Guy B. Adams

DISSERTATION RESEARCH IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND COGNATE FIELDS: AN ASSESSMENT OF METHODS AND QUALITY

How does dissertation research in public administration compare with cognate fields in terms of method and quality? Guy B. Adams andJay D. White compare the dissertation researchfrom 1992 in public administration, criminology, management, planning, social work and women s studies. Comparativefindings are presented on methods used, on the general characteristic of the dissertations, and on quality. The lack of theoretical research, or

Knowledge and Theory Development in Public Administration: The Role of Doctoral Education and Research

The purpose of doctoral education and research in public administration might seem almost self-evident. If public administration were thought of like most other social science disciplines, the traditional purpose of the doctorate - the development and dissemination of knowledge relevant to the field and preparation of the professoriate - would hold for public administration as well. Most academics in public administration may continue to think of the doctorate in our field in precisely that way. However, the evidence simply does not support this view. Indeed, the public administration doctorate appears to advance knowledge and theory development in the field only to a rather limited degree. Doctoral education and research is one aspect of the larger debate in public administration concerning the status and nature of research in the field, and more broadly, the question of knowledge and theory development in public administration. A number of studies in recent years have focused on the research issue (White and Adams, 1994); some of these have discussed doctoral research (Adams and White, 1994; Cleary, 1992; McCurdy and Cleary, 1984; Stallings, 1986; and White, 1986b), and some have examined the kinds of research manifested in journal publications (Houston and Delevan, 1990; Perry and Kraemer, 1986; Stallings and Ferris, 1988). Another group of studies has addressed the broader philosophical issues related to the generation of knowledge and the development of theory in the field (Adams, 1992; Balfour and Mesaros, 1994; Box, 1992; Hummel, 1991; and White, 1986a). We examine the publication records of the 1981 through 1987 classes of public administration doctorate recipients and assess their contribution to knowledge and theory development in the field, as measured by publication in refereed journals. These findings are compared with other data on publication rates of public administration doctorate recipients, and then, we take a closer look at the class of 1987. These data on publications are contemplated in light of the research on the quality of dissertation scholarship. Taken together, evidence from these two streams of research renders the traditional view of doctoral education and research untenable for public administration and also shows that doctoral education and research appear not to be making significant contributions to knowledge and theory development in the field, at least as measured by publication in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. Finally, we offer some suggestions for improving the condition of the public administration doctorate. However, we are unable to paint an optimistic portrait of what appears to be a doctorate with multiple, and possibly conflicting, purposes. Recent Research on the Doctorate Published assessments of doctoral education and research in public administration in the 1980s and 1990s have raised serious questions for those who hold that the doctorate should advance knowledge and theory in the field. In 1984, McCurdy and Cleary examined public administration dissertations and found that the majority lacked a central focus on the field, addressed relatively unimportant questions, and failed to meet the standards of mainstream social science research. White (1986b) agreed with them in a replication of their research. He also found that much of the nonmainstream research lacked methodological rigor according to the standards of interpretive or critical research. Stallings (1986) has also raised several significant questions about the scope and role of the doctorate in our field. In the 1990s, Clearys research concluded that the quality of dissertations had improved somewhat (Cleary [1992] replicated his previous research with McCurdy). Unfortunately, the amount of improvement has been modest at best (Adams and White [1994] replicated Whites earlier research). Indeed, the majority of the dissertations studied lacked a theoretical framework, were methodologically unsound, and tended to address questions of moderate to low interest to the field. …

Culture, Technical Rationality, and Organizational Culture

The authors suggest that the importance of the culture at large has not been adequately addressed in the literature on organizational culture. Technical rationality represents a central part of the culture at large in the modern age. The roots of technical rationality are traced to the beginning of this century, and it is suggested that technical rationality constitutes a powerful set of beliefs in the organizational world, called here the managerial metamyth. The Washington State Ferry System provides a case example in which the managerial metamyth became the overt content of the imposition of cultural elements on that organization. The authors argue the importance of attention to the culture at large for the study of organizations.

