New Public Administration(1930s 1950s)

Minnowbrook Conference (1968)

Hosted by Waldo; Add equity as a social value

P.A. underwent an identify crisis as it tried to redefine itself

Aaron Wildavsky (1964) Politics of the Budgetary Process

Applied Lindbloms incremental theory to budgeting

Ted Lowi (1969) End of Liberalism

Govt expands relentlessly to meet special interest demands

Graham Allison (1971) Essence of Decision

Cuban Missile Crisis: 3 Paradigms - Rational Actor, Organizational Process and Political Process Models

Vincent Ostrom (1973) Intellectual Crisis in American Public Administration

P.A. lacks the cumulative and empirical strength of other sciences

Minnowbrook Conference (1968)

P.A. can be neither neutral nor objective

Technology can be dehumanizing

Hierarchy can be an ineffective organizational strategy

Bureaucracies tend toward agency survival

Cooperation and consensus are more effective than exercise of authority

Modern P.A. built on post-behaviorist and post-positivist logic

Research Strands

Reinventors:

Osborne and Gaebler - Entrepreneurial Spirit

Communitarians:

Etzioni, Galston, Chrislip, Selznick - Rebuilding community and citizenship

Refounders:

Goodsell, Rohr, Stivers Philosophical, institutional, and theoretical redefinition of P.A.

Interpretivists:

White, Stivers, Spicer, Box Values and ideas concerning the very nature of human existence

New Bureaucratic Analysts:

Light, Selden, Behn, Cooper Reevaluate the relationship between politics and administration

From Management to Governance:

Kettl, Moore, Lynn, Rainey Best practices, steering and networks

New Public Management


Governance Orthodoxy

David Osborne and Ted Gaebler (1992) Reinventing Government

Shift toward privatization and decentralization. Governments should:

Steer, not row

Empower communities to solve own problems

Encourage competition

Be driven by missions, rather than rules

Meet needs of customer, not bureaucracy

Concentrate on earning money, rather than spending it

Invest in preventing problems, instead of curing crises

Decentralize authority

Influence market forces rather than create public programs

Tenets of NPM

1) Productivity, 2) Marketization, 3) Service Orientation, 4) Decentralization, 5) Policy and 6) Accountability


Donald F. Kettl (2000) Global Public Management Revolution

Describes Westminster Reforms in NZ and UK

Milward, Provan and Else (2000) Governing the Hollow State

Concerns of accountability and oversight in contracting

Robert and Janet Denhardt (2007) New Public Service: Serving, not Steering

Oppose Osborne and Gaebler: Serve citizens not just customers

Serve citizens, not customers

Seek the public interest

Value citizenship over entrepreneurship

Think strategically, act democratically

Recognize that accountability is not simple

Serve rather than steer

Value people, not just productivity

Early America

Founding Fathers Views

Alexander Hamilton:

With James Madison and John Jay, Challenged Jefferson in Federalist Papers, favored elites

Strong national government and executive

Thomas Jefferson:

Weak executive, bottoms up approach

Bureaucracys accountability to the public

James Madison:

Mixed government balanced by opposing interest groups/ pluralism

Time Periods in P.A.

Rohrs three periods of political foundings:

Founding of the Republic (1787-1795)

Founding of PA (1883-1899)

Founding of the Administrative State (1933-1941)

Skrowneks building of a new American State

Patchwork (1877-1900)

Reconstruction (1900-1920)

Stillmans four eras of U.S. PA Thought

POSDCORB Orthodoxy (1926-1946)

Social Science Heterodoxy (1947-1967)

Reassertion of Democratic Idealism (1968-1988)

Refounding Movement (1989-Present)

Reform

Reform Movements

Civil Service Reform, circa 1877 1883

Pendelton Act of 1883: Introduced merit/professionalism to civil service

Progressive Reform, circa 1879 1920

New York Bureau of Municipal Research (1906): First council-manager form of government in Stanton, VA (1908)

Interstate Commerce Commission (1920): Established federal regulation

Scientific Management, circa 1910 1970

Preferred by Presidents and popularized by POSDCORB

Watchful Eye, circa 1970s

Favored by Congress, response to Watergate and Vietnam

New Public Management Reform, circa 1979

Shift towards business and general management practices

War on Waste, circa 1980s

Favored by Congress, welfare fraud trials

Liberation Management, circa early 1990s

Favored by Presidents, let managers and workers find creative solutions

Theories of Public Administration

Political Control of Bureaucracy

Agency Theory: Bureaucracies are out of control or at the least difficult to control

