Showing papers in "Public Administration Review in 1978"

Organizational Decline and Cutback Management

Abstract: Like growth, organizational decline and death, by erosion or plan, is a form of organizational change; but all the problems of managing organizational change are compounded by a scarcity of slack resources. Cutting back any kind of organization is difficult, but a good deal of the problem of cutting back public organizations is compounded by their special status as authoritative, non-market extensions of the state. This chapter categorizes the causes of public organization decline into a fourcell typology: problem depletion, environmental entropy, political vulnerability, and organizational atrophy. Identifying and differentiating among these four types of decline situations provides a start toward cataloguing and estimating the appropriateness of strategies for managing decline and cutbacks. The chapter presents an inventory of cutback management tactics. The tactics intended to remove or alleviate the external political and economic causes of decline are reasonably straightforward means to revitalize eroded economic bases, reduce environmental uncertainty, protect niches, retain flexibility, or lessen dependence.

Tax Ethics and Taxpayer Attitudes: A Survey

Abstract: Politically and economically, few matters are as important as the taxes people pay to their government. Justice Holmes once described taxes as a mark of the privilege of citizenship in a civilized society, but for most of us it is an unwelcomed burden to be endured. Remote and intangible governmental benefits, vast as they may be, are less likely to be appreciated than the immediate benefits individuals receive for their money in the private market. The issue of the tyranny of taxation without representation provided a significant momentum for the political movement which led to the Declaration of Independence and subsequent formation of the union. The revoluntionaries of the day, with diverse regional, economic, and political backgrounds, were united in their opposition to the new taxes which the British Parliament attempted to impose on the colonies. Two hundred years of population growth accompanied by industrialization, urbanization, and wars have produced crushing tax burdens at a time when the nation and its people are suffering from both high unemployment and high inflation. Randy Hamilton, past president of the American Society for Public Administration, warned the Society's members that as the nation's tax burden approaches 35 per cent of the Gross National Product, the United States should anticipate the same sort of massive taxpayer revolt now being experienced in certain European countries.' The complexities of the tax laws, which leave even the better educated taxpayer confused and bewildered, have added insult to injury. Economists have long been exploring various economic aspects of taxation, including tolerable and maximum levels of taxation; its effects on price stability, economic growth, and unemployment; and the distribution of tax burdens among various groups of taxpayers. This study, on the other hand, is an attempt to explore the tax attitudes of the people who pay taxes to government-directly or indirectly, knowingly or, in some cases, unknowingly. Abstract economic analyses are undoubtedly important to an understanding of tax systems, but of equal importance in a democratic system is the taxpayer's perception, evaluation and compliance with the tax laws.

Citizen Participation: Can We Measure Its Effectiveness?

Abstract: 6. Morris and Hughes have moved onto other pursuits as of this writing. Havens' original assignment was to the Office of Program and Budget Analysis, and Canfield's original assignment was to the Office of Special Programs. Both of these offices were redesignated as line divisions in 1976 under the names cited in the text. 7. This is based on the author's analysis of 100 "Timeframe For Successive Performance Steps" reports, 1973-1975. 8. Martin J. Fitzgerald, "The Expanded Role of the General Accounting Office," The Bureaucrat, III (January, 1975), p. 393. 9. Comptroller General, Memorandum from Jack L. Green (for Clerio P. Pin, Director, MS) to Heads of Divisions and Offices, "Analysis of Job History Records," December 23, 1975. 10. Congressional Record, CXIII (1967) p. 27379. 81 Stat. 672. 11. U.S. Senate, Committee on Government Operations, Capability of the GAO to Analyze and Audit Defense Expenditures, Hearings before the Subcommittee on Executive Reorganization, 91st Con., 1st sess. (1969). Senate Report 91-1264, p. 18. 12. Congressional Record, XCII (1946), p. 6397. 13. Congressional Record, XCIII (1947), p. 7175. See also U.S., House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, Independent Offices Appropriations Bill for 1948, Hearings before a Subcommittee, 80th Cong., 1st sess. (1947), p. 22 and passim. 14. U.S., House of Representatives Report 91-487, p. 31. 15. U.S., House of Representatives, Select Committee on Committees, Committee Organization in the House, Panel Discussions, 93rd Cong., 1st sess. (1973), Vol. II, part I, pp. 25859. 16. U.S., Senate, Committee on Government Operations Capability of the GAO, pp. 165-66. 17. U.S., Senate, Committee on Appropriations, Legislative Branch Appropriations, Hearings before a Subcommittee, 94th Cong., 1st sess. (1975), pp. 863-99. 18. Comptroller General, Summary of Open GAO Recommendations for Legislative Action, a Report to Congress (OCR76-1001), April 20, 1976. 19. Since the initial drafting of this article two related trends are of note. . . One is the criticism that Alice Rivlin, CBO head, has come under from segments of Congress based on her office's alleged policy advocacy. Second, Congress' interest in zero-base budgeting and sunset legislation has opened new potential for GAO activity in its expanded role. See the author's "Zero-Base Budgeting and the United States General Accounting Office," International Journal of Government Auditing (October, 1977).

