PPAS 3190 Fall Semester Exam Review Dec/11/13
1.Explain the difference between public and private goods and elaborate on the
differences between public administration and private administration.
Public goods vs Private Goods
• What the state owns and what it doesn’t own
• Public goods are indivisible
• Exclusionary principle -You cannot prevent people from benefiting this good even
if they haven’t paid for it. Cannot exclude thosrdwho haven’t paid for it.
• Positive Externality – Create benefits for the 3 party who doesn’t have any
involvement with the good.
Example: National Defense,
Healthcare – not generally public good,
Education- First person to benefit from your education, but can be argued that it
can benefit society as a whole.
• State must provide it, as it makes revenues from taxation
The differences between public administration and private adminstration
• Mission – Profit Making vs serving the public
• They are much alike as they work as a hierarchical organization
• Public sector to provide services to the public, serve the public
• Private sector increase level of the profit
• Efficiency- the public sector is not efficient, same time they are not the only
provider of the services. They receive money from the government and they don’t
care how they operate. more scrutiny by the media which forces them accountable
to the people
The private sector, expands on profit -
And that’s why we should privatized the public sector.
• Efficiency can be easily be measured in private sector by profit unlike public
sector
• The government must provide the services
• Hard to measure efficiency in the public sector, because satisfaction measurement
isn’t simple
• Public sector organizations are required to take in consideration the political
environment unlike private sector.
• Public sector contains a lot of layers of accountability, this multiplicity impacts
negative efficiency.
• Area of subject scrutiny – “fish bowl of publicity”
Media concentrates on the public sector but they are not subject to public scrutiny.
• Public – effiecncy is hard to measure as it is affected by political environment,
completing goals which interfere with the goals of public administration,
• It is difficult to measure efficiency in the context of political goals
• Recruiting is harder in public sector; representational to equity and diversity
1 PPAS 3190 Fall Semester Exam Review Dec/11/13
2. Specify and elaborate on the historical evolution of public administration in
Canada, and explain the main factors/forces that shape the nature and scope of
public administration.
Small government -> great depression creates provision for social services -> expansion
of government after WW2 -> more depts.And agencies are created (welfare state) ->
Contraction (Neoliberlism); downsizing is necessitated.
• 1867-1936 – State was a watchman state
- The dominant idea of the state at that time was classical liberal – adam smith
- Main functions:
1. Protect Nation
2.Provide internal security- private property
3. Can only provide certain goods that cannot be provided by the market
-The state was not to have any intervention in the market or social programs
because churches were providing that.
-If someone was unemployed at that time it was because they wanted to.
-Small government, small cabinet, no agencies
-Church and charities to provide to those in need.
• 1930-1970- expansion, Great Depression
-Questioned classical liberalism
-Reshaped the role of government, should be more than watchmen state
-Keynesian’s idea started to triumph, provided solution. Indirectly he provided for
greater state involvement. More social programs, created a demand for
bureaucrats. Golden era of capitalism after great depression. Making the state
larger and larger.
• 1970- Now
-3 era of public administration, the era of restructuring
-downsizing of the public sector
-Keynesian idea was destroyed
-The crisis was related to the size of the public sector, too large, inefficient.
-Contraction, downsizing, privatization
-New idea has become to emerge to new ideas of public management,
decentralize from hierarchy.
-Requires seeing the citizens as clients and customers.
-More flexibility
Factors that affect expansion and contraction of Public Administration
• Political, ideological and legal environment:
Depends on the constitution role, how it is being controlled.
Most rightwing parties talk about small governments, though they end up with
larger government.
• Geography
-Size of Canada
- Requires decentralization
• Technology- reshaped public administration relations, by online access.
• Cultural Factors
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• Demographic Factors
-Rural areas to urban areas
- pollution
-aging population
-women in labour force
• Economic factors
-different departments for different resources
-growth of multinational corporations
- labour regulations
3. Outline and elaborate on the main features of bureaucracy as envisioned by
Weber and evaluate the criticisms that have been directed at Weber's ideal model of
bureaucracy.
