Political Science 340 10.28.doc

Political Science 340 CREATEDATE 10/30/09 10:15 AM Decision Theories Rational ? Cost/ benefit Paper due- you do it Incrementalism ? small scale changes( can lead to problems such as Vietnam Satisficing ? people are trying to make satisfactory decisions, given limited info, limited abilities, strive to not be rational or use Incrementalism, just a satisfying decision Paper you don?t want to work on- work on it for an hour- making an effort Garbage Can ? Many decisions made by individuals and organizations are non-rational (in explanation) ? people are driven by forces we are not even aware of, only when asked to explain them, do we try to give a rational explanation, we just do things all the time without knowing why I am doing them When you say you are going to do a paper and you clean your room instead Group Decisions Advantages: more creative; more acceptance Disadvantages: Takes more time; The risky shift (a group will make a riskier decision [extreme- more conservative or liberal] because more people are less accountable) i.e. JURIES; Group Think (Conformity to an opinion- usually to a leader [people put pressure on dissenting opinions (macho culture)- weak if you don?t go along with what the majority wants]) HARVARD PSYCHOLOGIST JANICE- describes Bay of Pigs under Kennedy( send Americans to help Cubans overthrow Castro [disaster and embarrassment to country]( Janice came up with a list of ways to get rid of Group think (how do you try to minimize group think? A leader can keep his or her opinion quiet; assign advisors to positions (lots of literature on it)- conformity is so extreme that the outsiders are scapegoats and become ?evil? and us vs. them mentality Group Decisions Group decisions better decisions by? Brainstorming Nominal Group( secret ballots Quality Circles( bring in a group of workers and talk about problems and solutions Motivation IN the Public Service Structuralists believe that the chief motivator for workers is money Human Relations: Self-esteem and so forth Reinforcement Theory: idea that motivation comes from positive reinforcement Pay for Performance (merit pay based on performance)- bonus, salary increases depend on performance Research says in the public sector, these are ineffective (true in large measure in business to); performance is based on things people can?t control (psych problem, lack skills, no one could perform well in that position, physical limitations, etc) Public Service Motivation- seeing others, job is more central to life, less motivated by money, do more civic things, want to help others?different motivation than people who enter business Goals: Should be moderately difficult (strive to achieve but not impossible); specific and manageable; involve employees in goal setting (because they will have greater buy-in and research suggests that employees will set higher goals then employers) Impact of Civil Service System on Motivation Civil service systems involve across the board raises and almost automatic promotions- little can be done Organizations change knowledge Distortion Intentional Condense Uncertainty absorption This could be happening( by the time it reaches the top of the chain. It is definitely happening. I.e. Weapons of mass destruction 90% Distortion- relevant facts Centralizations and information Distortion and delay of hierarchy More layers of hierarchy More overlap across subs The more people who handle information Gov?ts Rarely structure organizations to mitigate pathologies I.E. Department of Homeland Security WRONG structure Personal Communication Managers( Most of the day communicating Effective Listening Written communication more effective than verbal? Is gossip accurate? 70% accurate Should minimize organizational gossip( dissention Give more information to minimize gossip( lessen dissention Pay attention to non-verbal ques Body language- 55% of message you are giving off Verbal intonation- 38% Actual words- 7% Email- many managers spend 20-50% of time using email It?s public!!!! Even if you have your own computer, if you are accessing their email system- they can read your email. Emails have gotten sloppy- say hello and watch the spelling Communication: Send messages to be clear, not to impress Public Speaking( you will improve Interpersonal Skills The most important skill for a manager Must be able to deal with people?number one criteria Emotional IQ Skills Active listening Ability to give good feedback/ effective feedback Impersonal Goal-oriented Ability to delegate Effective presentation skills Introvert vs. Extrovert Hard to find managers with strong interpersonal skills? Self-Interest; Subjective Skills (Hard to Judge); the people you deal with (conflict is a part of life and some people lack the skills to get along with others) Conflict in Power: Organizations are full of power and politics matter! What gives power? Position on organizational chart Expertise Alliances (Personal friends give benefits of power) Personal Characteristics ? Charisma Information ? How secretaries have a lot of power because they possess a lot of info b/c they know what is going on and use that to their advantage Who has power Managers or the workers? Managers positional power? but most authors (beyond structuralists) argue subordinates have the most power; what can a boss do to a person they manager( give them a bad schedule, can?t control pay or raise, especially in civil service, can fire if you catch them in sabotage, but hard to document ; subordinates can strike, sabotage (esp. in food), sue, quit (cost you money to recruit and retrain) Threes laws Law of imperfect control: Anthony Downs No one completely controls behavior in an organization Even in Nazi Germany they found ways to rebel quietly Law of diminishing control The larger the organization( the more difficult to control behavior Law of counter-control The greater the effort to control subordinates, the greater the effort to avoid control Conflict= 