Fall 2020, TESC MPA, week 2

"The Context of PA"

Building on our conversations from last week about critical thinking and "what are PA decisions based on?", we will discuss where our studies and practices come from.

PA comes from you.

As public servants, you are the sieve for PA.

What past, present, and future are you accepting or rejecting in PA?

What practices, systems, and policies are you complicit in?

You are the translators of ideas, values, and priorities into reality.

(My Definition)
"Public Administrators": teams of leaders who translate ideas into goods, services, systems, and policies by reconciling debates over expectations from the people and government.

Not enough to reflect.

Must act on those reflections.

This is what can make us "reflexive" practitioners when examining our histories.

Some of us have cultural traditions in our families that when a loved one passes on, we intentionally keep their memory alive by saying their name and telling stories about them. This helps us to never forget our loved ones.

(My definition)
"The Public": those whose stories are recognized as priorities in decision making.

The histories we believe as PAs, the histories we rely on as PAs, are our collectively "known" story. This is what we keep alive.

What story would you tell about this image?

Sacred site?
Black Hills?
National memorial?
Federally funded shrine to Democracy?
Non-profit partnerships: "Mount Rushmore Society"
Elected Officials?
Leaders?
Colonizers?
Yourself?

The stories you "see" or don't "see" here is similar to the histories you may or may not prioritize when recognizing the widely varied histories of PA.

The "histories" (plural) of PA are a main focus of this class for the entire quarter. I'm not going to go in depth to any one history tonight, but as you can see from the readings there are wide variety of histories to acknowledge as part of the backdrop for the practice and study of PA.

Histories are time bound. Where you "start" and "stop" in your historical account of PA may reveal what you are prioritizing to keep alive in PA.

-- Since the time before time? Time immemorial? We could begin with established governments, organizations, societies pre-colonial entanglements. Or emphasize post-contact: dominion, naming, Manifest Destiny, Discovery Doctrine, conquest, and colonial practices going on today.
-- Wars! So much of PA history in textbooks is about wars. WWI, WWII.
-- Constitutions --the writing of them, the governing of them, court cases about them. Tribal Constitutions? (Federally and non-Federally recognized) State constitutions?
-- peoples' stories or the science about them?
-- places (ecology), non-human centered stories of PA
-- partnerships in governing: non-profits came into being because government couldn't do it all.

Public Administrators? Public Servants? Do your stories change?

Whenever you are presented with the "canon" of PA (what is), please see what is missing. Look for doughnut holes! This is an important habit to develop so that when you are presented with "what is" in a policy, or budget, or program, you will pause and see what has been intentionally excluded.

“Canon” was meetings of religious leaders and scholars to decide which books of the bible were divinely inspired and which ones were not. (new testament). 15 books were omitted. = Apocrypha

The term “canon” is used in academia to acknowledge similar processes of “including” and “excluding” sources of meaning and knowledge.

What we do in PA today will be the histories of tomorrow.

Allyship: de-center yourself, sit with, stand with, be a witness. Educate yourself first, don't expect to be educated. Use whatever privileges you have. Don't think you know best. Don't participate in the oppression Olympics.
https://guidetoallyship.com/

Naming: get the missing story in the room. "What about Tribes?"

Truth & Reconciliation Commissions: based on practices from post-apartheid South Africa and post-Indian boarding schools in Canada, some in U.S. public are calling for PAs to use Truth & Reconciliation Commissions in cities across the U.S. to speak truth to racism in governing, policing, policies, programs, and services. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/06/07/floyd-killing-truth-recon...

Here is one world view...

We frame our initial responses to issues based upon the world view we’ve formed over time (our epistemology). After that first reaction, we then reason through issues based upon where we deem "T"ruth or “t”ruths come from. Our frames of reference and our lines of reasoning inform each other in a continuous feedback loop.

“Knowing” comes from accepting or rejecting information filtered by your world view. Knowledge is the basis for ideas generating governing systems, policies, programs, services, and evaluations.

Think about all of the authors you've read so far. Their world
views shaped the "knowledge" they conveyed.

