Administrative decision making & the constitution at work

Running head: Administrative Decision Making & the Constitution at Work Administrative Decision Making &the Constitution at Work
Public administration emerged as an independent field of study in the United States during the nineteenth century. Since its genesis, public administration has been developing in different directions and new theories coming up to catch up with the changing times. The main differences between the theories, administration is different administrative positions in each theory. In simpler terms, administrative leadership is the main difference between emerging theories today. For instance, some administrative theories state that a leader should come first and lead while others oppose the approach and claim that a leader/administrator should be a subordinate staff. Additionally, differences among administrative theory would tend to vary on matters between management and operation, for example, the difference between getting things done and doing things. However, no matter the number of evolving administrative theories, it is the same skill that is required universally; in the industry; government as well as home management (Kennedy and Shultz 2011).
The policy/administration dichotomy was a leadership theory that was popular during the early years of public administration mostly due to business principles used in managing the government (Henry 1975). As years passed by, dichotomy requested for politics to be removed in the administration section of the government. This left politics to officials elected who make policy. In short, Reformers used the idea of policy/administration dichotomy to reform/ change the government structure particularly in both politicians and administrators. The dichotomy theory did not intend to threaten those in power because it ensured that politicians would make relevant policies and other related decisions whilst the administrator would be the person in charge of implementing the made policies. Political neutrality is vital because it enabled the different government officials that are the politicians and the administrators to stick to their roles and ensured that no role was duplicated. In the past, public administration performed in public organization which was only in the grounds of accounting instead of, the actual performance of implementing existing policies. Today, public administration role in decision making is an important role, particularly in the management of and, control of public bureaucracy (Kennedy and Shultz 2011).
The six paradigms by Henry clearly illustrate how public administration has changed and become more defined over the years. The first paradigm is about politics and administration dichotomy which differentiates the roles of political leaders and administrative leaders. The paradigm of principles ensures that both roles of government are separable in every institution so that neutrality can be achieved. The fifth paradigm acts as a symbol of freedom in public administrators in that they are no longer depend on political leaders. The last one reduces corruption issues and strengthens public administration as a single entity. Today the paradigms by Henry have helped in differentiating roles between public administrators and politicians. The public administrators have defined roles of ensuring the set policies by politicians are followed to the letter. Moreover, this enhances justice and equity that promote social integrity while demoting abuse of power by politicians (Henry 1975).
George Fredrickson was a specialist in the field of public administration. Fredrickson stated that social equity was one of the major effects that came up due to changes in public administration. Changes in public administration also saw the need for a basis of bureaucratic nature. This gave rise to the need of public administration education and good characteristics of an official in order to serve the public effectively. As an end result, reliable and independent administrative organization was developed. Roles of the administrators have changed significantly from less defined to more defined roles. The International City Management (Manager’s) Association notes that administrators have the duty of enforcing policies by ensuring that made policies are effectively implemented. It is their duty to take care of public’s business affairs and use the available resources sparingly to attain growth and productivity of such businesses (Kennedy and Shultz 2011). However, among their many roles, administrators should not make the policies of by any chance influence the public to object the made policies rather, to ensure that they are followed.
Finally, the objective learned from this study is that as a public administrator, there should be no conflict between the roles of administrators and that of politicians. This means that each profession is given the respect it deserves and the boundary between the conflicting duties is well defined. This way, public administrators have a lighter work load and this should increase job performance and meet the governance goal.
References
Henry, N. (1975). Public administration and public affairs. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall.
Kennedy, S. S., & Schultz, D. A. (2011). American public service: constitutional and ethical foundations. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.