The origin and meaning of Miles' Law.

Abstract: Parkinson and Peter propounded and published their principles in popular publications and parlayed them into a pretty penny. Miles more modestly and mindlessly marketed his memorable maxim by mouth. Parkinson and Peter obviously were much smarter. Miles does not have a single cent to show for his authorship of Miles' Law and, to make matters worse, sees his law occasionally attributed to other, more famous pundits. It is time to put a stop to this by recording in the proper place-The Public Administration Review-the genesis of this widely quoted, but not fully appreciated, aphorism. Miles' Law says: "Where you stand depends on where you sit. " The concept is probably as old as Plato, but this particular phraseology arose in the Bureau of the Budget as a result of events that occurred in late 1948 and early 1949. I was chief of the labor and welfare branch of the division of estimates of the Bureau, with responsibility for the budgets of the Federal Security Agency, the Veterans Administration, the Department of Labor, and several lesser agencies. One of my examiners came to me and said that he had been offered a position in the agency whose budget he reviewed, a job at a grade higher than he held in the Bureau. This examiner had been particularly critical, within the confines of the Bureau, of the agency that had offered him the job. It became clear that he would prefer not to accept the offer. Rather, he sought to use it as the basis for obtaining a grade raise where he was. He had three children, as I recall it, and laid understandable stress on the economics of the matter. But he emphasized his preference for work in the Bureau of the Budget, other things equal. To have given him the raise would have upset the grade structure of the division. I told him that I appreciated his strong sense of loyalty to the Bureau, but that a raise was out of the question. He would have to make up his mind, I said, whether the job milieu or the salary was more impor-

A Budget for all Seasons: Why the Traditional Budget Lasts

Abstract: Almost from the time the caterpillar of budgetary evolution became the butterfly of budgetary reform, the line-item budget has been condemned as a reactionary throwback to its primitive larva. Budgeting, its critics claim, has been metamorphized in reverse, an example of retrogression instead of progress. Over the last century, the traditional annual cash budget has been condemned as mindless, because its lines do not match programs; irrational, because they deal with inputs instead of outputs; shortsighted, because they cover one year instead of many; fragmented, because as a rule only changes are reviewed; conservative, because these changes tend to be small; and worse. Yet despite these faults, real and alleged, the traditional budget reigns supreme virtually everywhere, in practice if not in theory. Why?

The Status of Productivity Measurement in the Public Sector

Abstract: Unless you are keeping score, it is difficult to know whether you are winning or losing. This applies to ball games, card games, and no less to government productivity for specific services and activities. Productivity measurements permit governments to identify problem areas and, as corrective actions are taken, to detect the extent to which improvements have occurred. This status report deals first with what productivity measurement is, then presents a viewpoint on the current status of productivity measurement in government in the United States, and-finally-briefly examines the likely prospects for the future, including consideration of facilitating and inhibiting factors.

The Management of Universities of Constant or Decreasing Size.

Abstract: Commission will be at best able to support a professional staff of some 25-30 analysts. Match this resource commitment against the formidable systematic and comprehensive review task levied against it and one quickly discovers a central limitation and contradiction in current deliberations. Furthermore, the fact that the Commission is limited in time to just three years means that many capable analysts will not seek employment on it, preferring to remain where they are instead. The intention of the legislative proposals demands better than this.

