Public versus Private

What is
PUBLIC
Administration?
Important Terms / Concepts / Topics
Policy implementation
Role of law in public versus private organizations
Public private similarities / differences regarding
Customers / clients
Internal processes / decisions
Profit motive
Public Administration
Implementation of laws / rules adopted by a governing body. It is:
The laws and rules and how they are created
The agencies created to implement the rules
The processes of those agencies
The people in those agencies
And more
Policy Implementation
Translating the print of statute books into changes in behavior by members of societyindividuals,
groups, organizations, and businesses.
Translates paper declarations of intent from the elective legislature and chief executive into reality.
Public Administration is The Study of Public Bureaucracy
Public bureaucracy refers to public organizations or the formal, rational system of relations among
persons vested with administrative authority to carry out public programs
Public Administration versus
Private Administration
How similar are they?
Some argue administration is generic
How different are they?
Bureaucrats dont Bur
Teachers teach
Police enforce laws
Park workers maintain parks
Managers manage
Typists type
Differences Between Private and Public Administration
Wallace Sayre
Argued that business and the public sector are alike in all unimportant respects.
Graham T. Allison
Pointed out similarities in the use of strategy, managing internal components, and managing external
constituencies.

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Public Organizations and the Law

One fundamental distinction between public and private is relationship to the law.
Public administration exists to implement the law.
Doing something requires finding a grant of authority in the law.
Private organizations can do anything unless against the law
Neither Government nor the Law is single purpose
The law is any rule passed since the beginning unless later rescinded
1789 at the federal level
Earlier or later for states
Many laws / programs created to meet the needs of the moment are inconsistent with earlier laws /
programs
Differences Between Private and Public Administration
Government must serve all people and all segments of society.
Public administration must engage with diverse groups and individuals.
Planning and decision making becomes slower and more difficult.
Processes
Governed by law
More open to public scrutiny
Freedom of Information Act
Lower Tolerance for Errors
Private protected by ethos that it is always efficient
Occasional errors accepted
Public has ethos it is always inefficient
Occasional errors further proof of wastefulness
Government Job Often Harder
Privatize Profit, socialize loss
There are needs where profit not likely
Eliminating poverty
Health Care??
State and Local limited by geography
Not Necessarily the Profit Motive
In the broadest sense only criterion for success is profit
Private organizations can be nonprofits
Salvation Army, Chamber of Commerce
Bureaus within large organizations have no clear profits
Personnel, research, training, hierarchy
Differences Between Private and Public Administration
Ambiguity, an advantage in politics, can also make objectives unclear.
Power, often diffused in a political system, tends to be clearer in the corporate sector.
There are many competing and conflicting values in government, while performance measures tend to
be more clear-cut in business.

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Ethics in Public Organizations

Two sets of administrative values dominate public administration ethics:
Bureaucratic ethos highlights efficiency, efficacy, expertise, loyalty, and accountability.
Foundation: technical rationality and utilitarianism.
Democratic ethos includes political values associated with governance including citizenship, public
interest, participation, and social equity.
Foundation: honor, benevolence, and justice.
Definition of Success?
Keeping citizens or elected leaders happy?
Being very efficient?