The 3Ps and 1Es of Public Administration Success – PA TIMES Online

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

Author: Carroll G. Robinson
May 31, 2024

To be successful as a public administration professional, it is important to know and understand the Three P’s and 1E’s of public administration. As political scientists and foreign policy experts would say, this article is about the realpolitik of professional public administration practitioners.

First P Is Policy. Scientific managers and civil servants are influenced by internal and external political realities and factors influencing political appointments and the elected officials to whom they report. Whether this is a good or bad thing is a hotly debated topic, and it should be. (I deliberately did not say “work for” because technically – some would say theoretically – public administration professionals work for the People/society, sometimes euphemistically referred to as taxpayers for short.)

Policy, as an aside, it also influences the external and internal environment of labor negotiations and contracts for public administrators represented by a trade union. Most importantly, Policy shapes and drives the public policy agenda that will shape and guide the substantive work of public administrators.

For better or worse, in our democratic republic, the election result is the best representation of the will of the people. We now know that even large-scale polls have their flaws, and most importantly, polls are not elections in a representative democracy.

Some will argue that elections are not inclusive and representative enough, but this begs the question: how high does turnout need to be to be considered a legitimate expression of the public will? And should voting be compulsory to ensure voter turnout high enough to truly reflect the will of the public?

There are serious questions to consider whether compulsory voting will be accepted or even work in our country, but many ideas are currently being offered and discussed in this area. The purpose of this short article is not to settle this debate.

My point is simply this: public administrators work for the public, and elected officials are the people’s representatives within our system of government and Policy has a decisive influence on how elected officials are chosen, how they choose political appointments, and therefore public administrators are influenced by the winds, passions and forces of public policy that produce election-driven change Policy. Therefore, it is imperative that public administrators understand the science, art, and practical policy implications Policy and elections.

Public administrators do not implement public policy in a vacuum or in isolation. Management is a living, breathing organism. Good governance is both an art and a science. Some would say it’s more psychology than anything else.

Second P Is Public policy. Public policy includes laws passed by the legislative and executive branches and rules and regulations implemented by public administration bodies on the basis of express legislative authorization. (See recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings regarding the declining regulatory powers of government agencies.)

There are also judicial opinions on state and federal constitutional, statutory, and regulatory issues that also impact public policy and the political process that are too often overlooked or misunderstood by public administrators, resulting in negative consequences.

Public administrators must also pay attention to the internal policies that govern their organization’s operations and employment. To be a successful public administrator, you must also know and be proficient in these internal policies.

Finally, there is a practical understanding of the inherent differences between official and unofficial organizational charts. Who internally and externally really has the expertise, influence and actual ability to secure approval and funding for proposals and projects.

Proposals without funding are just good PowerPoint or whiteboard ideas that go to waste.

You must learn to navigate the internal and external landscape of politics and power dynamics to avoid landmines, because they exist.

Despite all the professionalization of the civil service system and the public administration profession, we are still talking about a human being with all his strengths and weaknesses, uncertainty, prejudices, weaknesses, flaws, follies and failures.

There are no perfect people, no perfect data, and no perfect public policy solutions. Remember that for every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.

Policy solutions require endless balancing and there will always be a need for corrections and adjustments. Whoever does not know this will not succeed. There can be no author’s pride in the process of solving public policy. We recently witnessed what happens when there is too much personal pride in the (Kevin McCarthy) ouster and the delayed election of a new Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Perhaps a similar situation will happen again with Speaker Johnson.

The third and final P is for Personalities. Yes, pettiness and favoritism are still present in the government and anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

Yes, merit and competence matter, but too often they are not the deciding factor.

Having a mentor and being a mentor still matters. You need to learn the art of making someone your mentor, because if you wait to be mentored, too often you will be left behind, even if there is a formal mentoring program.

Remember that you get some of your mentor’s friends and allies, but also all of his enemies. Choose wisely based on your intersecting understanding of your organization’s official and unofficial power graph.

1E in public administration is ethics.

Some people say so Ethics are objective moral truth, based to some extent on religious beliefs, while others can see it Ethics as somewhat subjective situational guidelines based on honesty.

In the Declaration of Independence, our nation’s Founders stated that we are all created equal, but this simple, declarative, self-evident truth is not our nation’s reality.

Even the United States Supreme Court has held that the Declaration and its clear moral statement do not constitute the law of our land.

Ethics should be held to a higher standard, beyond what is legally required.

Given all that is happening across America in state legislatures and on our nation’s college and university campuses (and even in our public schools) to dismantle and destroy diversity, equity and inclusion programs, book bans, and eliminating or stultifying the teaching of Black history and the role of all people of color and women in American history should Ethics can really be considered synonymous with equality and equality in the future development of our nation and especially in the field of public administration, from academia to practice?

Application

I know some people in public administration and academia will say this article is a bit cynical, but any truly objective reader only needs to look at the politics of academia and the reality of both hiring and promotion systems in government to see the validity. my observations.

The truth sometimes hurts, but I want my students to be fully prepared to serve and succeed, understanding all the transitions and currents they will have to go through to survive and advance the common good and their careers.

Coda

I encourage readers of this article, especially students of public administration and public policy, whether you agree with me or not, to read the following books as a starting point to truly understand and appreciate the realpolitik of public administration practice.

recommended reading

• Terry H. Anderson, Pursuit of Justice, a History of Affirmative Action
• Stephen E. Ambrose, Nothing Like It in the World
• Derrick Bell, And We Are Not Saved
• Derrick Bell, Faces at the Bottom of the Well
• Willie Brown, basic brown
• Robert Caro, Senate champion
• Robert Caro, power broker
• Pauline Maier, Ratification, People’s Constitution Debate, 1787-1788
• Steven R. Weisman, The Great Tax War

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Author: Carroll G. Robinson is an associate professor of public administration and political science at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. Robinson is a former elected official who has taught at two law schools.

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