Bureaucracy and Democracy

The public bureaucracy is becoming an increasingly important locus for democratic activity. This shift of democratic activity is in part a function of the declining relevance of traditional forms of democracy, and changes within the public bureaucracy itself. In particular, the emphasis on performance and the links with output legitimation have led to greater participation through the bureaucracy.     

EMERGENCE AND PERSISTENCE OF INEFFICIENT STATES

We present a theory of the emergence and persistence of inefficient states based on patronage politics. The society consists of rich and poor. The rich are initially in power, but expect to transition to democracy, which will choose redistributive policies. Taxation requires the employment of bureaucrats. By choosing an inefficient state structure, the rich may be able to use patronage and capture democratic politics, so reducing the amount of redistribution in democracy. Moreover, the inefficient state creates its own constituency and tends to persist over time. Intuitively, an inefficient state structure creates more rents for bureaucrats than would an efficient one. When the poor come to power in democracy, they will reform the structure of the state to make it more efficient so that higher taxes can be collected at lower cost and with lower rents for bureaucrats. Anticipating this, when the society starts out with an inefficient organization of the state, bureaucrats support the rich, who set lower taxes but also provide rents to bureaucrats. We obtain that the rich–bureaucrats coalition may also expand the size of bureaucracy excessively so as to generate enough political support. The model shows that an equilibrium with an inefficient state is more likely to arise when there is greater income inequality, when bureaucratic rents take intermediate values, and when individuals are sufficiently forward‐looking.     

From Domination to Alliance: Shifting Strategies and Accumulation of Power by the Bureaucracy in Bangladesh

Traditionally, the bureaucrats on the Indian subcontinent were unaccustomed to perform under political supervision, and this mindset continued to affect their relationship with politicians in Bangladesh. In the early years of Bangladesh as an independent state, the bureaucracy came under pressure to operate under political supervision, but this phase did not last long. Subsequent phases of military rule reinstated the bureaucrats in their entrenched positions and strengthened their grip over the system. After the restoration of electoral democracy in 1991, the dominant role of bureaucrats continued, mainly due to the tendency to practice confrontational politics and disregard to the political institutions. The bureaucracy draws strength from its permanent stature, organization, expertise and experience in administering the country. Using the resources at their disposal, this institution has been able to exert considerable influence. A number of reforms have been introduced to enhance the accountability of the bureaucracy. The response has been the development of a symbiotic relationship between the politicians and bureaucrats. The bureaucracy has changed its stance from a dominating approach to one of alliance with other powerful groups in the system and continues to exercise power. This has resulted in increasing politicization of the bureaucracy which affects the performance of the critical components of the government.     

The Consequences of Conflict: An Evaluation of Racial Disparity and Organizational Performance

The study of public administration is based primarily on two schools of thought; some theorists espousing political control with others supporting the inner check. Heretofore, studies have failed to examine the effects of goal conflict on relationships between political principals and bureaucratic agents. Using Texas school districts, this analysis demonstrates that goal conflict has significant effects on student performance. Goal conflict also influences relationships among school boards, teachers, and school district populations. Overall, this study advances the discipline in that it determines the ramifications of goal conflict for political principals, bureaucracies, and the public being served utilizing the most common form of bureaucracy, school districts. The arguments and implications embedded in this analysis speak to the age-old public administration question of how to reconcile bureaucracy with democracy.     

The Non‐Democratic Roots of Elite Capture: Evidence From Soeharto Mayors in Indonesia

Democracies widely differ in the extent to which powerful elites and interest groups retain influence over politics. While a large literature argues that elite capture is rooted in a country's history, our understanding of the determinants of elite persistence is limited. In this paper, we show that allowing old‐regime agents to remain in office during democratic transitions is a key determinant of the extent of elite capture. We exploit quasi‐random from Indonesia: Soeharto‐regime mayors were allowed to finish their terms before being replaced by new leaders. Since mayors' political cycles were not synchronized, this event generated exogenous variation in how long old‐regime mayors remained in their position during the democratic transition. Districts with longer exposure to old‐regime mayors experience worse governance outcomes, higher elite persistence, and lower political competition in the medium run. The results suggest that slower transitions towards democracy allow the old‐regime elites to capture democracy.     

The Paradox of Discretion and the Case of Elian Gonzalez

The exercise of administrative discretion is inevitable in complex policy-making and law enforcement, including immigration policy generally and the Elian Gonzalez case specifically. Clearly, discretion is in tension with democratic notions of political accountability, the rule of law, and constitutional separation of powers. Yet the Elian case suggests that although discretion poses a threat to democracy it also contributes to a democratic public administration. Furthermore, because discretion is exercised in a sea of safeguards its dangers can be reconciled to its necessity.     