Rosemary OLeary, The Nevada Four go native

Principal-Agent Theory: Legislature (principal) relies on bureaucrats (agents) due to complexity of problems

Balla (1998) Congress relied on HCFA due to Medicares complex fee schedules

Capture Theory: Agencies are heavily influenced by elites or constituents, Iron Triangle dominated by business interests

Evan Ringquist, Political Control and Policy Impact at EPA Public participation is low, but businesses dont control policy

Client Responsiveness Theory: Respond to constituents needs, Street level bureaucrats

Michael Lipsky, Street level bureaucrats Teachers, cops

Representative Bureaucracy

Organizations perform better when they mirror the demographics of clients

John Rohr (1986) argues that bureaucracy cures constitutional defect of adequate representation

Selden, Brudney and Kellough (1998) studied active representation among minorities in the FmHA and found a difference between active and inactive representation

Bureaucratic Politics

Revolve around questions of political power in the key organizational dimensions of:

Bureaucratic Behavior

Institutional Structure

Distribution of Power

Game Theory: Highly formulized and mathematical approach to explaining behavior and choices

Graham Allison (1971) Essence of Decisions

Examined executive decision-making during the Cuban Missile Crisis

Rational Actor Model

Organizational Processes Model

Political Processes Model

Bureaucratic Reputation Theory

Agency autonomy is based on organizational capacity and political affiliations

Daniel Carpenter (2001) The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy

Post Office under Anthony Comstock assumed moral guardianship against porno and gambling

Max Webers Bureaucracy

Hierarchy of authority

Impersonality

Written rules of conduct

Promotion based on merit

Specialized division of labor

Efficiency

Program Roots

Evolved and borrowed from Political Science, Business, Economics, Sociology, Management and Law

P.A. is both an art and a science, academics and practitioners

ASPA is a pan-generalist organization

Academic programs generally fall under

Political Science

Business/ Management

Policy and Public Affairs

Trends Transforming Bureaucracy

America as the last global superpower

Populations shifts and immigration

Reliance of foreign markets

Growth of info and service industries

New technologies and complexity

Hostile opposition to government

Smaller and less self-sufficient households

Widening young/old and poverty gaps

Shifting fundamental values

Market Failures

Weimer and Vining (2003):

Public Goods: Federal Highway Administration

Externalities: Environmental Protection Agency

Information Asymmetry: Food and Drug Administration

Monopolies and Oligarchies: Federal Communications Commission

Greatest Good Principle:

Allocation of goods to maximize the social welfare functions form theories of Rawlsianism and Utilitarianism

Public Policy

Public Policy Models

Thomas R. Dye

Institutional model

Emphasizes formal and legal aspects of government

Process model

Political Systems Theory: Political response to demands

Rational model

Based on Public Choice, motivations of individual actors

Incremental model

Builds on past decisions and grows slowly and steadily

Group model

Pluralism: Diverse and competing interests for an equilibrium

Elite model

Wealthy and policy-planning insiders influence values and preferences

Public choice model

Bureaucrats, politicians and citizens all act in their own best interests

Game theory model

Statistical approach to behavior and decision making

Policy Analysis Tools

Extrapolation:

Estimated Population = Pop. In a base year + (Avg. Growth Increment X Time Periods)

Forecasting:

Assuming that past trends/ events will continue

Criteria Alternatives Matrix:

Evaluating, rating and comparing different alternatives on multiple criteria

Discounting:

Net Present Value = Discounted Benefits-Discounted Costs

Present Value = Future Value X Discount Factor

Benefit Cost Ratio:

BCR = Discounted Benefits/ Discounted Costs (Greater than 1)

Deflating Money

Current Dollar Value = (Current dollars X Base Year Implicit Price Deflator)/ Current Year IPD

Cost Benefit Analysis

Monetary value is assigned to inputs and outcomes of a processs

Classics of Organizational Theory

Classical Organization Theory

Adam Smith (1776) Wealth of Nations

Division and specialization of labor in a pin factory

Henri Fayol (1916) General Principles of Management

Universal approach to administrative management

Max Weber, I922 (1946) Nature of Social Action

Modern concept of bureaucracy with strict hierarchical structure, set rules and regulations, professionalism and merit

Luther Gulick (1937) Notes on the Theory of Organization

Principles of P.A. POSDCORB (Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting and Budgeting)

Neoclassical Organization Theory

Chester Barnard (1938) Economy of Incentives

Power of persuasion to motivate and induce workers

Herbert Simon (1946) Proverbs of Administration

Attacked Wilsons P.A. Dichotomy as contradictory, e.g. division based on purpose, place, process or clientele?