20% Medium conflict is optimal / best?theorists say. High levels of conflict is bad for productivity?low levels make for a lackluster environment or an environment where all problems are swept under the rug Conflict increase with More independent tasks Drop in resources?cutbacks (raises anxiety level) Participant Management Competing goals/ conflicting goals Organizational change Women typically have problem dealing with conflict With negotiation you must focus on the problem/issue?find out how you get a mutually beneficial solutions?however it becomes emotional and about power PA and ethics When bureaucrats misperceive public interest Why it occurs? Public officials are typically middle class?the people they are serving are usually of lower class?difference in classes brings up differences in perception. Public officials may develop a bureau ideology?focus on the bureau itself (on the organization) so much so that they may lose sight on what the organization is supposed to do (rather than the program or the client) For Example: it is widely believe that public officials want to expand their program?but this may not be the best way to serve their clients and use resources A close relationship with a group or constituency ?that group may bring them in a direction that may not be in the public interest (pulls you in a different direction) Corruption Difficult to legally prove because there is usually no clearly, documented exchange We may view things as unethical?but it not be stated or written out?so it?s under the table Corrupt officials are usually popular and therefore, not under close scrutiny; also, viewed as effective Number of corruption cases swings widely from year to year (some years have a lot and others you don?t) Matter of what else is going on Economy?focus not on officials Partisanship changes Examples: Sub-organization dominates The NYC School custodians?very few actually work?large numbers on payroll and many never showed up to work?power politically Part of the culture Organized crime (Think Batman) Fraud Medicare, Bill the gov?t for things that aren?t done Waste (of money) People know about it?but unions are powerful; programs that didn?t work; public employees paid too much (in 1970?s garbage collectors made $100,000+ a year) Organizational Cheating Standardized test scores?teachers and school admin have done something to raise the test scores Students were told they didn?t need to come to school for the next couple of days; coached the students over the material; teachers corrected test; told the students the answer Why it?s difficult to hold administrators accountable? Difficult to get information; agencies have expertise?hard for outsiders to get information they need to decide if there is corruption may be difficult Legislators lack the incentive to monitor/check the work done by administrators; little casework Even if you find suspicions of corruption; unless you have documented evidence-there is little you can do; merit system makes punishment difficult Law of counter-control: the more you try to control people?s behavior, the more they are going to try to resist it Over-lapping agency responsibilities: Who is responsible, who is supposed to be doing what; who do you blame Contracting out: who do you blame- government or business you have contracted out to Government contracted out to airlines?the one they picked crashed; picked lowest bid?who was at fault? ***Response is to ignore?there is not really a way to fix the system*** Reform( New Public Management (focuses on results) Privatization, Contracting Around the world Why New Public Mgmt? Regan( Conservative Movement around the world in 1980?s (Margaret Thatcher in Britain) Tax Limitation measures across the country (government is faced with less revenue and no way to get more) (states are limited to taxes) Organizations were becoming less bureaucratic / more organic (better networking abilities, contract out( work with more organizations) Advances in information technology( micro-computers (information de-centralizes power( with everyone having computers, power is decentralized( allows communication around the world Clinton 1990?s / Gore( Democrats supporting New Public Mgmt Reform?Advantages and Disadvantages of NPM Advantages Greater Efficiency (not all the time, but in many cases contracting and privatization increased efficiency) Increased community involvement [non-profits and business] & (instead of government channeling a bunch of money to a program, businesses and community pay attention and get involved) Improved program evaluation because NPM is focused on results and they are directly connected Disadvantages Managerialism-view that efficiency is more important than democracy (wouldn?t it be easy to give all company employees at credit card to buy their office supplies?but people misuse it [tradeoff: efficiency v. accountability]) New Public Management focuses on customers (because it is a business orientation), people are not clients, they are customers Are students customers?don?t want to take course requirements Government has a lot of customers and expands beyond the person you are serving (i.e. beyond student, to benefit a society that wants an educated person) Human Resources Innovation MBO Management By Objective (set goals for yourself and you are evaluated by your supervisor afterwards?) Job Enrichment?allowing employees more responsibility Quality circles or self-managed teams Small group of people that do similar types of work to work out problems together I. 3 Truths?Administrative Reform A. Elected Officials push reform B. Most reforms are from business and the govt. tries to adopt it C. Many of these reforms start at the state/local level & move up to the federal level II. 3 Basic approaches?contradictory A. Downsizing govt. 1. Something forcing govt. cuts (coming from the outside) 2. Ex: tax limitations measures on local govt. 3. 