What is the relationship between public administration and democratic Essay

What is the relationship between public administration and democratic governance - Essay Example In essence, one can establish that public organizations have highly static organizational structures more often than not mandated by a statute. Because of this static nature, leaders of public organizations are prone to be weak and lacking in discretion; this is used to explain the traditional leadership theory where employees or subordinates respond to the influence of little discretion employed by their leaders. Similarly, because of the seniority basis of reward systems public administration will older managers often take more up. These older managers are seen to exercise little discretion since they operate in different environmental contexts from their private sector counterparts, where environmental contexts are differentiated by market forces and interaction with legislations and legislatures (Pacek, 2010). It has been found that there is a dichotomy between public administration and politics where this has been evidenced by the fact that the division of authority and labour is branched out into between administrative and elected officials, which raises the planning ability along with democratic ability among public administrators. It is crucial to establish the relation that lies between public administration and politics as it has important implications on the institutional development as well as intellectual identity of public administration. One finding into this dichotomous relationship suggests that politics and public administration are two distinct, separate issues. This outlook defines politics as being about making policies, a process that encompasses a set of activities involving value choices. Public administration, on the other hand, is seen as a tool for interpreting articulated policies into actual outcomes through the application of dedicated skills and knowledge, forma lly referred to as administrative knowledge. In essence, politics serves up the duties for public administration but should not be