Understanding and Managing
Public Organizations
Chapter 1
The Challenge of Effective Public Organization and Management
Government organizations and the people in them
perform crucial functions.
We expect government to “protect us.”
Public organizations have many similarities with
private business firms and nonprofit organizations,
but they also differ in important ways.
Toward Improved Understanding and
Management of Public Organizations
All nations face decisions about the roles of government and private
institutions in their society.
To assess government practices, we need to understand the similarities
and differences among public, private, and nonprofit organizations.
Researchers and writers of public management and public organizations
agree that we need more careful analyses of organizational and
managerial issues in government.
Advancing public management requires reconciling legitimate skepticism
about public organizations with the recognition that they are necessary
with the recognition that public organizations play an indispensible role in
society.
Toward Improved Understanding and
Management of Public Organizations
Evidence indicates that we can profit from general
knowledge about management and organizations, but the
governmental context sharply constrains performance.
Understanding and improving management of public
organizations is possible with a study of the literature
integrated with a review of the research on public
organizations.
Ambivalence Toward Government
The increase in privatization and contracting out policies suggest an
antigovernment sentiment.
Presidential policies and statements usually reflect the assumption that
government performs less effectively and efficiently than private firms.
In reality, Americans regard government with more ambivalence than
hostility.
General Management and Public Management
Understanding and improving management of public
organizations is possible with a study of the literature
integrated with a review of the research on public
organizations.
Public management can benefit from diverse and
interdisciplinary literature.
• Organizational behavior, organization theory, and
management
• Important to advancing public management but mostly reflect the “generic
tradition”
• Public administration, economics, and political science
• Also important, but not much attention to internal management
• Tend to oversimplify such topics as motivation and organization structure for
public bureaucracies
Generic Tradition
Treats private and public management as similar in most
important respects
Recognizes merit in both sides of the debate
• Generic tradition offers valuable insights, but there is a need for a body
•
•
of knowledge specific to public organizations.
Managers in public agencies can effectively apply generic management
procedures, but they must also skillfully negotiate the external political
environment.
Political science and economics tend to oversimplify topics such as
motivation, structure, and so on.
Issues in Education and Research
There is an elaborate body of knowledge on management and
organizations, but too little analysis of differences.
Graduate programs in M.P.A.s now emphasize management skills but also
recognize sectoral differences in applying those skills.
The Dilemmas of Improving Public
Management
Concerns about ineffective government have led to continuous
reform efforts.
Carter and Reagan both attacked federal bureaucracy in their
campaigns.
Carter instituted the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 as a
management improvement initiative. This made it easier
•
To discipline and fire federal employees
•
To base pay on performance
•
For politically appointed heads to transfer career civil servants under them
The Dilemmas of Improving Public
Management
Reagan reforms were even more aggressive than those of Carter. These
•
Worked for cuts in authority, funding, and staffing
•
Sought to increase presidential authority over agencies
•
Increased the number of political appointees to high levels in agencies but cut staff
•
Decentralized
The Dilemmas of Improving Public
Management
The aftermath of Reagan reforms
• There was an increase in indictments.
• There were reports of employee morale problems.
• Cutbacks provided a reason to escape previously set goals.
• Paul Volker of the Federal Reserve Board also chaired a commission
to analyze crisis and recommended steps to improve pay and
performance and relationships between appointees and civil
servants.
The Dilemmas of Improving Public
Management
The pattern of reforms continued under the NPR
•
•
The system—not the people—caused the problem.
There was a major cutback in federal employees (approximately 325,000).
George W. Bush
•
Rejected Clinton reforms
•
Initiated the President’s Management Agenda
•
Instituted agency scorecards
• red = failure
• green = success
• yellow = mixed results
The Dilemmas of Improving Public
Management
Obama has continued the pattern.
• On the bright side
• “Human Capital” now receives attention.
• Researchers recognize the complexity of the problem.
• Concerns about a lack of knowledge have led to numerous books and scholarly
articles since the 1990s.
• There is a movement under way to recognize that governments can perform well
and continuing inquiry is needed.
• Continuous efforts underscore the political context of public
management. It’s not a matter of straightforward science.
Effective Public Management
There is plenty of help available for improving public management
practice and research.
There is more evidence of excellence in public service.
• The field includes the use of sources outside typical academic
research: government reports and observations, and practices of
managers.
Texts focused on management may include such topics as inventory
and information systems.
The Challenge of Sustained Attention and
Analyses
Public management involves complex objectives.
Public managers balance conflicting objectives and priorities.
The debate over government performance and the uniqueness of the
public sector will continue.
There is merit to both sides of the debate.
Organizations: A Definition and Conceptual
Framework
An organization consists of a group of people working together to pursue a goal.
They obtain resources from their environment.
They transform resources by accomplishing tasks and applying technologies to achieve
performance of goals.
They deal with uncertainties of the processes by organizing activities and establishing
structures and processes.
Organizing involves leadership and strategy.
Structures are relatively stable observable assignments and divisions achieved through
hierarchies, rules, and so on.
Organizations: A Definition and Conceptual
Framework
The division of responsibilities determined by the organization structure
divides the organization’s goals into components on which the individual
groups can concentrate—hence the term organization referring to the set of
organs that make up the whole.
Processes are not as physically observable as structures.
Processes are more dynamic and play an important role in coordination.
They include such matters as decision making, communication, and
determining power relationships.
Within processes, groups and individuals respond to incentives, resulting in
performance.
A Framework for Organizational Analysis
Goals / Values
(Chapters 6, 11)
Leadership / Strategy
(Chapters 7, 11)
Culture
(Chapter 11)
Environments
(Chapters 4, 5)
Structures
(Chapter 8)
Processes
(Chapters 7, 12, 13)
Tasks / Technology
(Chapters 8)
Incentives
(Chapters 9, 10)
Groups
(Chapter 12)
People
Individuals
(Chapters 9, 10)
Organizational
Performance /
Effectiveness
(Chapters 6, 14)
A Framework for Organizational Analysis ( Elaboration of Figure 1.1)
Goals / Values
(Chapters 6, 11)
Auspices : Public or
Private Nonprofit,
Hybrid
(Chapter 3)
Leadership / Strategy
(Chapters 7, 11)
Culture
(Chapter 11)
Structures
Environments
(Chapters 4, 5)
Processes
Specialization/Division of
Responsibility
Departmentalization/Subunits
Hierarchy/Centralization
Formalization/Rules and
Regulations
(Chapter 8)
Power Relationships
Decision Making
Communications
Change/Innovation
(Chapters 7, 12, 13)
Incentives
(Chapters 9, 10)
Tasks / Technology
(Chapters 8)
GROUPS
Cohesion
Teamwork
(Chapter 12)
PEOPLE
INDIVIDUAL
Values/Motives
Perception/Attributions
Motivation
Job Satisfaction
Organizational Commitment
(Chapters 9, 10)
Organizational
Performance /
Effectiveness
(Chapters 6,
14)
Understanding and Managing
Public Organizations
Chapter 2
Understanding the Study of Organizations: A Historical Overview
Historical Review
Major developments in research, theory, and thinking about organizations and
management have taken place over the past century.
Theories about motives, values, and capacities have evolved.
Theories are not impractical abstractions but frameworks of ideas that play a key role in
trends, practices, and so on.
Historical overview illustrates generic themes and also sets up controversy for debate
about distinctiveness.
Managers need to be aware of key terms used in classic literature (Theory X, Theory Y,
span of control).
Systems Metaphor
Early classical approaches emphasized single form and one best
way.
Recent perspectives emphasize a variety of forms that can be
effective under different conditions or contingencies. There is not
one best way.
Trend borrows from system theory.
•
Systems in nature have commonalities, which provide avenues for learning and
common language.
Classical Approaches to Understanding
Organizations
Frederick Taylor and Scientific Management
• Time motion studies
• Increase in workers’ well-being through productivity
• Highly impersonal
Classical Approaches to Understanding
Organizations
• Max Weber: Bureaucracy as an Ideal Construct
• Advanced organizations are grounded in rational-legal form of
authority and are superior.
• Weber defined the basic characteristics of a good bureaucracy.
• Bureaucracies can develop problems of accountability.
The Administrative Management School:
Principles of Administration
Sought to develop principles of administration for all organization
form
Ideas reflected in Gulick’s POSDCORB and Mooney’s “Scalar
Principle”
Emphasis on hierarchy and specialization
• Division of work based on task, geographic location,
interdependency of work processes
• Coordination of work
o
o
o
o
Span of control
One master
Technical efficiency
Scalar principle
Reactions, Critiques, and New Developments
The Hawthorne Studies
• These are widely regarded as the most significant demonstration of the
importance of social and psychological factors in the workplace.
• An experiment on the physical conditions (lighting) altered the social
situation.
• Employee output is also a function of attention being part of the
experiment.
• This is called the “Hawthorne Effect.”
Chester Barnard and Herbert Simon
• Chester Barnard
• Barnard wrote The Functions of the Executive (1938)
• He studied the inducements-contributions equilibrium.
• Incentives include more than money. Employees are also
motivated by such factors as power, prestige, and selffulfillment.
• The “executive” or manager has a key role in inducing behavior
through communication and persuasion.
Chester Barnard and Herbert Simon
• Herbert Simon
• Simon made many contributions to the field, but his 1947 PAR article
typifies his reaction to management thinking of the time.
• “The Proverbs of Administration” critiques four then-accepted
principles of public administration that lead to efficiency:
•
•
•
•
Specialization
Hierarchy of command
Limited span of control
Group workers according to purpose, process, clientele, and place
• Simon was also concerned with complex decision making and the
assumption that humans are fully rational. He contended that
administrators “satisfice” rather than maximize.
Social Psychology, Group Dynamics, and
Human Relationships
• Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Analysis
• Humans maintain a quasi-stationary equilibrium in their
attitudes and behaviors that results from a balance of
forces pressing for change.
• Change occurs in phases:
• Unfreezing
• Changing
• Refreezing
(1951) Social Psychology and Group Dynamics
• Lewin’s model becomes the conceptual frame for organizational
development.
