The Loyalties of Top Public Administrators

Abstract

Images of the modern public administrator clash with yesteryear's neutral public servants obediently carrying out the orders of elected politicians. Partly influenced by the literature on New Public Management, people often argue that public administrators today should ensure quality services, give value for public funds, be responsive, operate strategically, uphold organizations’ reputations, and the like. They thus seem to serve many masters, not just politicians, but do the various masters’ interests harmonize or contradict? The research question of this article is: Where do the loyalties of public administrators lie? The answer involves all the potential objects of their loyalties: colleagues, the public good, moral imperatives, the law, their organizations, the organizations’ clients, and elected officials. What is the composition of loyalty for top public administrators? What are their conceptions of loyalty? With the use of Q-methodology, we identify and describe four distinct types of public administrators within the context of loyalty: (a) by-the-book professionals, (b) society's neutral servants, (c) the personally grounded, and (d) open and principled independents. These conceptions matter because they indicate how administrators behave and make decisions. 高级行政官员的政治忠诚 摘要 现代行政官员中立、严格执行民选官员政令的形象已经不复存在。在新公共管理 (New Public Management) 理念的影响下，很多人认为行政官员应该致力于确保公共服务的质量，勤政廉政，具有战略眼光，并且致力于维护行政机构的声誉。因此，行政官员不仅要服从于民选官员，而且要服务于多个政治领导。在这种情况下, 不同的政治领导间会产生利益冲突么？本文研究的中心问题是：行政官员的忠诚归属于何处？我们全面分析了多种可能的来源：同事、公益、道德规范、法律、 行政官员就职的政府组织、政府机构服务的对象以及民选官员。高级行政官员的忠诚度是由哪些因素构成的？他们如何看待忠诚度的问题？我们运用Q方法论比较分析了四种基于不同忠诚价值的行政官员: (1) 严格遵守职业规范的官员, (2)价值中立的社会公仆, (3) 基于个人价值取向的官员, 以及 (4) 观念开放、原则性强的个人。这些类型的重要性在于它们能预示行政官员的行为以及决策。