Representative Bureaucracies Research Articles

Editorial Team Introduction

Editorial Team Introduction

Representative bureaucracy in European Union agencies

ABSTRACTThis article provides, through the lens of the theory of representative bureaucracy, a detailed and systematic assessment of diversity regarding gender, nationality, educational qualifications and professional background among the individuals serving in the management boards and scientific committees of European Union agencies (EAs). Drawing on a novel dataset of 508 members, our findings show that these decision-making bodies are generally composed of male experts, and that their inclusiveness of nationalities seems to be related to their formal institutional design. We also find that experts generally have extensive scientific training, even in those agencies that include national representation. This finding provides tentative support for the idea that representative bureaucracies can have a high degree of specialization. Our results also demonstrate that while EAs seem to be open to experts who have worked in the private sector, these bodies show a limited inclusiveness towards individuals with experience in civil society organizations.

A Cross‐National Evaluation of Representative Bureaucracies: Implementation, Challenges, and Outcomes

Public Administration ReviewVolume 75, Issue 2 p. 327-328 BOOK REVIEW A Cross-National Evaluation of Representative Bureaucracies: Implementation, Challenges, and Outcomes Jyldyz Kasymova, Jyldyz Kasymova SUNY Buffalo StateSearch for more papers by this author Jyldyz Kasymova, Jyldyz Kasymova SUNY Buffalo StateSearch for more papers by this author First published: 29 January 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12342Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume75, Issue2March/April 2015Pages 327-328 RelatedInformation

Race, Respect, and Red Tape: Inside the Black Box of Racially Representative Bureaucracies

Racially representative bureaucracy theory suggests that black and Latino clients of street-level bureaucracies will uniformly experience the benefits of a racially diverse staff within these institutions and perceive it as working to their advantage. Conversely, street-level bureaucracy theory suggests that racial minorities working within these organizations are under massive constraints that significantly hamstring their efforts to exercise discretion in ways that might benefit minority clients. Using in-depth interviews of both recipients and providers of public cash benefits and food stamps, I find that the majority of black and Latina clients interviewed in a racially diverse welfare office do not view staff members who share their racial status as operating in ways that are distinctly informed by racial group commonality. A strong bureaucratic structure creates institutional boundaries that often restrict meaningful engagement between these groups despite social group commonality. In those instances in which black and Latina clients do have a racialized interpretation of their encounters with bureaucrats from their racial groups, they are not monolithically understood. Clients can read them as either pointed but welcomed interventions by racemates who offer wisdom on how to navigate the welfare system or heavy-handed maneuvers by more privileged members of their racial communities. Ultimately, this article argues that racial diversity among the workforces of street-level bureaucracies is important and can have positive effects on organizational dynamics as racially representative bureaucracy theory suggests, but organizational context and intragroup politics within minority communities greatly inform how race is mediated within these institutions.

Race, Bureaucracy, and Symbolic Representation: Interactions between Citizens and Police

Our understanding of representation by government employees has increased considerably in the past 30 years. Scholars have found that represented groups benefit from representative bureaucracies and conclude that this benefit is a function of active representation. However, due to the aggregate unit of observation used in most of these studies and the outcome measures that are typically used as dependent variables, we argue that there are other forms of representation that can explain these finding. We contribute to the existing research in this area by focusing on symbolic representation and conduct our test using individual-level data from a national police-citizen contact survey. We hypothesize that citizen perceptions of legitimacy regarding police actions are shaped by the interaction of citizen race and officer race. Our results suggest that symbolic representation does occur--blacks are more likely to perceive police actions as being legitimate if there are black officers present. Additionally, whites are more likely to perceive police actions as legitimate if the actions were conducted by white officers. Language: en

The gendered bureaucracy: Agency mission, equality of opportunity, and representative bureaucracies

The gendered bureaucracy: Agency mission, equality of opportunity, and representative bureaucracies

Representative Bureaucracy and Distributional Equity: Addressing the Hard Question

Research on representative bureaucracy has failed to deal with whether or not representative bureaucracies produce minority gains at the expense of nonminorities. Using a pooled time-series analysis of 350 school districts over six years, this study examines the relationship between representative bureaucracy and organizational outputs for minorities and nonminorities. Far from finding that representative bureaucracy produces minority gains at the expense of nonminorities, this study finds both minority and nonminority students perform better in the presence of a representative bureaucracy. This finding suggests an alternative hypothesis to guide research: that representative bureaucracies are more effective than their nonrepresentative counterparts.

An Inclusive Democratic Polity, Representative Bureaucracies, and the New Public Management