The Human Relations School
• Maslow’s “Needs Hierarchy”
• Five major categories of needs (bottom to top)
Physiological
Safety
Love
Self-esteem
Self-actualization
The Human Relations School
• Douglas McGregor
• (1957) “The Human Side of the Enterprise”
• Distills the contending traditional (authoritarian) managerial
philosophies into Theory X and Theory Y
• “X” employees basically lazy and resistant to change
• “Y” employees capable of self-motivation
• What implications do these two views have for management?
Open Systems Approaches and Contingency
Theory
• Joan Woodward
•
She conducted research on the classical principles of
management in England between 1955 and 1964.
•
In her survey of one hundred firms in south Essex, she was
able to link organizational structure to technology.
•
She found that bureaucracy was the best form of
organizational structure for routine operations.
•
On the other hand, temporary work groups,
decentralization, and emphasis on interpersonal processes
worked best for nonroutine operations.
Open Systems Approaches and Contingency
Theory
•
Burns and Stalker
•
•
•
•
“The Management of Innovation” (1961)
One of the first instances in which the environment is
considered an important variable of the organization equation
Distinguishes mechanistic and organic systems
Found that mechanistic organization was appropriate for
stable conditions while the organic type was better suited to
changing conditions
Open Systems Approaches and Contingency
Theory
•
Lawrence and Lorsch
• In 1967 recognized the importance of the environment in
organizations—introduced the concepts of differentiation and
integration
• Found that firms performed best when the differences between units
were maximized, as long as the integrating mechanisms were neither
strongly bureaucratic nor laissez-faire
Open Systems Approaches and Contingency
Theory
• James Thompson
• “Organizations in Action” (1967)
• Thompson sought to close the gap between open and closed
systems theories by suggesting that organizations deal with
uncertainties in their environment by creating specific
elements to cope with the outside world, while other elements
are able to focus on the rational nature of technical operations.
• Dominant coalitions tend to set up closed systems, conditional
and rational decision processes.
• As complexities and uncertainties increase, organizations adapt
by adopting more flexible and decentralized structures and
procedures.
Open Systems Approaches and Contingency
Theory
• Peter Blau and colleagues
• (1971) Conducted a series of studies showing that organizational size
has an important relationship to structure
• New Topics
•
•
•
•
TQM (Demming and Juran)
Organization behavior
Organization culture
Diversity in organizations
The Quiet Controversy over Distinctions
The analysts in the historical review either concentrated on
industrial organizations or sought to develop generic
concepts and theories that applied to all organizations.
There are still gaps in the literature, and the issues still tend
to be oversimplified.
The next chapter turns to the challenge of formulating
definitions and drawing distinctions.
Understanding and Managing
Public Organizations
Chapter 3
What Makes Public Organizations Distinctive
Public Versus Private:
A Dangerous Distinction?
• The generic tradition in organization theory
• Findings from research
• The blurring of the sectors
–
–
–
–
Mixed, intermediate, and hybrid forms
Functional analogies—doing the same things
Complex interrelations
Analogies from social roles and contexts
• The importance of avoiding oversimplifications
Findings from Research
• Many major studies sought to develop typologies and
taxonomies.
• These studies mostly failed to produce evidence of a strict division
between public and private organizations.
Pugh, Hickson, and Hinings (1969)—classification of fifty-eight
organizations into categories, only eight of which were
government.
• Predicted government was more bureaucratic—more rules and procedures—
•
•
but the prediction was not confirmed.
They did find that government organizations had more outside influence.
Overall, studies are inconclusive.
Blurring of the Sectors
Mixed, Intermediate, and Hybrid Forms
• Perform business functions but owned and operated by government
U.S. Postal Service
National Service
• Government-Sponsored Enterprises
Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac
Functional Analogies
• Hospital and schools can perform the same functions
whether labeled private or public.
• NPM calls for the use of business procedures in
government.
Complex Interrelations
• Government arranges for some services by private
organizations
–
–
–
–
Vouchers
Franchises
Grants
Private corps that handle some aspects of Medicare
Analogies from Social Roles and Contexts
• Governments use laws, regulations, and fiscal policies
to influence private organizations.
• At what point do private organizations become an
extension of government?
The Importance of Avoiding
Oversimplifications
• If clear demarcations are impossible, what does that
say of critics who claim public organizations are less
efficient?
• Be careful what you label
– Reporting
– Interest group access applies in different ways to the different
labels
An Essential Distinction
The purpose of public organizations
Market failures or incapacities
• Public goods and free riders
• Individual incompetence
• Externalities or spillovers
Political rationales for government
Mixed Intermediate, Politics, and Markets
• Dahl and Lindblom (1953) provide a useful analysis of
the reason for public organizations.
• There are two fundamental vehicles—political
authority and economic markets.
• All nations use a combination of both.
• There are advantages and disadvantages to both.
Mixed Intermediate, Politics, and Markets
Political Hierarchy
Economic Markets
• A complex array of
contending groups and
institutions
• Produces a complex
hydra-headed
hierarchy—“a polyarchy”
• Can direct economic
activities
• An alternative price
system in free economic
markets
• Can control economic
production and
allocation decisions
Concept of Public Values
Parallel to market failures.
Focus on political and institutional processes by which public
values are identified, and furthered or damaged.
Moore implicitly defined public values by discussing differences
between production processes and circumstances justifying public
production.
Public value consists of what governmental entities produce with
due authorization form the public, considering efficiency and
effectiveness.
Mark Moore and Public Values
Public managers “must produce something whose
benefits to specific clients outweigh the costs of
production.”
Moore envisions a proactive public manager.
It’s not all about efficiency.
The Accenture Public Sector Value Model builds on
Moore
• Cole and Parston (2006): value emerges from the production of
governmental activities considered together with the costeffectiveness of producing those outcomes.
Recent Models on Public Values
The Accenture Public Sector Value Model builds on
Moore
• Cole and Parston (2006): value emerges from the production of
governmental activities considered together with the costeffectiveness of producing those outcomes.
Bozeman—a society’s public values. There can’t be a
disconnect between value as agency sees its mission
and the public preferences.
• Core public values can fail because of flaws in the policy making
system. For example, core public values are skirted if the public
favors gun control but no such policy is enacted.
The Meaning and Nature of Public Organizations
and Public Management
• Approaches to defining public organizations and public
managers
• Agencies and enterprises as points on a continuum
Ownership and funding
• Economic authority, public authority, and “publicness”
Agencies, Enterprises, and Hybrid Organizations
The continuum between government ownership and private enterprise. Below the line are
arrangements colloquially referred to as public, government-owned, or nationalized. Above the line are
organizational forms usually referred to as private enterprise or free enterprise. On the line are
arrangements popularly considered neither public nor private.
Private nonprofit
organizations totally
reliant on
government
contracts and grants
(Atomic Energy
Commission,
Manpower
Development
Research
Corporation).
Private
corporations reliant
on government
contracts for most
revenues (some
defense
contractors, such as
General Dynamics
Crummen).
Heavily regulated
private firms
(heavily regulated
privately owned
utilities).
Private
corporations with
significant funding
from government
contracts but
majority of
revenues from
private sources.
Private corporations
subject to general
government
regulations such as
affirmative action,
Occupational Safety
and Health
Administration
regulations.
Government
ownership of part of
a private corporation
Government
agency
State-owned
enterprise or
public
corporation
(Postal Service,
TVA, Port
Authority of NV)
Government
sponsored
enterprise,
established by
government but
with shares
traded on stock
market (Federal
National
Mortgage
Association).
Government
program or
agency
operated
largely through
purchase from
private vendors
or producers
(Medicare,
public housing)
Private
enterprise
Public and Private Ownership and Funding
Public Ownership
Department of Defense
Public Funding Social Security
(taxes,
Administration
government
Police departments
contracts)
Private Funding
(sales, private
donations)
U.S. Postal Service
Government-owned
utilities
Federal Home Loan Bank
Board
Private Ownership
Defense Contractors
Rand Corporation
Manpower Development
Research Corporation
Oak Ridge National
Laboratories
General Motors*
IBM
General Electric
Grocery store chains
YMCA
*These large corporations have large government contracts and sales but
attain most of their revenues from private sales and have relative autonomy to
withdraw from dealing with government.
Source: Adapted and revised from Wamsley and Zald (1973).
“Publicness”: Political and Economic Authority
Economic
Authority
Private firm
managed by
owner
Closely held
private firm,
professionally
managed
Corporation with
shares traded
publicly on stock
market
Private
nonprofit
organizatio
n
Professional
association
Small
voluntary
association
Governmentindustry research
cooperative
Corporation
heavily reliant on
government
contracts
Research
university
Governmentsponsored
enterprise
Government
corporation or
government
organization funded
through user fees
Government
agency (funded
from taxes)
Political
Authority
Source: Adapted from Bozeman (1987).
Typology of Organizations Created By Cross-Classifying Ownership, Funding, and
Mode of Social Control
Ownership
Funding
Mode of
Social
Control
Representative
Study
Example
Bureau
Public
Public
Polyarchy
Meier (1993)
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Government
corporation
Public
Private
Polyarchy
Walsh (1978)
Pension Benefit Guaranty
Corporation
Governmentsponsored enterprise
Private
Public
Polyarchy
Musolf and
Seidman (1980)
Corporation for Public
Broadcasting
Regulated enterprise
Private
Private
Polyarchy
Mitnick (1980)
Private electric utilities
Governmental
enterprise
Public
Public
Market
Barzelay (1992)
Government printing office
that must sell services to
government agencies
State-owned
enterprise
Public
Private
Market
Aharoni (1986)
Airbus
Government
contractor
Private
Public
Market
Bozeman (1987)
Grumann
Private enterprise
Private
Private
Market
Williamson (1975)
IBM
Source: Adapted and revised from Perry and Rainey (1988).
Problems and Approaches in
Public-Private Comparisons
• Problems and challenges
-
Need to control for size, task, other factors
- Difficulty in obtaining the very large samples needed to represent the
“sectors”
Research approaches
-
-
Some theorize from assumptions, past literature, and their own
experiences.
