Public Administration and Theories
Theories and Models of Public Administration
Zainab Morales
University of Phoenix
MGT 522
In the United States of America President Woodrow Wilson is considered to be the father of public administration. He was the first president to hire social scientists in government and as a result as other presidents came along such as Freanklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson public administration evolved to what it is today (Henry, 2013, p. 342). President Lyndon Johnson is the one that implemented the idea of policy analysis in the federal government in the 1950’s at the same time that this idea of public administration/policy analsysis was evolving in the government it was also emerging in academia. There was various theories and models emerging as public administration evolved throughout history. Two models that came to be is the organized anarchy and elite/mass model. The organized anarchy model according to Nicholas Henry (2013) is, “The Basics to the model is the presence of three streams, problems, politics, and policies” ( p.345). The problems stream is where the public and policymakers focusing on a particular problem, defining the problem, and figuring out whether the problem can be solved by implementing new policy or just letting the problem go away. The second stream is politics where it involves the government agenda where issues are listed and discussed by various individuals in government such as elected appointees, members of Congress and interest paties. The last stream in this model is policies where there’s a list of policies that may resolve whatever the issue is. The organized anarchy model is also known as the “garbage can” model. According to William Newman (2013), “The Garbage Can model of decision is used to illustrate how the foreign policy process is an organized anarchy; decision making is the intersection of four streams–choice opportunities, problems, solutions, and
Zainab Morales
University of Phoenix
MGT 522
In the United States of America President Woodrow Wilson is considered to be the father of public administration. He was the first president to hire social scientists in government and as a result as other presidents came along such as Freanklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson public administration evolved to what it is today (Henry, 2013, p. 342). President Lyndon Johnson is the one that implemented the idea of policy analysis in the federal government in the 1950’s at the same time that this idea of public administration/policy analsysis was evolving in the government it was also emerging in academia. There was various theories and models emerging as public administration evolved throughout history. Two models that came to be is the organized anarchy and elite/mass model. The organized anarchy model according to Nicholas Henry (2013) is, “The Basics to the model is the presence of three streams, problems, politics, and policies” ( p.345). The problems stream is where the public and policymakers focusing on a particular problem, defining the problem, and figuring out whether the problem can be solved by implementing new policy or just letting the problem go away. The second stream is politics where it involves the government agenda where issues are listed and discussed by various individuals in government such as elected appointees, members of Congress and interest paties. The last stream in this model is policies where there’s a list of policies that may resolve whatever the issue is. The organized anarchy model is also known as the “garbage can” model. According to William Newman (2013), “The Garbage Can model of decision is used to illustrate how the foreign policy process is an organized anarchy; decision making is the intersection of four streams–choice opportunities, problems, solutions, and
References: Henry, N. (2013). Public Administration and Public Affairs 12th edition. Pearson Education Inc. Persuasion-Bargaining and Institutions in an Organized Anarchy: Clinton Administration Decisions on China, 1993-1994, American Review of Public Administration 43, Issue 3 (May 2013): p. 347 - 367. The Elite Question Toward A Normative Elite Theory of Organization. Administration and Society, Vol. 31 No. 3, July 1999 p. 321-360. Sage Publications Inc.