“Theory does not simply reflect life; it also projects life.”- Denhardt

Bureaucracy: Max Weber (1864-1920) was a sociologist who observed the division of labor in a pin factory and he developed his "ideal type" theory of work. In the post-industrial revolution world, he admired the manufacturing industry's top down hierarchy, formal authority, rational, efficiency, expertise/specialization, and accountability.
Result: he argued to impose the “one best way” procedure on the whole workforce, universally, in any organization or place. If there was one best way to accomplish a production task on an assembly line then there was one best way to accomplish the task of setting up organizations= bureaucracy.

Rational decision making ("Rational-Choice"): relies on concepts from economics and psychology. An individual makes a rational decision by assessing all of the alternatives known to them and selecting the one decision that will maximize his or her utility (value) and maximize the attainment of objectives. This assumes that perfect information is available to the decision maker, that all the alternatives available have one and only one clear meaning, and that all alternatives have a common denominator to be weighed against each other. Assumes an objective, market, model of society and a closed environment for decisions to keep chaos and politics out.---see classic PA theorists such as Herbert Simon, Frederick Taylor, Luther Gulick, Max Weber, Charles Goodnow.

Incremental decision making ("Incrementalism"): groups of decision makers formulate small goals and consider only a limited number of options. A decision is rarely, if ever, made from scratch. Start from current situation and small changes are more likely than dramatic or revolutionary changes. Favors status quo over radical change because small changes are always possible at the margin. Favors the power of communication through argumentation due to the intersubjective meanings and understandings of options available to decision makers. This practice entails "muddling through" issues in context. Consensus may only be reached through the better argument and clear understanding of meanings and consequences. ---see theorists such as Charles Lindbloom and Jurgen Habermas.

"democratic" means the ethics and ideals held.

"Democracy" is the political system resulting from the democratic ideology.

Bureau: drawers. A consistent way to keep things categorized, ordered, and controlled within specified files.

Theories, Ideologies, and Paradigms are based on epistemologies.

The knowledge (histories, stories) we accept/reject form the basis for dominant society and the ways we govern.

How do you come to know? Our actions as PAs are based on what we "know."

This brings us to the benefits of case analyses to help inform your world views/epistemologies in order to build our future histories.

Writing a Case Study analysis
https://writingcenter.ashford.edu/writing-case-study-analysis

Hint: look at the syllabus! Use the bullet points listed in the assignment description as the section headings for your paper.

Identifying and defining the problem (singular) in a case is the hardest part. You will probably change what you think the problem is multiple times as you progress through your analysis. This is good! Analysis in social science/PA is not typically linear or plain.

--Background and current facts surrounding the “case”,
• Succinctly state the problem,
• Identify the critical issues contributing to the problem,
• Specify major actions taken in the case to current day,
• Evaluate the effectiveness vs. the efficiency of each major action,
• Decide what the best course(s) of action were/are. Why?
• What are the important lessons to learn for public service then and now?

https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html

How to think through the next 2 assignments: case analyses. 20 minutes.

You’ll walk through the assignment steps together in small breakout groups (see steps listed below). However, (just for the purposes of the workshop) instead of using a case from the Stillman reading, you’ll use a change in the 2020 Census as your “case” to analyze. In question 9 “What is Person 1’s race?” on the Census you are now required to print “origins” for race. We're using the census for the purposes of this workshop because it is a prime example of epistemology shaping the future histories of PA.

Talk through each of the case analysis assignment steps below. The goal of the workshop is to familiarize yourself with the steps of a case analysis (not to be fully answered here and now):

• Background and current facts surrounding the “case”,
• Succinctly state the problem, [Try to write it in one sentence. This will be the only piece we ask you to voluntarily report out on. Write your group’s problem statement in the chat box when you come back to the main Zoom room]
• Identify the critical issues contributing to the problem,
• Specify major actions taken in the case to current day,
• Evaluate the effectiveness vs. the efficiency of each major action,
• Decide what the best course(s) of action were/are. Why?
• What are the important lessons to learn for public service then and now?

Very timely! Just ruled yesterday by Federal appeals court: Census count will be allowed to continue until Oct. 31st. Census Bureau wants this time in order to conduct a "complete count" during the pandemic. Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to weigh in and stop the Census count now so that the Census Bureau can complete its report by the Dec. 31st statutory deadline.

Census Bureau: “good policy demands accurate data.”