Interviews with executives and managers who have served in both public
agencies and private business firms
Comparisons of public and private organizations within functional
categories (hospitals, schools, refuse collection)
Problems and Approaches in
Public-Private Comparisons
• Comparisons of managers in small sets of government and
business organizations
• Comparisons of public and private samples from census data,
large-scale social surveys, or national studies
– The National Organizations Survey
Problems and Approaches in
Public-Private Comparisons
Other issues
• Accountability differs by labeled type.
• Commercialization of nonprofits.
• Is a defense contractor private if all revenues come from
government?
• Is a government enterprise “public” if you can buy stock in it?
• Is an independent agency less governmental than a traditional
agency?
Distinctive Characteristics of Public Management and Public
Organizations: A Summary of Common Assertions and Research
Findings
I. Environmental factors
I.1. Absence of economic markets for outputs; reliance on governmental
appropriations for financial resources
I.1.a. Less incentive to achieve cost reduction, operating efficiency, and effective
performance
I.1.b. Lower efficiency in allocating resources (weaker reflection of consumer
preferences, less proportioning of supply to demand)
I.1.c. Less availability of relatively clear market indicators and information (prices,
profits, market share) for use in managerial decisions
I.2. Presence of particularly elaborate and intensive formal legal constraints as
a result of oversight by legislative branch, executive branch hierarchy and
oversight agencies, and courts
1.2.a. More constraints on domains of operation and on procedures (less autonomy
for managers in making such choices)
1.2.b. Greater tendency for proliferation of formal administrative controls
1.2.c. Larger number of external sources of formal authority and influence, with
greater fragmentation among them
Distinctive Characteristics of Public Management and Public Organizations: A
Summary of Common Assertions and Research Findings
I.3. Presence of more intensive external political influences
1.3.a. Greater diversity and intensity of external informal political influences on decisions
(political bargaining and lobbying; public opinion; interest-group, client, and constituent
pressures)
1.3.b. Greater need for political support from client groups, constituencies, and formal
authorities in order to obtain appropriations and authorization for actions
Distinctive Characteristics of Public Management and Public Organizations: A
Summary of Common Assertions and Research Findings
II. Organization-Environment Transactions
II.1. Public organizations and managers are often involved in production of public goods
or handling of significant externalities. Outputs are not readily
transferable to
economic markets at a market price.
II.2. Government activities are often coercive, monopolistic, or unavoidable.
Government has unique sanctioning and coercion power and is often the sole provider.
Participation in consumption and financing of activities is often
mandatory.
II.3. Government activities often have a broader impact and greater symbolic
significance. There is a broader scope of concern, such as for general public interest
criteria.
II.4. There is greater public scrutiny of public managers.
II.5. There are unique expectations for fairness, responsiveness, honesty, openness, and
accountability.
Distinctive Characteristics of Public Management and Public
Organizations: A Summary of Common Assertions and Research
Findings
III. Organizational roles, structures, and processes
III.1. Greater goal ambiguity, multiplicity, and conflict
III.1.a. Greater vagueness, intangibility, or difficulty in measuring goals and
performance criteria; the goals are more debatable and value-laden (for
example, defense readiness, public safety, a clean environment, better living
standards for the poor and unemployed)
III.1.b. Greater multiplicity of goals and criteria (efficiency, public accountability
and openness, political responsiveness, fairness and due process, social equity
and distributional criteria, moral correctness of behavior)
III.1.c. Greater tendency of the goals to be conflicting, to involve more tradeoffs (efficiency versus openness to public scrutiny, efficiency versus due
process and social equity, conflicting demands of diverse constituencies and
political authorities)
Distinctive Characteristics of Public Management and Public
Organizations: A Summary of Common Assertions and Research
Findings
III.2. Distinctive features of general managerial roles
III.2.a. Recent studies have found that public managers’ general roles involve many of the
same functions and role categories as those of managers in other settings but with some
distinctive features: a more political, expository role, involving more meetings with and
interventions by external interest groups and political authorities; more crisis management
and “fire drills”; greater challenge to balance external political relations with internal
management functions.
Distinctive Characteristics of Public Management and Public
Organizations: A Summary of Common Assertions and Research
Findings
III.3. Administrative authority and leadership practices
III.3.a. Public managers have less decision-making autonomy and flexibility because of
elaborate institutional constraints and external political influences. There are more
external interventions, interruptions, and constraints.
III.3.b. Public managers have weaker authority over subordinates and lower levels as a
result of institutional constraints (for example, civil service personnel systems,
purchasing and procurement systems) and external political alliances of subunits and
subordinates (with interest groups, legislators).
III.3.c. Higher-level public managers show greater reluctance to delegate authority and a
tendency to establish more levels of review and approval and to make greater use of
formal regulations to control lower levels.
III.3.d. More frequent turnover of top leaders due to elections and political
appointments causes more difficulty in implementing plans and innovations.
III.3.e. Recent counterpoint studies describe entrepreneurial behaviors and managerial
excellence by public managers.
Distinctive Characteristics of Public Management and Public
Organizations: A Summary of Common Assertions and Research
Findings
III.4. Organizational structure
III.4.a. Numerous assertions that public organizations are subject to more red tape, more
elaborate bureaucratic structures.
II.4.b. Empirical studies report mixed results, some supporting the assertions about red
tape, some not supporting them. Numerous studies find some structural distinctions for
public forms of organizations, although not necessarily more bureaucratic structuring.
III.5. Strategic decision-making processes
III.5.a. Recent studies show that strategic decision-making processes in public
organizations can be generally similar to those in other settings but are
more likely to be subject to interventions, interruptions, and greater
involvement of external authorities and interest groups.
Distinctive Characteristics of Public Management and Public
Organizations: A Summary of Common Assertions and Research
Findings
III.6. Incentives and incentive structures
III.6.a. Numerous studies show that public managers and employees perceive
greater administrative constraints on the administration of extrinsic incentives such
as pay, promotion, and disciplinary action than do their counterparts in private
organizations.
III.6.b. Recent studies indicate that public managers and employees perceive weaker
relations between performance and extrinsic rewards such as pay, promotion, and
job security. The studies indicate that there may be some compensating effect of
service and other intrinsic incentives for public employees and show no clear
relationship between employee performance and perceived differences in the
relationship between rewards and performance.
Distinctive Characteristics of Public Management and Public
Organizations: A Summary of Common Assertions and Research
Findings
III.7. Individual characteristics, work-related attitudes and behaviors
III.7.a. A number of studies have found different work-related values on
the part of public managers and employees, such as lower valuation of
monetary incentives and higher levels of public service motivation.
III.7.b. Numerous highly diverse studies have found lower levels of work
satisfaction and organizational commitment among public than among
private managers and employees. The level of satisfaction among public
sector samples is generally high but tends consistently to be somewhat
lower than that among private comparison groups.
Distinctive Characteristics of Public Management and Public
Organizations: A Summary of Common Assertions and Research
Findings
III.8. Organizational and individual performance
III.8.a. There are numerous assertions that public organizations and
employees are cautious and not innovative. The evidence for this is mixed.
III.8.b. Numerous studies indicate that public forms of various types of
organizations tend to be less efficient in providing services than their private
counterparts, although results tend to be mixed for hospitals and utilities.
(Public utilities have been found to be efficient somewhat more often.) Yet
other authors strongly defend the efficiency and general performance of
public organizations, citing various forms of evidence.
Understanding and Managing
Public Organizations
Chapter 4
Analyzing the Environment of
Public Organizations
General Environmental Conditions
• Technological conditions
• Legal conditions
• Political conditions
• Economic conditions
• Demographic conditions
• Ecological conditions cultural conditions
General Environmental Conditions
• Technological conditions: the general level of knowledge and capability in science, engineering,
medicine, and other substantive areas; general capacities for communication, transportation,
information processing, medical services, military weaponry, environmental analysis, production
and manufacturing processes, and agricultural production.
• Legal conditions: laws, regulations, legal procedures, court decisions; characteristics of legal
institutions and values, such as provisions for individual rights and jury trials as well as the general
institutionalizations and stability of legal processes.
• Political conditions: characteristics of the political processes and institutions in a society, such as
the general form of government (socialism, communism, capitalism, and so on; degree of
centralization, fragmentation, or federalism) and the degree of political stability (Carroll, Delacroix,
and Goodstein, 1988). More direct and specific conditions include electoral outcomes, political
party alignments and success, and policy initiatives within regimes.
• Economic conditions: levels of prosperity, inflation, interest rates, and tax rates; characteristics of
labor, capital, and economic markets within and between nations.
• Demographic conditions: characteristics of the population such as age, gender, race, religion, and
ethnic categories.
• Ecological conditions: characteristics of the physical environment, including climate, geographical
characteristics, pollution, natural resources, and the nature and density of organizational
populations.
• Cultural conditions: predominant values, attitudes, beliefs, social customs, and socialization
processes concerning such things as sex roles, family structure, work orientation, and religious and
political practices.
Research on Environmental Variations
• Notable contributions to this line of research
include Selznick, Lawrence, and Lorsch; Burns and
Stalker; and James Thompson
Research on Environmental Variations
• Phillip Selznick
• TVA and the Grass Roots (1966)
• Environmental influences play a crucial role in the
institutionalization of processes.
• Values, goals, and rules become firmly established
not so much because of efficiency but because of
environmental influences.
Phillip Selznick (1966)
• Co-optation is “the process of absorbing new elements into the
leadership or policy-determining structure of an organization as
a means of averting threats to its stability or existence.”
• Basically, it can mean either shared power and authority or
sharing of responsibility and participation without actual
redistribution of power. It usually happens when an organization
is “out of synch” with its environment (lack of legitimacy, lack of
mobilizing power).
• Often the goal of co-optation is “the sharing of public symbols or
administrative burdens of authority and public responsibility, but
without an actual transfer of power.” The organization needs to
make sure the co-optation doesn't get out of hand. The
organization needs participation, but too much participation may
threaten leadership (hence the inherent dilemma and tensions).