Phillip Selznick (1948) Foundations of the Theory of Organization

Individuals may have different goals than the organization

Cooptation is a way of managing opposition and so preserving stability and the organization

Cyert and March (1959) Behavioral Theory of Organizational Objectives

How decisions are taken within a firm, Compromise between different individuals and groups within an organization that have their own aspirations and conflicting interests

Behavior/ Human Resources

Mary Parker Follett (1926) Giving of Orders

Web of Inclusion, better to work with employees rather than just give orders, encourage participation

Abraham Maslow (1943) Theory of Human Motivation

Pyramid- from the bottom-up: 1) Physiological, 2) Safety, 3) Love/Belonging, 4) Psychological Needs/ Esteem, 5) Self-Actualization

Douglas MacGregor (1957) Human Side of Enterprise

Theory X and Y: Different views on human motivation tactics, Can become a self-fulfilling prophecy

Irving Janis (1971) Groupthink

Desperate drive for consensus at any cost

Modern Structural Organizations

Burns and Stalker (1961) Mechanistic and Organic Systems

Mechanistic: Stable, hierarchic, precise roles and rules, Organic: Changing, networks, innovation, community

Blau and Scott (1962) Concept of Formal Organization

Collective Actors, Formal Organization: fixed set of rules, Informal Organization: interlocking social structure

Henry Mintzberg (1979) Five Basic Parts of the Organization

1) Strategic Apex, 2) Middle line, 3) Operating core, 4) Technostructure, 5) Support Staff

Power and Politics

French and Raven (1959) Five bases of Social Power

1) Referent, 2) Expert, 3) Reward, 4) Coercive, and 5) Legitimate

Cohen and March (1974) Leadership in an Organized Anarchy

Garbage can theory: decision making is neither consequential nor sequential

Henry Mintzberg (1983) Power Game and the Players

Resources, Technical Skills, Body of Knowledge, Formal Power, and Access to Power

Internal Coalitions: CEO, Operators, Line Managers, Analysts, Support Staff and Ideology

External Coalitions: Owner, Associates, Employee Associations, Publics, Directors

Culture and Change/ Environment

Edgar Schein (2004) Concept of Organizational Culture

Set of shared beliefs and expectations based on societal norms

Katz and Kahn (1966) Systems Concept

Open systems, seek optimal solutions, not just

one best way

Bolman and Deal (2003) Reframing Organizations

Structural = Factories

Human Resources = Families

Political = Jungles

Symbolic = Temples



Presidential Trends

Clinton: National Performance Review

Office of Reinventing Government

America @ its Best Work better and cost less

Bush: Managing for Results

PART (Program Assessment Rating Tool)

Traffic Light Signal with executive discretion

Obama: Accountable Government Initiative

Reform contracting, Promote accountability, Close IT gap, Recruit top talent and Cut waste,

Performance Management Tools

S.M.A.R.T.: David Ammons (2000)

Specific

Measureable

Attainable

Results-Oriented

Time-Bound

Balanced Scorecard: Kaplan and Norton (1993)

Financials

Customers

Internal Processes

Innovation and Learning

Research Methodology

Governance

A New Model of Governance

Milward, Provan and Else (1993) Hollow State Metaphor for public service provision outsourced to may providers and reducing direct provision

Lynn, Heinrich and Hill (2000) Governance and Performance How can public-sector regimes, agencies, programs and activities be organized to achieve public purposes?

