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298 Cha pter 10/ Executive Management

considera ble evidence surr ounding the contem por ar y liter atur e and research on ef -

f ective government organizations. heir goal! as they indicate at the outset! is to de-

velo p the elements of a conce ptual f r ame"or#! or a theory! to explain pu blic agency

ef fectiveness. he authors begin by citing examples of gover nment effectiveness that

stand in star# contr ast to po pular notions a bout its incom petence and "astefulness.

$ra"ing on current scholar ships! the author s next cr eate a list of pr o positions about

eff ective pu blic agencies. %hat they discover f r om the available r esear ch is a con-

ceptual frame"or # that includes the follo"ing basic com ponents& su p portive behav-

iors f r om exter nal sta# eholder s! such as political authorities' agency autonomy in

r ef ining and im plementing its mission' high mission (valence( or an attr active mis-

sion' a str ong! mission-or iented cultur e' and cer tain leader shi p behaviors. Com bined!

these factor s enhance sever al for ms of motivation for peo ple in any agency-tas# mo-

tivation! mission motivation! and public ser vice motivation)-that can be lin# ed to-

gether to promote ef f ective public agency management. *ote ho" the author s at the beginning of their ar ticle define ~f  /ecTil' el1e s s as&

("hether the agency does "ell that "hich it is sup posed to do! "hether peo ple in the

agency "or # hard and "ell! "hether the actions and pr ocedur es of the agency and its

mem ber s are "ell suited to achieving its mission! and "hether the agency actually

achieves its mission.(

+s you revie" this thought-pr ovo# ing article that ma ps out the vast intellectual

landsca pe of cur rent r esear ch on this sub,ect in a r eadable and concise "ay! you might

thin# about the follo"ing issues&

$o you concur "ith ho" the author s def ine eff ect ivene ss, "hich ser ves as the basis

f or their ar gument s it a "or #a ble and usef ul def inition +r e there any elements

you "ould add-or delete

o" does the author s under standing of effective public agencies relate to other

values that are so basic to government! such as economy! efficiency! rule of la"!

and euity Can such values be r elated to or included easily "ithin the (ef f ec-

tiveness( f r ame"or# ! or ar e they f undamentally differ ent %hy or "hy not

2n a pr actical level! based u pon your o"n ex periences and readings! do the au-

thor s arguments ma# e good sense f or pu blic manager s and su per visor s to pay at-

tention to as "ell as practice f so! ho" 2r if not! "hy not

i

I

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Hal G. Rainey and Paula Steinbauer /Galloping Elephants299

Galloping Elephants: Developing Elements of a The-

ory of Ef fective Government Organizations

HAl C. RAINEY AND PAULA STEINBAUER

 A corollary o f thi sfoc: is T he [alsit » of an equall»

common claim: that publ ic and non pr o fit or

 ! ani"at ions cannot, and onaver a!e do #  # $T  , o p

erate as efficiel lt l v a s pr ivat e bu sinesse s %%

34imon 15n!ll6

he ele phant ser ves as a vir tually ar chety pical

sym bol of a large! cumber some! lum ber ing being.

7et an elephant can r un vay f ast. 8achyder m

means thic#-s#inned! yet elephants dis play sensi-

tivity in acts of altruism and nurtur ance beyond

those that ar e insr inctively parental in many ani-

mals. 9over nment organizations! or bur eaucracies!

have virtually an ar chety pical status as cumber -

some! bungling entities! yet many of them per form

I'UI' "ell. m pugned for centur ies as insensitive!

they also commonly dis play sensitivity and r e-

sponsiveness to the needs of clients and other s

3e.g.. 9oodsell 155:' 9or e 155;!:56. his ar ticle

develo ps and advances conce pts and pr o positions!

summarized in Exhi bit 10.1! a bout "hy gover n-

ment agencies perform "ell! "hen they do. n its

 pr esent for m! this set of pro positions "ill evo#e

compar isons to the par a ble of the blind men tr ying

to descr i be the elephant! because the pr opositions

need much more ar ticulation! ,ustif ication! and

<epr inted by per mission of r nnsacuon Publisher s. "Galloping

Ele phants& Df "cloping Element !f ! Teo#y or Ef f ective 9ov-er nmentOr ganizations" by al G.# ainey an$ Paula% tein-

bauer . J our nal of  PuhU e At/ mi nh- I r wi nn &e sear ch and Theory

3=anuar y 15356. Co pyright > 1555 by ransaction 8u blisher s'allr ightsreserve$&

'(olf )**+))e%!s& seven theories nf  bureaucraiic effectiveness

and argues that,e$o not nee$ne,theories. ,en ee$t ests of 

e$iting teo#y. Te p#opoition arnl discussion ill ti !#ticledr aw on %alls analysis as valuable. buta lso proceed 2il the!#g%ment t!t %c teo#ie ! &e !'e need m%c mo#e nrtic-

uiation.

s pecification of relations among them. hey do!

ho"ever ! consider and develop some f undamental

issues such as& %hat provides the basic incentive

f or ef fecti ve perf ormance of gover nment agencies!

in the absence of economic mar # ets for their out-

 puts s it a f orm of public service motivation or a

motivation to achieve the mission of the agency! or

is it mor e s pecif ic tas#-r elated incentives such as

inter est in the "or # tas# s themselves! or is it pay

or other benef its he pr o positions hold that all

these for ms of motivation contr ibute to the perfor -

mance of ef f ective agencies! es pecially "hen

mem ber s of the agency see them as lin# ed together .

he propositions also hold that characteristics of

the external over sight and political influence on the

agency relate to its ef fectiveness! as do char acter -

istics of the agencys mission! cultur e!leader shi p!

and tas#s! and that these f actors in tur n enhance the

thr ee f or ms of moti vation ,ust mentioned.

his ar ticle develo ps such pr o positions as a ste p

to"ard development of a theory of eff ective gov-

ernment agencies on the ar gument that "e need

mor e theor etical develo pment of that to pic. hat

 pu blic and academic discour se on bureaucracy

tends to be negative "ill be consider ed her e to be

obvious and "illnot be elabor ated! even though this

mostly negative or ientation involves many im por -

tant issues and nuances. Much of the liter atur e tr eats

the government bureaucracy as a social pr oblem

and liability! rather than as an asset. Man6! author s

focus on the pr oblem that public bureaucracies are

too bur eaucr atic! "ith too much hierarchy! too lit-

tle innovativeness and energy! too much red ta pe!

too much s pending! too little ef ficiency! too littlere-

s ponsiveness to almost everyone and everything

outside their boundaries and most of "hat is inside

them! too much of a lot of other bad things! and too

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