A Critical and Argumentative Study of the Development and Performance of the Ombudsman Institution in a Small Multiracial Society: The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

Since the end of World War II the Ombudsman institution has increasingly spread from Scandinavia to other parts of the world. Although it has worked reasonably well in developed nations, its performance is not so satisfactory in the developing nations. This article identifies and examines the problems, issues and factors that make its operation difficult and problematic in a developing democracy namely Trinidad and Tobago, and suggests some remedial measures. It also concludes that if provided with the proper environment in which to develop, grow and thrive, it is conceivable that with the passage of the time this institution will gradually and slowly emerge as a powerful force for redressing grievances and complaints against public bureaucracy and maladministration, for ensuring transparency, and for promoting and protecting human rights and democratic values. It examines various issues from both contemporary and historical perspectives. Although this article focuses on Trinidad and Tobago, references to other parts of the globe are also made for a better and comparative understanding of this institution.     

Getting to the Helm: Women in Leadership in Federal Regulation

Why is it important for women to hold leadership positions in organizations? If it is important for women to hold leadership positions in organizations, how do women get into such positions? Both public administration research and organizational research provide answers to these questions. However, the integration of these two bodies of literature remains limited. This study joins public administration scholarship on representative bureaucracy and management scholarship on women in leadership to hypothesize and test institutional, organizational, and political explanations for women’s attainment of leadership positions together in one model. This study examines how women get into upper-level leadership positions in 12 federal regulatory organizations over more than 20 years of time. Findings suggests that women are more likely to gain access to leadership positions when the dominant political ideology is democratic and in agencies that work in feminine policy contexts, are younger, and where the risk of failure is higher.     

Rain and the Democratic Window of Opportunity

We show that democratic change may be triggered by transitory economic shocks. Our approach uses within‐country variation in rainfall as a source of transitory shocks to sub‐Saharan African economies. We find that negative rainfall shocks are followed by significant improvement in democratic institutions. This result is consistent with the economic approach to political transitions, where transitory negative shocks can open a window of opportunity for democratic improvement. Instrumental variables estimates indicate that following a transitory negative income shock of 1 percent, democracy scores improve by 0.9 percentage points and the probability of a democratic transition increases by 1.3 percentage points.     

Managing relations with government and society—The business perspective

This paper addresses the theme ‘Facing Realities’ which was the subject of the EFMD Dublin Conference. The author believes that the future of democracy depends on the style and quality of management. A narrow and authoritarian view of business management now will ultimately lead to a centralized state bureaucracy. An enlightened and knowledgeable approach by management, designed to secure the voluntary consent of employees, will safeguard the future of democracy.     

An Assessment of the Impact of Local Government Fragmentation in Ghana

In theory fragmentation: yields lower per capita service cost; decentralizes service delivery; promotes local democracy; and protects identity and community of interest. This article assessed whether prediction matched the Ghanaian fragmentation evidence. The paper’s findings are: poverty reduction is a more important performance indicator than the overemphasis on efficiency in public provision; procedures and opportunities for participation are inadequate and irregular; attention is on public expenditure assignments without due consideration for significant financial devolution; and the consequences of the politics of fragmentation have been ignored. The paper concludes that unless these minutiae are incorporated into fragmentation policy, achieving predicted outcomes will remain difficult.     

Characteristics of a central change programme within a governmental bureaucracy: a grounded theory study

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to present a theory of organisational change within the setting of a governmental bureaucracy. Design/methodology/approach Orthodox grounded theory is employed in the setting of a change programme in 12 Audit departments of the Dutch Ministries (public-sector). Findings The examined organisational change has specific characteristics. The Dutch ‘ministerial autonomy’ and the clearly recognizable role types of the key figures involved have a strong impact on the change programme and the realisation of its goals. Research limitations/implications Findings are derived on the basis of a substantive case study of the change programme of the Dutch Departmental Audit function. The research sheds new light on characteristics related to the occupational group of Chartered Accountants and characteristics of a governmental bureaucracy and it helps to understand change programmes within this bureaucracy. Practical implications The grounded theoretical model draws attention to the impact of key figures and circumstances on a change programme within the central government. Originality/value The paper builds on theories of organisational change but applies them in the typical context of the Dutch civil service where ministerial autonomy, on the one hand, and a move in the direction of more centrally organised activities (concern idea), on the other, require a difficult balancing act of all players in the change arena.     

Analyzing relational sources of power at the interorganizational communication system

Based on the critical theory of communication, managing stakeholder relations is significant to achieve more democratic decisions that reconcile diverse interests of various stakeholders. However, power inequalities among stakeholders might inhibit to achieve finely balanced decisions. More interestingly, these inequalities might emerge from the nature of communication among organizations. Conceptualizing interorganizational relations (IORs) as the relations of an organization with its stakeholders, the current study attempts to analyze the relational sources of power. Following a graph theoretical methodology, the frequency of interaction and trust were analyzed as the relational sources of power on a sample of 76 logistics firms. The findings of the study reveal that an organization’s frequency of interaction and level of trustworthiness affect its power over other organizations.     