The tacit organization

Part 1 Metapattern and metamyth - tacit aspects in the culture of organizations: metapattern in the culture of organizations metamyth in the culture of organizations the managerial metamyth in children literature. Part 2 Strapping on the managerial metamyth - the Washington state ferries: from Black Ball Line to state ferries happy times hard times, and disasters DOT as a serieous player trying to implement Touche-Ross maintenance: on the brink of automation bears, rats, and magic Mayo. Part 3 The tacit dimensions in the culture of organizations: metapattern and metamyth and the ferry system. Afetrword: a symbolic approach to the study of organizations.

Market-Based Government and the Decline of Organizational Ethics

This article discusses ethical challenges posed by market-based government and the degree to which contracting enhances or diminishes government’s ability to ensure that organizations that deliver public services adhere to ethical practices and public values, such as lawfulness, transparency, and accountability. A case study of an organization—Blackwater (now, Xe)—vividly illustrates the considerable difficulty in achieving ethical organizations when so many basic functions are outsourced, with few or ineffective regulatory controls, to private organizations. Because some of these challenges can perhaps best be addressed at the organizational level, we conclude by proposing a typology of organizational ethics in matrix form, according to the organization’s relative standing on the two dimensions of compliance and social responsibility.

In Service of the Leviathan: Democracy, Ethics and the Potential for Administrative Evil in the New Public Management

Abstract In this paper, we argue that the practice of New Public Management (NPM) subverts democracy by undermining the social contract and substituting a market mentality with very different normative expectations. Like late modern Hobbesians, those who advocate NPM offer a vision of public service in which democratic politics and ethics become increasingly irrelevant. In this scenario, the market becomes the new leviathan, which we have no choice but to obey. The values of this sovereign-competition, exchange values, transaction costs, and survival of the fittest-have driven most remaining vestiges of democracy from the public square. Such an atmosphere leaves us disturbingly vulnerable to the practice of administrative evil.

Ethics and the Chimera of Professionalism: The Historical Context of an Oxymoronic Relationship

Like the Chimera of Greek mythology—an imaginary monster compounded of incongruous parts—professionalism has assimilated ethics as a part of its ordinary definition. In this paper, the relationship between professionalism and ethics is examined in historical context, which suggests the association of the two occurred during and just after the Progressive Era. It was during this period of time that technical rationality overwhelmed earlier understandings of professionalism—ones more conducive to moral reasoning. This paper addresses the prospects for a new professionalism in our present modern historical circumstances.

The Child is 'Father' to the Manager: Images of Organizations in U.S. Children's Literature

A persons approach to organizational life is grounded in an elaborate and largely unarticulated meaning map, which provides tools for analysing situations, beliefs about how things ought to be done and rationales for those beliefs. This meaning map is socially constructed. We argue in this article that childrens literature is a part of this process of social construction, and that these stories in the United States are reflective of one of the dominant strands of the U.S. national culture, namely, technical rationality. We analyse thematically a set of twenty-nine chil drens stories, and discuss the repeating themes which emerged from that analysis. The implications for the study of organizations are discussed.

The Public Administration Doctorate: A Degree in Search of a Purpose

ABSTRACTThe purpose of doctoral education in public administration might seem almost self-evident. If public adminstration were regarded like most other academic fields and disciplines, the traditi...

Organizational Metapaiterns Tacit Relationships in Organizational Culture

Recurring tacit patterns of relationships, called here metapatterns, represent an important, but largely neglected, focus for researchers interested in organizational culture. How metapatterns emerge and how they manifest themselves in organizational behavior is discussed at some length. Metapatterns, which comprise the tacit level of interpersonal and group interaction in organizations, are linked to other levels of analysis. The implications of metapatterns for the study of organizations are examined.