Question

Read chapters 7&8 of your textbook and respond to the following questions. Briefly discuss restricted view of human reason, incomplete understanding of knowledge acquisition and inadequate link between theory & practice as three criticisms of the rational model(P.170-176). What does the new public service draw its inspiration from? How do citizenship and community contribute to restoring democratic citizenship and establishing a new public service?(P.198-200)

Answer 1

Read chapters 7&8 of your textbook and respond to the following questions.

(a) Briefly discuss restricted view of human reason,

The rational model of administration appears to be the foundation at which conventional public administration theories are built upon. However, the rational model and other related theories are based on several limitations. First, the rational model is constructed on a limited and restrictive understanding of human reason. When discussing the importance of the rational model in public organizations the distinction between means and ends clearly connects the politics-administration dichotomy, in which the role of public organizations is simply to discover the most efficient means towards politically given ends. Which neither reflects practice nor states the role of administration in a democracy. However, since public organizations are involved in the expression of societal values, they must give their members decision-making opportunities. Furthermore, they must also emphasize widespread communication and participation in the decision-making process. Nonetheless, members of public organizations must accept responsibility to promote the democratization of governance and the policy process beyond acting efficiently.

Furthermore, members of public organizations must also accept responsibility to act in fairness, understanding, and humanity, which is a democratic standard. Nonetheless, this obligation has been made difficult by a rational perspective that ignores other aspects of human life such as emotion and intuition. Moreover, emotion is said to interfere with rational planning and decision making; intuition is believed to diminish reason and order. However, emotion and intuition are both important aspects of human existence, because they connect feelings and societal values. In complex organizations, this type of attitude results in the depersonalization of the individual. Many theorists agree that individuals of complex organizations are control mechanisms simply to be used and manipulated by the organization to achieve its goals in pursuit of efficiency. More importantly, each individual loses their sense of self-reflection and self-understanding that is essential to creativity and personal growth.

Another problem associated with the concept of the rational model of administration is that it neglects any concern for the moral framework within which action occurs. The rationalization of society is viewed as a process in which questions human values, characterized by terms such as freedom, justice, and equality, which seems to be losing their vales as principles for judgement, being replaced by a cost/benefit analysis of means and ends. The deliberative, communicative, and participative functions have little importance when issues are only measured for efficiency. However, in order for public organizations to fulfil their promise of promoting democratic governance, their members must be willing to think in terms such as those that establish a sense of personal responsibility and/or mutual action.

  

• incomplete understanding of knowledge acquisition

Through the rigorous application of the methods of positive science to social and technical relationships within organizations, the rational model seems to be the only true way knowledge can be obtained. Valid or not, this approach to knowledge acquisition measures the strengths and weaknesses of the basic premise of the positive science model:

1. A single approach to knowledge acquisition is considered appropriate for both natural and social events; hence, the social scientist should use the model of scientific inquiry of the more “advanced” natural sciences.

2. All knowledge that is not purely conceptual must be based on sensory experience; in turn, all statements about such experience must be based on direct observation, subject to agreement among observers, of the behavior of social actors.

3. There is a strict separation of fact and value, a distinction between what is and what ought to be; the role of the scientist is to gather facts, not to speculate on values.

4. The goals of scientific inquiry are explanation, prediction, and control. To explain means that one must discover the causal mechanism that propel events; explanation enables prediction, and prediction enables control.

5. The relationship between theory and practice is remote at best. The role of the scientist is to conduct investigations that provide the data on which theoretical frameworks can be constructed. The scientist has neither interest in nor responsibility for the application of knowledge. Rather, he or she simply tries to create knowledge, while others determine its use.

However, several limitations of the positive science model have been argued through out the years. One of the most criticized aspects of this model is that human behavior varies from place to place and time to time. In this case, one groups behavior would not necessarily be the same as another, and broad generalizations applied to all cultures at all times would be extremely difficult. One variant of this criticism, is that humans change their behavior based on new information, including scientifically consequential information. However, this shift in behavior could occur in several different ways. On one hand, people might behave in a way consistent with the theories of behavior. Or, on the other hand, people might stop acting in ways that contradict this theory. Whatever the case may be, the unpredictability of human behavior from place to place and time to time restricts the positive science quest of confirmed or absolute statements relevant to a broad range of human behaviors.