分布式认知理论及其在管理实践中的应用

介绍了一种新的认知理论--分布式认知理论.在分布式认知"信息发布-信息筛选判断-认知收敛"的系统流程中,重点论述了分布式认知的收敛机制,并根据决策中心所处的位置及决策特征提出了无中心式、弱中心式、强中心式3种收敛机制.结合一系列管理实践案例对比了3种收敛机制的作用.结果发现,合理运用不同类型的分布式认知收敛机制,能够有效提高民主管理、跨专业难题解决、竞争情报收集分析、公共管理等领域决策的准确性.     

企业集团的理论综述与探讨

本文回顾了在企业集团研究中占主导地位的三种理论框架,即经济学(以制度经济学和资源理论为主)、社会学和政治学理论。这些理论从外部市场失效或者市场机制不完全、集团以内部市场替代外部市场并以较低的交易费用使成员企业获得产品或者要素资源、社会关系、传统以及社会规范对组织行为和结构的影响、国家和政府与企业集团的关系,以及双方之间的相互影响等角度出发,对企业集团的起因、角色和组织形式做出解释。在上述三种理论的指导下,相应的实证研究检验了企业集团内部市场的作用、资源分配体制、连锁董事以及政府政策对集团多元化战略和组织结构的影响,并取得了初步成果,本文也对今后企业集团研究的方向提出了建议。     

Organizational Form and Strategic Alignment in a Local Authority: A Preliminary Exploration using Fuzzy Clustering

Configurational theories assume that organizational form has important implications for the degree of alignment between top and middle management on strategic priorities. Taken in combination, the structure, process and environment of an organization are thought to have a deep pervasive influence on top management’s attempts to achieve the coordination and control required to attain organizational goals. The preliminary analysis described in this article employs fuzzy c-means clustering to explore the relationship between middle managers’ perceptions of organizational form and strategic alignment within a large local authority. The results illustrate that the clustering of managers’ perceptions of organizational structure, process and environment reflect three organizational archetypes: machine bureaucracy, professional bureaucracy and professional adhocracy. Statistically significant differences in the degree of strategic alignment between each of these organizational forms are then examined to validate the established clustering. Finally, conclusions are drawn on the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.     

Tendencies of the Development of Public Service in Lithuania

The article analyzes the development of the Lithuanian civil service and the influence of some of the prevailing models of public management on the changes that occurred in the service. It also reviews the attitude of society and experts towards the bureaucracy and points out that in Lithuania, society is becoming more and more skeptical about politics and the whole public environment. It emphasizes that it is not easy to implement the managerial approach in the Civil Service in post-Communist states.     

Corporate democratic nation-building: Reflections on the constructive role of businesses in fostering global democracy

Europe finds itself in a challenging situation dominated by economic and political uncertainty, which has deep ramifications for businesses and society. The Brexit vote for the UK to leave the EU has caused a political crisis, which raises fundamental questions about the founding mission of the EU as a largescale nation-building experiment aiming at promoting democracy, peace and prosperity across Europe through an “ever closer union among the peoples of Europe”. This Reflection on Europe argues that Europe needs to establish a new democratic equilibrium and that businesses can play a fundamental constructive role to achieve this new equilibrium by actively designing core internal and external business activities to be conducive to key enabling conditions of democracy.     

Key to Effective Organizational Performance Management Lies at the Intersection of Paradox Theory and Stakeholder Theory

One of the fundamental and recurring issues in performance management is the adoption of a simplistic, short‐term, narrow, metrics‐oriented approach, which often results in unintended negative outcomes, some of which could be disastrous. This paper makes the case that the key to preventing this syndrome lies at the intersection of paradox and stakeholder theories. Both theories encourage a more complex, long‐term, holistic, balanced approach to management. Stakeholder theory focuses on addressing the many (sometimes conflicting) goals of multiple stakeholders, and paradox theory provides insights into how this challenging task (i.e. of simultaneously addressing multiple conflicting priorities) can be accomplished. Thus, the former provides the ‘what’ and the latter the ‘how’ of effective organizational performance management. Accordingly, the literature at the intersection of both theories (composed of 69 scholarly outputs), was reviewed, and in so doing, identified seven domain areas and 21 constructs, all of which implicitly deal with either performance management or its communication, thereby lending support to this paper's thesis. The implications of this review for both theory and practice, including the role of paradoxical cognitive mechanisms, is discussed.     

Building an integral metatheory of management

The increasing fragmentation of organization theory seems not to be responding to the challenges and complexities of organizations and society. This article contends that integral theory can make an important contribution to our discipline and presents a metatheory that integrates all previous organizational knowledge in an integral, balanced and non-marginalizing framework. Using metatriangulation techniques it reviews management and organization theories, classifies them according to their underlying paradigms and integrates them in a new metatheory. The resulting theory called “3D Management” maintains that there are 3 basic and irreducible dimensions of management: science, arts and ethics which refer respectively to the techno-economical, the aesthetic-emotional and the moral aspects of organizational reality. The fourth management dimension, the spiritual dimension, integrates the Big Three in an essential unit and strives for unity and meaning. An assessment of the theory and a concluding discussion of its contributions and potential applications is provided.