What Are Public Organizations? Research Paper Example

Public Policy Analysis

A public organization is a state-run organization that provides services to the state or county or district. The public organization is controlled by the government and the services are paid for by public taxation. “According to Public organizations (bureaucracies) are the state’s agents for public collective action “(Worldbank, 2010). Normally, the general tax will pay for state provisions, but in some cases an alternative tax will. The public organizations will take care of matters that the public informs the government concerning keeping law and order or voting. The public organization have an important task to meet the needs of the citizens. The public workers protect the environment with Waste Management Services, repair our roads, and respond to crisis and emergencies 24/7. In addition, they ensure that the quality of life of our citizens is protected and every citizens benefits from all of the public services agencies. The real challenge is building the foundation of our diverse communities. There are various definitions of the public organizations that describe what the public organization should provide for a community. According to Rouse (2010), “a public organization can be defined as the portion of society controlled by national, state or provincial, and local governments. In the United States , the public sector encompasses universal , critical services such as national defense , homeland security , police protection , firefighting , urban planning , corrections , taxation , and various social programs”.

Characteristics

In an article by Kumar (2012), the author clearly describes what a public organization should resemble while providing an excellent example of the distinguishing attributes of a public organization. According to Kumar (2012) describes five characteristic of the public organizations as owned by the state, city or local government. These characteristics also defined and describe the distinguishing traits of a public organizations:

1. State Ownership:

The public organization has to be vested with the State. It could be in the nature of Central, State or local government ownership or any instrumentality of the state too can have the ownership of public enterprise.

2. State Control:

Public organization is controlled by the Government both in its management and functioning. The Government has the direct responsibility to manage the affairs of the organization through various devices and exercises control over it by means of a number of agencies and techniques.

3. Public Accountability:

Public organizations owe accountability to people as they are funded through public money. This accountability is realized through legislature and its committees, ministers, audit institutions and other specialized agencies.

4. Autonomy:

Public organizations function with utmost autonomy under given situations. They are free from day to day interference in their affairs and management.

5. Coverage:

The public organization traverses all areas and activities. There is hardly any field of activity, which is not covered by the operations of public organization.

Categories of Public Organizations

The following information below is a list of categories of some public organizations. The public organizations will be shared why each is considered a public organization.

Waste management

Waste management is considered a public organization because it is run by the state and the sole purpose is to serve the needs of the city, state and county needs.

Public transports

With the advent of privatization some states have private organizations running the public transportation. In that insurance, they are not a public organization. The public transportation services that are run by the state are not controlled by a CEO but controlled by the state.

U.S. Post Office services

The U.S. Post office is controlled by the federal government. They are government employees. In addition, they are controlled by the government as a non-profit organization.

Law enforcement

The law enforcement agency is run the city and the state. The public funds are utilized to ensure that the citizens are protected under the constitution. The primary goal of the police enforcement agencies is to protect all people.

Early childhood education (health care, Head Start, and state-funded pre-kindergarten);

The state has early childhood programs that support many different communities to ensure every child has an opportunity to learn. The organization is run by the state.

Health Department

The health department is a state program that caters to the public. The health department is solely run by the state in which the service presides.

Public service for individuals with disabilities and the elderly

These services may have shared resources from the city, state, and federal government. However, they are all public organizations that serve the purpose of serving the community that is in need.

 Public Library Services

The library is a state program that exist in every county. Traditionally, the city and county managed the library services.

Reference

Kumar, D. (2012).What are the five characteristics of public sector enterprises? Retrieved from http://www.preservearticles.com/2011092714115/what-are-the-five-basic-characteristics-of-public-sector-enterprises.html

Worldbank. (2003). Public organizations: What makes them work? How are they changing? How can the Bank support reform? PowerPoint. Retrieved from www.worldbank.org