I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in public administration. This book provides a greater understanding and a deeper insight into how values and value conflict plays a vital role in public administration at the state and local level. It provides great examples through studies and graphical representations of the different issues that may or may not hinder the decision making and implementation of public policy. It also identifies some ways public administrators can identify those core values that are common and utilize them to develop solutions to problems, policy and procedures without causing a divide between themselves and the American people. The book reinforced my thoughts on how public administration, the government and bureaucracies continue to find ways to buck the system. The individuals sitting in positions that are supposed to fighting for the common citizen are not doing their job. I feel that the book continues to prove that the people and institutions that are supposed to represent the people, are pushing their own agendas and are not listening to the people.
The government and public administrators at all levels are pushing their own agendas and no one can agree on anything. If people service in administrative and governmental come together in a peaceful manner and come to a peaceful agreement on policies, rules, regulations and laws, how do they expect for the everyday American citizen and groups of every race, ethnicity, sex, gender and background to come together peacefully. There is a great divide between the American people, the government and public administration. Abraham Lincoln once said, “A government of the people, for the people, by the people, shall not perish from the earth.” At times, it seems that the government and public administrator officials are running a government by the government for the government.
Especially when they exempt themselves from laws, programs and policies they created, such as Obama Care, but the everyday American citizen will be provided a hefty fine if they are not enrolled in some form of healthcare under Obama Care. The authors 35 years of experience in teaching, positions he has served in and his dedication to his studies at prestige’s universities provided him the knowledge and certifications necessary to study and write this book Public Administration: Clashing Values in the Administration of Public Policy. From reading the book, the author utilized his network, experience, case studies, facts and studies to provide a deep dive analysis of clashing values. It did not seem or feel like the author utilized biases to write the material. Though the book was published in 2006, it is still relevant today. Public administration today still has the same issues and will continue to have the same issues as when this book was written.
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LeMay identifies several key principles where values clash within public administration. These principles are common themes throughout the book. First, politics sets the tasks for administration but should not manipulate its offices. Secondly, Politicians should be neutral when shaping public policy. Lastly, administration should be non-partisan and neutral in implementing public politics. Within these principles are issues that have been identified to cause the clash of values. First, efficiency of public administration verses their responsiveness. In this sense the policy is made to respond to the citizens demands and the government uses common citizens to conduct business. However, making government to the will of people could be dangerous, it could become to responsive and citizens might find another avenue to for their own benefit rather than the common good. The second issue that may cause a clash of values public organizations verse public organizations.
This is where government agencies may have to regulate or control private commerce to ensure that the private sector does not establish or create publicly harmful results. Third, there is the idea of neutrality verse tolerance. This though looks at neutrality and how the government sees and deals with citizens as equals. Tolerance looks at the protected classes and how the government might have to step in to intervene for the rights of certain groups. Lastly, economic capitalism versus individual rights is where the government must step in to protect the individual from excessive manipulation by capitalist economic forces. A fact that highlighted the clash of values is the investigations that came out after September 11, 2001. These investigations identified cultural clashes, mismanagement and lack of coordination among agencies which stovepiped information. Another interesting fact that supports the books theme of clashing values was the establishment of the Transportation Security Administration in October of 2001. The creation of the TSA was not a well thought out process which in turn created an organization and policies out of fear and in a hostile policy making that took place outside of the normal policy process.
A case study of New York City’s custodial system shows how a corrupt agency can diverge from the grip of tight oversight, increased regulation, internal audits and reorganization. This custodial system is responsible for 1,200 schools and has been involved in scandals since the early 1900s. The custodial system in New York City was so immersed in defying traditional administrative controls that mangers and leader were unable to identify misconduct and employees were blinded by their wrongdoing that it felt like is was the right way to continue operating. The Division of School Facilities tried taking away the custodial discretion, tightening oversight and auditing financial records. Managers failed to enforce these stipulations refused to follow the rules, and a reward system was put in place for corruption which remained institutionalized in the agencies infrastructure (LeMay, 2006).
The conclusion that has been is established is the facts and case study support the need to identify and study the competing values of implementing public policy. A way to stress the importance of public involvement in shaping cultural values is to consider that values “are the basic building blocks of the public sector” which, when coupled with motivation, can lead people and therefore organizations, to act apart from self-interest or the interests of said organization (Garcia-Zamor, 2015). The book Public Administration: Clashing Values in the Administration in Public Policy provides relevancy to the course and a better understanding of public administration by focusing on public administration at the state and local levels. The course textbook, Public Administration in America discusses ethical issues that affect political and administrative decisions and identify ways to public administrators accountable for their actions, decisions, and implementations of public policy (Milakovich & Gordon, 2013). In his book, LeMay reinforces these complex ethical issues by focusing on the values that clash with public administrators and the conflicts that stem from these clashing values while establishing and implementing public policy. In the article, A Clash of Values: Public Ethics and the Business of Government, the authors see public administrators as a recast of public entrepreneurs, adhering to a bottom-line script that is fundamentally at odds with the spirit and intent of public service (Meredith & Newman, 2014).
In this book, LeMay’s main objective is to identify the clashing of values and how administrators make decisions and implement policy. He discusses how public administrators utilize creativity, new and ingenious ways to identify and solve problems that affect administrations at the state and local levels of government. He accomplishes through current issues that are playing a vital role in the decision making of public policy. Some of the issues he highlights and discusses throughout the book are the Department of Homeland Security and how its policy and procedures are being enforced and followed by those that serving under this administration. He also highlights the No Child Left Behind Act and the conflict between bureaucracies at the state, local and federal level. LeMay takes readers on a roller coastal ride to provide insight into how line is drawn by bureaucrats between values and the establishment of public policy.
The text in this book focuses on the values and clash of values within public administration. Values in this text are those things that are attractive, held in high regard and worthy. Values signify principles, goals, or standards held by a person, a class, an organization or society. In this book the competing values of implementing public policy are explored. First area of exploration are the many duties and responsibilities fulfilled by roles that public administrators sit in as they wind their way through the policy process. Bureaucrats are not seen as implementers of policy but as people that affect every step of the policy process. They determine the problem, structure the process while determining restrictions of courses of action that are used to make decisions and by allowing the policy that will be put in place to be shared with others. They also implement the policy through the establishment of programs and policies and evaluate the success or failure of each policy that has been established (LeMay, 2006). The second are of exploration is the focus of bureaucrats in the various levels of government, specifically those at the local and state level. State and local bureaucracies are normally larger than national-level bureaucracies.
This can be identified by looking at the number of programs, number of employees, or the amount of funding provided to local and state bureaucracies. Most of the bureaucratic action in the administration of public policy is taking place in the state and local governments. In the book, many examples of state and local level bureaucracies are provided throughout the text. The third area of exploration is highlighted by additional teaching tools such as readings, cartoons, tables, figures, glossaries and college edition references (LeMay, 2006). Just about every chapter in the book illustrates main points and ideas with boxed materials from current and practical of administrators at all levels of government (LeMay, 2006). The readings that are at the end of the chapter are a supplement to provide clarity and better understanding of the information covered in the chapter. These readings are an added tool which provide an outlet to add more interest to the topics discussed. LeMay uses visual tools because students today are more adept at learning when information is laid out visually which makes it easier to read and study. Lastly, at the end of each chapter. LeMay provides a summary which recaptures the information that is covered in the chapter. He proposes several questions to allow students to use their critical thinking skills to take a deeper dive into the key points of discussion. He then provides a list of websites that assimilate with the information covered in the chapter to allow students to conduct further research on information covered in the chapter.