Significance of Co-optation
• Co-optation is significant to organizational analysis
because it represents a change or broadening of
leadership. It also tells us that every adaptive
structure evolves to meet its basic needs for survival
and develops methods of self-defense.
• One can explain organizational behavior by examining
the function or structure of the organization in
relation to these needs. The organization strives for
security and stability of formal and informal relations.
Lawrence and Lorsch (1967)
• They define differentiation as “the state of
segmentation of the organizational systems into
subsystems, each of which tends to develop
particular attributes in relation to the
requirements posed by its relevant external
environment.”
• They define integration as “the process of
achieving unity of effort among the various
subsystems in the accomplishment of the
organization's task.“
Lawrence and Lorsch
• Organizations must balance differentiation and integration to
be successful. Those companies who manage to achieve high
sub-unit differentiation and yet still maintain high integration
between sub-units seem to be best equipped to adapt to
environmental changes.
• Groups that are organized to perform simpler, more certain
tasks (such as production groups) usually have more formal
structures than groups focusing on more uncertain tasks (for
example, research and development).
Burns and Stalker
•
Through their theory of mechanistic and organic systems, Tom Burns
and G. M. Stalker have provided a way to understand which
organization forms fit to specific circumstances of change or stability.
•
In their highly influential work “The Management of Innovation” (1961)
they provide the characteristics of mechanistic versus organic systems.
•
Stable conditions suggest the use of a mechanistic form with
traditional patterns of hierarchy, reliance on formal rules and
regulations, vertical communication, and structured decision making.
•
More dynamic conditions—situations with a rapidly changing
environment—require an organic form that is less rigid, is more
participative, and relies on workers to redefine their positions and
relationships.
Mechanistic Versus Organic
• Tasks are separated.
• Tasks are narrowly
defined.
• Has a hierarchy with
centralized top-down
control.
• Rules are pervasive.
• Communication is
vertical.
• Employees contribute to
shared tasks.
• Teamwork redefines
tasks.
• Is flatter with less
hierarchy.
• There are fewer rules.
• Knowledge and control of
tasks are located
anywhere in the
organization.
• Communication is
horizontal.
Why Is This Important?
• Essential organization goals or tasks require
certain organizational environments.
• The impact of these organizational forms on
individuals is different.
• Managers find the mechanistic form provides a
greater sense of security when dealing with their
environment than the organic form.
• Either form may be appropriate in particular
situations.
Contingency Theory
• An organization’s structure must be adapted to
contingencies.
• In simple, homogenous, and stable environments,
organizations can successfully adopt mechanistic and
centralized structures.
• In more complex environments, successful
organizations must be organic and less decentralized.
Contingency Theory
• Capacity
• Domain consensus and choice
• Turbulence and interconnectedness
• Stability, dynamism, change rates
Descriptive and Analytic Dimensions of
Organizational Environments
• Capacity
• Homogeneity-heterogeneity
• Stability-instability
• Domain consensus-dissensus
• Turbulence
Recent Trends in Research on
Organizational Environments
• Population ecology—a deterministic viewpoint.
Populations vary because of their environments.
• Resource-dependence: Organizations depend on their
environment for critical resources. Organizations
exchange to gain resources, which in turn alters the
power-dependence dynamic.
• Transaction costs: Make-buy decisions can be
examined in terms of the cost of the exchange. All
governance forms have unique competencies.
• Studies of institutionalization
o Isomorphism
o Coercive isomorphism
o Normative isomorphism
Descriptive and Analytical Dimensions of
Organizational Environments
•
•
•
•
•
•
Aldrich (1979)
Capacity: the extent to which the environment affords a rich or
lean supply of necessary resources
Homogeneity-heterogeneity: the degree to which important
components of the environment are similar or dissimilar
Stability-instability: the degree and rapidity of change in the
important components or processes in the environment
Concentration-dispersion: the degree to which important
components of the environment are separated or close
together, geographically or in terms of communication or
logistics
Domain consensus-dissensus: the degree to which the
organization’s domain (its operating locations, major functions
and activities, and clients and customers served) is generally
accepted or disputed and contested
Turbulence: the degree to which changes in one part or aspect
of the environment in turn create changes in another; the
tendency of changes to reverberate and spread
Major Environmental Components for Public Organizations
General Values and Institutions of the Political Economy
Political and economic traditions
Constitutional provisions and their legislative and judicial development
Due process
Equal protection of the laws
Democratic elections and representation (republican form)
Federal system
Separation of powers
Free-enterprise system (economic markets relatively free of government controls)
Values and performance criteria for government organizations
Competence
Efficiency
Effectiveness
Timeliness
Reliability
Reasonableness
Responsiveness
Accountability, legality, responsiveness to rule of law and governmental authorities,
responsiveness to public demands
Adherence to ethical standards
Fairness, equal treatment, impartiality
Openness to external scrutiny and criticism
Major Environmental Components for Public Organizations
Institutions, Entities, and Actors with Political Authority and Influence
Chief executives
Executive staff and staff offices
Legislatures
Legislative committees
Individual legislators
Legislative staff
Courts
Other government agencies
Oversight and management agencies (GAO, OMB, OPM, GSA)
Competitors
Allies
Agencies or governmental units with joint programs
Other levels of government
“Higher” and “lower” levels
Intergovernmental agreements and districts
Interest groups
Client groups
Constituency groups
Professional associations
Policy subsystems
Issue networks
Inter-organizational policy networks
Implementation structure
News media
General public opinion
Individual citizens with requests for services, complaints, and other contacts
Major Environmental Components for
Public Organizations
• General values and institutions of the political
economy
• Values and performance criteria for government
organizations
• Institutions, entities, and actors with political
authority and influence
General Values and Institutions of the
Political Economy
• Political and economic traditions
• Constitutional provisions and their legislative and
judicial development
–
–
–
–
Due process
Equal protection of the laws
Federal system
Separation of powers
Values and Performance Criteria for
Government Organizations
• Competence
–
–
–
–
–
Efficiency
Effectiveness
Timeliness
Reliability
Reasonableness
• Responsiveness
– Accountability, legality, responsiveness to rule of law and
governmental authorities
– Adherence to ethical standards
– Fairness, equal treatment, impartiality
– Openness to external scrutiny and criticism
Institutions, Entities, and Actors with
Political Authority and Influence
• Chief executives
– Executive staff and offices
• Legislatures
– Legislative committees
– Individual legislators
– Legislative staff
• Courts
Institutions, Entities, and Actors with
Political Authority and Influence
• Other governmental agencies
–
–
–
–
Oversight and management agencies
Competitors
Allies
Agencies or governmental units with joint programs
• Other levels of government
– “Higher” and “lower” levels
– Intergovernmental agreements and districts
Understanding and
Managing Public
Organizations
Chapter 5
The Impact of Political Power
and Public Policy
Public Organizations and the Public
• Public managers are influenced by public opinion,
including the following:
• The public’s general attitude about government
• The public’s attitudes toward specific policies
• Public organizations need support from
– Mass publics—broad diffuse populations
– Attentive publics—more organized groups that are interested
in specific agencies
• The public manager’s concern is to maintain enough
authority and discretion to meet organizational goals.
• Bureaucratic power is essential to the fundamental
organizational process of gaining financial resources,
grants, and other resources from the environment.
Sources of Political Authority and
Influence
• Chief executives
• Legislative bodies
• Courts
• Government agencies
• Other levels of government
• Interest groups
• Policy subsystems and policy communities
• News media
• Public opinion
• Individual citizens
Two Views
• Discussion falls into two camps.
• Bureaus and bureaucrats are seen as independent and influential.
• Bureaus and bureaucrats are impotent.
• Both views have some merit. Bureaucratic power is a dynamic
mixture of both conditions.
• There are numerous cases showing agencies’ responsiveness to
president, courts, and Congress.
• There is also evidence of “bottom up” processes with agencies
independently initiating policy.
• Proactive behavior of public mangers is a common theme in
leadership literature.
Sources of Political Authority and Influence of Institutions, Entities, and Actors in
the Political System
Chief Executives
• Appointment of agency heads and other officials
• Executive staff and staff offices (for example, budget office)
• Initiating legislation and policy directions
• Vetoing legislation
• Executive orders and directives
Legislative Bodies
• Power of the purse: final approval of the budget
• Authorizing legislation for agency formation and operations
• Approval of executive appointments of officials
• Oversight activities: hearings, investigations
• Authority of legislative committees
• Initiating legislation
Courts
• Review of agency decisions
• Authority to render decisions that strongly influence agency operations
• Direct orders to agencies
Government Agencies
• Oversight and management authority (GAO, OMB, OPM, GSA)
• Competitors
• Allies
• Agencies or government units with joint programs
Sources of Political Authority and Influence of Institutions, Entities, and Actors in
the Political System
Other Levels of Government
• “Higher” and “lower” levels
• Intergovernmental agreements and districts
Interest Groups
• Client groups
• Constituency groups
• Professional associations
Policy Subsystems and Policy Communities
• Issue networks
• Inter-organizational policy networks
News Media
• Constitutional protections of freedom of the press
• Open meetings laws, sunshine laws
General Public Opinion
• Providing (or refusing to provide) popular support
Individual Citizens
• Requests for services, complaints, other contacts
Chief Executives
• The executive office rivals the legislative branch for strongest
influence.
• This includes presidents, governors, and mayors.
• Chief executives presumably have the greatest formal power
over bureaucracies in their jurisdictions.
• Influence powers are complex and dynamic.
• Methods of influence include the following:
– Chief executives can appoint agency heads.
– Resources of executive offices can enhance influence.
– The executive branch proposes the initial budget, although legislature
approval is necessary.
– Chief executives can issue executive orders.
Legislative Bodies
• Formal legal authority over agencies comes in many forms.
Examples include
– Legislatures
– Councils
– Commissions
• Legislative bodies have substantial authority over agencies.
–
–
–
–
Enabling statutes detail agency authority but can be amended.
Statutory authority can be vague or specific.
Legislative branch controls budgets.
Oversight includes hearings, reports, and investigations.
• Formal authority always operates in a political context.
• Formal authority can weaken or bolster agency.