Public administration scholars separate over whether the public bureaucracy of the democratic polity ought to be the starting point of public administration scholarship. Dwight Waldo (1948). John J. Kirlin (1996), and Vincent Ostrom (1997) among others, have argued that the democratic polity needs preference and that focusing predominantly on improving efficiency of administrative processes can in fact harm the very polity that such improvements are supposed to help. Procedural due process, substantive rights, equity. and protection of minority rights as well as equal opportunity arid equality among citizens are values that have precedence over efficiency. They argue, and I agree, that a particular public bureaucracy or administrative structure is embedded within a particular political socioeconomic system. If the result desired is an inclusive, democratic polity, then these organizations ought to be grounded in theories, assumptions, and understandings of reality that advance knowledge of, and give direction toward, attaining such a polity. Grounded in rational choice and public choice and containing elements of Total Quality Management (TQM), the New Public Management (NPM) seeks to offer more efficient mechanisms for delivering goods and services and for raising governmental performance levels. Such a goal would appear to be highly commendable and desired by all citizens. As Parsons, Merrick, and Watson (1996, 26) in their study of Deep South mayors note, social contract, in large part, is about the equitable distribution of city resources. The Civil Rights Movement concerned equal services in terms of sewers, paved roads, and street lights as well as equality in voting, jobs, and education. The purpose of this article is to examine the implications of the new public management movement for representative bureaucracies and the development of an inclusive democratic polity. In examining these matters, I will first define an inclusive democratic polity and examine the extent to which the theory and assumptions that undergird the New Public Management are likely to provide guidance to those implementing it should they wish to promote an inclusive democratic polity. Since the NPM is largely derived from rational choice and public choice theories, I will focus primarily on them. However, I will also note briefly how TQM has modified these theories. After assessing these theoretical issues, I will then discuss the meaning and rationale for a representative bureaucracy. Once these basic concepts are articulated, I will suggest how a representative bureaucracy might assist in resolving the problems facing the NPM as the result of trying to apply private sector and market concepts to the public sector. Advancement of an Inclusive Democratic Polity Basic Definition Stated most simply, an inclusive democratic polity is one that provides all its adult, mentally competent citizens with full rights, duties, and responsibilities and a sense of belonging as an equal partner entitled to the benefits and burdens society offers. It is a political entity that consciously strives for human development, dignity, liberty with responsibility, and justice for all. It is an open society grounded in action research and evolutionary learning in which relationships and dynamic contexts matter as well as individuals and groups. In the United States this society needs to work within the framework of the U.S. Constitution and a republican form of government. It is a society in which the people share, as Alexis de Tocqueville, Vincent Ostrom, and Harold Lasswell have suggested, a body of common knowledge grounded in a shared community of understanding with a degree of trust in each other and in the political system, of which the government is an important but not the total part. There is also basic clarity about the place: its material conditions, technological levels, and the nature of national goals. …

The Impact of Representative Bureaucracies: Educational Systems and Public Policies

Studies of representative bureaucracies are staples of public administration research; however, because of a variety of methodological problems, too few have been able to address the basic "so what?" question. Do bureaucracies with different levels of representativeness produce different policy outputs and have different policy impacts? Our research addresses these inquiries using data from the 67 public school districts in Florida. The analysis shows that when we focus on (a) bureaucrats who exercise discretion, (b) a demographic factor with a lasting impact-race, and (c) policy measures that are clearly salient to the chosen demographic factor, we can detect the relationships between bureaucratic representation and public policy outputs and outcomes. We particularly highlight the representativeness of "street-level" bureaucrats (in this case, teachers). Thus, the issue of representation in public bureaucracies possesses more than just symbolic importance.

Gender, bureaucracy, and democracy: careers and equal opportunity in the public sector

Gender, Bureaucracies, and Public Sector Careers Gender, Democracy, and Representative Bureaucracies Women in Management and Public Sector Careers Case Studies of the Impact of Gender on Public Sector Careers Women in the Arizona Executive Branch of Government Women in the Texas Executive Branch of Government Women in the Utah Executive Branch of Government Women in the California Executive Branch of Government Summary and Recommendations Addendum Women in Municipal Bureaucracies of the Southwest Appendix: Facilitating Careers in Public Administration--A Questionnaire Selected Bibliography Index

Industrial Discipline: A Suitable Case for Treatment

There is no clear evidence that British workplaces are any nearer the achievement of being representative bureaucracies as far as disciplinary rules are concerned as public policy initiatives are to placing the emphasis on a corrective as opposed to a punitive approach to Industrial discipline. The concept of industrial discipline is examined alongside forms of management control. Management aims and objectives and the difficulties management encounters in this sphere are considered. Worker attitudes and sources of complaints are discussed in the context of the type of involvement unions should have in the discipline process. The trend towards formalisation is explored and Its reasons, advantages and disadvantages discussed. Discipline Is still conflict‐prone and the reasons for this and ways to minimise it are examined. The work is based on an extensive review of the literature and an ESRC research project that examined disciplinary practice in eight different workplaces. Findings are based on interviews with personnel, line managers and shop stewards and examination of rule books, procedures and disciplinary records. The project was carried out during 1981–1983.

The « Federal Character » or the Attempt to Create Representative Bureaucracies in Nigeria

The « Federal Character » or the Attempt to Create Representative Bureaucracies in Nigeria

Representative Bureaucracies and Student Discipline in an Urban School District

The impact and value of a bureaucracy's workforce that is racially representative of the clients served has been a volatile and debated subject. Looking at one policy output in a large urban school district, the administration of punishment and suspensions, this article examines the impact of racially balanced faculties on the discipline assigned to minority students. The policy importance of school discipline has been underscored by numerous studies and school desegregation programs. School discipline not only influences the political I social attitudes of students, but can influence access to the service of education itself through the selective use of suspensions and expulsions. In addition, despite inconclusive studies and extensive debates, many judicial decisions involving schools frequently identify the need for modified or reformed discipline systems. The evidence from this 50 school study provides inconclusive support for the idea that a representative bureaucracy will improve service equity. However, the presence of increased numbers of black faculty members is shown to influence the discipline given to black students. As a consequence, the conclusions discuss the policy importance of programs designed to make the racial characteristics of school bureaucracies more similar to the racial characteristics of the students in that school.