Essay - Essay One There is a Conservative Orientation in Public Administration...

Essay One

There is a conservative orientation in Public Adm*****istration, a concern with order, stability and continuity. I'm not sure that's all bad."

The above statement addresses one of the central *****s - and in many ways ***** central paradox - of public administration, both in the practice ***** ***** the study of this field. A society that is overly resistant to change stagnates. A species that does not adapt to changing environmental and competitive conditions will decline and even become extinct; this is true of societies as well. There must be change, or there will ***** ***** and death.

But just as lack ***** change can be terribly damaging if not lethal to a society, *****o much change can also ***** dangerous. Societies that prosper are those that allow for change within an established structure - ********** both the change and the structure are important. (This does assume, of course, that the ***** is fundamentally sound to begin with.)

The question then becomes from what sec*****r of societies should the impetus for change stem from ***** ***** ***** sector ***** the tendency to protect and continue the structures of a *****. There are, in fact, a number ***** different groups in each of these camps - both artists and *****cer researchers, for example, help a society to change ***** evolve.

***** the groups ***** help maintain the necessary structure of a society ***** ***** th*****t maintain the institutions of daily governance. Public administrators ensure that procedures that may seem trivial or even oppressive to members of the public are followed - thus allowing f***** a strong, very slowly evolving structure within which other ch*****nges may occur more quickly.

***** Two

***** of ethics ***** not terribly effective in the controlling of behavior ***** public employees."

This statement *****s to me to quite misguided, for I believe ***** codes of ethics are in general quite effective in helping ***** establish and maintain norms for behavior for employees in a wide variety of settings. Fur*****r*****, ***** believe that such codes of ethics are even more effective in the public arena than in the private arena.

Public employees are usually paid less well ***** those with comparable skills and responsibilities who work in ***** private *****. They are motivated to stay in the ***** sec*****r not ***** the most obvious reasons (such as financial gain) but because ***** a sense of obligation to help the larger good. People who feel an ***** to help the society at large even when this entails personal sacrifice are by definition ethical people.

***** ***** ***** rise to the ethical tone set by their bosses. Given that in the public realm those supervisors are also motivated by a desire to contribute ***** the ***** good, they should (***** gener*****l - of course there may always be exceptions) prove to be capable of *****ing a framework ***** ethical ********** that, when codified, is followed by most members of ***** workforce. To suggest that most people are more