Limits on Legislative Power
• Agencies are typically the experts.
• Implementation is a source of power.
• Close scrutiny over an agency often has minimal
political payoff.
– Could jeopardize relationships
– Eliminate potential sources of favors for constituents
Courts
• Some experts claim courts exert powerful controls
over bureaucracy, while others see them as
ineffectual.
• Courts confine agencies to statutory authority.
• Courts require agencies to follow due process in
rulemaking.
Government Agencies and Other Levels of
Government
• Relationship of bureaucracy to other bureaucracies
and different levels of government can be complex.
• Interdependencies require cooperation.
• Grants sometimes require coordination between
agencies.
• Federal system fragments authority.
• Agencies sometimes compete for resources and
control over programs.
Interest Groups
• Support of organized groups is essential to the
well-being of an agency.
• The role of interest groups is controversial.
• Following are some criticisms:
– There is a danger that special interest politics will further
fragment the system, complicating communication and
coordination.
– The system favors some powerful private interests over
public interest.
– Agencies can become “captive.”
Interest Groups
• Support from constituent groups can
• Bolster and legitimize agency work
• Defend an agency against budget cuts
• Provide an agency with important information and expert
reports
• Give rise to various viewpoints through competition
News Media
• Media attention varies by administration and agency.
• Media attention can shift unpredictably.
• Media tend to take an adversarial stance.
• Bad press can damage budgets, programs, and careers.
• Agencies value good coverage and spend a least five hours per
week on matters pertaining to media (Graber, 2003).
• Media serve as watchdogs, reporting government waste and
abuses.
Guidelines for Managing Relations with the
News Media
Experts on managing relations between government
agencies and the news media propose the following:
• Understand the perspective of the media—their skepticism, their
need for information and interesting stories, their time pressures.
• Organize media relations carefully—spend time and resources on
them and link them with agency operations.
• Get out readable press releases providing good news about the
agency; be patient if the media respond slowly.
Source: Adapted from Cohen and Eimicke, 1995; Chase and Reveal, 1983; and
Garnett, 1992.
Guidelines for Managing Relations with
the News Media
• Respond to bad news and embarrassing incidents rapidly,
with clear statements of the agency’s side of the story.
• Seek corrections of inaccurate reporting.
• Use the media to help boost the agency’s image, to
implement programs, and to communicate with employees.
• To carry all this off effectively, make sure that the agency
performs well, and be honest.
Source: Adapted from Cohen and Eimicke, 1995; Chase and Reveal, 1983; and
Garnett, 1992.
Guidelines for Managing Relations with
the News Media
The community relations office of the city of Claremont, California,
published the following guidelines for managing relations with
reporters:
•
Prepare an agenda on each subject the media may be interested
in. Include a list of three to five points you want to “sell” the
reporter.
•
Write or verbally deliver “quotable quotes” of ten words or less.
•
Listen carefully to the question. The reporter may have made
incorrect assumptions, and you will need to give clearer
background information before answering the question.
•
Avoid an argument with the reporter.
Source: Adapted from Larkin, 1992.
Guidelines for Managing Relations with the
News Media
• If interrupted in mid-thought, proceed with your original answer
before answering the next question.
• Challenge any effort to put words into your mouth.
• Don’t just answer the question; use the question as a
springboard to “sell” your agenda.
• If you do not know the answer, say so. Do not speculate.
• If you cannot divulge information, state why in a matter-of-fact
way.
• Be positive, not defensive.
• Always tell the truth.
Public Opinion
• It’s often difficult to gauge what the public really wants.
• The public regards some agencies as more important than
others (for example, police, defense).
• Public sentiment can help or hinder public management.
• Hargrove and Glidewell (1990) propose an agency
classification in relation to public opinion.
• How does the public perceive the agency’s clientele?
• Is the agency respected?
• How important is the agency?
Public Opinion
• A general level of support affects an agency’s
ability to maintain a base of political support.
– Praise for New York fire fighters after 9/11 is an example.
– Periods of antigovernment sentiment often prompt
reforms. New institutions and structures can upset the
organization and present numerous challenges.
– Changes might include
• New lines of authority
• New reporting requirements
Different Ways to Describe the Main
Actors in the Policy Process
• Iron Triangle
– This is an old name to describe the relationship between
bureaucracy, congressional committees, and interest groups.
– It is relatively stable.
– Entry into the triangle is rare.
• Issue Network
– Businesses, organizations, bureaucracies, individuals,
legislative committees and subcommittees all have interests
in policy. All attempt to influence the development and
execution of public policy.
• Barriers to entering the network are rather low.
• Those actively involved in the network at any one time will fluctuate,
and levels of activity will fluctuate.
Iron Triangle
Congress
Low regulation
Can lobby for agency support
Kingdon’s Streams Metaphor
Problem Stream
Window of
Opportunity
Policy Stream
Political Stream
Time
Kingdon’s Agendas, Alternatives, and Public
Policies: Basic Theory
• Three separate and independent streams come
together in an evolutionary manner.
• This presents windows of opportunity.
• The interactions of the streams are highly fluid:
– Coupling of problems and policies
– The role of entrepreneurs
Kingdon’s Streams Metaphor
• An adaptation of the “garbage can” model
• The streams:
– The state of politics and public opinion (the politics stream)
– The potential solutions to a problem (policy stream)
– Attributes of problems and the attention to them (problem
stream)
Kingdon’s Streams Metaphor
• Streams are parallel and somewhat independent of
each other.
• Policy entrepreneurs try to join the streams in a
“window of opportunity.”
• Window of opportunity is the possibility of policy
change.
Understanding and
Managing Public
Organizations
Chapter 9
Understanding People in Public
Organizations: Motivation and
Motivation Theory
Overview
• This chapter and the next chapter are concerned with
the people in organizations. This chapter provides
• A discussion of motivation in the context of public
organizations
• A review of the most prominent theories of work motivation
Motivation and Public Management
• Motivation is a fundamental topic in social science.
• The basic research and theory show no conclusive
evidence of a “science of motivation.” Motivation is
more of a craft; leaders draw on techniques, ideas,
and insights.
• The constraining character of government and the
political environment present challenges for
motivating in the public sector.
• A trend focusing on human capital is evidence of a
consensus of the topic’s importance.
The Context of Motivation in Public
Organizations
• The relatively complex and constraining structures in many
public organizations, including constraints on the administration
of incentives (Rainey, Facer, and Bozeman, 1995; Thompson,
1989)
• Vague goals, both for individual jobs and for the organization; a
weak sense of personal significance within the organization on
the part of employees; unstable expectations; and noncohesive
collegial and work groups—all the result of preceding factors
(Buchanan, 1974, 1975; Perry and Porter, 1982)
• People at the lower and middle levels of public organizations
often becoming lost in the elaborate bureaucratic and public
policy system, as argued by many people
The Concept of Work Motivation
• In general, work motivation refers to a person’s desire
to work hard and work well, and to the arousal,
direction, and persistence of effort in work settings.
• Motivation techniques are commonly used in all
sectors.
Items Used to Measure Motivation
Questionnaire Items Used to Measure Work Motivation
1.
Job Motivation Scale (Patchen, Pelz, and Allen, 1965)
This questionnaire, one of the few direct measures of job motivation, poses the following
questions:
On most days on your job, how often does time seem to drag for you?
Some people are completely involved in their job—they are absorbed in it night and day.
For
other people, their job is simply one of several interests. How involved do you feel
in your job?
How often do you do some extra work for your job that isn’t really required of you?
Would you say that you work harder, less hard, or about the same as other people doing
your type of work at [name of organization]?
2.
Work Motivation Scale (Wright, forthcoming)
I put forth my best effort to get the job done regardless of the difficulties.
I am willing to start work early or stay late to finish a job.
It has been hard for me to get very involved in my current job. (Reversed)
I do extra work for my job that isn’t really expected of me.
Time seems to drag while I am on the job. (Reversed)
3. Intrinsic Motivation Scale (Lawler and Hall, 1970)
Intrinsic motivation refers to the motivating effects of the work itself. Researchers have measured
it with items such as these:
When I do my work well, it gives me a feeling of accomplishment.
When I perform my job well, it contributes to my personal growth and development.
I feel a great sense of personal satisfaction when I do my job well.
Doing my job well increases my self-esteem.
Questionnaire Items Used to Measure Work Motivation
4.
Reward Expectancies (Rainey, 1983)
Some surveys, such as the Federal Employee Attitude Survey, use questions about reward
expectations, such as the true-false statements that follow, to assess reward systems but also
as indicators of motivation:
Producing a high quality of work increases my chances for higher pay.
Producing a high quality of work increases my chances for a promotion.
5.
Peer Evaluations of an Individual’s Work Motivation (Guion and Landy, 1972; Landy and Guion,
1970)
For this method of measuring motivation, fellow employees evaluate an individual’s work
motivation on the following dimensions:
Team attitude
Task concentration
Independence / self-starter
Organizational identification
Job curiosity
Persistence
Professional identification
Rival Influences on Performance
• Motivation alone does not determine performance.
• Other factors have an impact on performance.
–
–
–
–
Ability
Training
Preparation
Perceptions about ability to perform
• Can you think of other factors that influence
performance?
Motivation as an Umbrella Concept
• Complexities in conceptualizing give rise to status of
umbrella concept—motivation as a general idea
rather than a precisely defined research target.
• In the literature, motivation appears as an
overarching theme of a variety of related topics.
–
–
–
–
Organizational commitment
Job involvement
Organizational climate
Leadership practices
Theories of Work Motivation
• One way to classify theories of work motivation is to
distinguish between content and process theories.
• Content theories of motivation are concerned with analyzing
the particular needs, motives, and rewards that affect
motivation.
• Process theories of motivation concentrate on psychological
and behavioral processes behind motivation.
• Distinctions can overlap and need not be taken as
confining.
• Classification is best thought of as a tool to organize
characteristics of the theories.
Content Theories
• Maslow: Hierarchy of Needs
• McGregor: Theory X and Theory Y
• Herzberg: Two-Factor Theory
• McClelland: Needs-Based Model
Maslow: Hierarchy of Needs
• A theory in psychology proposed in his 1943 paper A
Theory of Human Motivation.
