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CHAPTER10

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Executive Management: The Concept

of Eff ective Public Organizations

he disc ussi on here ... can proceed using a r elativel y st r ai g ht lonvarcl d efi -

nit i on of agenc  ), effectiv eness: the agency pr ef orms well i n di scharging the

ad mi ni st r at i on and o perat i onal f unct i ons pursuant to the missi on. I t achieves the

mi ssi on as concei ved b)l the or g ani zat i on and i t s st al (ehol e! ers or pur sues

achi evement of i t in an ev i d ently suc cessful wa) .-I-Ial G.  aine ), ane! " aul a #teinbauer

RE!"#$ 10

Introduction

Writings on pu blic management ar e a comparatively new phenomena: in fact, they

ar e peculiar ly products of this century because large-scale formal organizations, both

 pu blic and pr ivate, are modern ill origin and existence. umanitys dependence on

massive or ganizations that span the continent and the glo be is ther efor e recent! hence,

the. comprehensive, detailed analysis of these insritutions is also new to scholar ly in-

ter est. "he flood of modern literatur e analyzing the natur e. behavior , and ideal meth-

ods for constructing viable human institutions and internal per sonal relationships has

 been pr ompted in par t by the need to establish and constr uct these organizations in

ways that effectively co pe with pr oblems of the present age.#ne cr itical dilemma in studying modern organizations and their management lies

in the pr o per theor etical per s pective. $s %wight Waldo reminds us, studying organi-

zation is a&in to the f a ble of the blind men and the elephant. '(ach of the blind men

... touched with his hands a dif f erent part of the ele phant, and as a r esult ther e was

, among them a radical difference of opinion as to the natur e of the beast.')

$ pr i*nci pal cause of the consider a ble di vergence of o pinion a bout or ganizations

thus stems from the s pecialized vantage points fromwhich o bser ver s come to exam-

ine human institutions. "he economist has a differ ent view than the philosopher , so

also the insider ver sus the outsider and the wor &er ver sus the manager . "hese ideas

ar e not right or wrong! rather . a number of a p pr oaches exist for reaching the truth about

'Dwight Waldo, I d ea s II l I d  I  ssues i ll P ublic $dll l inis% !& &'(I l (New Yor k: +cflr aw-itl, 1/, p. 64.

Reading 10 / 0ntr oduction

complex for mal or ganizations. 0n studying organizations. mater ial that is valid or use-

f ul to one individual may not seem so to another .

or one r eason or another . ver y often aile theor etical per s pective in $merica tends

tu dominate our under standing of what constitutes good or appropriate public sector

organizational practices, namely business pers pectives. 2ot inf re3uently do we r ead

a bout political candidates or their a ppointees pr omising, 1 can ma&e government 1114r e

 businessli& e5' or citing as their r eason for holding high pu blic of f ice 'a successf ul

tr uc& -r ecor d as a manager in pr ivate enter  prise.' (ditor ial wr iter s. civic association

s pea&er s. and media pundits of ten echo these r efrains in f avor of ap plying enuepre-

ueurial talent to public enterprises. 6o pular opinion generally sup por ts the view point

that if only public administr ator s would sim ply manage their af fair s li& e business. gov-

ernment-and maybe even the entir e countr y-would run a lot better.

"he tendency to identify good managemem in gover nment with good business man-

agemenr is common even in ser ious public administr ation liter atur e. 0ndeed. discus-

sions or business management methods dominated much of the early develo pment of

the conscious study of pu blic administration at the beginning of the twentieth cen-

tur y. r eder ic& W. "avlor and his business-or iented scientif ic management concepts

ser ved as the core of much of the field of pu blic administration prior to World War

11. "he 7rownlow 8ommittee 9 e port :1;/, which some scholars believe was the

highwaier mar& of the influence of pu blic administration thin& ing on government,

lar gely mir r or ed the business or ganization practices of the clay. 0nman/, r espects. this

str ong inf luence of business practices on government continues today thr ough ap pli-

cation or pr ivate sector techni3ues as per formance budgets. cost- benef it analysis,

cost-accounting pr ocedures. per formance appraisals, management by ob <ective, zer o-

 based budgeting, and so on. 0ndeed, you only need to thin& a bout the names of ma<or

gover nmental processes and institutions l# appr eciate the en#i0%#=> influence of what

Waldo calls 'our business civilization-cvia gover nment corporations, city man-

ager s, eff iciency r atings, contr acting out for services, chief administr ative off icer s, and

county executives.

$t the conceptual r oot of ma& ing govemment run mor e li& e a business is a belief

in the '"hr ee E'5 ," or the values of ef f iciency. economy, and ef f ectiveness. '0f only

government could be more efficient. economical, and effective. our worries would be

over5) >o the popular view goes. %uring the last decade or so. than& s to tile 'r ein-

venting government' movement, which dr ew heavily on the wr itings of businessgur u 6eter %r uc& er whose wr itings focus on ef fective business manager s. the third  .

ef fectiveness, emer ged pr ominently and per vasively thr oughout the public sector as

an im portant, if not t he important value for manager s to str ive toward. ?et, des pite

the r ecent r enewed enthusiasm on both scholar ly and po pular levels to 'r einvent gov-

ernment' in or der to r un it more eff ectively <ust li& e business, the fundamental issue

r emains unanswer ed: What is an ef fective government enterprise@ What does tile ter m

mean and how is it practiced !" pu blic manager s@ ow can it be ap plied to the pub-

lic sector@ What ar e its theoretical elements and their implications f or gover nment ex-

ecutives@ What ar e its utility and its limitations@

0n the following essay, 'Aallo ping (le phants,' 6r ofessor al A. 9 ainey,a distin-

guished scholar in the field of pu blic management, and his doctoral student 6aula

>teinbauer , both cur r ently at the =niver sity of Aeor gia, thoughtf ully examine the

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