Rethinking Administrative Theory The Challenge of the New Century

Subjects:

• Political Science » Public Administration
• Business » Management
• Political Science » Political Science (General)

Reviews:

• Fascinating, sometimes frustrating, and important, this sparkling collection of essays by leading theorists explores the impacts of emerging social and cultural trends on administrative theory. Indeed, the editor believes there is an imperative to "rethink theory." Jun has assembled a powerful set of essays that seek to find meaning and give shape to the impact of the democracy movement, globalization, information explosion, cultural fragmentation, and individualism. The language often flirts with postmodernism, but it holds great potential to loosen up contemporary thinking. The thread holding this collection together is a belief that rationalist, managerial, hierarchical approaches (20th century) are destructive of human values and aspirations. Much of this is leading edge, but there is a small failure to recall "New Public Administration." The challenge is not to substitute new models for old ones but to complement the dominant rationalist bias with a decentralized, intuitive, human-scale process that empowers citizens and builds social capital. This book does not attempt to offer a clear path but helps perceive the mountain. It is a valuable fin de siècle (siecle) collection that moves administrative theory forward on its intellectual journey. Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and above.
  —Choice June 2002

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Introduction: Administrative Theory in the New Century
• The Need for Rethinking
• Introduction
• Moving on (Legitimacy is Over): Millennial Consciousness and Its Potential by O.C. McSwite
• The Hegemony of the Consumer, Administration, and Management at the End of the Century by Yiannis Gabriel
• "Future Challenges in Organization Theory?" Amnesia and the Production of Ignorance by Martin Parker
• Public Administration and Postmodern Conditions: Some American Pointers to Research after the Year 2000 by Peter Bogason
• Challenges in Public Service, Values, and Ethics
• Introduction
• Public Service as the Parable of Democracy by Louis C. Gawthrop
• A Democratic Public and Administrative Thought: A Public Perspective by Curtis Ventriss
• Value Pluralism in Public Administration: Two Perspectives on Administrative Morality by Hendrick Wagenaar
• Passionate Humility: Toward a Philosophy of Ethical Will by Dvora Yanow and Hugh Willmott
• Challenges in Organizations
• Introduction
• The Demise and Foreseeable Come-Back of Public Administration by Francesco P. Cerase
• Embracing Organized Disorder: The Future of Organizational Membership by Michael A. Diamond
• Changing Paradigms for Public Service by Thomas Clarke and Stewart Clegg
• Back to the Future: The 21st Century and the Loss of Sensibility by Ralph Hummel
• Challenges in Administrative Reform and Policymaking
• Introduction
• Reconciling Public Ethics and Business Norms: A Future Challenge to Administrative Theory by M. Shamsul Haque
• Administrative Reformers in a Global World: Diagnosis, Prescription, and the Limits of Transferability by David H. Rosenbloom
• De-Institutionalizing "Group Think": From State Welfarism and Towards Cyber-Netizinship in the "Smart State" by Alexander Kouzmin and Alan Jarman
• Deliberative Democracy, Disourse, and New Governance
• Introduction
• Studies of Deliberative Practice: From Critical Theory to Oral History and Back Again by John Forester
• The Discourses of Anti-Administation by David John Farmer
• New Governance in Civil Society: Changing Responsibility of Public Administration by Jong S. Jun
• Subject Index