The Good Public Administrator, Essay Example

Introduction

Public administrators today face several challenges, related to the changing regulatory and social environment. Perry (1989) lists the main issues those working in the role need to face on a daily basis as follows: maintaining the order of the Constitution, maintaining and achieving technological competence, fulfilling the expectations of the public, managing change and complexity, and remaining ethically unchallengeable. The below overview will focus on the desired skills, traits, and qualities of public administrators that enable them to cope with the changing environment and expectations of their roles.

The Role of a Public Administrator and Related Tasks

Public administrators need to have a wide knowledge of policies, a familiarity of practices, and a good understanding of the “big picture”. Public administrators have to negotiate between policymakers and the members of the community, therefore, they will need to have advanced interpersonal skills. Fairness and leadership qualities are also needed to design, plan, and carry out important projects related to new or existing policies and regulations.

Qualities of Good Public Administrators

Perry (1989) simply concludes that the main desirable quality of a good public administrator is “effectiveness”, or doing the right job. Further, the author states that effective public administrators also live with certain constraints, and are able to overcome impediments. While the article of Perry (1989) was written more than 25 years ago, the list of desired qualities includes technical skills. Today, public administrators fast paced informational technology development, and they need to keep their skills and knowledge updated, including collaboration tools, online security, and teamwork through social media. Further, advanced human skills are also needed for effective public administrators, as they are required for effective communication and cooperation. Human skills – according to Perry (1989, p. 6) help administrators “integrate people into all types of cooperative activity”.

Conceptual skills are also listed by Perry (1989), referring to something that can easily be described as the ability to “see the big picture”. Further, according to the author (Perry, 1989), public administrators need to be results-oriented, responsive to changes and democratic control, and the ability to work in complex networks and create effective collaboration based on balance.

Hom (2002) states that leaders of large organizations with a diverse pool of stakeholders need to create an intersubjective understanding among different people. However, there are several trends in public administration that can hinder the leader’s ability to create intersubjective understanding, such as the lack of trust, the lack of complete information, the lack of needs recognition, language ambiguity, cultural differences, and the lack of long term focus. The above list suggests that there is a need for public administrators to become efficient leaders and adapt some effective leadership approaches towards building a consensus and engaging with stakeholders, while focusing on long term goals (vision and mission).

Leadership Skills and Approaches

According to Public Administration Today’s (2013) survey results, the top 10 leadership qualities, based on the answers of 20 senior public administration leaders are: integrity, ability to engage with stakeholders, communication, acceptance of accountability and responsibility, ability to deal with ambiguity, judgement, strategic thinking, “small ‘p’ political nous”, staff development, and the willingness to take risks.

Katz (1974) just like Perry, lists the three main skills needed to become a successful and effective public administrator: technical, conceptual, and human. However, the author (Katz, 1974) also highlights that human skills are needed at every level, while technical skills are only necessary at lower levels. Conceptual skills are essential for higher level public administration roles’ successful execution.

Riccucci (2014) also asked the question “what are the characteristics of effective public administrators”. One important aspect of public leadership that none of the above authors mentioned is the need for diplomatic and political skills. Further, reviewing leadership traits, approaches, and theories, the author (Riccucci, 2014, p. x) states that an effective public administrator needs to be able to motivate, engage, and empower individuals within the organization. Developing and clearly communicating a vision and mission for the public service, the ability to build coalition and a shared value system / understanding will also make the public administrator more effective. A leader also needs to foster organizational change, and deal with the challenges of the external and internal environment.

O’Leary, Choi, & Gerard (2012) also reviewed the essential skills and capabilities of successful public administration leaders. The authors highlight the importance of collaboration skills, as well as problem solving abilities. Leadership behaviors in public administration – according to the authors – belong to three diverse groups: people oriented, task oriented, and organization oriented. Successful collaborators, according to the study carried out by the authors (O’Leary et al., 2012) have an open mind, patience, confidence, and flexibility.

Personal Experience and Reflection

I believe that the above qualities: flexibility and collaboration are the most related to today’s public administration environment. Globalization creates increased diversity of stakeholders. In housing government offices, multicultural teams need to be set up to align individual stakeholder interests (housing needs of diverse people, landlords’ preferences, and policies) with a shared vision.

Conclusion

Based on the above review of related studies and theories, it is now possible to answer the question: “what are the main characteristics of successful and effective public administrators”. The answer is: they should be good communicators, with the ability to build shared vision and consensus, have advanced people, technical, and conceptual skills, as well as the ability to solve problems and overcome challenges.

References

Hom, D. (2002) Understanding the difficulties of building intersubjectivity among members of an organization. Chinese Public Administration Review. Volume 1, Number 3/4

Katz, R. L. (1974). Skills of an effective administrator. Harvard Business Press.

O’Leary, R., Choi, Y., & Gerard, C. M. (2012). The skill set of the successful collaborator. Public Administration Review, 72(s1), S70-S83.

Perry, J. L. (1989). Challenges Confronting Public Administrators. Handbook of Public Administration (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers), 3-24.

Perry, J. L. (1989). The effective public administrator. Handbook of Public Administration (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers),

Riccucci, N. M. (2012). Serving the Public Interest: Profiles of Successful and Innovative Public Servants. ME Sharpe.