Introduction
The late 1990s and early 2000s are characterized by attention to holistic approach. Public administration theorists noted that it was crucial to analyze a variety of aspects to be able to come up with effective strategies to make the government effective.
Notably, lots of theorists provided specific strategies which could be employed by politicians and public administrators as well as educators. It is possible to single out two major directions theorists moved, i.e. ethics and structural improvements.
Ethics
In the first place, it is necessary to note that the majority of theorists addressed issues related to ethics, but some of them paid special attention to this aspect.
For instance, Lewis stressed that unethical behavior among public administrators will increase in the future due to creation of new groups with certain interests (Shafritz & Hyde, 2012). Stone also pointed out that implementation was impossible if there were no public values.
Adams and Balfour even introduced the concept of âadministrative evilâ (Shafritz & Hyde, 2012). The theorists noted that the modern government had various harmful technologies which can have numerous negative effects on the development of the public administration as well as entire society.
It is also necessary to mention the theorist who stands out due to her rather revolutionary approach.
Stivers was one of the pioneers of the feminist perspective with the public administration field (Shafritz & Hyde, 2012). The theorist also paid a lot of attention to ethical behavior and implementation.
Structural Improvements
Admittedly, the theorist mentioned above also looked into structural improvement, though their contribution is less significant than that of other theorists in this field. For instance, Barzelay and Armajani heavily criticized bureaucratic structure of the government.
The theorists implemented a profound research and analyzed experience of public administrators in Minnesota (Shafritz & Hyde, 2012). The theorists came up with some generalizations which could be exploited by public administrators nationwide.
Moore also contributed greatly to the field as he provided an in-depth analysis of the role played by public administrators, the sources they can employ and the way they can innovate (Cox et al., 2010).
It is important to add that the theorist claimed that bureaucratic structure was inefficient and needed changes which were possible to implement. Joseph S. Nye was another influential theorist who provided insights into the effective structure and implementation.
Nye stressed that decentralization and centralization were both ineffective as only complex collaboration of agencies can contribute to efficient implementation (Shafritz & Hyde, 2012). Rubin also focused on the level of autonomy given to agencies.
The theorist came up with valuable insights on the budgeting and effective collaboration. Finally, Agranoff contributed greatly into development of the public administration theory as he came up with a number of strategies which enabled agencies collaborate effectively.
The theoristâs ideas on collaborative management became highly popular among public managers as well as educators.
Conclusion
To sum up, it is possible to note that the major concern of the public administration theorist is still implementation and effectiveness of the government. Theorists try to develop effective approaches to make the public administration more efficient.
The theorists pay attention to such aspects, as structure, cooperation, ethics, budgeting, etc. The theorists mentioned above have had a significant impact on the development of the theory as they provided important insights into different aspects of the government.
Reference List
Cox, R.W., Buck, S.J., & Morgan, B.N. (2010). Public administration in theory and practice. New York, NY: Longman Publishing Group.
Shafritz, J.M., & Hyde, A.C. (2012). Classics of public administration. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.