Exploration of the technocratic mentality among European civil servants

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232199642
Author(s):  
Ringa Raudla ◽  
James W. Douglas ◽  
Zachary Mohr
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Technical Knowledge ◽  
High Level ◽  
Proper Balance

Civil servants vary in the degree to which they hold technocratic attitudes. We explore whether bureaucrats’ exposure to politics and politicians is associated with the depoliticization dimension of the technocratic mentality. We use survey data of high-level executives in 19 European countries to explore factors that are associated with executives’ perceptions that removing issues and activities from the realms of politics leads to more farsighted policies. We find that respondents’ level of exposure to politics and politicians is indeed negatively associated with technocratic mentality. Bureaucrats have studied political science or public administration, work closer to politicians (in terms of type of organization), interact with them more frequently, and have more positive perceptions of these interactions tend to have lower levels of technocratic attitudes. Points for practitioners Beliefs affect behaviors and behaviors affect outcomes. Technocratic attitudes may limit the ability of civil servants to work effectively with politicians. We show that educational degrees that promote democratic values and exposure to politicians (particularly positive interactions) are associated with lower levels of technocratic attitudes. Given that a proper balance between political and technical knowledge can enhance organizational performance (Krause et al., 2006), these findings should be taken into account when staffing and structuring public organizations.

DIGITAL COMPETENCE OF CIVIL SERVANTS AS A RISK FACTOR FOR THE REPUTATION OF GOVERNMENT UNDER CONDITIONS OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION (AT THE REGIONAL LEVEL)

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (8) ◽  
pp. 13-20
Author(s):  
T. V. BOROVIKOVA ◽  
◽  
N. N. ROZANOVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Digital Competence ◽  
High Level ◽  
Regional Authorities

The article actualizes the task of forming digital competence of civil servants from the position of value-based approach, the application of which can neutralize the risks of reducing the reputational potential of the authorities. These risks are associated with the problem of insufficiently high level of information openness of regional authorities in the conditions of digital transformation; the expediency of considering information open-ness as a significant indicator of digital maturity of public administration is substantiated.

The Sedimentation of Public Values: How a Variety of Governance Perspectives Guide the Practical Actions of Civil Servants

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn van der Steen ◽  
Mark J. W. van Twist ◽  
Daphne Bressers
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Q Methodology ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Civil Servant ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Public Values ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Practical Action ◽  
Good Government

What defines a good civil servant is not self-evident. In fact, when you ask civil servants what it means “to be a good civil servant” and “to do a good job,” you receive differing responses based on the various values that guide the way each individual approaches their job. The differing values can be traced to well-established perspectives in the literatures of public administration, governance, and political science. Each perspective defines “good government” and “being a good civil servant” in different ways, elevating differing values in the process. These perspectives are institutionalized and internalized in the present-day reality of public administration. Therefore, a present-day civil servant works amid a variety of competing perspectives about what “good government” and “being a good civil servant” mean. It is interesting how various perspectives on “good governance” and “being a good civil servant” play out in the working-practice of civil servants: How do values from the various governance perspectives guide the practical actions of civil servants? To answer this question, we conducted a research project to look for patterns in the values that guide the work of civil servants. We distinguished four governance perspectives from literature on governance. We translated these four governance perspectives into typical value statements that guide practical action, and used Q-methodology to survey civil servants with these perspectives as options. We found four distinct profiles of combined values that apparently guide the practical actions of civil servants. The profiles help us better understand the variety of values that guide practical actions of civil servants.

scholarly journals An Analysis of the Students’ Writing Skill in Hortatory Exposition Text at the First Semester of Public Administration Study Program of the Faculty of Social and Political Science

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-20
Author(s):  
Amanda Pradhani Yanwar
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Simple Random Sampling ◽  
Study Program ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
High Level ◽  
Level Student

This research aimed to describe the students’ difficulties in writing Hortatory Exposition Text and describe the students’ scores in writing Hortatory Exposition Text. The research was descriptive qualitative research. It was conducted at the first semester of Public Administration Study Program of the faculty of Social and Political Science Universitas B. The population of this research was 40 students of the first semester of Public Administration Study Program of the Faculty of Social and Political Science Universitas B. Simple random sampling was applied to select the sample. The researcher took 3 participants consisting of one low, one medium, and one high student based on English language proficiency level. In collecting the data, the researcher used test, observation, and interview. In analyzing the data, the researcher used a flow model. The result of the research showed that the low-level student (PE) got the lowest score, and the high-level student (JN) got the highest score. In addition, the aspects of writing the students had the most difficulties in were organization, unity, coherence, sentences, and paragraphs.

