Understanding and Managing

Public Organizations

Chapter 5

The Impact of Political Power and

Public Policy

Public Organizations and the Public

• Public managers are influenced by public opinion,

including the following:

• The public’s general attitude about government

• The public’s attitudes toward specific policies

• Public organizations need support from

– Mass publics—broad diffuse populations

– Attentive publics—more organized groups that are interested in

specific agencies

• The public manager’s concern is to maintain enough

authority and discretion to meet organizational goals.

• Bureaucratic power is essential to the fundamental

organizational process of gaining financial resources,

grants, and other resources from the environment.

Sources of Political Authority and Influence

• Chief executives

• Legislative bodies

• Courts

• Government agencies

• Other levels of government

• Interest groups

• Policy subsystems and policy communities

• News media

• Public opinion

• Individual citizens

• Discussion falls into two camps.

• Bureaus and bureaucrats are seen as independent and influential.

• Bureaus and bureaucrats are impotent.

• Both views have some merit. Bureaucratic power is a dynamic

mixture of both conditions.

• There are numerous cases showing agencies’ responsiveness to

president, courts, and Congress.

• There is also evidence of “bottom up” processes with agencies

independently initiating policy.

• Proactive behavior of public mangers is a common theme in leadership

literature.

Two Views

Sources of Political Authority and Influence of Institutions, Entities, and Actors in the

Political System

Chief Executives

• Appointment of agency heads and other officials

• Executive staff and staff offices (for example, budget office)

• Initiating legislation and policy directions

• Vetoing legislation

• Executive orders and directives

Legislative Bodies

• Power of the purse: final approval of the budget

• Authorizing legislation for agency formation and operations

• Approval of executive appointments of officials

• Oversight activities: hearings, investigations

• Authority of legislative committees

• Initiating legislation

Courts

• Review of agency decisions

• Authority to render decisions that strongly influence agency operations

• Direct orders to agencies

Government Agencies

• Oversight and management authority (GAO, OMB, OPM, GSA)

• Competitors

• Allies

• Agencies or government units with joint programs

Sources of Political Authority and Influence of Institutions, Entities, and Actors in the

Political System

Other Levels of Government

• “Higher” and “lower” levels

• Intergovernmental agreements and districts

Interest Groups

• Client groups

• Constituency groups

• Professional associations

Policy Subsystems and Policy Communities

• Issue networks

• Inter-organizational policy networks

News Media

• Constitutional protections of freedom of the press

• Open meetings laws, sunshine laws

General Public Opinion

• Providing (or refusing to provide) popular support

Individual Citizens

• Requests for services, complaints, other contacts

Chief Executives

• The executive office rivals the legislative branch for strongest

influence.

• This includes presidents, governors, and mayors.

• Chief executives presumably have the greatest formal power over

bureaucracies in their jurisdictions.

• Influence powers are complex and dynamic.

• Methods of influence include the following:– Chief executives can appoint agency heads.

– Resources of executive offices can enhance influence.

– The executive branch proposes the initial budget, although legislature

approval is necessary.

– Chief executives can issue executive orders.

Legislative Bodies

• Formal legal authority over agencies comes in many forms.

Examples include– Legislatures

– Councils

– Commissions

• Legislative bodies have substantial authority over agencies. – Enabling statutes detail agency authority but can be amended.

– Statutory authority can be vague or specific.

– Legislative branch controls budgets.

– Oversight includes hearings, reports, and investigations.

• Formal authority always operates in a political context.

• Formal authority can weaken or bolster agency.

Limits on Legislative Power

• Agencies are typically the experts.

• Implementation is a source of power.

• Close scrutiny over an agency often has minimal political

payoff.

– Could jeopardize relationships

– Eliminate potential sources of favors for constituents

Courts

• Some experts claim courts exert powerful controls over

bureaucracy, while others see them as ineffectual.

• Courts confine agencies to statutory authority.

• Courts require agencies to follow due process in

rulemaking.

Government Agencies and Other Levels of

Government

• Relationship of bureaucracy to other bureaucracies and

different levels of government can be complex.

• Interdependencies require cooperation.

• Grants sometimes require coordination between

agencies.

• Federal system fragments authority.

• Agencies sometimes compete for resources and control

over programs.

Interest Groups

• Support of organized groups is essential to the well-

being of an agency.

• The role of interest groups is controversial.

• Following are some criticisms:

– There is a danger that special interest politics will further

fragment the system, complicating communication and

coordination.

– The system favors some powerful private interests over public

interest.

– Agencies can become “captive.”

