1. Understanding and Managing Public Organizations
The Impact of Political Power and Public Policy

2. Bureaucratic Power 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.
Numerous cases showing agencies’ responsiveness to President, Courts, Congress
Also evidence of “bottom up” processes with agencies independently initiating policy
Proactive behavior of public mangers is a common theme in leadership literature.

3. Sources of Political Authority and Influence
Chief executives
Legislative bodies
Courts
Government agencies
Other levels of government
Interest groups
Policy subsystems ands policy communities
News media
Public opinion
Individual citizens

4. 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

5. 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

6. Realities 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.

7. Chief Executives Rivals legislative branch for strongest influence
Includes Presidents, Governors, Mayors
Chief executives presumably have the greatest formal power over bureaucracies in their jurisdictions.
Influence powers are complex and dynamic.
Methods of influence include:
appointments of agency heads
resources of executive offices can enhance influence
Executive branch proposes initial budget, although legislature approval is necessary.
Executive Orders

8. Legislative Bodies
Formal legal authority over agency comes in many forms. A few examples:
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.
Budgets
Oversight, including hearings, reports, investigations
Formal authority always operates in a political context.
Formal authority can weaken or bolster agency.

9. Limits on Legislative Power
Agencies are typically the experts.
Implementation is a source of power.
Close scrutiny over agency often has minimal political payoff.
Could jeopardize relationships
Eliminate potential sources of favors for constituents

10. Courts
Some experts claim courts exert powerful controls over bureaucracy, while others see them as ineffectual.
Courts confine agency to statutory authority.
Require agency to follow due process in rulemaking

11. 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.

12. Interest Groups
Support of organized groups is essential to the well-being of agency.
Role of interest groups is controversial.
Some criticisms
There is a danger that special interest politics will further fragment the system, complicating communication and coordination.
System favors some powerful private interests over public interest.
Agency can become “captive.”
Revolving door

13. Interest Groups: Not all bad
Support from constituent groups can
Bolster and legitimize agency work
Defend agency against budget cuts
Provide agency with important information, expert reports
Competition between interests gives rise to various viewpoints.

14. News Media Media attention varies by administration and agency.
Media attention can shift unpredictably.
Media tends to take an adversarial stance.
Bad press can damage budgets, programs, and careers.
Agencies value good coverage and spend a least 5 hrs per week on matters pertaining to media (Graber, 2003).
Media serves as a watchdog, reporting government waste and abuses.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. Public Opinion
It’s often difficult to gauge what the public really wants.
Public regards some agencies as more important than others (e.g. 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 agency respected?
How important is the agency?

19. Public Opinion
General level of support affects agency’s ability to maintain base of political support.
Praise for NY fire fighters after 9/11
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

20. Different Ways to Describe the Main Actors in the Policy Process
Iron Triangle
Old name to describe relationship between bureaucracy, congressional committees, and interest groups.
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.

21. Iron Triangle Congress Bureaucracy Interest groups
Implementation as preferred by Congress
Favorable laws
Campaign support
Budget, support of agency mission
Bureaucracy
Low regulation
Interest groups
Can lobby for agency support

22. Kingdon’s Streams Metaphor
Window of Opportunity
Problem Stream
Policy Stream
Just one of several ways to describe the policy making process. This model by John Kingdon (1984) focuses more on the flow and timing of policy action . Like the “garbage can model” (Cohen, March & Olsen, 1972) it highlights the complexities and of policy-making. The model contradicts the rational approach to decision making. A main claim is that actors rarely weigh decisions and alternatives systematically.
In this model, particular attention is paid to three streams: the problem stream, the policy stream, and the political stream, which move independently through the policy system.
The 3 streams are distinct but complementary, processes. It is the coupling of the streams that allows an issue to rise to a level of importance.
Problem recognition, the formulation of policy proposals, and political events independently unfold. When they meet and coincide an issue is transformed from a mere topic and/or problem into a concrete policy, that is, a compelling problem is linked to a plausible solution that meets the test of political feasibility
For example, supporters of the formation of Homeland Security took advantage of a political context that favored the reorganization.
Problem stream- a problem has to be identified and connected to appealing solutions. 9/11 identified the defense needs.
Political stream- election, new government and new ideology made way for changes
Policy stream- Concerned with the formulation of solutions and alternatives. The idea here is that solutions are in search of a problem not the other way around. Applied to Homeland Security, it is common knowledge that some of the Bush staff favored reorganization before any events made reorganization more appealing.
Political Stream
Time

23. 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)

24. 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: the possibility of policy change