Performance Audits and Supreme Audit Institutions’ Impact on Public Administration: The Case of the Office of the Auditor General in Norway

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (10) ◽  
pp. 1422-1446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Reichborn-Kjennerud ◽  
Åge Johnsen
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Performance Audit ◽  
Auditor General ◽  
Positive Impacts

Performance audit is widespread but contested. The “audit society” proposition holds that audits are rituals producing comfort, whereas the “mandatory audit” proposition in public policy presumes that audits have positive impacts. Common to both propositions is the lack of empirical evidence of audit impact. This article analyzes survey data of the auditees’ tendency to make changes as a consequence of Supreme Audit Institutions’ performance audits. Civil servants who had experienced performance audits responded that ministries and agencies tend to make changes, but instrumental, institutional, and political factors have an effect on the institution’s propensity to make changes.

Historical Development of American Public Administration

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mordecai Lee
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Ronald Reagan ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Administrative Management ◽  
Political Machines ◽  
The Government ◽  
High Level

The historical development of American public administration has evolved through four eras: clerks, civil service, administrative management, and under siege. During its early years government staffing was very sparse. A gradual thickening of the government workforce occurred during the 1800s, which was the era of clerks. Some were one-person agencies consisting of an elected official with administrative duties; others were patronage appointments by the candidate winning the presidency (or governor or mayor) rewarding supporters with jobs. After the Civil War, Union veterans increasingly populated nonpatronage positions. The assassination of President Garfield in 1881 by a disappointed office seeker crystalized public dissatisfaction with patronage, whether in Washington or by corrupt urban political machines. In 1883, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to create a merit-based civil service system. This began a second era of American public administration, that of civil servants. The original law only covered about 10% of all federal employees, but it set the precedent for gradual expansion of an apolitical civil service. Presidents came and went, but expert civil servants were unaffected. The rise of civil service also necessitated having employees to oversee them. These apolitical and expert managers led to the new profession of public administration, a development that required not only qualified practitioners but also credentialed faculty to train them. The 1932 election of Franklin Roosevelt as president triggered a third era, that of administrative management. This was a term used by FDR’s reorganization planning committee partly because it connoted a high-level focus on the president’s managerial needs. The concept encompassed both line and staff roles. Line officials ran bureaus and were accountable to the president. Staff functions, such as budgeting, HR, and planning facilitated effective management. In the post-FDR decades, especially after the 1960s, there was a gradually growing backlash against his kind of public administration. This became the fourth era, of government employees under siege. The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 epitomized it. Government was not the solution, he liked to say, government was the problem. Politicians now ran for office against government. Increasingly, the bureaucracy at all levels of government was viewed with hostility, an enemy needing to be controlled and reduced. Bureaucrats became the bad guys in America’s ongoing political narrative. After the election of President Donald Trump, a more ominous term came into use: the deep state. Supposedly, the bureaucracy now had a life of its own and could even destroy a president if it wanted to. Presumably, a fifth era of American public administration will eventually succeed this age of hostility toward all things governmental. If American history tells us anything, the outlines and themes of the fifth era will likely be surprising and unexpected. Nonetheless, government in a democracy will always need some form of public administration. No matter its precise outline, future public administration will likely retain the core values that government cannot be run like a business, that government’s purpose is to promote the public interest, and that public administration cannot be perfect. Mistakes will always happen, but these can be learning experiences for improvement rather than excuses for increasingly dysfunctional bureaucratic behavior.

scholarly journals MERITOKRASI DAN NETRALITAS APARATUR SIPIL NEGARA (ASN) DALAM PENGARUH PILKADA LANGSUNG

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-105
Author(s):  
Firman Firman
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
American Political Science Review ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
California Management Review ◽  
Employee Behaviors ◽  
The Face ◽  
American Political Science