Zero-Base Budgeting in Georgia State Government: Myth and Reality

Abstract: This article on zero-base budgeting presents an analysis of information obtained in a series of interviews with budgetary personnel in Georgia state government. Georgia was the first state to install zero-base budgeting,' and it is currently one of the states with the most highly developed ZBB process.2 The Georgia system also gained national attention during the 1976 presidential campaign as the leading example of ZBB applications in governmental budgeting.3 For these reasons the Georgia experience is an important source of information about the impact of ZBB on traditional budgeting practices. Much of the early literature dealing with ZBB focused on defining it and describing its formal procedures.4 Subsequent writings have assessed the adaptability of ZBB techniques to public organization,5 speculated about their impact on those organizations,6 and described the problems attendant to installing the system.' Advocates of ZBB have praised it as an innovative management tool,8 while critics have expressed doubt that it represents much that is new.9 Absent from the literature, however, is an empirical analysis of the impact of ZBB on budgetmakers and the budgetary process. This paper provides such an analysis.

Agency Strategies and Executive Review: The Hidden Politics of Budgeting

Abstract: Guetzkow, Harold, "Conversion Barriers in Using the Social Sciences," Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 4, pp. 68-81, 1959. Harary, Frank and Havelock, Ronald, "Anatomy of a Communication Arc," Human Relations, Vol. 25, No. 5, pp. 413-426, November, 1972. Havelock, Ronald G., Research on the Utilization of Knowledge, (University of Michigan: Institute for Social Research, February27, 1974). Havelock, Ronald G., What Do We Know From Research about the Process of Research Utilization, (Prepared for the Conference: Making Population/Family Planning Useful, East-West Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, December 37, 1973). MacRae, Duncan, The Social Function of Social Science, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976). Polanyi, Michael, Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy, (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1964). Thompson, Victor, Bureaucracy and Innovation, (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1969). Tullock, Gordon, The Politics of Bureaucracy, (Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1965). Van de Vall, Mark, "Utilization and Methodology of Applied Social Research: Four Complementary Models," The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Vol. I 1, No. 1, 1975. White, Sheldon H.; Day, Mary Carol; Freeman, Phyllis C.; Hautman, Stephen A.; Messenger, Katherine P., Federal Programs for Young Children: Review and Recommendations, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1973). Williams, Walter, Social Policy Research and Analysis, (New York: Elsevier, 1971).

The Road from ZBB

Abstract: The first president to promise a zero base budget has delivered the most incremental financial statement since Wildavsky canonized that form of budget-making more than a dozen years ago. The fiscal 1979 budget (unveiled on January 23, 1978) hardly terminates or curtails anything of significance, continues most spending at inflationadjusted levels, and offers few program initiatives. It projects an expenditure growth of $40 billion, all but $8 billion of which-two per cent of the budget total-is due to mandatory inflation and workload increases. Even this two per cent overstates the amount of discretion exercised by the nation's number one budgetmaker. OMB's current service estimates assume no inflation adjustment for entitlement programs (such as veterans' benefits) which are not linked by formula to the cost of living, or for grant-inaid programs which do not have spending increases already scheduled in law. When inflation is added for these two categories, there appears to have been almost no exercise of presidential power. Virtually every function, subfunction, and major program is funded at or slightly above its current service level. The small number of program reductions sprinkled throughout the budget certainly are not due to zero base technology. There are fewer such reductions than in any previous 1970s budget, though this was the first one graced by the new waste-purging methods. The fiscal 1979 budget comes out just about where disembodied incrementalism would tend to. There is a compelling political explanation for this budgetary standoff. Committed to fiscal prudence and still cherishing budgetary balance at the end of his first term, President Carter could not afford costly program starts. But, confronted with demands for more spending in behalf of Democratic programs, the President could not try to do what his Republican predecessors (Ford and Nixon) had failed to accomplish. So the budget neither gives nor takes; it simply holds the line. The budget is properly restrained in its claims for ZBB. The President's message states that he

Closing a Government Facility.