• It is often depicted as a pyramid consisting of five levels. The
first lower level is associated with the most basic needs,
physiological needs.
• Higher needs only motivate behavior when the lower needs
in the pyramid are met.
• Once an individual has moved upward to the next level,
needs in the lower level will no longer be prioritized and no
longer motivate behavior.
McGregor: Theory X and Theory Y
• Theory X is the traditional theory that assumes
workers lack the capacity for self-motivation and
direction and therefore the organization must control
and direct them.
• Theory Y is based on Maslow’s higher-order needs
and emphasizes considering those needs when
designing organizations to make jobs more
interesting and responsible.
Herzberg: Two-Factor Theory
• Two types of factors influence motivation:
– Motivators (intrinsic incentives such as interest in work,
achievement, and other higher-order needs)
– Hygiene factors (extrinsic incentives such as organizational
conditions and rewards)
• Hygiene factors can only prevent dissatisfaction, but
motivators are essential to increasing motivation.
McClelland: Needs-Based Model
• McClelland describes three types of motivational
needs in his 1988 book Human Motivation:
• Achievement motivation (n Ach)
• Authority/power motivation (n Pow)
• Affiliation motivation (n Affil)
• The main focus is on achievement motivation (n Ach)
“A dynamic restlessness to achieve mastery over
one’s environment through success at achieving
goals by using one’s own cunning, ability, and effort.”
Needs-Based Model:
Finding n Ach Characteristics
• A TAT card shows a picture of a boy reading. An n Ach person
may describe a boy studying hard to do well on a test; others
may see the boy as a daydreamer.
• McClelland conducted an experiment that involved asking
students to choose a strategy for a ring toss game and contends
that n Ach people choose to stand at an intermediate distance
from the peg (to both minimize the risk of failure and also
provide a high probability of accuracy through their own skill).
Others chose a distance associated with a riskier or less
rewarding outcome.
• McClelland analyzed stories in folk tales and concluded that
cultures high in n Ach had higher levels of development.
Comparing Content Theories of
Motivation
Maslow:
McGregor: Herzberg: McClelland:
Hierarchy of Theories X Two-Factor
n Ach
Needs
and Y
Selfactualization
Theory Y
Motivators
Self-esteem
Love
Safety
Psychological
Theory X
Hygiene
Factors
N Ach
Achievement
Power
(influencing
others)
Affiliation
(exchange of
warm
feelings)
Equity Theory Scale
Job Inputs
Job
Outputs
Job, time, effort,
ability flexible,
commitment
honest,
collegiality,
heart, integrity,
respecting
Paycheck,
benefits, vacation
time, security,
recognition,
responsibility,
respect, sense of
purpose, sense of
achievement
Perceived Balance
Input and motivation are reduced when perception of
fairness or equity (outputs) is tipped, that is, when an
employee perceives that effort is greater than reward.
What Happens When an Employee
Perceives That
More Is Given Than Received?
Perception that
pay and other
rewards do not
match effort
Reduced input:
some effort,
some
commitment,
little flexibility
Equity and Organizational Justice
• There are two types of justice in organizations:
– Distributive Justice (fairness and equity in distribution of
rewards and resources)
– Procedural Justice (fairness with which people feel employees
are treated with organizational processes such as decision
making)
• Research has shown that perceptions of higher levels of
justice in organizations are correlated with positive
work-related attitudes.
Process Theories
• Vroom: Expectancy Theory
– Expectancies and dependent variables
– Expectancy theory in public organizations
• Skinner: Operant Conditioning and Reinforcement
• Bandura: Social Learning (cognitive) Theory
• Locke: Goal-Setting Theory
Vroom: Expectancy Theory
• The main claim: An individual considering an outcome
sums up the values of all outcomes that will result from
the action, with each outcome weighted by the
probability of its occurrence.
– The theory draws on the classic utilitarian ideas (maximizing
pleasure and minimizing pain).
– It integrates elements of needs, equity, and reinforcement
theories.
Vroom: Expectancy Theory
• Based on three main ideas or concepts:
• Valence refers to the emotional orientations people hold with
respect to outcomes or rewards. (For example, how important
are pay, flexibility, challenge?)
• Expectancy: Employees have different expectations and levels
of confidence about their capabilities.
• Instrumentality refers to the perception of employees with
respect to whether outcomes or rewards will actually result.
Expectancy Theory: Formulations
Fi= ∑(EijVj)
F = The force acting under
individual to perform act i.
E = The expectancy or perceived
probability that any effort will
lead to an outcome (act i will
lead to outcome j)
V = The valence of outcome j
Vj = ∑(Vk Ijk )
V = The valence of outcome j
I = The instrumentality of the
outcome j for attainment of
the outcome k
V = The valence of outcome k
Expectancy Theory:
More Implications for Managers
• Valence: Managers must understand what individuals
value (extrinsic and intrinsic).
• Expectancy: If expectations are based on confidence
and ability, it is important to accurately assess skills
and weaknesses.
• Instrumentality: Performance requires that
managers come through on promises.
Expectancy Theory: Where We Stand
• Expectancies as Dependent Variables
• Expectancy type questions about relationships between
performance and pay, job security, promotion, and
incentives often show an association with reported work
satisfaction and effort.
• Use in Public Organizations
• The underlying principles still underpin many civil service
reforms and government pay systems.
B. F. Skinner: Operant Conditioning
• Skinner (1953) pointed out that
• Animals develop behaviors in response to more than just
stimuli.
• Behaviors are also produced, and operate on our
environment and generate consequences.
• We repeat or drop (extinguish) behavior in response to the
consequences.
• The theory focuses on
• Operant conditioning, that is, the use of consequences to
modify the occurrence and form of behavior
• The relationship between observable behavior and
contingencies of reinforcements
Operant Conditioning:
Selected Principles of Reinforcement
• Positive reinforcement provides the most efficient means of
influencing behavior. Punishment is less efficient and effective in
shaping behavior.
• Low ratio reinforcement schedule produces rapid acquisition of
the behavior but more rapid extinction when the reinforcement
stops.
• Intermittent reinforcement, especially in highly variable intervals
or according to a variable ratio schedule (reinforcement after
long varying periods or after varying numbers of occurrences),
requires more time for behavior acquisition, but extinction
occurs more slowly when the reinforcement seasons.
Bandura: Social Learning Theory
• Theory is developed by Albert Bandura (1978) and
others.
• Theory reflects value and limitations of operant
conditioning and behavior modification.
• Theory draws from behavior modification, but puts
greater emphasis on internal cognitive processes, like
goals and a sense of self-efficacy.
• Theory gives attention to forms of learning and
behavior change that may not be tied to external
environment.
Social Learning Theory
• A main claim is that individuals learn in ways other
than through extra reinforcement, including
•
•
•
•
Modeling the behavior of others
Vicarious experiences
Mental rehearsal and imagery
Self-management through setting goals for oneself
Edwin Locke and Colleagues:
Goal-Setting Theory
• Theory simply states that difficult goals lead to higher
performance than easy goals, no goals, or vague
goals.
• Once established, goals focus behavior and motivate
individuals to achieve desired end states.
• Commitment to the goals and feedback are also
necessary to performance.
• As the value of a goal increases the commitment to
the goal increases.
How Do Goals Affect Behavior?
• Goals may
•
•
•
•
Direct attention
Intensify effort
Intensify persistence
Spark creativity in problem solving
• Assignment of difficult goals enhances performance because
goals appeal to motive and desire to achieve (Locke and Latham,
1990a).
•
Goals provide a sense of purpose and create standards for
evaluating performance.
• Participation in goal setting is not clearly linked to higher levels of
motivation.
Recommendations for Goal Setting
• Goal setting works best with management support.
•
The greater the success, the greater the satisfaction.
– Paradox: More difficult goals are less likely to be achieved,
leaving people unsatisfied; this, in turn, fosters ambition,
pushing people to strive to achieve further.
• Mix qualitative and quantitative goals.
•
Assign responsibility for achievement of goals.
Recommendations for Goal Setting
• Empower employees to develop strategies and tactics
for achieving goals.
•
Goal setting requires effective leadership.
•
Feedback stimulates the accomplishment of goals.
• People should be committed to goals. The manager
should stress that the goals are important (have
personal value) and are attainable.
• Beware of goal overload.
• Mix qualitative and quantitative goals.
Recent Directions in Motivation Theory
• No theory has provided a conclusive explanation of
motivation.
• Researchers agree that theory development is in a
disorderly state.
•
•
•
•
Calls for separate theories to apply to different settings
Some saying universal theories are fruitless
Calls for “middle range” theory
Calls for development of taxonomies (motivational types,
settings)
• Although disjointed, the literature on motivation
remains useful for attempting to understand the
complexities of motivation.
Motivation Practice and Techniques
• The theories on motivation discussed in this chapter
all make some contribution. For example:
• Content theories remind us of the importance of intrinsic
incentives and equity.
• Expectancy theory and operant conditioning emphasize an
analysis of what is rewarded and punished in work settings.
• Many general techniques have come out of the
literature.
Incentive Structures and Reward
Expectancies in Public Organizations
• Linking rewards (especially extrinsic) to performance
is even more challenging in the public sector.
• More highly structured imposed personnel procedures- civil
service . . .
• But all government agencies are not the same
• Some pay-for-performance plans have met with success while
others have not.
• Findings are conflicting as to whether government employees
perceive the connection between extrinsic rewards and
performance.
Are Public Sector Employees
Less Motivated?
• Some argue that the different incentive structures in
the public sector diminish motivation.
• Research has not shown significant differences
between the sectors for self-reported motivation.
• In surveys, public employees have high levels on
measures related to motivation.
• Despite the constraints and frustrations found in the
public sector, public employees appear to be highly
motivated.
