Aristotelian Rhetoric, Pluralism, and Public Administration

Abstract

This article discusses how Aristotle's thought on rhetoric can help public administrators deal with situations that involve conflicting and irreconcilable values. We argue that Aristotelian rhetoric can be helpful to public administrators in dealing with value conflicts, because it promotes a greater self-consciousness among administrators about their own values, encourages them to seek ways of accommodating their values to the values of others,discourages any sense of finality in resolving value conflicts, and requires that administrators take account of the concrete specifics of particular practical situations in dealing with value conflicts.

IT Resources, Organizational Capabilities, and Value Creation in Public-Sector Organizations: A Public-Value Management Perspective

“…Public organizations have to deal with a more diverse group of stakeholders -citizens, taxpayers, local businesses, politicians, media, and so forth -than do forprofit firms, and each group has diverse interests and demands. This poses another important challenge -the values governments pursue conflict with one another, an effect that the public-value researchers call value-based conflicts (Molina andSpicer, 2004, Nabatchi, 2011).…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, the theoretical models for existing IT-value research such as the production function model , Dewan and Min, 1997 or the resourcebased view (RBV) (e.g., Sambamurthy et al, 2003, Wade andHulland, 2004) do not take into consideration idiosyncratic characteristics and peculiarities of the public-sector organizations. Such characteristics that distinguish governments from business firms include the absence of profit-seeking motive and competitive environments, plurality and trade-off in values (Molina and Spicer, 2004, Nabatchi, 2011, Cordella and Bonina, 2012, political or bureaucratic nature of public organizations (Cordella, 2007, Yildiz, 2007, and diversity in stakeholders who influence public administration and demand accountability of public officials (Newcomer and Caudle, 1991). Theoretical models and empirical studies in IS incorporate these factors.…”

Putting the “Public” Back in Public Values Research: Designing Participation to Identify and Respond to Values

“…Although public values shape the structure of society, there are occasions (perhaps more frequent than not) when there are fundamental disagreements about public values and no particular public value or values set (i.e., a grouping of related public values) serves as a trump card and generates normative consensus. Th is is attributable, in part, to public values pluralism-the notion that several values and values orientations can simultaneously exist in society, all of which may be equally valid, correct, and fundamental (e.g., Galston 2002;Molina and Spicer 2004). Public values pluralism is pervasive in public administration and particularly in public policy, where nearly all controversies boil down to choices among competing values.…”

Trading off public values in High-Speed Rail development in China

“…It is claimed that in society several values, or value constellations/clusters can simultaneously exist, all of which may be equally valid, correct and fundamental; no particular public value serves per se as a trump card or generates priority to guide government decision-making, actions and policy development (Galston, 2002;Molina and Spicer, 2004;Nabatchi, 2012). Over twenty years ago, in his article A Public Management for All Seasons?…”