Abstract: 43. In his study of the closing of "Baker Plant," Alfred Slote describes how "Allen," the Vice-President of "Pennsylvania Corporation," had been responsible for the closing of two smaller plants before "Baker." Allen picked "Frank Robertson" to close Baker Plant because, "he was a good businessman. ... The closed plant kept up production to the end. " Alfred Slote, Termination: The Closing of Baker Plant (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1969) pp. 23, 27. In the formulation being employed in this paper, Allen would be a ''revitalizing entrepreneur," and Robertson the "receiver in bankruptcy." Presumably Robertson expected that his "success" in smoothly closing Baker Plant would lead to further corporate rewards, although he could certainly not have expected much support from the Baker Plant constituencies directly. 44. David Stanley and Marjorie Girth, Bankruptcy: Problem, Process, Reform (Washington: Brookings, 1971) p. 121. 45. This distinction is based on the arguments of Mancur Olson, Logic of Collective Action (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965).

Civil Service Reform: A New Commitment

Abstract: O n January 19, 1978, in his State of the Union message, President Carter stated that he considered the reform of the civil service "to be absolutely vital." This marks the first time that an American president has included civil service reform among his major legislative priorities. The President is convinced that this reform is necessary to fulfill his promise of "a government that is efficient, open, and truly worthy of our people's understanding and respect. " ' Consistent with his commitment, the President has forwarded to Congress two major initiatives aimed at better execution of the laws governing federal personnel management, and at better management of the people who operate within those laws. The first initiative is a Reorganization Plan, which would reassign the functions performed by the U.S. Civil Service Commission to two separate agencies: the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Office of Personnel Management. The reorganization plan provides the organizational framework necessary to carry forth the second initiative, the Civil Service Reform Act. This legislation, the product of the most comprehensive review of the civil service system since its inception nearly a century ago, will, as the President pointed out, "restore the merit principle to a system which has grown into a bureaucratic maze. It will provide greater management flexibility and better rewards for better performance without compromising job security."2 Specific provisions of the reorganization plan and Civil Service Reform Act can best be described within the context of those conditions from which they emerged. Despite the fact that the views of federal managers and staffers, careerists and noncareerists, union members and nonunion members, frequently are at odds, all agree that the personnel system within which they operate needs change. All of these groups complain of serious problems in the system, yet, to balance their competing interests in reform proposals has been very difficult to accomplish. How, for example,

An Overview of Attitudes toward Women in Law Enforcement

Abstract: (1957), Michael Brown's After Imperialism (1970), Fann and Hodges' Readings in U.S. Imperialism (1971), Franz Fanon's Studies in a Dying Colonialism (1965) and The Wretched of the Earth (1963), D. K. Fieldhous's The Theory of Capitalist Imperialism (1967), Andre Gunder Frank's Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America (1967), David Horowitz's Empire and Revolution (1969), Tom Kemp's Theories of Imperialism (1967), and Bernard Semmel's Imperialism and Social Reform (1968). For psychological accounts of the development process see David McClelland et al's The Achieving Society (1961) and Motivating Economic-Development (1969); Volume I of Marx's Capital on commodity consciousness; and Benjamin Nelson's The Idea of Usury (1969). Journals of note that focus on intellectual and practical issues of development include L'Afrique et l'Asie (1948-), published by the Centre des hautes etudes administratives sur l'Afrique et l'Asie modernes, in Paris; World Politics (1948-), published by the Center of International Studies, at Princeton University; Explorations in Entrepreneurial History, 1st series (1949-58) published at Harvard University, 2nd series (1963-) published at Earlham College; Civilisations (1951-), published by the International Institute of Differing Civilizations, in Brussels; Economic Development and Cultural Change (1952-), published at the University of Chicago; Narody Azii i Afriki (Peoples of Asia and Africa) (1959), published by the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. in Moscow; Tiers Monde (1960-), published by the Institut d'etude du developpement economique et social, in Paris; the Journal of Development Studies (1964-), published in London; and the Journal of Developing Areas, published at Western Illinois University. A general introduction to the subject also is provided by Myron Weiner's Modernization: The Dynamics of Growth (1966), a collection of essays by twenty-five American scholars. Also helpful as overviews of the literature on development are Jacques Freyssinet's Le Concept de Sous-Developpement (1966) and Egbert de Vries' "A Review of Literature on Development Theory" in International Development Review (March 1968).

