Theories of Organization and Canadian Public Administration

1
Theories of Organization and Canadian Public
Administration

• Week 4

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Overview

• Introduction
• Classic Theories
• Structuralist Theories
• Humanist Theories
• Other Theoretical Approaches
• Canadian Public Administration
• Weberian model
• Public Sector Reforms

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Intro Bureaucracy and Management

• No government can exist without bureaucracy, and
  equally, no bureaucracy can function without
  management.
• Johnson, David. 2006. Thinking Government Public
  Sector Management in Canada. Peterborough
  Broadview Press. Page 244.

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Intro Organization Theory

• Most organization theory originated from studies
  about how to improve the management of private
  sector organizations, particularly large
  corporations. Hence, academically, organization
  theory is often associated with schools of
  business management (Inwood, 2012 62).

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Intro Organization Theory

• in a sense, the development of the theory and
  practice of public administration has been the
  story of struggling to adapt and extend aspects
  of private sector management into the public
  sector, and blend those with theory and practice
  unique to the problems and opportunities of
  governing (Inwood, 2012 62).

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Classic Theories Marx

• Marxist critique of the capitalist state
• the executive of the modern State is but a
  committee for managing the common affairs of the
  whole bourgeoisie Marx and Engels, The Communist
  Manifesto, 1848.
• Bureaucracy serves as an instrument of rule from
  above, institutionally detached from the mass of
  the people it is ostensibly designed to serve
  (Inwood, 2012 63).

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Classic Theories Weber

• Weber argued that bureaucracy was essentially a
  system of administration carried out on a
  continuous basis by trained professionals,
  according to prescribed rules (Inwood, 2012
  66).
• Four main features of bureaucracy
• hierarchy
• continuity
• impersonality
• expertise

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Structuralist Theories Taylor

• Frederick Winslow Taylor
• Taylorism, Scientific Management
• Focused on efficiency in industrial production
• Time and motion studies to devise standards for
  the quickest and most efficient methods for
  completing a task.

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Structuralist Theories

• The Scientific Theory of Organization
• Theorists such as Gulick and Urwick attempted to
  devise the ideal structures for any large
  organization.
• Key issues included the span of control the
  number of subordinates who report to one
  supervisor.
• Gulick devised the acronym POSDCORB to describe
  the functions of managers.

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Human Relations School

• Mary Parker Follett, The Giving of Orders 1926
• Criticized the emphasis on coercive control in
  the workplace as futile and counterproductive.
• Managers should exercise leadership rather than
  wield power, using rational appeals rather than
  fear or threats.

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Human Relations School

• Hawthorne experiments, 1920s
• They recognized that informal groups and social
  norms within the workplace were powerful forces.
• workers are more responsive to peer pressure
  than to management controls (Inwood, 2012
  83-84).
• Theorists came to conclusion that workers who had
  been singled out for inclusion in their studies
  experienced an increase in morale, which led, in
  itself, to greater productivity
• Emphasis on the human side of the process

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Human Relations School

• Maslows hierarchy of human needs
• Self-actualization
• Esteem
• Belongingness and Love
• Safety and Security
• Physiological

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Participatory Management

• Management by Objectives (MBO)
• Organization Development (OD)
• Total Quality Management (TQM)

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New Public Management

• New public management is a complex brew of
  political, economic and managerial claims. It
  asserts that to be effective democratic civil
  services require radical restructuring, new
  priorities and much greater attention to
  efficient service delivery (Tupper, 2001 143).

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Osbourne and Gaebler Reinventing Government

• American authors David Osbourne and Ted Gaebler
  popularized the ideas of the new public
  management, especially the notion of states
  steering, not rowing.
• Osbourne, David and Ted Gaebler. 1992.
  Reinventing Government How the Entrepreneurial
  Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector.

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Tupper (2001) identifies five major principles of
the new public management.

• 1. Governments should steer not row
• 2. Managing for Results
• 3. Measuring for Results
• 4. Citizen Responsiveness
• 5. Employee Empowerment

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NPM and Neoliberalism

• Critics of new public management argue that it
  offers a technocratic veneer to a political
  agenda of restructuring the state, reducing
  public services and attacking public sector
  workers.
• Shields, John and B. Mitchell Evans.1998.
  Shrinking the State Globalization and Public
  Administration Reform. Halifax Fernwood.

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Organization Theory and Canadian Public
Administration

• Civil Service Amendment Act, 1908
• Created the Civil Service Commission, later the
  Public Service Commission
• Civil Service Act, 1918
• reforms introduced the concept of merit into the
  public service and entrenched hierarchy, a job
  classification system, professionalism, and
  competitive exams (Inwood, 2012 100-101).

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Public Sector Reform

• In the mid-1960s, the Glassco Commission (Royal
  Commission on Government Organization) called for
  increased managerial competence and the
  introduction of modern managerial techniques in
  the public sector with the goal of increased
  efficiency.
• 1970s, Lambert Commission (Royal Commission on
  Financial Management) and the DAvignon Report
  (the Special Committee on the Review of Personal
  Management and the Merit Principle)

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Mulroney Government

• The Ministerial Task Force on Program Review
  1984
• Increased Ministerial Authority and
  Accountability - 1986
• PS2000 - 1989

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Chrétien Program Review 1994-1995
Test Purpose
Public Interest Test Does the program area or activity continue to serve a public interest?
Role of Government Test Is there a legitimate and necessary role for government in this program area or activity?
Federalism Test Is the current role of the federal government appropriate, or is the program a candidate for realignment with the provinces?
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Test Purpose
Partnership Test What activities or programs should or could be transferred in whole or in part to the private or voluntary sector?
Efficiency Test If the program or activity continues, how could its efficiency be improved?
Affordability Test Is the resulting package of restraints and activities affordable within the fiscal restraint? If not, what programs or activities should be abandoned?
Source (Shields and Evans, 1999 48).
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Chrétien Program Review 1994-1995

• The Liberal governments Program Review set the
  stage for the spending cuts and changes to
  federal transfers announced in the 1995 budget.

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Chrétien government

• Policy Research Initiative 1996
• La Relève 1997, Leadership Network - 1998
• Task Force on Modernizing Human Resources
  Management - 2001
• Public Service Modernization Act - 2003