Interest Groups

• Support from constituent groups can

• Bolster and legitimize agency work

• Defend an agency against budget cuts

• Provide an agency with important information and expert reports

• Give rise to various viewpoints through competition

News Media

• Media attention varies by administration and agency.

• Media attention can shift unpredictably.

• Media tend to take an adversarial stance.

• Bad press can damage budgets, programs, and careers.

• Agencies value good coverage and spend a least five hours per

week on matters pertaining to media (Graber, 2003).

• Media serve as watchdogs, reporting government waste and

abuses.

Experts on managing relations between government

agencies and the news media propose the following:

• Understand the perspective of the media—their skepticism, their need

for information and interesting stories, their time pressures.

• Organize media relations carefully—spend time and resources on

them and link them with agency operations.

• Get out readable press releases providing good news about the

agency; be patient if the media respond slowly.

Source: Adapted from Cohen and Eimicke, 1995; Chase and Reveal, 1983; and

Garnett, 1992.

Guidelines for Managing Relations with the

News Media

• Respond to bad news and embarrassing incidents rapidly,

with clear statements of the agency’s side of the story.

• Seek corrections of inaccurate reporting.

• Use the media to help boost the agency’s image, to implement

programs, and to communicate with employees.

• To carry all this off effectively, make sure that the agency

performs well, and be honest.

Source: Adapted from Cohen and Eimicke, 1995; Chase and Reveal, 1983; and

Garnett, 1992.

Guidelines for Managing Relations with the

News Media

• Prepare an agenda on each subject the media may be interested in.

Include a list of three to five points you want to “sell” the reporter.

• Write or verbally deliver “quotable quotes” of ten words or less.

• Listen carefully to the question. The reporter may have made

incorrect assumptions, and you will need to give clearer background

information before answering the question.

• Avoid an argument with the reporter.

The community relations office of the city of Claremont, California,

published the following guidelines for managing relations with reporters:

Source: Adapted from Larkin, 1992.

Guidelines for Managing Relations with the

News Media

• If interrupted in mid-thought, proceed with your original answer

before answering the next question.

• Challenge any effort to put words into your mouth.

• Don’t just answer the question; use the question as a springboard to

“sell” your agenda.

• If you do not know the answer, say so. Do not speculate.

• If you cannot divulge information, state why in a matter-of-fact way.

• Be positive, not defensive.

• Always tell the truth.

Guidelines for Managing Relations with the

News Media

Public Opinion

• It’s often difficult to gauge what the public really wants.

• The public regards some agencies as more important than

others (for example, police, defense).

• Public sentiment can help or hinder public management.

• Hargrove and Glidewell (1990) propose an agency

classification in relation to public opinion.

• How does the public perceive the agency’s clientele?

• Is the agency respected?

• How important is the agency?

Public Opinion

• A general level of support affects an agency’s ability

to maintain a base of political support.

– Praise for New York fire fighters after 9/11 is an example.

– Periods of antigovernment sentiment often prompt reforms.

New institutions and structures can upset the organization

and present numerous challenges.

– Changes might include

• New lines of authority

• New reporting requirements

Different Ways to Describe the Main Actors

in the Policy Process

• Iron Triangle– This is an old name to describe the relationship between

bureaucracy, congressional committees, and interest groups.

– It is relatively stable.

– Entry into the triangle is rare.

• Issue Network– Businesses, organizations, bureaucracies, individuals, legislative

committees and subcommittees all have interests in policy. All

attempt to influence the development and execution of public

policy.• Barriers to entering the network are rather low.

• Those actively involved in the network at any one time will fluctuate,

and levels of activity will fluctuate.

Congress

Low regulation

Can lobby for agency support

Iron Triangle

Kingdon’s Streams Metaphor

Window of

Opportunity

Time

Problem Stream

Policy Stream

Political Stream

Kingdon’s Agendas, Alternatives, and Public

Policies: Basic Theory

• Three separate and independent streams come together

in an evolutionary manner.

• This presents windows of opportunity.

• The interactions of the streams are highly fluid:

– Coupling of problems and policies

– The role of entrepreneurs

Kingdon’s Streams Metaphor

• An adaptation of the “garbage can” model

• The streams:

– The state of politics and public opinion (the politics stream)

– The potential solutions to a problem (policy stream)

– Attributes of problems and the attention to them (problem

stream)

Kingdon’s Streams Metaphor

• Streams are parallel and somewhat independent of each

other.

• Policy entrepreneurs try to join the streams in a “window

of opportunity.”

• Window of opportunity is the possibility of policy change.