Professions in Public Service

Abstract: close cooperation and understanding between mental health professionals and government is essential. Mental health professionals are beginning to respond, perhaps mindful of John Gardner's observation that a "subtle exit from the grimy problems of the day is to immerse yourself so deeply in a specialized professional field that the larger community virtually ceases to exist. This is a particularly good way out because the rewards of specialization are very great today, so that you may become rich and famous while you are ignoring the nation's problems."8

Professionalism and Authority: Women in Public Service

Abstract: necessary, however, to define a complex model of all causal relationships in order to conduct an evaluation. Hatry, et al., suggest that other influences on the criteria should be considered in the normal course of identifying the positive and negative impacts of a specific program or set of activities. See Harry Hatry, Richard Winnie, and Donald M. Fisk, Practical Program Evaluation for State and Local Government Officials (Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 1973). 20. For a discussion of factors associated with absenteeism and turnover see Lyman W. Porter and Richard M. Steers, "Organizational, Work, and Personal Factors in Employee Turnover and Absenteeism," Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 80 (1973), pp. 151-176. 21. Barry A. Macy and Philip M. Mirvis, "A Methodology for Assessment of Quality of Work Life and Organizational Effectiveness in Behavioral-Economic Terms," Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 2 (June, 1976), pp. 212-226. 22. Stanley Seashore, B. Indik, and B. Georgopoulos, "Relationships Among Criteria of Job Performance," Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 44 (1960), pp. 195-202. 23. We view adaptability as an integral part of what Walton and McKersie term integrative bargaining or joint problem-solving. See Walton and McKersie, op. cit. 24 See Edward E. Lawler, III, Motivation in Work Organizations (Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., 1973). 25. Campbell, et al., op. cit., p. 80. 26. Raymond A. Katzell and Daniel Yankelovitch, Work, Productivity and Job Satisfaction: An Evaluation of Policy-Related Research. Final report to the National Science Foundation, No. SSH 73-07939, 1975.

Productivity Analysis: A Search for Definition and Order

Abstract: In the 1972 Public Administration Review symposium on government productivity, Edward K. Hamilton commented that: "The public is now assailed by more irrelevant facts, half facts, and non-facts on this subject than on any issue in public affairs. " ' It would be comforting to report that in the intervening five years issues have been clarified, concepts uniformly defined, academics and practitioners have come to agreement, and productivity improvements have been registered in federal, state, and local governments. Unfortunately, the entire subject seems to be in greater and greater disarray. A review of the expanding literature indicates that productivity is characterized as related to or defined by the following terms: efficiency, effectiveness, cost savings, program evaluation, work measurement, employee incentives, management effectiveness, input-output analysis, work standards, and the political/social environment. It is measured at various levels of organizational performance by a wide variety of techniques. Productivity improvement in government is obviously a virtue worth pursuing. But sometimes it becomes an empty phrase that embraces almost any change "for the better" in a federal, state, or local government program. The present authors are not sufficiently pretentious to think that they can bring order out of this conceptual chaos. The objective here is a very modest one-to review first the economic characteristics of public-sector output that contribute to the confusion and, second, to review some of the attempts that have been made to introduce conceptual clarity to the field. The third section of this paper will attempt a taxonomy of productivity approaches. The paper will conclude with some observations on the near-term outlook for productivity improvement in government, with special reference to the state/local sector.