Abstract: This study is about the meritocracy system of bureaucracy and the neutrality of civil state apparatus (ASN) in the face of elections to the elections. In various regions there is always a problem of bureaucratic professionalism issues. Despite the various regulations to regulate ASN to be neutral and independent so that the democratic process in this case direct election of the head of the region can run well. However, this issue is always repeated with different schemes for the lust of power and bureaucrat positions that can be facilitated or lifted / accelerated to occupy positions in the bureaucracy. Various rules and regulations were hit or forced only because they became part of the susceptibility when the pilkada was implemented. A regulation about ASN 2014 is expected to filter spoil system problems or promote a bureaucrat in certain positions only because of proximity or for being a successful team during the electionsKeywords: meritocracy system , bureaucracy, election                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Abstrak: Kajian ini tentang system meritokrasi birorkasi dan netralitas aparatur sipil negara (ASN) dalam menghadapi pilkada sampai dengan pilkada usai. Diberbagai daerah selalu muncul persoalan permasalahan profesionalisme  birorkasi. Walaupun sudah lahir berbagai regulasi untuk mengatur agar ASN bisa bersikap netral dan independen agar proses demokrasi dalam hal ini pemilihan langsung kepala daerah bisa berjalan dengan baik. Namun, persoalan ini selalu berulang dengan skema yang berbeda untuk syahwat kekuasaan dan jabatan birokrat yang bisa dimudahkan atau diangkat/dipercepat untuk menduduki posisi dalam birokrasi. Berbagai aturan dan regulasi ditabrak atau dipaksakan hanya karena menjadi bagian suskesi saat pilkada dilaksanakan. Muncul regulasi tentang ASN 2014 diharapkan bisa menfilter persoalan spoil system atau mempromosikan seorang birokrat dalam posisi tertentu hanya gara-gara kedekatan atau karena menjadi tim sukses saat pilkada  Kata kunci: Sistem Merit, Birokrasi, Pemilu  Albrow, M. (1989). Birokrasi, diterjemahkan oleh Rusli Karim dan Totok Daryanto, PT. Tiara Wacana. Jakarta.Alon-Barkat, S., & Gilad, S. (2016). Political control or legitimacy deficit? Bureaucracies' symbolic responses to bottom-up public pressures. Policy & Politics, 44(1), 41-58.Assessment of hierarchical tendencies in an Indian bureaucracy. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 20(5), 380-391Cascio, W. F. (2006). The economic impact of employee behaviors on organizational performance. California Management Review, 48(4), 41-59.Kaufman, H. (1956). Emerging conflicts in the doctrines of public administration. American Political Science Review, 50(4), 1057-1073.Laski, H. J. (2014). Parliamentary Government in England (works of Harold J. Laski): A Commentary (Vol. 9). Routledge.Martini, R. (2010). Politisasi birokrasi di Indonesia. POLITIKA Jurnal Ilmu Politik MIP, 1(1), 67-74.Nadel, M. V., & Rourke, F. E. (1975). Bureaucracies. Handbook of Political Science, 5, 373-440.Rourke, F. E. (1984). Bureaucracy, Politics, and Public Policy. Boston: Little, Brown. RourkeBureaucracy. Politics, and Public Policy1984.Rourke, F. E. (1992). Responsiveness and neutral competence in American bureaucracy. Public Administration Review, 539-546.Setiyono, B. (2012). Birokrasi Dalam Perspektif “Politik & Administrasi” (Vol. 1). NUANSA.Soebhan, S. R. (2000). Model Reformasi Birokrasi Indonesia. Jakarta: PPW LIPI.Sudirman ://makassar.tribunnews.com/2016/08/26/daftar-nama-nama-pejabat-soppeng-yang-baru-dilantik diakses pada tanggal 2/10/2017Thoha, M., & Organisasi, P. (1993). konsep dasar dan Aplikasinya. Jakarta: Rajawali Pers.Thompson, J. D. (1967). Organizations in action: Social science bases of administrative theory. Transaction publishers.Woo, K. H. (2015). Recruitment Practices in the Malaysian Public Sector: Innovations or Political Responses?. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 229-246.Janesick, J., Pinter, J., Potter, R., Elliot, T., Andrews, J., Tower, J., ... & Bishop, J. (2009, August). Fundamental performance differences between CMOS and CCD imagers: part III. In Proc. SPIE (Vol. 7439, p. 743907).

scholarly journals Leadership development trends in the scandinavian countries: experience for Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 90-96
Author(s):  
Roman Storozhev
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Public Leadership ◽  
Intersectoral Cooperation ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
High Level

At the current stage of Ukrainian state integration into European community, country leaders face new challenges that require improving efficiency of public management and public administration based on democracy and human-centeredness. Urgency of public leadership development in Ukraine is closely related to the foreign countries’ experience study on the mechanisms of formation and development of public leadership, characterized by a high level of moral values, responsibility, communication, modesty. The new management paradigm, being introduced in public administration and public management in Ukraine, also requires introduction of new qualities in public leadership, manifested through establishment of moral values in the leader's personality, leader’s behavior in public service reform. According to the author, such qualities of leadership as delegation of powers in public authorities, intersectoral cooperation in public administration determine development of leadership in the context of educational trends in foreign countries. The author believes that today an important aspect in the development of public leadership is the mobilization aspect of the efforts of all leaders and subordinates of public authorities and leaders of civil society institutions to overcome crises and do complex reforms in public administration. Such crises include ensuring stability in global fight against the GOVID-19 pandemic. However, problem of public leadership development in this aspect has not been properly reflected in modern scientific sources.The article reveals priority models of public leadership of Western European countries as a prerequisite for formation of successful personality, successful leadership qualities, the trend of which is such an important factor as publicity, because before the 90s of the twentieth century not all government officials in European countries were public.

