Preface
In the Preface to the second edition, the senior editor of this Handbook reflected on the dynamism of public administration in the seven-year span between the first and second editions. At the time, dynamism was benchmarked against a variety of developments associated with growth and evolution of government, among them blue-ribbon reform commissions, reformist books, and realignments of political power and its policy and administrative aftermath.
The previous edition of the Handbook appeared nineteen years ago. The reform theme that figured so prominently in the preface to that edition has given way to a theme of revolution in this third edition. If revolution seems like hyperbole, consider major events since 1996 and how they have transformed both the context and content of public administration:
- Google founded, September 4, 1998
- Terrorist attacks on the United States, September 11, 2001
- Facebook was launched, February 4, 2004
- Hurricane Katrina hit the southern US coast, August 29, 2005
- Global financial crisis, September 2008
- Barack Obama inaugurated, January 20, 2009
- Arab Spring, 2011
The most obvious manifestation of the revolution is that the rhetoric of public administration has shifted increasingly from government to governance. What does the shift in rhetoric mean? Among the meanings is that the term governance has become fashionable to denote new ways of governing. The hierarchical model in which state authorities exert sovereign control over collective action is being displaced. Governance represents more involvement of nonstate actors—among them private corporations, nonprofit entities, markets, and networks—contributing to design, oversight, and delivery of public programs and services. Government remains in the picture, but other institutions and ways of thinking about collective action are now also prominently in view and are legitimate modes of conceiving public administration in this second decade of the twenty-first century.
This edition of the Handbook reflects the revolution represented by the shift from government to governance. Among the subjects that receive more attention are public-private partnerships, global governance institutions, deliberative democracy, managing collaborations, and collaboration skills. Despite the revolutionary nature of developments since 1996, however, this third edition embodies underlying continuity in what is necessary for good government—and, now, good governance.
Some simple metrics reflect changes from the second to third editions. Eleven of the thirty-five chapters in this edition are completely new. The remaining chapters have been substantially revised to incorporate new developments and research. Furthermore, thirty-eight of the more than fifty authors of both the new and revised chapters are first-time contributors.
Intended Audiences
This Handbook is intended to help public administrators cope with the many challenges facing them and to fill gaps in or update their knowledge. Written by international public administration experts from all areas of the field—law, public policy, public finance, human resources, ethics, and others—it is designed to meet the needs of the range of professionals who work in government, interact with public agencies, or do public work outside what we have traditionally considered the public sector. In brief, the book is intended to assist public administrators, wherever they reside organizationally or institutionally, to be effective in accomplishing the missions they pursue.
In a departure from past editions, this edition is written to engage not only a US audience but international members of the public administration community. Broadening the content to serve an international audience reflects the globalization of public administration. Countries and international bodies pay more attention to what is happening in jurisdictions outside their territory. Public administration practitioners, scholars, and opinion leaders are increasingly engaged in face-to-face meetings at international conferences, symposia, and workshops. Social media give practitioners and scholars a global platform. Ideas, public problems, and public administration concepts—for example, accountability, transparency, collaboration, public service motivation, and corruption—are now part of a global conversation. The knowledge base, strategies, and tactics that accompany the global conversation are becoming increasingly common from jurisdiction to jurisdiction even as national, regime, and cultural differences remain prominent.
The obstacles public administrators face in rising to the challenges of modern governance are substantial. Many public administrators come to their positions without formal administrative and managerial training. They achieve responsibility because of their excellence in other professional fields such as engineering, law, social work, and education. They confront dual obstacles to their effectiveness stemming from needs to develop new skills and adapt to new performance expectations. Even those who have been formally trained in public administration face the prospect of falling short of the demands imposed on them because of the broad range of skills necessary for effective performance and the persistence of changes in their environment.
The chapters cover a broad range of problems and situations that confront public administrators at all levels of government and in all types of services. The contributors analyze these situations and problems carefully in light of research, theory, and administrative experience. Each chapter offers a guide to effective practice and some ideas about how to improve performance. But this is more than a how-to book; it is also a “how-do-we-know-it book.” Each of the chapters places professional practice in the context of relevant theory, empirical research, and experience. Because the chapters are grounded in theory and research, readers should find the material useful not only for handling current problems but for grappling with new situations.
The Handbook offers a unified picture of public administration. Public administration is legitimately recognized as a diverse, interdisciplinary field, encompassing many administrative roles, occupational specialties, policy arenas, and levels of government. This fragmentation has often served to mask the high degree of overlap among these subareas and the relevance of each to effective practice in public administration. The book illustrates that effective public administration is built on many disciplines. It emphasizes the mutual dependence of many perspectives for healthy public service across societies.