Selecting and training public managers: business skills versus public administration

Abstract: The doctrine that "government is different" has been mainstream public administration for thirty years, serving as a guide to the selection and training of public managers and suggesting that a background in public affairs-not business administration-is the best preparation for public management. The business approach, as reflected in B-schools around the nation, tends to emphasize specific skills (such as accounting, finance, statistics, data processing, and management control) and a much more technical approach to administration than most P.A.'ers are comfortable with. P.A. schools, by contrast, have acquired a reputation for teaching attitudes-in particular, an awareness of the political process. 2 The emphasis on P.A. training for public management received a symbolic boost by President Carter's recent decision to exclude business majors from his Presidential Management Intern Program. Carter apparently forgot that the "government is different ' doctrine extends to performance on the job as well as selection, for he proposed as part of his civil service reform that productive public servants be rewarded, in business-like fashion, with increased pay. An employee of the National Park Service rose at a presidential town meeting to remind him:

Productivity and the Process of Organizational Improvement : Why We Cannot Talk to Each Other

Abstract: The week before I sat down to write this paper, I was involved in running an intensive three-day productivity workshop for 33 public-sector executives. At the end of the three days, the participants were asked to make a collective list of the major things they learned about productivity. Three themes emerged from the exercise. The first had to do with the meaning of terms. The participants were impressed by the many different views and definitions of productivity and by the fact that productivity, in many ways, is simply a buzz word or catchall for a number of basic concepts that they had long understood. The second theme had to do with their feelings of frustration and relief. They were frustrated by the many barriers to productivity improvement and measurement in government and by the fact that there are no simple answers. They were relieved, however, to know that others were experiencing the same difficulties in their improvement efforts and that no one agency was much worse off then any other. The final theme had to do with guidelines for success, and the participants proposed a number of principles for implementing change. The above themes reflect two very different concerns. The first theme reflects a concern for meaning, while the second and third themes reflect a concern for action. This paper will focus both on meaning and on action. First we will consider why the meaning of productivity is not clear. Second, a recently developed model of the improvement or action process will be presented.

Patterns of Budgeting

Abstract: Budgeting is such a universal and essential activity of governments, that it is often assumed it may be discussed in terms of a single set of concepts, and that research findings from one experience may be extrapolated beyond their specific context without further thought. All governments appear to have to undertake very similar functions in mobilizing and spending revenues. It is, therefore, not surprising that for a long time budgeting has been subjected to a "principles" or "how-to" approach, which abstracts it from the environment altogether. Budgeting has been seen as a technique operating in a closed system, whose success depends on the enlightment and cooperation of those within the system. The dependence of those budgetary techniques upon specific conditions beyond the control of the direct participants has often not been appreciated, and the failure of advanced techniques of budgeting to gain acceptance or to accomplish their aims has left a wake of suspicion against attempts at generalized theorizing. The danger now is one of over-reaction, and of contentment by scholars with "an anarchy, a superfluity of unconnected findings."' Facts may be built up without coherence, waiting for the "one big computer" which will magically glue them together. The fallacies that "more" equals "better," and that theorizing must await comprehensiveness may impede clear thinking about what is already at hand, and result in random fact collection in place of focused research. What appears to be required is a comparative approach. The need for empirical research, whether confined to one country or even a single jurisdiction or administrative unit, should not be downgraded. It remains essential, but it is also necessary to provide a perspective upon the methods and findings of that research-a self-awareness guarding against total and uncritical immersion in things as they are at the moment, and allowing room for comparison with things as they are in some place else, or as they have been in the past. At present even a vocabulary, outside formal budget categories, is lacking for this purpose. The need is to link budgeting and public finance with their environment, and to endeavor to promote meaningful hypotheses regarding mutual relationships between modes of handling financial resources and specific contextual features, between institutional constraints and possible budgetary outcomes. Any move toward theory along these lines is fraught with difficulties over and above the normal problems of comparative research. Public budgeting stands at the cross-roads of many disciplines2 and is open to many perspectivese.g., administrative theory, policy analysis, economics, political science-which tend to pull in different directions, and whose efforts cannot easily be added one to another to provide an integrated account. Depending on the perspective chosen, therefore, there

Mid-Life Transition and Mid-Career Crisis: A Special Case for Individual Development

Abstract: A adult life is neither unpredictable nor of a single piece. The present article proposes to show why this is the case as well as to highlight some major organizational consequences. The focus is on the mid-life transition, through which we all must pass whether lightly or with much travail. For those in organizations, that transition often manifests itself as a mid-career crisis. The two effects are interactive, but it often will be the case that an individual will precipitate a mid-career crisis as a result of a panic reaction to a mid-life transition, with the individual precipitously changing professions, getting a divorce or following some other similar course of action. Although there are still far more questions than answers, useful experiences and research are beginning to accumulate on this subject. Recent advances in knowledge at once reinforce the need for organizations and professional associations to provide facilitative experiences for mid-life transitionists, and they also suggest some specifics about the "when" and the "what" of these experiences. Specifically, the succeeding emphases will be upon:

Representation in Regulatory Decision Making: Scientific, Industrial, and Consumer Inputs to the F. D. A.