Has had a major influence on the study of bureaucracy and organization.
His definition of bureaucracy: Bureaucracy is rational, efficient and a logical approach to
organization:
Weber's explanation for the rise and inevitability of bureaucracy as a form of
organization.
The choice is between bureaucracy or amateurism in the field of administration.
Max Weber
• Major influence on the study of bureaucracy and organization
• Bureaucracy is rational, efficient and a logical approach to organization
• Explanation for the rise and inevitability for bureaucracy- need for mass
administration makes bureaucratic administration indispensible.All institutions
they will develop bureaucratic administration
• Bureaucracy best form of organization – efficient, effective and professionalism.
• Bureaucracy and source of authority 3 types:
Distinguish by the means of justifying authority.
1. Traditional- legitimized based from inheritance or religion or divine
rights(divine right of a king- kings powers derived from god)
2.Charismatic – based on extraordinary characteristic of a leader (Hitler)
3. Legal- The power is exercised based on the written rules that are to be obeyed.
Main features of Weber’s ideal type of bureaucracy
1. Hierarchal structure
2. Unity of command
- The order and directions can easily be transmitted downwards
- Reports and suggestions can be transmitted up
-Facilitates accountability and communications
3. Specialization of labour
-Within the organization, the tasks are specialized by job by specific expertise and
qualification
- Promote and enhance effectiveness
4. Employment/ Promotion based on merit
-promotion should be enhanced by further education and training
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5. Tenure of employment
-Those who are members of bureaucracy should be given full employment
- More beneficial to concentrate on their task
6. Decisions based on impersonal rules
- Make decisions based on written rules
-Not on personal opinion
-Follow the rules and applied to everyone
-Decision making more objective
7. Importance of written files
-Have to record all decision making process
- Follow the rules
-monitors all wok
-show how bureaucrat has made a mistake or misapplied the rules
8. Separation of position from bureaucrat’s private life.
-All the powers and privileges are being exercised by bureaucrats are related to
the office
-Personal interest cannot be inflicted.
Criticism of Weber’s ideal type
1. Not as efficient as Weber suggested; trained incapacity
- Hierarchy has the potential to lead to individual responsibility
- Create a sense to appetite towards the delivery of the services
- Every decisions must be made on written rules not personal rules
- Too much concentration on skills may lead to inflexibility
-Bureaucrat are taught to follow the rules not innovative, they have to apply the
rules. Situations arrive outside the rules.
2. Mechanistic view of human beings. Workers become “cogs in a machine”
-Just follow the rules
-No sense of initiative
3. Heavy focus on the structural aspects of bureaucracy and neglecting the
psychological and sociological variables of human organizations
-Best way is not in the rules
-Informal rules
4. Overlooking the influence of informal system of relations at workplace
5. Impersonality of bureaucratic rules might be consistent with the democratic idea
of equality of everyone before the law but it can also impede the achievement of
social justice and democratic values.
6. Not accounting for its pathological or distorted character.
4. Reflect on the Hawthorne Experiments and outline the main findings and
criticisms that have been directed at these experimental studies.
Hawthorne Experiment (19241932)
Testing the impact of workplace environment on productivity stages of successive
experiments:
Findings; enhancing workers’ moral will increase productivity. The centrality of informal
relations at workplace, group and social norms. The ability of supervisors to modify
these social norms and values.
4 PPAS 3190 Fall Semester Exam Review Dec/11/13
Criticisms of Hawthorne experiment:
Questioning its validity:
underestimating the constructive role of supervisors
problems with group decision making
Excessive freedom for workers might be counterproductive for productivity.
