Accountability in Public Administration - Research Paper Example

?Insert Insert Grade Insert 27th October Sociology Accountability in public administration is the obligations a leader has; to explain, inform and justify circumstances to the higher authorities. The higher authority may be internal or external. The purpose of giving this information is for them to perform in response to the information they receive. Administrative accountability ensures that a leader has obligation to higher ranked leaders and to the lower ranked leaders (Cend’on 34). There are four levels of ethics these include lobbying, which involve a person determination to acquire values and principles. The second step is building personal values. The following level is establishing morals that are based on values and principle a person has acquired in the second level. The last level involves development of character traits based on value and principles. Little lies are deceptions that a leader may use to confuse the followers. They involve distortion of facts. They are leaders’ creation that is aimed to favor his side of view. Big lies are those propagandas that are spread to distort the truth. It was first coined by Adolf Hitler when he was a ruler in Germany. It was a lie that was used by Jews to blame Germany’s loss in the World War 1 on one of their officers. Dirty hands dilemma is a situation which faces a leader so that he is supposed to sacrifice either morality or the well being of the people he leads. The leader is deeply constrained by circumstances to behave in a way that will favor the community. This is what causes the argument of the ends justifying the means. Max Weber was a German sociologist who was arguing for social action to be explained using interpretive rather than empirical methods. He argued that people should be understood according to the way they give interpretations to their actions. He says that empirical methods should not be used to explain social actions because justification of actions can only be found in the mind of people who are acting (Anonymous par 5-8). The theory of scientific management was advanced by Fredrick Taylor. He argued that scientific skills should be included in management of organizations in place of use of skilled craftsmen. His theory was centered on improving workers productivity. However, the negative side of the theory is that he rules out the value of incentives and initiatives to workers. The theory also would result in monotony in work. The theory separates the leaders from other workers making it difficult to manage from a good organizational behavior. The positive thing about the theory is that it emphasizes on the training of workers on the scientific method. The theory of complex adaptive systems argues that relationships should be centered on the system of the organizations. This theory is complicated to achieve comparing the part of people acting differently in their areas and differently in an organization. The theory of complex adaptive systems helps to build a team with awareness of means of operation within their organization. This promotes the rate of achieving organizational goals and displacement of workers. The most relevant theorist in modern public is Max Weber for he emphasizes on understanding people from their perspective. This makes it easy to implement issues because a leader will have in mind the thinking of the people. Making policies and having the workers adhere to them can easily be achieved through this kind of thinking. Organizational behavior is the study of how people as individuals or as a group use their knowledge within an organization. Organizational behavior investigates possibilities of making the work efficient. Group dynamics are important consideration because people in an organization represent different values and principles. People in an organization have different attitudes towards everything because of their cultures and socialization. The two theories of McGregor are important consideration in an organization. Theory X suggests that workers will be willing to avoid their responsibility if a chance to do so appears. In theory X, employees should be controlled and their behavior can be predicted because organizations management does not offer motivation that are not monetary. He suggests that theory Y puts into consideration the betterment of working environment, which promotes workers morale. He says that punishment is not the only way to ensure that employees do their work but satisfaction they get produces commitment to work. These two theories help in public management in promoting the working employees. Public managers will understand when they can use punishment to attain results and where they need to motivate workers in other ways. Strategic management is management skills that affect the whole organization and are time bound and need commitment of all the stakeholders (Oxford University 50-53). Management by objective is a situation whereby the management uses strategies in a way they are beneficial to the organization. They are, therefore, required to employ means that are not clear to them that may swallow them. All managers are required to set objectives to be accomplished in future (Thomson 1-2). Best practices are models and initiatives that produce outstanding results, and have sustainable and innovative contributions to an organization. They are methods of selecting what is working or not in a situation within an organization. A best practice ensures that management makes good choices for whatever venture they are involved. Best practices are relevant in the modern public administration because they will affect the performance of leaders at different situations. Using best practices, an administrator is able to choose what to do and how to do it (Jennings 73). SWOT in public agencies is good for the people. For example, in social amenities like schooling institution, the management needs to establish clearly the strengths they have to achieve success. Administrators in schooling institutions will need to know the areas of their weaknesses. Whether these weaknesses are appearing on the side of administration or beneficiaries, they are important to be identified. The other part involves gauging the opportunities that are available for an institution to perform better. These will assist them in formulating strategies they need to implement to achieve their better performance. The final consideration would be evaluating the threats they will face in their plan to accomplish their goals. Identifying threats helps to formulate strategies that will ensure better result and will ensure that those challenges are sure in doing their business. SWOT analyses are important for they help during planning and implementation of strategies. They are also useful for identifying areas to be given more attention. Works Cited Anonymous. “Max Weber: Basic Terms (The Fundamental Concepts of Sociology)” Web. 26th Oct 2012. Cend'on, Antonio Bar. “Accountability and Public Administration: Concepts, Dimensios, Development.” Web. 26th Oct 2012 http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/nispacee/unpan006506.pdf Jennings, Edward. “Best practices in public administration: how do we know them? How can we use them?” Web. 26th Oct 2012 Oxford University. “One: Core Concepts.” Oxford University Press, Web. 26th Oct 2012 Thomson, Thomas. “Management by Objectives”, The Pfeiffer Library Volume 20, 2nd Edition. 1998. Web. 26th Oct 2012 Read More