2. 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
3. • 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.
4. 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
5. • 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.
Two Views
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.”
14. 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
15. 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.
16. 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
17. • 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
18. • 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.
The community relations office of the city of Claremont, California,
published the following guidelines for managing relations with reporters:
Source: Adapted from Larkin, 1992.
Guidelines for Managing Relations with the
News Media
19. • 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.
Guidelines for Managing Relations with the
News Media
20. 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?
21. 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
22. 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.
25. 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
26. 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)
27. 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.