2 others -Grace Commission: 1984 R.R. ( 2,500 Recommended cuts -Clinton/Gore ( Reinventing Govt. (1990) (resulted in a significant cut in govt. employees) 4. Criticism of downsizing (Little thought given as to what should be cut What should be cut? B. Reengineering: Changes that can significantly improve performance 1. Major changes, focus on mission, identify customers, re-think how to best deliver services 2. Downsizing will result 3. Ex: last president, GWBush talked about top-down changes, reengineering govt. (business model; top people ought to decide how to improve things and they send the orders down) C. Continuous Improvement (TQM) 1. Bottom-up, incremental changes through quality circles, etc. 2. Focus on quality, not quantity 3. Result: efficiency III. Comparison [SEE JAMES? CHART?difficult to type] Downsizing: Method: Targeted Reductions Outside Size is focus Reengineering: Method: Competition Efficiency Top-Down Focus on process to get better results TQM- Continuous Improvement: Method: Cooperation Quality Bottom-up Focus on relationships & customer satisfaction All of these assume that the result is a more efficient gov?t, but differences in how they?re going to achieve it Performance Management: data on how well the organization is doing Purposes Evaluations of Organization Control of workers Budgeting Motivation of staff and citizens (accomplishments, goals) Promote Agency Lead to improvements (success) Limits and Benefits Limits Many agencies have no clear goals and if they do have goals, success cannot be measured Considerable number of political factors meaning that often Results don?t matter( no change will come (not much of an impact) Benefits Strengthens government?s legitimacy( can point at these numbers to back up statements, proof, etc Increases staff pride Use of staff measures Federal level 1991- Less than 10% used performance measures Today: Most use them (significant increase in use) State Level: All states (all 50) mandate some use?want them for budget requests Local Level- Measurement is hard at federal and state level because welfare, SS, etc. Local is garbage, policing, crime rate, etc. The measurements are just easier Measures Types Workload or output?tons of garbage collected Unit cost of efficiency?cost of trash pickup/ per resident) Outcome of effectiveness measures?if you are doing housing renovations-the number of renovated homes actually renovated Service quality?timeliness, accuracy, courtesy?some objective (time and taxes collected) and subjective (recorded politeness of phone call) Citizen satisfaction?survey of trash pickup, etc. Measurement Problem Measuring the wrong thing?trying to come up with the value of a human life (which the government has done) Increase costs for a benefit?airbags in cars, reducing pollution Expensive Measures have little meaning?crime statistics (sometimes you want crime to go up to get more money and down to look better to constituency) Different interpretations of the same concept?what is a client (someone who calls in or has a life) Shifting costs?hospitals and dying patients Privatization and healthcare No body can agree what the goal is; how you measure the goals; how you can measure the return Disguising Sub-group differences with aggregate data No Child Left Behind- Policy put in place to hide Schools give mean performance with standardized tests Groups in school far below the mean and with NCLB cannot drop the bottom to boost the mean Ignoring limitations of objective measures Ex. IRS measured collection of delinquent taxes Result: Negative impact?ruthless policies?Gestapo type atmosphere Benchmarking: when you raise government?s performance by comparing it to another program (focus on how well your organization is doing compared to another area- make it seem like things are going better) Most usually going to be some sort of output measure Ex. Number of police officers on patrol/ their budget Most people agree that performance measure is beneficial but overwhelming Most city governments use between 150 to 1500 indicators of measurement Faith-Based Initiatives (Organizations) [FBO] ?Old? FBO / Social Service Mix Religion has long provided services YMCA, Salvation Army= Most budget from government $ (grants) Organizations were never challenged because they were run in a secular manner; Religion was not part of the service delivery (only part of the name plate) Set up separate organization to provide service (to make sure there was no mixture of the two- clear distinction between the religion and the service) 1996( Charitable Choice- New FBO Religious organizations may compete for government grants Don?t have to take down religious symbols to provide services?religious components may continue, if you get the grant If you get this grant you cannot discriminate against clients?find a secular alternative to provide the service if asked to do so?I.E. client is nervous around Bibles No government money is to be used for religion- to buy religious material or to pay for a preacher for the service?money only for the service If you get the grant, you can have the service in your church and you can make religion a factor/ message (but that needs to come out the church?s budget) What research tells us: (very limited research) Positive: Clients (majority) like the idea of FBO?s providing services / Majority of clients prefer a religious provider BUT do you have other clients who feel judged and discriminated against( there is no real alternatives for those people No evidence that FBO organizations are more effective than secular / Research has not shown that religious organizations are more effective Most congregations are not interested because they feel like they already do social work( don?t want to get gov?t money involved (complicate things) Research tells us that many administrators don?t understand the restrictions on the government?s money?so the reality is that they can do what they want because there is little oversight with what they do with the money Faith-Based Employment