The Handbook provides a vehicle for communicating the accumulated body of knowledge about public administration to people with varying degrees of responsibility and levels of experience. It is directed to line administrators—public sector executives, managers, and supervisors—who are accountable for the success of public programs and productivity of public services. It is also directed toward staff personnel, including policy, personnel, and financial analysts, who may be responsible for evaluating administrative performance, assessing human resource requirements, or preparing annual budgets. The book should be helpful to judicial and legislative staff, oversight bodies, corporate public affairs personnel, and public interest groups concerned about obtaining a better understanding of activities and requirements for administrative effectiveness. Finally, because the Handbook conveys the accumulated body of knowledge about public administration, it is a valuable resource for faculty and students involved in degree and certificate programs in public, nonprofit, and business administration. In short, the audience for this book is anyone who does public administration or wishes to study the field.
Overview of the Contents
Although this third edition reflects continuity in key issues, practices, and skills in public administration, it also differs perceptibly from the first two editions. This edition, for instance, gives more attention to different tools for public action, as reflected in part 3, “Implementing Policy Using Tools of Collective Action,” which highlights diverse policy tools, several of them new to this edition. We give less attention to financial and human resource administrative systems traditionally associated with government. Thus, we do not include a chapter exclusively on civil service systems, but we do devote a chapter to motivating staff using public service.
The chapters are organized into seven parts, representing domains of knowledge and practice essential for effective public administration. Readers may proceed sequentially through the book for an overview of the entire field or turn to individual parts or chapters for information on specific areas or topics. Each chapter brings fresh insights to familiar problems or situations.
Part 1, “Governing for Collective Action,” looks at key drivers of public administration's transformation in the United States and around the rest of world. What are the drivers? They include fiscal stresses, declining public trust, redefinitions of the boundaries between institutions, and the rise of global governance institutions. As a consequence, governance structures, policy instruments, and administrative skills are also evolving. The chapter authors examine the parameters of the transformations and their implications for public governance and governing collective action.
Part 2, “Building Infrastructures for Accountability,” focuses on the twin concerns of administrative effectiveness and democratic control. Accountability and responsiveness are influenced by administrative arrangements just as they are by the quality of the people who serve. The chapter authors show how laws and institutions shape administrative behavior and thereby promote major governance goals. This part emphasizes several facets of accountability, including responsibility, transparency, and responsiveness.
Part 3, “Implementing Policy Using Tools of Collective Action,” focuses on the design and management of policy tools for pursuing public purposes. The effectiveness and management of different policy tools transcend the tools themselves, but they also rest on public administrators' relationships and how their actions influence public policies and programs. Success in formulating and implementing policy requires that public administrators develop supportive relationships with key stakeholders in their environment, effectively manage intergovernmental and contractual relationships, and develop appropriate program designs and implementation strategies. Thus, the chapter authors provide insights about processes and choices that are critical for managing public policies.
In Part 4, “Managing for Public Performance,” we put the spotlight on the bottom line: public performance. Performance measurement and program evaluation have become powerful tools for promoting effectiveness. Achieving high performance is about more than measurement and evaluation, however. High performance also depends on thinking and managing strategically, using public service to direct and inspire staff, and attracting and engaging a diverse workforce. In light of growing complexity and the rapidity of change, high performance also rests with managing collaborations and organizational change processes. Part 4 addresses all of these issues.
Part 5, “Developing Effective Administrative Systems,” focuses on three types of resources—financial, human, and information—and the administrative systems that are consequential for tying them to effective performance. In the realm of financial resources, the contributors look at the expenditure and revenue sides of the ledger. They elucidate processes for making performance-informed choices about allocation of financial resources and the design and administration of revenue systems. Two facets of information resources, e-government and social media, and the requisites for their effectiveness are also addressed in part 5, which concludes with an exploration of how compensation systems attract, retain, and motivate public employees.
Part 6, “Sharpening the Public Administrator's Skill Set,” acknowledges the centrality of individual competence to administrative effectiveness. Effective systems and skilled administrators are both critical success factors. Public administration practitioners who develop leadership, intrapersonal, negotiation, collaboration, and communication skills enhance the capacity of their organizations to achieve their goals. The chapter authors provide valuable insights about these important skills.
Part 7, “Professionalizing Public Administration Practice,” concludes the Handbook by reflecting on what it means to be a member of the public administration profession. The chapter authors identify key professional expectations with regard to professional ethics and liability. The final chapter summarizes lessons from the Handbook about effective governance enterprises and being an effective public administrator.
James L. Perry and Robert K. Christensen