scholarly journals MARKERS OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF CIVIL SERVANTS

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (9) ◽  
pp. 85-98
Author(s):  
Nataliya NOVIKOVA ◽  
◽  
Raisa NAUMENKO ◽  
Anastasiy ILINA ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
The Public ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
High Level

The authors determined indicators of professional competence of civil servants under conditions of reforming the system of public administration. Scientific approaches to interpretation of the concepts of “governance” and “public administration” are generalized and the relationship of these terms is analyzed. The main markers of professional competence of civil servants in the public sphere are being considered. The results of the study found that a significant proportion of civil servants for various reasons does not deal with the systematic development of their professional resource, which is based on creativity. At the same time, a high level of tension in professional activity, specific difficulties in the public service system cause problems in personal and professional development of civil servants, complicating the process of disclosing this potential and, accordingly, obtaining a higher level of competence for the pursuit of professional activity. Among the effective areas of training of civil servants and raising their professional competence, the authors highlight (i) the development and justification of new criteria for evaluating the qualities, efficiency and effectiveness of management personnel in the field of civil service, (ii) stimulation of professional growth in the process of annual evaluation, and (iii) participation in open competitions. Accordingly, the development of further research is determined by the possibility of improving the theoretical and methodological foundations of studying the markers of professional competence of civil servants as applied aspects of the harmonization of the process of their professionalization taking into account the modern requirements of the new model of public administration.

scholarly journals Weaknesses in Motivation and in Establishing a Meritocratic System: A Portrait of the Portuguese Public Administration

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Z. F. C. Nishimura ◽  
Ana Moreira ◽  
Maria José Sousa ◽  
Manuel Au-Yong-Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
And Performance ◽  
High Level

The complexities of Public Administration have gained the growing attention of scholars around the world, mainly due to the impacts of the reforms implemented under the doctrine of New Public Management (which aims to apply concepts and practices of private management in public management) on civil servants. The aim of this study is to find out how Portuguese citizens evaluate the Portuguese Public Administration under the aspects of bureaucracy, organisation of human resources, innovation, skills and attitudes of civil servants, its motivation and recognition; and to verify if there are differences of opinion between respondents working in public sector and respondents from other sectors. This study follows a quali-quantitative approach, and data were collected through an online survey in the period from June to December 2020. The survey was answered by 1119 citizens from all districts of Portugal. The main findings reveal a still high level of bureaucracy in the Portuguese Public Administration; weaknesses in the management of human resources, namely regarding the motivation and recognition of civil servants; and difficulties in the establishment of a meritocratic system of recruitment and performance evaluation of civil servants. Statistically significant evaluation differences (chi-square test and non-parametric Mann–Whitney U tests, involving five hypotheses) were found between the public sector and other sectors, except for the motivation variable.

PREPARING PUBLIC SERVANTS IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES: ARCHETYPAL APPROACH

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (14) ◽  
pp. 255-263
Author(s):  
Oleh Ivanovich Rohulskyi
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
German Model ◽  
Managerial Positions ◽  
A Chain ◽  
The Individual

The article describes the main components of the institutional framework of an archetypical approach to public administration. It is determined that the system of preparation of public servants is based on a chain of universal foundations of archetype, in particular, it is influenced by the principle of formation of personnel in the public service, formed on the basis of public opinion. Based on two basic principles relating to admission to public service, three basic models of training civil servants in the European country are defined: German. French and Anglo-Saxon. We analyze each of the models and define the archetypes that influenced their formation and development. The advantages of each model are determined, in particular, the benefits are: the German model of training managers is the balancing between the theoretical knowledge and practical skills that a public servant receives during training, but as a disadvantage one can distinguish the orientation of preparation for legal orientation, which limits the ability to hold managerial positions for many employees The French model of professional training of public servants should include a well-balanced understanding of tasks, namely: decentralization and territorial organization of public services, communication, support of territorial communities, in-depth knowledge and understanding of the need for cooperation with institutions of the European Commonwealth, high-quality human resource management and orientation towards environmentally friendly innovations, such a model of training of public servants is holistic, costly and effective; The Anglo-Saxon model of training of public servants is its orientation towards the implementation of the concept of public administration and the individual approach to employee training, taking into account all the specifics of its activities, providing for the formation of personnel capable of solving specific problems. It is concluded that today in most European countries dominated by mixed models that include elements of different models.

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