CAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION COPE?

Abstract

Abstract: This paper asks two questions: first, why is it so difficult for public administration to change and secondly, which sources of change present public administration with its greatest problems? The answers to the first include the influence of factors such as permanence, with its emphasis on continuity and fit; hierarchy and the doctrinal orthodoxies it engenders; power and the opposition to its re‐distribution; the system of checks and balances which characterizes Australian public administration; and the complexities of the process of change itself. To answer the second question it is helpful to distinguish between endogenous change, originating from sources within public administration and exogenous change, emanating from sources outside it There are a number of examples of successful endogenous change, but the record of exogenous change is not as good, particularly where change came from outside both the public service and the political system. For a number of reasons it has taken time for public administration to respond adequately to the problems associated with such change. On the other hand the public service has coped reasonably well with the political inputs of exogenous change, such as changes of government. Four objectives for action could, if met, significantly improve public administration's responsibility to its problems. These are recognition of the need for adequate time if any change is to be coped with effectively; the funding of research for political parties; the spotting, development and positioning of innovators; and the creation of appropriate “look‐out” arrangements.Living in an age whose single constant is radical change, all men are in urgent need of whatever resources may be available as they seek to understand and manage their environment, to understand and solve the unprecedented problems confronting them1