Based on Census data, there is $675 billion per year in federal funds spent on schools, hospitals, roads, public works and other vital programs through grants, direct payments, and loans.

Census is mandated by U.S. Constitution Article I, section 2 for representation. First census in 1790. Representatives per state is based on population. Shift of 12 reps in 2010: WA gained 1, TX gained 4, OH & NY both lost 2.

Total # of representatives in the U.S. House is capped at 435. So, we have 435 Congressional districts across the U.S. One representative for each district. Each district has 710,000 people in it. (Ex. Population of U.S. is 309 million. Divide that by the number of seats in the House of Reps= 435. The result is 710,000. That's how they draw voting districts.)

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/WA

What?: Official name: “Population and Housing Census”. That is its purpose: count people within a housing domicile.

Procedure: count all persons residing in country (309 million in 2010; 330 million by 2020).

Document: set of ten questions mailed to each household (140 million households); door-to-door follow up if not mailed back.

What Data U.S. Census Bureau Collects & When: Population & Housing Census - every 10 years, Economic Census - every 5 years, Census of Governments - every 5 years, American Community Survey – annually.

How Data are Used: used to define legislative districts, school district assignment areas and other important functional areas of government. To make decisions about what community services to provide. Changes in your community are crucial to many planning decisions, such as where to: provide services for the elderly; where to build new roads and schools; or where to locate job training centers.

Who?: All persons in the country on April 1, 2010. Citizen or not, Incarcerated, Institutionalized (psychiatric facility, nursing home, hospitals, treatment centers), Military base.

Not counted: Homeless persons in shelter or not, persons in domestic violence shelters, & persons traveling/living outside U.S..

Response required by law. Refusal or false information= $500 fine. (Up until 1976 you could be imprisoned for 60 days.) Census is “counting”; not research. Participation is mandated by law (per Title 13 US Code). This same law also requires the Census Bureau to keep your answers confidential and only allows them to be used only to produce statistical summary data. In other words, the Census Bureau does not publish data that would identify individuals until 72 years after the date of the census.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/directtax.asp

https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/census-const...

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp2/116/801/2576060...

1788 U.S. Constitution: Article 1, Section 2
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.
The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative.

2010 Census question about race

https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html

OMB 1977 Directive No. 15
If a combined format is used to collect racial and ethnic data, the minimum acceptable categories are:
--American Indian or Alaskan Native
--Asian or Pacific Islander
--Black, not of Hispanic origin
--Hispanic
--White, not of Hispanic origin.

The category which most closely reflects the individual's recognition in his community should be used for purposes of reporting on persons who are of mixed racial and/or ethnic origins.

In no case should the provisions of this Directive be construed to limit the collection of data to the categories described above. However, any reporting required which uses more detail shall be organized in such a way that the additional categories can be aggregated into these basic racial/ethnic categories.

Displays of racial and ethnic compliance and statistical data will use the category designations listed above. The designation "nonwhite" is not acceptable for use in the presentation of Federal Government data. It is not to be used in any publication of compliance or statistical data or in the text of any compliance or statistical report.

In cases where the above designations are considered inappropriate for presentation of statistical data on particular programs or for particular regional areas, the sponsoring agency may use:
(1) The designations "Black and Other Races" or "All Other Races," as collective descriptions of minority races when the most summary distinction between the majority and minority races is appropriate;
(2) The designations "White," "Black,"and "All Other Races" when the distinction among the majority race, the principal minority race and other races is appropriate; or
(3) The designation of a particular minority race or races, and the inclusion of "Whites" with "All Other Races," if such a collective description is appropriate.

In displaying detailed information which represents a combination of race and ethnicity, the description of the data being displayed must clearly indicate that both bases of classification are being used.
When the primary focus of a statistical report is on two or more specific identifiable groups in the population, one or more of which is racial or ethnic, it is acceptable to display data for each of the particular groups separately and to describe data relating to the remainder of the population by an appropriate collective description.

2020 Census question about race

https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/technical-document...

https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html

How to think through the next 2 assignments: case analyses. 20 minutes.