Theory-Building Research

Atheoretical Builds on theory through descriptions

Disciplined Configurative Use theories to explain a case

Heuristic Identify new variables, hypotheses and causes

Theory Testing Assesses validity and scope of a theory

Plausibility Probes Preliminary studies on untested theories

Building Blocks Identifying common patterns

Qualitative Methods

Case Studies

In-Depth Review can include Interviews, Archival Documents, Observations, and Artifacts

Path Dependency

How the set of decisions one faces for any circumstance is limited by the decisions one has made in the past

Process Tracing

Tracing the causal process from the independent variable of interest to the dependent variable

Congruence Method

To fully understand an organizations performance, must understand the organization as a system that consists of some basic elements

Temporality

Time Bound, related specifically to the past, present or future

Critical Junctures

David (1985) QWERTY keyboards vs Dvorak

Counterfactual Analysis

If A had not occurred, C would not have occurred.

Quantitative Data and Methods

Levels of Measurement:

Nominal Limited options, such as gender

Ordinal Order, such as grades

Interval Rank, such as temperature

Ratio Percentage with natural zero

Intercept: Point where line crosses Y axis

Slope: Expected change in Y for one unit change in X, holding others constant

T-Test: Significance of each variable, if more than 2 reject null there is a linear relation

P-Value: If small than reject null hypothesis

R-Squared: Goodness of fit, Proportion of variation in Dependent Variable explained by Independent Variables

Skewness: Tilt of the bell curve

Kurtosis: Peak of the bell curve

Quantitative

Confidence Interval: Range where the true value lies for the population, a = .05, 95% certain to capture the true value

Standard Deviation: Average distance each score is from the mean S = [(Xi Mean)2 (n 1)]

Standard Error:

BLUE: Best Linear Unbiased Estimators

Seven Assumptions of CLRM:

Linear Relationship

No Covariance

Random distribution

Homoscedasticity

No Autocorrelation

More observations than I.V.

No outliers

Quantitative Terms

Ordinary Least Squares (OLS): Method of finding the linear model which minimizes the sum of the squared errors

Time Series: Follows one case over time

Panel Data: More than one case over time

Pooled Data: Different cases over time

Weighted Average: Takes into account the number of cases in each category

Index of Qualitative Variation:

IQV = Observed Differences Max Possible Differences

MPD = [(# of cases)2 (# of categories)] (2 # of categories)

Central Limit Theorem:

If an infinite # of random samples of equal size selected, sampling distributions approach normality

Coefficient of Relative Variation:

Used to compare distribution with different units

Performance Management Tools

Results Based Management:

Ensuring all processes, products, and services contribute to the achievement of desired results

Activity Based Costing:

Assigns cost based on how much is actually used

Competitive Benchmarking:

Comparing and measuring against other organizations


Government Performance and Reporting Act of 1993, strategic plans:

Establish top-level agency goals, objectives and annual program goals

Define how it intends to achieve these goals

Demonstrate how it will measure agency and program performance in achieving goals

History of Budgeting

Performance Budgeting:

Proposed by the Hoover Commission of 1949

Program, Planning and Budgeting System (PPBS):

President LBJ had Robert McNamara implement in the Pentagon during Vietnam War

Zero-Based Budgeting:

President Carter adopted during the 1970s

Sample Comp Questions

Comp Question: Overview

Provide a general overview of the field in an essay with a comprehensive assessment of the fields evolution, its status today as an academic discipline, and the direction of the field in the future.

Evolved from political science, business, law and sociology

Changes and grew to meet emerging societal demands

Future trends in Public Service, sustainability, information technology and disaster management

Leading contributors

Wilson, Follett, Gulick, Waldo, Simon, Dahl, Osborne & Gaebler, Denhardts

Big questions that define the field

What is P.A. and its role? What is the good life?

Questions answered

Administration is political and constitutionally legitimate

Questions remaining

Is governance more effective than the direct provision of government?

How much government is appropriate?

The scope of public administration varies with the peoples conception of good life, which changes with the times

Comp Question: Performance

Critically assess the various approaches to agency performance developed by PA:

What challenges do we face in measuring performance in the public sector?

Democratic values are at odds with bureaucracy

Motivation is not the same as business, e.g. equity

What are some of the key propositions and findings about effective public organizations?

Culture must form from the top and include stakeholders

Design a strategy to assess the effectiveness of the organizations performance.

Regression model with business growth as dependent variable

Shift-share analysis to measure clusters and integration

Identify and defend possible performance measures.

