Revisiting Administrative Reform in the American States: The Status of Reinventing Government During the 1990s

Brudney, Jeffrey L.; Wright, Deil S.

doi:10.1111/1540-6210.00185

Cited by 48 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(24 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This strand of research is embedded in more general efforts to assess the level of implementation of management reforms in the public sector (Brudney and Wright 2002;Moon and de Leon 2001). Several studies demonstrate that, among several other factors, the presence of leadership with a strong emphasis on innovation and change enhances the adoption of elements from the reform agenda (Burke and Costello 2005;Cristofoli et al 2011;Hansen 2011;Hennessey 1998).…”

Section: The Reformist Approach To Public Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Leadership: A review of the literature and framework for future research

Vogel

Masal

2014

Public Management Review

189

204

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study analyses and reviews the literature on public leadership with a novel combination of bibliometric methods. We detect four generic approaches to public leadership (i.e. a functionalist, a behavioural, a biographical and a reformist approach) which differ with regard to their philosophy of science (i.e. objective vs subjective) and level of analysis (i.e. micro-level vs multi-level). From our findings, we derive four directions for future research which involve shifting the focus from the aspect of 'leadership' to the element of 'public', from simplicity to complexity, from universalism to cultural relativism and from public leadership to public followership.

show abstract

Section: The Reformist Approach To Public Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Leadership: A review of the literature and framework for future research

Vogel

Masal

2014

Public Management Review

189

204

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As noted, a formidable and valuable body of research assessing the factors conditioning the successful implementation of administrative reforms has been collected in the United States and abroad (e.g., Berman and Wang 2000;Brudney and Wright 2002;de Lancer Julness and Holzer 2001;Grizzle and Pettijohn 2002;Hood and Peters 2004 ;Rainey and Th ompson 2006;Riccucci 2005;Th ompson 2000;Th ompson and Fulla 2001 ). Treating reforms as dependent variables, scholars and practitioners have long appreciated how variations in their implementation across agencies is conditioned by realpolitik (e.g., Hood and Rothstein 2001;Kelman 2005;Seidman 1997 ).…”

Section: Weaponizing As a Link Gone Missing: Administrative Reform Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sharpening a Knife Cleverly: Organizational Change, Policy Paradox, and the “Weaponizing” of Administrative Reforms

Durant

2008

Public Administration Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Prior research has leavened substantially our understanding of how, why, and with what consequences public organizations respond to pressures for administrative reforms. Left underdeveloped theoretically, however, is the hypothesis that agency actors may also assess the ability of administrative reforms both to advance their policy goals and to become “weapons” in battles within agencies for advancing them. To illustrate this possibility, this article analyzes how the Clinton administration’s National Performance Review and related Defense Reform Initiative interacted with its efforts to “green” the U.S. military in the post–Cold War era. Analysis of this clash between defense and environmental values indicates that (1) agency actors did evaluate the potential impacts of administrative reforms on their policy goals before supporting or opposing them; (2) they tried to hijack those reforms as weapons for advancing their policy goals in intraorganizational battles; and (3) the “weaponizing” of these reforms produced policy complications and consequences that proponents neither anticipated nor welcomed. Thus, reform in the administrative domain created unanticipated consequences by spilling over into the policy domain and being hijacked, weaponized, or otherwise miscarried or used opportunistically in intraorganizational policy battles. The study concludes by arguing that these dynamics merit more attention than they have received from either administrative reform proponents or researchers seeking to develop theories of administrative reform.

show abstract

“…The ASAP data span four decades, during which tremendous expansion and change occurred in the scope, character, and responsibilities of state government and administration (Brudney and Wright 2002;Brudney, Hebert, and Wright 1999;Bowling andWright 1998a, 1998b;Jenks and Wright 1993). The selective devolution of responsibilities and programs from the national government to the states has been attempted.…”

Section: The Typology Of Aspirations: a Continuum Of Governmental Gromentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 1998, 36 percent were appointed by the governor, 14 percent appointed by board or commission, 28 percent appointed by department head, and 3 percent were elected. See Brudney and Wright (2002) and Wright and Cho (2001) for more information on the ASAP surveys, including descriptions of the survey population and response rates. 2.…”

Section: Concluding Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishing a Continuum from Minimizing to Maximizing Bureaucrats: State Agency Head Preferences for Governmental Expansion—A Typology of Administrator Growth Postures, 1964–98

Bowling¹,

Cho²,

Wright³

2004

Public Administration Review

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Scholars have long suspected the blanket description of bureaucrats as "budget maximizers" is simplistic and inaccurate. This article provides empirical grounds for questioning that description and enhances our understanding of bureaucratic fiscal preferences. Bureaucratic preferences for expansion are distributed along a continuum. A typology of agency heads' expansion preferences is developed and related to Downs's typology of bureaucrats. Data from eight surveys of state agency heads (1964-98) enable us to trace administrators' preferences for expansion over four decades. These preferences vary substantially in any single survey year and reflect trends across these years. Notably, a substantial proportion of agency heads opted for no expansion in their own agency's programs and expenditures or in the state's overall budget. This typology challenges conventional conceptions of bureaucrats' maximizing preferences, advances alternative interpretations about budget minimizing, and fills an important gap in budget and bureaucracy theory.In few arenas of public administration are the conflicts, contentions, and competition more intense, subtle, and complex than in the arena of budgeting. Kettl (2003, 171) asserts that "budgeting is the nerve center of the political universe-and it can often seem that this center is in chaos." For the better part of the last four decades, budgets, budgeting, and budget theory have been pivot points in this chaos, around which reform, responsibility, accountability, performance, evaluations, and control have revolved.In this article, we describe the variety, variations, and distributions of budgetary preferences. We contend that a better understanding of budgeting behavior is possible if we can better grasp the preferences (goals) that promote actions. Budgetary preferences are relevant and significant variables in the budget process. By describing the diverse Cynthia J. Bowling is an assistant professor of political science at Auburn University. Her research focuses on public administrators, bureaucracy, and policy within the broader state and local government context. She is currently involved in research to identify and explain patterns of female representation in state agency head positions over the last four decades.

show abstract

Revisiting Administrative Reform in the American States: The Status of Reinventing Government During the 1990s

Cited by 48 publications

References 21 publications

Public Leadership: A review of the literature and framework for future research

Public Leadership: A review of the literature and framework for future research

Sharpening a Knife Cleverly: Organizational Change, Policy Paradox, and the “Weaponizing” of Administrative Reforms

Establishing a Continuum from Minimizing to Maximizing Bureaucrats: State Agency Head Preferences for Governmental Expansion—A Typology of Administrator Growth Postures, 1964–98

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About