Hawthorne Studies
• Human relation school, putting more emphasis on human aspect
• What are the factors to increase the productivity of workers?
o Money?
o 4 major studies
1 study- change in the physical condition of the workplace, by
varying the light brightness – but can be questioned as there are
other factors
2 - women in to different rooms, they allowed the women to have
more break, rest – more independent -> productivity tend to
increase- allow workers to have more freedom
rd
3 study – faculty talk to the workers about productivity
improvement -> they want workers to feel as if they are part of the
decision making aspect.
4 study- Informal relations at the workplace –if each worker had
work harder he could of made more money. – Concerned about
losing their job. They created norms to keep their jobs.
• Improving physical condition of the work is not enough to promote productivity.
• Need to satisfy social and psychological needs of the workers
• There are informal relations within the workplace which tends to govern the
behaviour of the workers and is more powerful than the formal relations-
influencing the productivity.
• Productivity would be enhanced if managers can display if they are concern for
the wellbeing of the workers.
• Productivity will be enhanced if workers are treated with respect.
• Financial rewards are not enough to promote productivity.
• If managers give special attention to workers, the productivity in the workplace
will be enhanced.
• Criticisms :
o The validity of the experiments and findings as it was placed in a control
environment.
o Researchers have placed more emphasis on production – as it isn’t the
only aspect that influences productivity- ie: technology.
o Researchers have put more emphasis on group decision making and
rejected single decision making, but in emergency situations single
decision making is imperative
o Researchers promote more freedom for workers, -> too much freedom
might abuse their privileges.
5 PPAS 3190 Fall Semester Exam Review Dec/11/13
5. Outline and elaborate on the main features of participatory management models
Human Relations School/// Participatory management: Background
Main goal: reducing the tension between workers and management through involving
workers in workplace decisionmaking process.
Workers participation in the process of decisionmaking, there is a conflict between
workers and employers. Human relation school of theories try to control the conflict by
bribing the workers and pretend that you care for the workers, which will make the
workers, accept the new decisions.
Different Approaches:
These models believe that there are tensions within organizations that cannot be
eliminated but can be controlled by allowing workers to become part of the decision
making process, giving them a role.
Management by Objective (MBO):
• Peter Drucker; argued which had been to deign to undermine the arguments by
weber. In practice turned labours idea on his head.
• Characteristics of the organization as powerful forces of misdirection.
• Each unit becomes more involved within its unit and prevents them to oversee the
organization and we need management by objective.
• Following steps:
o Consultations between top management and subordinates in order to
identify the common goal of the organization. Management and
subordinates need to communicate.
o Responsibility of top management to clarify the expected results
o Top managers and subordinates come together to distribute the
responsibility
o Each unit the head of the unit comes to distribute the responsibility within
the other subordinates of that unit
o Responsibility of the top management to review the consistency of the
objectives to make sure that will be achieved – continuous review of the
plan
o Year end performance report
• Criticisms:
o Success depends on its correct implementation
o No genuine worker’s participation
o Hard to outline and clarify an objective
• Attracted by governments
Organizational Development (OD):
• Under assumptions that all organizations have the potential to become
unresponsive, inflexible and rigid
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• Fail to respond to the changing environment
o The organization faces an organizational crisis which leads to collapse of
the organization or radical restructure of the organization.
• In order to prevent orgs to reach that crisis, certain steps should be taken to make
the organization more flexible, adaptive and responsive.
• Each organization has each own culture- history of success and failure within that
the organization and how it has operated within the past.
• If organizational culture becomes too inflexible will prevent the organization to
adjust to the changing consequences
• Inertia- resists the change
• All organizations have the potential to become to be frozen, inflexible and rigid.
• Take certain steps to prevent the organization to reach that step-> put more
emphasis on :
o Unfreezing
Outside agent must Identify the dysfunctional behaviour and
problems within the org, then the org will be persuaded to unlearn
those behaviour
o Moving
What improvements are needed and what needs to be implemented
within the organization
o Refreezing
Organization will be taught in new behaviour and to freeze the new
behaviour so they will not revert into old habits.
