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An empirical analysis of the roles assumed by public administrators
Title
An empirical analysis of the roles assumed by public administrators: the case of public procurement specialists.
Creator
Roman, Alexandru V., College for Design and Social Inquiry, School of Public Administration
Abstract/Description
This dissertation examines administrative roles within the context of everyday public administration. Specifically, it studies the relationship between administrative roles assumed by public administrators and (1) the perceived presence of administrative discretion, (2) individual level beliefs regarding involvement in policy formulation and (3) tenure with organization. This dissertation has a three-fold purpose. First, it delineates the types of roles assumed by public procurement...
Show moreThis dissertation examines administrative roles within the context of everyday public administration. Specifically, it studies the relationship between administrative roles assumed by public administrators and (1) the perceived presence of administrative discretion, (2) individual level beliefs regarding involvement in policy formulation and (3) tenure with organization. This dissertation has a three-fold purpose. First, it delineates the types of roles assumed by public procurement specialists. Second, it tests whether administrative discretion, beliefs regarding participation in policy formulation and organizational tenure are significant in explaining the assumption of certain types of roles. Finally, the dissertation evaluates the implications for the public procurement process of the predominance of certain roles. vi The theoretical logic for this dissertation draws on the theory of representative bureaucracy and role theory. ... It is found that administrative discretion, individual expectations and organizational tenure are indeed important predictors of the assumption of administrative roles. Administrators who believe that they have access to relatively high levels of discretion and those who believe they should be involved in policy formulation are more likely to assume a representative type role. On the other hand, with increased tenure public administrators are less likely to assume a representative type role.
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Date Issued
2013
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362569
Subject Headings
Public administration, Methodology, Transparency in government, Comparative government, Bureaucracy
Format
Document (PDF)
Sisyphusian predicament
Title
The Sisyphusian predicament: existentialism and a grounded theory analysis of the experience and practice of public administration.
Creator
Hollar, T. Lucas., College for Design and Social Inquiry, School of Public Administration
Abstract/Description
Public administration addresses issues that competing and aligning groups determine to be meaningful enough to address. However, there seems to be no shared universally objective ways of remedying anything. Everything is up for argument. Additionally, attempting to solve one set of problems often creates other connected problems and/or unintended consequences. So, public work ever [sic] never ends. This dissertation's purpose was to contribute a new theoretical understanding of the experience...
Show morePublic administration addresses issues that competing and aligning groups determine to be meaningful enough to address. However, there seems to be no shared universally objective ways of remedying anything. Everything is up for argument. Additionally, attempting to solve one set of problems often creates other connected problems and/or unintended consequences. So, public work ever [sic] never ends. This dissertation's purpose was to contribute a new theoretical understanding of the experience and practice of public administration. Its research addressed if and how a grounded existential theoretical framework could emerge that would help practitioners and scholars understand and describe public administrative efforts and experiences. Currently, there is no existential theory of public administration. This dissertation sought to initiate work in that direction. This dissertation employed a grounded theory methodology to collect information from Senior Executive Service (SES) members, to analyze the information for emerging concepts and theoretical relevance through constant comparison, and to discover/construct a theoretical framework for understanding public administrative efforts and experiences. "The grounded theory approach is a general methodology of analysis linked with data collection that uses a systematically applied set of methods to generate an inductive theory about a substantive area" (Glaser, 1992, p. 16)., This dissertation identified the emergence of three categories/themes that organized what the SES members were saying, doing, and perceiving. These categories include "the environment," "the work," and "the individual." The core category/theme, "the Sisyphusian predicament," theoretically unifies these categories/themes through a metaphorical application of existential concepts. It describes the issues administrators experience (never-endingness, boundedness, and finitude in the face of infinitude (managing the scope and scale of one's intentions; generating and authoring relevance, significance, and meaning; and the choice for metaphysical revolt/ microemancipation). There are scholarly and practicable applications of this framework. This dissertation contributes exploratory work towards developing a new theoretical alternative within public administration. It provides an alternative approach for viewing and understanding organizational processes within public organizations. Additionally, an existential approach facilitates a plurality of competing schools of thought wherein administrators can select approaches to decision making and acting on the basis of context and utility.
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Date Issued
2008
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/165673
Subject Headings
Public administration, Philosophy, Public administration, Moral and ethical aspects, Administrative agencies, Management, Policy sciences, Public administration, Research, Methodology
Format
Document (PDF)