Understanding and
Managing Public
Organizations
Chapter 10
Understanding People in Public
Organizations: Values, Incentives,
and Work-Related Attitudes
Overview
• Like the last chapter, this chapter is also concerned
with the people in organizations. Chapter 10
• Describes concepts important to the analysis of motivation
and work attitudes
• Discusses the values, motives, and incentives that are
particularly important in public organizations
Attempts to Specify Needs, Values, and
Incentives
• Several lists and typologies are available. Some of the
more prominent are as follows:
•
•
•
•
Murray’s List of Basic Needs (1938)
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1954)
Alderfer’s ERG (1972)
Rokeach’s Value Survey (1973)
• Terminal values
• Instrumental values
Attempts to Specify Needs, Values, and
Incentives
• The literature also includes prominent work on
incentives, including, among others, the following:
–
–
–
–
Barnard (1938)
Simon (1948)
Clark and Wilson (1961)
Wilson (1973)
• These scholars focus on various incentive types.
The Complexity of Human Needs and Values
Murray’s List of
Maslow’s
Basic Needs (1938) Need
Hierarchy
(1954)
Abasement
Achievement
Affiliation
Aggression
Autonomy
Counteraction
Defendance
Dominance
Exhibition
Harm avoidance
Nurturance
Order
Play
Rejection
Sentience
Sex
Succorance
Understanding
Self-actualization needs
Esteem needs
Belongingness social
needs
Safety needs
Physiological needs
Alderfer’s
ERG Model
(1972)
Growth needs
Relatedness needs
Existence needs
Rokeach’s Value Survey (1973)
Terminal Values
A comfortable (prosperous) life
An exciting (stimulating) life
A sense of accomplishment (lasting
contribution)
A world at peace (free of war and
conflict)
A world of beauty (of nature and the
arts)
Equality (brotherhood, equal
opportunity for all)
Family security (taking care of loved
ones)
Freedom (independence, free choice)
Happiness (contentedness)
Inner harmony (freedom from inner
conflict)
Mature love (sexual and spiritual
intimacy)
National security (protection from
attack)
Pleasure (an enjoyable, leisurely life)
Salvation (eternal life)
Self-respect (self-esteem)
Social recognition (respect, admiration)
True friendship (close companionship)
Wisdom (a mature understanding of life)
Instrumental Values
Ambitious (hard working,
aspiring)
Broad-minded (open-minded)
Capable (competent, effective)
Cheerful (lighthearted, joyful)
Clean (neat, tidy)
Courageous (standing up for
one’s beliefs)
Forgiving (willing to pardon
others)
Helpful (working for the welfare
of others)
Honest (sincere, truthful)
Imaginative (daring, creative)
Independent (self-reliant, selfsufficient)
Intellectual (intelligent, reflective)
Logical (consistent, rational)
Loving (affectionate, tender)
Obedient (dutiful, respectful)
Polite (courteous, well-mannered)
Responsible (dependable,
reliable)
Self-controlled (restrained, selfdisciplined)
Types of Incentives
Types of Incentives
Incentive Type
Barnard (1938)
Specific Incentives
Material inducements
Personal, nonmaterialistic inducements
Desirable physical conditions of work
Ideal benefactions
General incentives
Associational attractiveness
Customary working conditions
Opportunity for feeling of enlarged
participation in course of events
Condition of communion
Definitions and Examples
Incentives “specifically offered to an
individual”
Money, things, physical conditions
Distinction, prestige, personal power,
dominating position
“Satisfaction of ideals about nonmaterial
future or altruistic relations” (pride of
workmanship, sense of adequacy, altruistic
service for family or others, loyalty to
organization, esthetic and religious feeling,
satisfaction of hate and revenge)
Incentives that “cannot be specifically
offered to an individual”
Social compatibility, freedom from hostility
due to racial, religious differences
Conformity to habitual practices, avoidance
of strange methods and conditions
Association with large, useful, effective
organization
Personal comfort in social relations
Types of Incentives
Incentive Type
Simon (1948)
Incentives for employee participation
Incentives for elites or controlling groups
Definitions and Examples
Salary or wage, status and prestige, relations with
working group, promotion opportunities
Prestige and power
Clark and Wilson (1961) and Wilson
(1973)
Material incentives
Solidary incentives
Specific solidary incentives
Collective solidary incentives
Purposive incentives
Tangible rewards that can be easily priced (wages
and salaries, fringe benefits, tax reductions,
changes in tariff levels, improvement in property
values, discounts, services, gifts)
Intangible incentives without monetary value and
not easily translated into one, deriving primarily
from the act of associating
Incentives that can be given to or withheld from a
specific individual (offices, honors, deference)
Rewards created by act of associating and enjoyed
by all members if enjoyed at all (fun, conviviality,
sense of membership or exclusive-collective status
or esteem)
Intangible rewards that derive from satisfaction of
contributing to worthwhile cause (enactment of a
law, elimination of government corruption)
Types of Incentives
Incentive Type
Downs (1967)
General “motives or goals” of officials
Niskanen (1971)
Variables that may enter the
bureaucrat’s utility function
Lawler (1971)
Extrinsic rewards
Intrinsic rewards
Definitions and Examples
Power (within or outside bureau), money
income, prestige, convenience, security,
personal loyalty to work group or
organization, desire to serve public interest,
commitment to a specific program of action
Salary, perquisites of the office, public
reputation, power, patronage, output of the
bureau, ease of making changes, ease of
managing the bureau, increased budget
Rewards extrinsic to the individual, part of
the job situation, given by others
Rewards intrinsic to the individual and
stemming directly from job performance
itself, which satisfy higher-order needs such
as self-esteem and self-actualization
(feelings of accomplishment and of using
and developing one’s skills and abilities)
Types of Incentives
Incentive Type
Herzberg, Mausner, Peterson, and
Capwell (1957)
Job “factors” or aspects. Rated in
importance by large sample of
employees.
Locke (1969)
External incentive
Definitions and Examples
In order of average rated importance:
security, interest, opportunity for
advancement, company and management,
intrinsic aspects of job, wages, supervision,
social aspects, working conditions,
communication, hours, ease, benefits
An event or object external to the individual
that can incite action (money, knowledge of
score, time limits, participation, competition,
praise and reproof, verbal reinforcement,
instructions)
Incentives in Organizations
• Barnard refers to “economies of incentives” as
fundamental aspects of human activity.
• Work by some prominent scholars is in the generalist
tradition (for example, Barnard, March and Simon).
Incentives in Organizations
• Clark and Wilson (1961) and Wilson (1973) developed
a typology of organizations based on the primary
incentive offered to participants.
• The main idea is that differences in incentives lead to
differences in organization behavior and processes.
Incentive
type
Organization
Behavior
Organization
Processes
Incentives in Organizations
• Clark and Wilson (1961) differentiate three types:
• Material incentives: tangible rewards, often monetary—
wages, fringe benefits, patronage
• Solidary incentives: intangible rewards from the act of
association—sociability, status
• Purposive incentives: intangible rewards related to the goals
of the organization—for example, working on an election of a
supported candidate
Incentives and Organization Type
• Utilitarian organizations rely primarily on material
incentives (business firms, labor unions).
• Clark and Wilson predict they will have fairly precise costaccounting machinery (Scott, 2003, p. 172).
• Managers will focus on obtaining necessary material
incentives.
• Conflicts will be about distribution.
• Organizational goals will be secondary to incentives.
Incentives and Organization Type
• Solidary organizations (service-oriented voluntary
organizations and social clubs) are places where
people make contributions in return for sociability
and status.
• Executive efforts at securing prestige, good fellowship
• Organizational goals are noncontroversial and socially
acceptable.
• These organizations tend to be less flexible and more public
in actions and decisions.
Incentives and Organization Type
• Purposive organizations rely on their stated goals to
attract and retain people (Clark and Wilson, 1961).
• Executives need to maintain inducements, but when goals
are lofty this is difficult to sustain.
• Often their efforts fail initially or intermittently (don't elect
candidate, don't stop hunger, and so on).
• Sometimes the goals are too vague or only support a
minority of interests.
Incentives: Subsequent Literature
• Extrinsic and intrinsic incentives—as an important
distinction
• The “most important” incentives—not conclusive, but
well-designed pay structures are consistently effective
• Research on the attitudes towards money, security
and benefits, and challenging work with varying
results
The Motive for Public Service:
In Search of the Service Ethic
• So why do people want to work for government?
• Researchers call this the service ethic or desire to
serve the public (PSM, or public service motivation).
• In general, research is consistent with the finding that
public managers express a greater motivation to
serve the public.
The Motive for Public Service:
In Search of the Service Ethic
• But what do we mean by PSM, and can it be measured?
– James Perry and Lois Wise (1990) define PSM as “an individual's
predisposition to respond to motives grounded primarily or
uniquely in public institutions and organizations.”
– They separate motives into three categories:
• Rational (instrumental)
• Norm-based
• Affective
Categorizing PSM
• Rational (instrumental) motives are grounded in enlightened
self-interest and are present in individuals who believe that their
interests coincide with those of the larger community. They
personally identify with some programs and express a
commitment to public policy or special interest advocacy.
• Norm-based motives describe a desire to serve the public
interest, a duty and loyalty to the government, and a concern for
social equity.
• Affective motives, such as altruism, are characterized by a
willingness or desire to help others.
Dimensions and Questionnaire Measures of Public Service Motivation
Dimension
Attraction to Public
Affairs
Questionnaire Items
Politics is a dirty word. (Reversed)*
The give and take of public policymaking doesn’t appeal to me. (Reversed)
I don’t care much for politicians. (Reversed)
Commitment to the
Public Interest
It is hard to get me genuinely interested in what is going on in my community. (Reversed)
I unselfishly contribute to my community.
Meaningful public service is very important to me.
I would prefer seeing public officials do what is best for the community, even if it harmed my interests.
I consider public service a civic duty.
Compassion
I am rarely moved by the plight of the underprivileged. (Reversed)
Most social programs are too vital to do without.
It is so difficult for me to contain my feelings when I see people in distress.
To me, patriotism includes seeing to the welfare of others.
I seldom think about the welfare of people whom I don’t know personally. (Reversed)
I am often reminded by daily events about how dependent we are on one another.
I have little compassion for people in need who are unwilling to take the first step to help themselves.