• Why outside of org? – Someone with the high level of behavioural science
knowledge is needed in order to implement these changes.
o If someone is outside the org they can see easily what’s the difference of
inefficient.
o Some provisions will be lost and some will be gained – different allocation
of power. This person is more neutral as they have no invested interest.
• Looks at the org as a system not about employee satisfaction
Total Quality Management (TQM)
• Based on Japanese experience after the WWII – Edwards Demming
• Popularized in the 1980’s inAmerica
• Japanese model was emphasized of quality unlikeAmerica which concentrated on
quantity
• Do it right the first time
• Steps :
1. Close relation and contact with the suppliers to ensure you receive the
right supplies
2. Continuous employee analysis of the whole process – the workers should
be part of the work process so they know where are the deficits and what
kind of implementations must be made.
7 PPAS 3190 Fall Semester Exam Review Dec/11/13
3. Also making employees communicate with others in the company and
other departments.
4. Workers would get impression that are valued and that psychologically
more positive.
5. Close communication with customers/clients to understand how they
define quality
Criticisms of participatory management:
• Hard to implement, requires full commitment
• Creates psychological shock for employees as they are part of the decision
making process
• Workers are not elected members – they are just public servant, this undermines
minister responsibility (Public Sector)
• Department will be captured will be caught up by private people and will not
perform on public interest
6- What are the main institutional arrangements that have been put in place in
order to check the power of bureaucracy? (Week 9)
Bureaucracy and Democracy: the problematic nature of their relations has been captured
in the following theses by Etzioni Halevy
1 Bureaucracy generates a dilemma for democracy
2 Democracy generate dilemma for bureaucracy
3 These dilemmas exacerbate strains and power struggle on the political scene
Parkinson’s Law: Selfexpansionist tendency of bureaucracyBureaucrats or
administrators are bound to multiply
Controlling Bureaucrats: Lines of defences
The Executive (political Executive, central agencies )
The Parliament/Legislature( Auditor GeneralPublic Accounts Committee, Joint
Standing committee on the Scrutiny of Regulations)
The Judiciary federalism review, Administrative Law, Charter review
Ombudsmen: agents of Parliament
Extraparliamentary actor:
The Media:
7. - Outline and elaborate on the main components of the confederation settlements
and explain the major changes that the Canadian federalism has undergone.
Confederation Settlement : Main Components
• 1. Division of power between two levels of government
8 PPAS 3190 Fall Semester Exam Review Dec/11/13
o Section 91 – powers of federal government (29)
o Section 92 – powers of provincial government (19)
o Section 95 – Concurrent Powers (2)
o POGG – Peace, Order and Good Government
Any power, area of jurisdiction that is not specified will be called
residual power and will reside to federal government
Emergency power – war, famine
National concern
• 2. Division of power over finance – Taxation power
o Federal government has power over both direct and indirect taxation
o Direct – income tax and indirect – sales tax
• 3. Federal Control of provincial government
o 3 mechanisms to allow the feds to control the provinces
o 1. Power of Reservation- Reserve for the review by the federal
government
o 2. Power to disallow – Federal government can reject provincial laws
o 3. Declaratory power- Local issue having national concerns can be under
the federal jurisdiction
• 4. Representation – House of Commons and Senate
o House of Commons – each population will be represented in the house of
commons nd
o Senate- Representative of the region- equal representation , 2 sober
thought- ability to reject bills
• 5. Cultural Dynamics – Language and religion
o 1. Section 133 of BNA– both languages can be used in House of
Commons and all federal proceedings. Must be recorded in both languages
but spoken in 1.
o 2. Section 93 BNA- Religious schools have access to be funded by
provincial governments.
Evolution of Canadian Federalism: Federalism as an evolving process
• Canada is the most decentralized state on the face of earth
• Federalism is not ecstatic, it is an evolving process. Changes accordingly to its
environment. Natures of federalism is not the same now as it was when first
created
• Judicia
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