Change in number and composition of businesses

Reduction in local unemployment and poverty rates

Article Review for Comp Exam

Briefly summarize the main points of the article in terms of research questions, hypotheses, major findings and conclusion

Provide a critical evaluation of the article, including:

Assumptions made to investigate the problem

Potential contributions of the research

Internal and external validity

Strengths and weakness of the data, methodology and overall research approach

Potential improvements you would suggest

Provide an explanation of the implications of the research to the theory and practice of public administration, as well as discussions of the statistical and substantive significance of major findings

Comp Question: Theory

Discuss the various theoretical and practical approaches aiming to reconcile bureaucratic government with democratic values and key finding of the research assessing them

Political Control of Bureaucracy

Agency Theory: Hard to control bureaucrats

Principal-Agent: Legislature defers to agencies to deal with complex issues

Bureaucratic Capture: Ruled by policy elites

Client Responsiveness: Work for constituents

Representative Bureaucracy

Cures constitutional defect and improves outcomes

Bureaucratic Politics

Who gets what when and how Harold Lasswell, 1936

Political Power Waldo, Simon, Dahl and Allison

Timeline: 1776 - 1890

1776Declaration of Independence

1787Federalist Papers, written by Hamilton, Madison

and John Jay

1789Constitution (no mention of administration)

1801-1809Jefferson decentralization, individual rights,

representation

1809-1817Madison separation and balance of power

1839-1837Jackson strong executive, spoil system grows

1835Tocqueville line between state and society is blurred

1850John S. Mill, wage incentives, span of control, unity of

command

1881President James Garfield is shot by Charles Guiteau

1883-1884Pendelton Civil Service Act, Wilsons essay

1887Interstate Commerce Act

1890:Progressive Era begins, Reform against corruption

1906 1940s

1906New York Bureau of Municipal Research

1908Staunton, VA appoints 1st city manager, differs from existing local governments

1910Taylor Scientific Management

1914-1918World War I

1922Max Weber, Bureaucratic form of organization

1924Maxwell School at Syracuse

1926Whites 1st P.A. textbook

1927Elton Mayo Hawthorne Experiments,

Mary Parker Follett

1929Stock market crash

1933-1937Roosevelt - New Deal

1937Luther Gulick POSDCORB

1938Chester Barnard Functions of the Executive

1939-1941 World War II, Robert K. Merton opposes Webers bureaucracy

1946-1948Neoclassical Simon, Waldo, Dahl

1960s to 1980s

1954-1960Human Relations Maslow, MacGregor, Janis

1959 Lindblom Incremental Approach to policy making

1964Civil Rights Act of 1964, Great Society

1965Planning, Programming, Budgeting Systems

1968Minnowbrook Conference hosted by Waldo ushers in New Public Administration

1971Allison Decision making paradigms

1976Peter Drucker points out problems with management by objectives, goals dont always match

1978Civil Service Reform Act allowed non-postal federal workers the right to unionize

1979Mintzberg Five basic parts of an organization, Modern Public Management Reform

1980-1988New Public Management imitates private sector, Westminster reforms in U.K. and New Zealand

1992 - 2010

1992Osborne and Gaebler - Reinventing Government, Steer, Dont Row

1993Gore - National Performance Review

1998Light Scientific Management, War on Waste, Watchful Eye, Liberation Management

2000Donald Kettl Global Public Management Revolution, Milward, Provan and Else Hollow State

2003Bolman and Deal Organizational Frames: Structural, Human Resources, Political, Symbolic

2004Ammons SMART performance measures

2007Denhardt and Denhardt Serve, Not Steer

2008Barack Obama elected President, economic crisis, Larry Bartels, Unequal Democracy

2010EZ Program extended a year

Neshkovas Class

Justifications for Government Policy (Weimer and Vining, 2003)

Government and Market in Theory (Lindblom, 1977)

Politics and Market in Practice (Williams and Collins, 1998)

Development of the American State (Rohr, 1986)

Emergence of Bureaucracy (Skowronek, 1984) (Carpenter, 2001)

Theories of Bureaucracy (Frederickson & Smith, 2003) (Wilson, 1989)

Selden, Brudney and Kellough, 1998 (Representative Bureaucracy)

OLeary, 1994 (Agent Theory)

Ringquest, 1995 (Capture Theory)

Balla 1998 (Principal-Agent Theory)

Interest Groups and Bureaucracy (Lowi, Golden,

Reforming American Public Sector (Light, 1997)

Contemporary Forces (Kettl, 2005)

Federalism and Empirical Issues (Peterson, 1996