History of Public Administration in the United States
Introduction
Public administration encompasses government implementation policies and their study. These are the policies that are used in the preparation of civil servants for the work that they do. It is a wide scope including public programs management, politics translation so that they can become a reality in the day to day lives of people and the study of the processes of making decisions by the government. The history of public administration in the United States can be divided into historical eras.
The federalists, Jeffersonians & Jacksonians era (1789-1861)During this period, there was the hostility to the concept that there was supposed to be a group of civil servants who were permanently in the public administration. This was considered to be a social group of high professionalism. However, the then president, President Jackson made it clear that such concepts were unwelcome in the public administration. This was shown in his words that the duties that public officers performed were very simple and plain. Therefore, these people who were considered as intelligent men could have qualified themselves for their performance. This was thus meant to mean that the civil service jobs were supposed to be assigned to all people and not some selected few.
1861-1868
In the study of the American public administration, its evolution and development, this period was the period of civil war. These were also the beginning years in reconstruction. During this period, the reconstruction and war that took place did not change the major development in the public administration of the United States.
The progressive era (1890-1920)
In this era, there were there main public administration figures. These are Frank Goodnow, Frederick Cleveland and Willoughby, W.F. Frank, Frederick and Willoughby were present in the president’s, President Taft’s commission. The President Taft’s commission was a commission that had been formed to address issues concerning efficiency and the economy. During the time that they served in the commission, they showed anti-democratic, racial and nativist views (Mordecai, 2011). This was evident in the writings that they published and was manifested even after their periods of serving in the commission. Frank, Frederick and Willoughby supposed that the democracy could only be governed by a limited population. They considered that it is only this limited population which was qualified and thus capable of providing efficient as well as effective public administration to the people.
In this era, there was also the exploitation of persons as well as resources. There was the conflict between the people and the government and this was refereed to as the war between labor and capital. This was characterized by violence as well as the damage of property. In the 1900, there were several poor laborers in the cities of the United States. The conditions at work were very poor and the public administration was marred by massive corruption. This was what brought the attention of the progressive reformers. The reformers addressed the industrial revolution that the government had failed to and thus forcing the government to find ways of dealing with the problems that were growing. Thus the role of the government in the American society was transformed. It was believed that administration was supposed to be a solution to the United States politics.
The founding era (1900-1930s)
In these years, discipline was installed into the public administration. For instance, professional associations started coming up and thus emphasis was laid on the relations between line and staff workers. This was again scheduled to end the era of efficiency and economy. It was between the years 1920 and 1940 that the early theories of public administration were developed. These involved the works of Gulick, L., Fayol, H. & Urwick, L. this era saw the elimination of power separation and in its place followed the implementation of the politics-administration dichotomy. According to Uveges & Keller (1998) there was local government practice which “increased the scope of administration and dramatically reduced that of politics.”
The first years (1940s-1960s)
These years led to the development of informal groups inside the formal organizations. It was observed that such inclusion increased the organization’s productivity. It was realized that public administration was not only consistent of the government operation and organization. Further, it included economies, law and history. These years also led to the focus of public administration on the behavior of humans. Training programs were also developed.
1970s-1980s
During this period, there was continued reorientation as well as reform in public administration. This was achieved following self examination.
The modern era (1990s-2000s)
In this period there have been improvements in the public administration. For instance, talent as well as idealism is brought to the public service. Further, good working relationships are build and thus making the public administration of the United States transparent. For instance, in 2005, Lockheed Martin was publicly awarded a contract of six years for the building of ERA (Electronic Records Archives).
Discussion
The public administration in America can be seen as one that followed a progressive development. From the early years when racism and anti-democratic views prevailed. These views challenged the development of the public administration. For any organization to grow, there should be equal distribution of resources as well as the treatment of people. Democracy is very important in the development of public administration. Therefore, these are some of the issues and problems that the theorists encountered in developing the public administration history. In any organizational complexity, there are the issues of coordination. Coordination between managers or managers and the employees. Thus, the development of public administration was faced by the problem of coordination.
Centralization and decentralization present pressing issues and especially in tall hierarchies. However, in the flat hierarchies, flexibility is limited especially where there are diverse organizational tasks. This limited flexibility thus results in operating problems between staffs (Milakovich & Gordon, 2008). Another problem that was faced was the chain of command and public bureaucracy. In most cases, the chain of command was from top to bottom. However, this does not present a democratic environment of work since communication should be effected at all levels.
The framers of the constitution would have approved the addressing of the problems encountered in the history of the public administration in the United States. With the progressing times, the various problems were addressed. This showed that there was progression in how public administration was carried out. For instance, conflicts were reduced and thus leading to the installation of discipline in public administration. Further, professionalism, reform and transparency set in thereby eliminating the previously encountered problems.
References
Milakovich, M.E. & Gordon, G.J. (2008). Public Administration in America. 10th Ed. USA: Cengage Learning.
Mordecai, L. (2011) “History of US public administration in the Progressive era: Efficient government by and for whom?”, Journal of Management History. Volume. 17 (1), p.88-101.
Uveges, J. & Keller, L.F. (1998). One hundred years of American public administration and counting. Handbook of public administration. New York. p. 1-48
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