You’ll walk through the assignment steps together in small breakout groups (see steps listed below). However, (just for the purposes of the workshop) instead of using a case from the Stillman reading, you’ll use a change in the 2020 Census as your “case” to analyze. In question 9 “What is Person 1’s race?” on the Census you are now required to print “origins” for race. We're using the census for the purposes of this workshop because it is a prime example of epistemology shaping the future histories of PA.

Talk through each of the case analysis assignment steps below. The goal of the workshop is to familiarize yourself with the steps of a case analysis (not to be fully answered here and now):

• Background and current facts surrounding the “case”,
• Succinctly state the problem, [Try to write it in one sentence. This will be the only piece we ask you to voluntarily report out on. Write your group’s problem statement in the chat box when you come back to the main Zoom room]
• Identify the critical issues contributing to the problem,
• Specify major actions taken in the case to current day,
• Evaluate the effectiveness vs. the efficiency of each major action,
• Decide what the best course(s) of action were/are. Why?
• What are the important lessons to learn for public service then and now?

https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/fedreg_1997standards

https://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/help/populations/bridged-race/directive15.htm...

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/09/30/2016-23672/standards-f...

https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/questionnaires/

https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/census_instructions/

Bounded Rationality: the choices we make in PA are often based on imperfect information. We rarely know the full story, the full history of complex issues.

Public demands, needs: place pressures on what choices are available to us.

Incrementalism: most public organizations make choices slowly, incrementally.

Powers: are powers held by the many in PA (pluralism)? or by the few (elitism)?

Are you authorized to make choices? You might have a lot of responsibility as a PA, but not much authority.

What should PAs base decisions on? Thinking Critically and Creatively about Praxis: practice + theory.

Major Debates in Public Administration. You will be able to connect everything you read in the MPA program to at least one of these debates.

This slide is what your workshop will use here next.

Divide between the classical approach and the challenge approach.

Henry walks you through most of these in his discussion of the 5 paradigms of PA.

The classical approach is not "over". These practices in government are not in the past.

Classics: Efficiency, Facts, Objectivity, Administration (Experts), formal authority, sameness (rational model), Scientific/Quantitative/ Evidence ….. vs….

Challenge: Effectiveness, Values, Subjectivity and Politics, informal authority (the faces of power), otherness (difference), Qualitative/ Experiences

Defining the Classics: Public organizations should operate with power located at the top to maximize efficiency. Public administration should be about value free, neutral professionals who are experts that maintain bureaucracy. Army of experts. Made a clear distinction between politics (legislation that follows the public will and values) and administration (the execution of law by value free experts).

Defining the Challenge: The aim of the challenge is to show what is wrong with the world and as it is and to help improve it. They question whether an effect is morally or politically desirable. Recognize that social constructions exist= we cannot know “facts” separate from interests. Emphasize the imbrication of theory and practice. The goal of the challenge is to bring about social and political change.

Both the classical approach to PA & the challenge approach are simply management approaches to getting things done in public service….. make decisions based on what?

Which areas will you have to make your own choices about in the workplace the most? Which do you favor in decision making? What will you base your choices on? What will you let in or keep out?

What events brought about the challenge? Government of the classics had three major external forces acting on it: 1) WWI, 2) the depression/New Deal, and 3) WWII.

The New Deal got us out of the depression and placed public administration in the daily lives of citizens through hands on improvement projects to re-build this country. The aftermath of the war forced public administrators to be human. They could not ignore the gravity of the human atrocities in WWII and realized that it was humans with subjective values that would have to prevent a WWIII. The objective, rational, controlled bureaucracy would have to change. Normally, change in government is very slow. But in these situations, government had immediate and major needs of its citizenry to respond to . So tons of agencies and commissions started cropping up to respond to the real human issues at hand: jobs, hunger, polio, race relations. Government had to help government to help the people. Government still wanted to be efficient, but mainly they wanted to be effective.

What happened? Well the efforts and events of the 1940's through 1970's made bureaucracy and bureaucrats definitely change forever, but they also became completely overwhelmed and inefficient and ineffective. Bureaucracy grew so big, it became the 4th branch of government. There were so many rule making and regulatory agencies and commissions that the right hand did not know what the left was doing. Because government could no longer handle the work they had created for themselves, they looked outside of government for help. This is where privatization and non-profits came in to assist government in doing what was necessary to meet the needs of an ever growing citizenry.