Can FBO?s getting gov?t money discriminate based on religion The Bush Admin said yea and Obama Admin said no( probably will be decided in the SC Impact of Stress on Task Performance Do people do better or worse on a task under stress? Low levels of stress get you going and you do better- High levels of stress are dysfunctional for all tasks performance Higher levels of stress: Changing shifts- night shifts or changing of work hours leads to higher levels of stress and prone to sickness Violence in the work place- ?Going postal??we don?t know what the predictors are of people that are going to go nuts and commit violence? If you have an employee who is a little unstable and you don?t tell another employer they are applying to- you are liable if they go postal at their next job and can be sued if you tell that potential employer that that person is mentally unstable?lose / lose Burnout- intense and prolonged work stress?particularly problematic in occupations where you deal with people (social work, police, teaching)--40% will be teaching 5 years later Emotional Exhaustion Cynical Feeling that you are a failure Cope: Realistic expectations and realizing things are beyond your control Time off from work Support from superiors Great unrest for Public Administration Budget cuts but demand for service- fewer employees expected to do more Focus on global issues- in terms of the environment and recruiting business and other issues (economy, health, environment, business, etc) Conflict among expectations: Widely accepted beliefs about PA One: PA should do more with less (efficiency) Two: Private sector more involved Three: PA should be more customer focused Four: PA should be less hierarchical and push decisions down to the people affected Five: High accountability (some of these things are contradictory to each other (two) -Contracting out- allows more of one, but takes away from five Four produces less of one Public Administration is about competing values and they cannot do everything Liberals and Conservatives: Government or Private Conservatives want less government, more efficiency and effectiveness Liberals want more citizen participation and a safety net for America (protection of citizens with government services) Production costs (cost to government) and Consumption costs (cost to citizens) are inversely related [Tradeoff] Bilingual Education Elderly Programs (Meals on Wheels, etc) Fire Protection Technology has changed PA E-Government (production and delivery of gov?t services through technology)?you can get government information (rules, regulations considered, code for state or federal gov?t, etc.) Conduct business Driver?s license, Fishing license, etc Communicate with government officials (Does it reduce the cost of government? UNCLEAR, but probably not. Why Not? Because you have to hire a bunch of computer people to do it, and require much higher salaries than clerks Allows unconventional work Meaning that people can work from home, they don?t have to be there, different sorts of hours, 8 to 5 hierarchy can be minimized through use computer?as gas prices go up we see an unconventional work schedule Public PA Dislike of Bureaucracy in Abstract (Big Gov?t) BUT satisfaction with specific delay of services 65%-75% of respondents of surveys in various states responded that they are happy Dissatisfaction is less than 1/3 Gov?t Bureaucrats are described as helpful and efficient Generally high level of satisfaction of services provided by PA Why do persons bash gov?t workers all of the time, but when given a list of services, are generally pleased A single or few encounters are expanded to give the entire bureaucracy a negative evaluation (people focus on negative experiences) A question about bureaucracy is a measure of ideology- regardless of experience as an individual, your conservative or liberal outlook decides how you view bureaucracy Public?s Evaluation of Public and Private: Government services compared to business Evaluation of business is not always higher than the evaluation of gov?t (for some yes, but NOT always) Private vs. Public health clinics, rated the same Fast Food efficiency ranks below government Public / Private Leadership Some argue: Good leadership impossible in government WHY Goals are vague and competing Top officials have few ways to control those below them- because they are civil service Civil service makes it hard to hold employees accountable Considerable high turnover at the top Appointed officials average tenure is less than 3 years Top officials in gov?t focus on external relations and not internal management Good leadership in PA is hard Short-term focus on gov?t leaders is not that different from business EX. Banks Contrary to what you may have heard- public employees work hard at all levels of gov?t?put in more hours than the regular 40 hr. work week External Relations?the most important thing a leader in gov?t can do?funding is pertinent to cliental (members of congress, etc.) US Presidents and PA 1980?Bureaucrat Bashing (?Clean-up the bureaucracy?) Large numbers of people resigned, people would not accept Pres. Appointments 1990?s and on?Presidents support bureaucracy (more positive atmosphere Public supports state and local bureaucracy more than federal To improve bureaucracy (which would subsequently increase evaluations) Reduce paperwork required of citizens Annual paperwork burden is an average 8.2 billion hours a year Congress asks for documentation Use plain language to communicate?stating exactly what you mean instead of the ?bureaucrat tease? Student desks are called student modules Greater use of E-Government Highering Patterns MA in PA?people prefer non-profit work over gov?t, which is why most MPA programs are catering to this 1/3 of everyone who gets an MPA, ends up doing something other than gov?t and non-profit More than ½ Never enter gov?t service, and 1/4th of that leave after 5 years Pattern: Young people don?t want to work for gov?t