UGBS 105 Introduction to Public Administration

Transcription

1 UGBS 105 Introduction to Public Administration Session 3 Bureaucracy and Public Administration Lecturer: Contact Information: dappiah@ug.edu.gh College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/ /2017

2 Session 3 Bureaucracy and Public Administration 2

3 Learning Objectives By the end of this session, students should understand: i.understand the concept of bureaucracy ii.identify and understand Max Weber s principles of Bureaucratic Administration iii.understand the advantages and disadvantages of bureaucracy iv.propose solutions to problems of public sector Bureaucratic Administration in Ghana 3

4 What type of institutions of Public Administration can help public administrators who have different values to work together to achieve common organizational goals? 4

5 What is a Bureaucracy? The word bureaucracy is derived from two greek words; bureau and Kratos. The word bureau refers to the office, and the word kratos means power or rule Generally, the concept bureaucracy can be understood to mean the power of an office holder to rule There are public and private Bureaucratic organizations: It is important to note that the concept cut across both public and private organizations 5

6 Three Forms of Organizational Authority According to Max Weber, a German sociologist and historian, the history of humankind is a struggle for power and It is useful to classify the types of domination according to the kind of claim to legitimacy typically made by each to maintain power: 1.Charismatic authority 2.Traditional authority 3.Legal-rational authority 6

7 Charismatic Authority Charismatic authority rests on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism, or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him A charismatic leader is considered extraordinary and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities Charismatic authority According to Weber is not just the possession of personal characteristics, but the extraordinary characteristics attributed to the individual by others Dominant forms of orientation of action is mixture of effectual and value-rational orientation 7

8 Traditional Authority Traditional authority rests on an established belief in the sanctity of immemorial traditions and the legitimacy of those exercising authority under them Examples of traditional authority: Obeying your father not to bring a girlfriend home because society says you have to respect his authority as your father Obeying the customary rules of chieftaincy as a system of authority because they have been upheld by the society since time immemorial 8

9 Chieftaincy Administration as a System of Traditional Authority Supported by Local Communities in Ghana 9

10 Legal-Rational Authority Legal-rational authority rests on the belief in the legality of enacted rules and the rightness of those elevated to authority under such rules to issue commands This form of authority is equal to the rule of law where those who issue the commands are themselves subject to the enacted legal rules. Authority is administered in a bureaucratic manner where there is impersonality Domination form of orientation of action is instrumental rationality. It is not identical with democracy, it can be democratic or it can be authoritarian. It can be a constitutional monarchy. You obey the rules of the game rather than a person 10

11 Principles of Bureaucracy Max Weber outlined six principles that characterize a legal-rational system of administrative authority which he referred to as a bureaucracy: 1.Written legal rules of administrative conduct 2.Merit-based recruitment of administrative personnel 3.Impersonal administration of affairs 4.Hierarchy of Offices based on levels of graded authority 5.Specialization of work based on expert training 6.Security of tenure of employment until retirement 11

12 Max Weber s Justification for Legal- Rational System of Bureaucratic Authority "From a purely technical point of view, a bureaucracy is capable of attaining the highest degree of efficiency, and is in this sense formally the most rational known means of exercising authority over human beings. It is superior to any other form in precision, in stability, in the stringency of its discipline, and in its reliability. It thus makes possible a particularly high degree of calculability of results for the heads of the organization and for those acting in relation to it. It is finally superior both in intensive efficiency and in the scope of its operations and is formally capable of application to all kinds of administrative tasks (Weber, 1922) 12

13 Max Weber and the Types of Institutions of Human Organization Max Weber s legal rational authority is equal to an organization with formal-legal rules of authority 13

14 Do the type of rules of organization matter for administrative effectiveness & efficiency? Do the type of institution matter for development? Do the type of rules of organization that govern the actions of public officials matter for administrative effectiveness and efficiency? Is Max Weber right? Weber argued that public administration systems with formal-legal rules of bureaucratic authority are more effective, efficient, transparent, accountable and promotes economic development than those with formal non-legal rules, informal non-legal rules, and informal legal rules Comparative analysis of institutions and development: In the next two pages is a table showing a ranking of the ease of doing business in some countries. Try to find out whether the best performing countries have well-functioning formal-legal rules of administration than the worst performing countries 14

15 Conclusion: Effective and Efficient Bureaucracy Promotes Development The countries that have dysfunctional public bureaucracies are unable to effectively and efficiently facilitate business start-ups, enforce property rights, adjudicate disputes and ensure the rule of law have failed to create capital for the promotion of social, economic and political development! 15