The second criticism of the positive science approach to knowledge acquisition concerns the subjectivity in human life. One aspect of this study focuses on individuals having subjective reasons for their actions. In this approach, the individual’s values, intentions, and actions are determined by external influences to which they are subjected to. Thus, the capability of positive science to gain a complete measurement of human action is extremely limited. In a similar study, the positive science method focuses on the values, intentions and actions of scientists who are subject to the same coaction of emotions and values as other human beings and therefore incapable of complete objectivity in his/her consideration of the behavior of others. In this case, the scientist’s own values alter the research processes for observation, assessment, and in the evaluation of evidence.      

• inadequate link between theory & practice as three criticisms of the rational model (P.170-176).

The gap between theory and practice, academics and practitioners, conceals a dissatisfaction with the way meaningful work is understood. Unfortunately, the widespread positive science approach to acquiring knowledge about public organizations provides very little help, however, it may in fact be the root cause of the problem.

There are two things practitioners seek from a theory, (1) explanations and understandings from which new approaches to administrative work can be fashioned; (2) a framework in which the individual’s experience can be seen as a meaningful part of something larger and more important, and to feel like one is making a difference. The rational model of administration, has the capability to accomplish the first need. It offers instrumental explanations that authorizes more effective predictions and control, and provides useful explanations that have been frequently utilized by practitioners. Theorists utilizing the rational model have made assessments on budget techniques, incentives schemes, management styles, among many other topics.

The second dissatisfying point concerning the rational model and the positive social science approach is its vulnerability. Such an approach that seeks to acquire knowledge based on the objectification of human experiences cannot be expected to accurately define the meaning of that experience. In fact, it subtracts from the meaning of its insistence on abstracted, depersonalized, and decontextualized knowledge. However, the meaning of experience, the value it holds for individuals and as a society, is based on the subjectivity and inter-subjectivity of the world. Furthermore, to objectify that experience is to rob it of the very character that makes it significant. Additionally, when practitioners ask that a theory be meaningful, as well as, reference real matters of importance to human beings, the request cannot be achieved by those who follow a model in which individuals respond to social forces. Moreover, any individual with concerns for the world requires more from a theory.

However, these practical issues help to introduce the theoretical problems concerning the rational model and the positive science approach. Theorists who follows the rational model are not interested in whether their theories directly relate to reality, however, they are only interested in the explanation, prediction, and control of the concepts. Furthermore, if satisfactory explanations can be produced by assuming that all people are fully rational in pursuing their self-interests, then it makes no difference to theorists whether individuals act in this manner or not. Moreover, theorists who follows the positive science model, bases theoretical suggestions of observed behavior, as it is viewed from the outside. However, behavior viewed from the outside may not convey the intended actions of the individual. Similarly, the practitioner who seeks guidance on information presented by scientist that is both instrumentally effective and morally sound must accept responsibility for that action. Yet, scientists working out of the positivist tradition assumes no responsibility in which the accumulated knowledge is used and consequently fails to provide a basis for moral action.              

(b) What does the new public service draw its inspiration from?

The “new public service,” draws its inspiration from (1) democratic political theory and (2) alternative approaches to management and organizational design growing from the more humanistic tradition in public administration theory, including phenomenology, critical theory, and postmodernism.

• How do citizenship and community contribute to restoring democratic citizenship and establishing a new public service? (P.198-200)

Above all, the view of democratic citizenship perceives the individual as actively sharing in self-government. Although, the role of the citizen looks past self-interest towards a greater public interest, to one that takes on a more comprehensive long-term viewpoint. Democratic citizenship requires knowledge of public affairs and a sense of belonging, and a concern for the moral bond within the community whose fate is at stake. Therefore, in order to share in the self-governance of the community, citizens are required to obtain certain qualities and characteristics, or civic virtues.

Equally important, the term “civil society” restores democratic citizenship by establishing a new public service. For example, Families, work groups, churches, civic associations, clubs and social groups help establish connections between the individual and the larger society. These groups collectively are important because people need to dynamically work out their personal interests in the context of community concerns. Additionally, at this juncture citizens can engage one another in the kind of personal discourse that is essential to community building as well as democracy itself. Therefore, there must be a connection somewhere between citizens and their government that establishes a vigorous and dynamic set of “mediating institutions” that focuses on the desires and interests of citizens, at the same time, provide experiences that will assistance those citizens prepare for action in the larger political system.