There are few public programs I wholeheartedly support. (Reversed)
Self-Sacrifice
Making a difference in society means more to me than personal achievements.
I believe in putting duty before self.
Doing well financially is definitely more important to me than doing good deeds. (Reversed)
Much of what I do is for a cause bigger than myself.
Serving citizens would give me a good feeling even if no one paid me for it.
I feel people should give back to society more than they get from it.
I am one of those rare people who would risk personal loss to help someone else.
I am prepared to make enormous sacrifices for the good of society.
* “Reversed” indicates items that express the opposite of the concept being measured, as a way of varying the pattern of questions and answers. The
respondent should disagree with such statements if they are good measures of the concept. For example, a person high on the compassion
dimension should disagree with the statement, “I am rarely moved by the plight of the underprivileged.”
Source: Perry, 1996.
More on PSM
• Perry’s later research (1996) finds evidence of
dimensions of the PSM concept.
• Uses a twenty-four-item measurement scale and identified
four factors of PSM:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Public policymaking
Public interest
Compassion
Self-sacrifice
• Three factors are consistent with the original theory, a fourth
(self-sacrifice) represents a common factor in the PSM
literature.
More on PSM
• Naff and Crum (1999) used a subset of the 1996 PSM
scale to analyze the data from the 1996 Merit
Principles Survey.
– Found a strong, positive correlation between PSM and
performance. Valid concerns remain about the use of selfreported appraisals as a proxy for performance.
• Alonso, Pablo, and Lewis (2001) examine the link
between PSM and job performance.
– Results are mixed, but notably could not replicate the Naff
and Crum findings of a positive correlation between PSM and
performance.
More on PSM
• Additional studies by Perry (2000) use the
measurement scale to investigate the correlation
between PSM and 5 antecedents:
–
–
–
–
–
Parental socialization
Religious socialization
Professional identification
Political ideology
Individual demographic characteristics
• Perry also developed a process theory of PSM that
focused attention on pro social behavior and the
variations across institutions in the motivational
process.
Other Motivation-Related Work Attitudes
• Work-related attitudes have been used to compare
public and private managers.
• Major concepts of work attitudes include
•
•
•
•
•
Job satisfaction
Role conflict and ambiguity
Job involvement
Organizational commitment
Professionalism
Job Satisfaction
• Concerns how an individual feels about his or her job
– Determinants
• This is one of the most intensively researched areas
(approximately 3,500 studies) with no clear consensus on its
meaning.
• There are many ways to measure and thus to define.
• One prominent approach (Hackman and Oldham, 1980) draws
on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
• Consequences
– Inconsistent findings on the connection to performance
– Fairly consistent (but not strong) findings that job satisfaction
ties to absenteeism and turnover
Job Diagnostic Survey
• The model proposes that attention to five job design
characteristics (skill variety, task identity, task significance,
autonomy, and feedback) indicates the potential of the job to
motivate the person holding it.
• Three critical psychological states (experienced meaningfulness of
the work, experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work,
and knowledge of the actual results of the work activities).
• In turn, these factors increase the likelihood of positive personal
and work outcomes, especially from employees with a high
growth-need strength, including high internal work motivation,
high quality performance, high satisfaction with the work, and low
absenteeism and turnover.
– The “Job Diagnostic Survey” is drawn from J. R. Hackman and G. R.
Oldham, “Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey,” Journal of
Applied Psychology, 60, 1975, pp. 159-170.
Motivation Potential Score (MPS)
• MPS is the summary of Hackman and Oldham's Job
Characteristics Model.
• MPS measures the overall motivating potential of a
job, or job satisfaction.
• Calculation: MPS = Meaningfulness of work X
autonomy X feedback. (Take the average of skill variety
+ task identity + task significance, then multiply the
average by autonomy and feedback.)
– J. R. Hackman and G. R. Oldham. 1975. “Development of the Job
Diagnostic Survey,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 159-170.
Role Conflict and Ambiguity
• Role conflict: incompatibility of job requirements
• Role ambiguity: lack of information about a position
• The characteristics of an individual’s role in an
organization determine the stress experienced in that
job.
– Role conflict and ambiguity have been measured.
– Research shows the relationship between role variables and
job satisfaction as well as other organizational factors such as
participation in decision making in organization.
– Individual characteristics, such as need for clarity, influence
how much role conflict and ambiguity a person experiences.
Job Involvement, Organizational
Commitment, and Professionalism
•
Questions have been designed to measure these job
characteristics.
•
Which characteristic do you think these questions
measure?
1. Do you see the organization’s problems as your own?
2. Do you believe you should have autonomy in your work?
3. Is your work an important part of your life?
Motivation-Related Variables in
Public Organizations
• Role ambiguity, role conflict, and organizational goal
clarity
• Work satisfaction
• Organizational commitment and job involvement
Motivation-Related Variables
in Public Organizations
• Research points to a somewhat lower satisfaction with various
intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of work in many public
organizations than exists in many private ones.
• Different interpretations for findings:
• Findings may reflect public organizations’ administrative constraints—
personnel system and purchasing.
• There may be related frustration with administrative complexities and
complex political and policymaking processes, public sector realities
that diminish some intrinsic rewards.
• Buchanan (1974, 1975) found that groups of federal executives
expressed lower organizational commitment and job involvement
than executives from private firms.
• Steinhaus and Perry (1996) concluded that a public versus private
dichotomy is too simple a distinction for analyzing organizational
commitment.
Job Involvement and Job Commitment
• Job involvement
– The construct resembles intrinsic motivation but is distinct
from general motivation and satisfaction.
– It figures importantly in professional jobs.
• Job commitment
– Relates to a sense of pride in work
• Calculative commitment is based on perceived material awards
the organization offers.
• Normative commitment is tied to perceived relationship to
values.
• Identification commitment derives from a sense of pride of
association.
• Affiliation commitment derives from a sense of belonging.
• Exchange commitment is based on belief that the organization
appreciates effort.
The Challenge of Motivation in the Public
Sector
• Research on organizational commitment suggests
frustrations, constraints, and problems associated
with public sector management.
• On the positive side, research reflects a strong current
of motivation and constructive attitudes in public
organizations.
• The body of knowledge offers ideas, but little in the
way of concrete scientific solutions.
• The challenge this brings to leadership of public
organizations is presented next.
Understanding and
Managing Public
Organizations
Chapter 11
Leadership, Managerial Roles,
and Organizational Culture
Leadership Definition
• Leadership has been defined in various ways.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
As the focus of group processes, as a matter of personality
As a matter of inducing compliance, as the exercise of influence
As particular behaviors, as a form of persuasion
As a power relation, as an instrument to achieve goals
As an effect of interaction, as a differentiated role
As an initiation of structure
As many combinations of these definitions (Bass, 1998, 17)
• By leadership, most people mean the capacity of
someone to direct and energize people to achieve
goals.
• A number of theories have attempted to answer the
challenges of leaders.
Trait Models of Leadership
• Early investigations considered leaders as individuals
endowed with certain personality leadership traits
constituting their leadership capacity.
• Examples: intelligence, foresight, personality characteristics
(enthusiasm, persistence)
• Attempts to isolate specific traits led to the conclusion
that no single characteristic distinguishes leaders
from nonleaders.
Blake and Moulton
Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
• One of the best frameworks for examining
relationship between leader style, organizational
setting, and effectiveness.
• Two types of leaders
• High LPC: relationship-oriented
• Low LPC: task-oriented
• Three contingencies
• Leader-member relations
• Task structure
• Position power of the leader
5
Fiedler’s Contingency Model
• The least preferred coworker scale (LPC) distinguishes
leadership styles.
– High LPC leaders are relationship oriented.
• They are rated more favorably.
• High LPC leaders perform best when the contingencies
are mixed in regard to favorability, that is, when
conditions are relatively ordered. The emphasis on
relationships helps to mitigate the negative effect of
unfavorable contingencies.
– Low LPC leaders are task-oriented.
• They are rated more unfavorably.
• Low LPC leaders perform best when the three
contingencies are unfavorable (disorder) or all three are
favorable (order).
Path-Goal Theory
• This approach is based on the expectancy theory of
motivation and emphasizes the three motivational
variables that leaders may influence through their
behaviors or decision-making styles.
• Valences
• Instrumentalities
• Expectancies
• At the heart of this theory is the notion that the
leader’s primary purpose is to motivate followers by
clarifying goals and identifying the best paths to
achieve those goals.
7
Path-Goal Theory
• The job of the leader, according to this theory, is to
manipulate these three motivational variables in
desirable ways.
• The theory proposes that four behavioral styles
enable leaders to manipulate the three motivational
variables.
–
–
–
–
Directive
Supportive
Participative
Achievement-oriented
The Vroom and Yetton Model
• This model describes the different ways leaders can
make decisions and guides leaders in determining the
extent to which subordinates should participate in
decision making.
• Leadership is defined in terms of the degree of
subordinate participation in decision-making processes.
• The decision tree model proposes that the most
effective leadership style depends on the characteristics
of both the situation and the followers.
• The decision tree emphasizes the fact that leaders
achieve success through effective decision making.
Hersey and Blanchard: Life-Cycle Model
• This model proposes that the effectiveness of a leader’s
decision-making style depends largely on followers’ level of
maturity, job experience, and emotional maturity.
• The model proposes two basic dimensions on which decisionmaking style may vary.
• Task orientation
• Relationship orientation
• The model suggests these two dimensions combine to form
four distinct types of decision styles.
• Telling
• Selling
• Participating
• Delegating
10
Attribution Models
• The main idea is that people actively search for
explanations of the behavior that they observe, and
form hypotheses as to the causes of that behavior.
• The resulting causal attributions determine cognitive,
affective, and behavioral responses toward the actor.
• Leaders take into account
• The extent to which behavior is consistent with past
behaviors
• The extent to which others in the same situation behave
likewise
Leader-Member Exchange Theory
• Leader-member exchange theory maintains that the
leader and each individual member of a work group
have a unique “dyadic” relationship.
• Each dyad is seen as a social exchange or negotiated
transaction of leader-member.
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