Abstract: T here is a longstanding belief within the American polity that government regulation of the economy tends ultimately to become dominated by those regulated. I According to the argument, after consumer interests have scored initial victories through the enactment of regulatory legislation affecting various phases of economic activity, they tend to fade into oblivion while those regulated continue to exert political clout. Dominance by regulated industries, it is alleged, results from a combination of persistence, absence of strong consumer oriented countervailing forces, and inadequate professional staff in regulatory agencies to cope with the talent available to industry. If this scenario has validity it is likely to be especially pervasive in the area of health and safety regulation because of the added difficulty of recruiting scientifically trained individuals to the consumer movement or to the regulatory agencies within government.

The Impact of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 on Black Employment in the Federal Service: A Preliminary Analysis

Abstract: Of the policies of the United States government in the last twenty or so years designed to implement equal justice and opportunity for black Americans, perhaps only school busing has aroused more lingering controversy than equal employment opportunity and affirmative action. Yet, today any personnel officer in both the public and private sectors will concede that equal employment opportunity and affirmative action are indeed the law of the land and are being enforced at least to some degree. It is the aim of this study, after sketching the historical development of these concepts, to analyze what they are and then to examine the statistical record to assess their effectiveness in enhancing the number and status of black employees in the United States Civil Service.

Managerial Theory and Practice: The Transfer of Knowledge in Public Administration*

Abstract: T he lack of effective communication and understanding between scholars and practitioners is a well-known problem in the study and practice of administration. Unlike similar conflicts in more established fields such as medicine, law, or engineering, the resulting discord has retarded the development of professionalism in public and business management.' If the stresses and strains between academicians and managers are not dealt with constructively, public management may soon experience a fundamental crisis.

The Literature of American Public Administration: Its Contents and Contributors

Abstract: Professional journals of public administration play a prominent role in influencing the study and practice of administration. As both a creature and creator of significant trends in administrative thought, periodicals are an important means of disseminating knowledge in the field. The purpose of this article is to examine a sample of this literature in order to discern the scope and direction of American public administration. This inquiry should be of interest to several groups of people interested in public administration. Members of the profession, for example, may expect that leading journals are receptive to most contributions regardless of subject matter or author affiliation.' Empirical evidence will be presented to shed light upon such expectations. Secondly, students in public administration will find information that will give them a better grasp of the literature that they read. Finally, the editorial boards of the journals will receive a disinterested empirical account of how their publications have contributed to the discipline. The major question posed for all readers, then, is "how do the major journals and their contributors represent the study of public administration in the 1 970s? " Although other professions have published investigations similar to that presented here,2 surprisingly little attention has been paid to this aspect of public administration. Previous work has been limited to specific aspects of the literature and to commentaries on the state of the field.3 There is no comprehensive study of the contents of journals and their contributors in public administration. Through a statistical analysis of seven representative publications, we hope to fill this gap by discussing the characteristics of their articles and authors.4 The journals are published by professional associations, universities, academic publishing houses, governmental organizations, and civic groups. The reviews are the Administrative Science Quarterly (ASQ), Administration and Society [(A&S), formerly the Journal of Comparative Public Administration], Public Administration Review (PAR), the Bureaucrat, the Midwest Review of * This article examines the periodical literature of public administration in order to discern the scope and direction of the field. Through a statistical analysis of the articles published in seven journals, the contents and contributors to the literature in the '70s are discussed. The intellectual perspective, subject matter, and research methodology of 1,407 articles includes their institutional affiliation, professional identification, organizational rank, and sex. A number of interesting findings about the characteristics of the literature are reported that generally reflect the broad, interdisciplinary nature of the study of public administration. The evidence demonstrates, however, that the journal literature is not necessarily representative of the membership or content of the field.