The Meaning and Nature of Public

Organizations and Public

Management
Organization and Management
Definition

Public - Latin for “people”

- pertaining to the people of a community, nation, or state

Private - means to be deprived of public office

- set apart from government
Three major factors

● interests affected

● access to facilities, resources, or information

● agency
Approaches to Defining Public Organizations and
Public Managers
Public Private

● great impact on the ● affect the public interest

public interest in some sense
● benefit the public in ● benefit their owners
general ● nongovernmental, usually
● governmental business firms
organizations
Agencies and Enterprises as Points on a Continuum

Enterprises
● pricing system
● stronger incentive

Agencies
● more trouble integrating cost reduction
● more problems related to hierarchical control
● efficiency harder to measure
Two major elements

Ownership
- can be owned by the government or privately owned

Funding
- funding from government sources or private sources
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE OWNERSHIP AND FUNDING
Economic Authority, Public Authority, and
“Publicness”
Economic Authority
- increases as owners and managers gain more control and it
decreases as external government authorities gain more control
Public Authority
- granted by other elements of the political system, to act on behalf of
those elements and to make binding decisions
Publicness
- degree of political influence and level of external governmental
control
“PUBLICNESS”: POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
AUTHORITY
Factors that influence an organization

● size

● task or function

● industry characteristics
DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS
OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND
PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS:
A SUMMARY
Environmental factors

● characterized by an absence of economic markets

● subject to particularly elaborate and intensive formal legal

constraints

● subject to more intensive external political influences

ORGANIZATION–ENVIRONMENT
TRANSACTIONS
● public organizations and managers are often involved in
production of public goods
● government activities are often coercive, monopolistic, or
unavoidable
● government activities often have a broader impact and greater
symbolic significance
● there is greater public scrutiny of public managers
● there are unique expectations
ORGANIZATIONAL ROLES, STRUCTURES, AND
PROCESSES
● Greater Goal Ambiguity, Multiplicity, and Conflict
● Distinctive Features of General Managerial Roles
● Administrative Authority and Leadership Practices
● Organizational Structure
● Strategic Decision-Making Processes
● Incentives and Incentive Structures
● Individual Characteristics, Work-Related Attitudes, and
Behaviors
● Organizational and Individual Performance