Public Administration in Canada Chapter Three, Kernaghan and Siegel

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Public Administration in CanadaChapter Three,
Kernaghan and Siegel
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Public Administration and Organization Theory
The Structural FoundationYes, more theory!
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Max Weber Classical Bureaucratic Characteristics

• Characteristics of Bureaucracy
• hierarchical structure
• unity of command
• specialization of labour
• employment/promotion on merit
• full time employment
• decisions based on impersonal rules
• importance of written files
• bureaucratic employment separate from private
  life.

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Frederick W. Taylor and Scientific Management

• Scientific management
• the application of the simplest movement to
  perform a task.
• Studied the physical placement of tools and
  processes.
• Supplemented by a person trained to supervise a
  worker doing the task,
• Making certain the task was the same over and
  over, i.e., the birth of time and motion studies.
• At the core of most modern bureaucratic
  organizations
• Go to McDonalds to see it in action.

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The Scientific Theory of Organization

• In the 1930s Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick
  were the leading thinkers on organizational
  structure.
• Focus on the span of control and its relation to
  scale.
• This subject will definitely come up when you are
  in management!

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Determining Span of Control

• The nature of the work supervised.
• The level of training of subordinates.
• The extent of the geographical decentralization
  of the work.
• The overall stability of the organization.

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Span of Control

• Current discussion on span of control revolves
  around two catchphrases
• Flattening the hierarchy. What does this do to
  the S of C?
• Removing layers of management. What does this do
  to the S of C?
• These are critical to the reengineering the
  organization movement and to those looking at
  the impact of the internet on organizations

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Review - Span of Control is determined by

• The purpose of the function.
• The process being delivered
• engineering, medicine, management.
• The persons or things being dealt with.
• The place where the service is being
  renderedgeographical place.

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Gulick Executive or Management Functions

• POSDCORB (What a lousy acronym!!)
• Planning, Organizing
• Staffing, Directing
• Coordinating, Reporting
• Budgeting.
• These are the key functions of a Manager.

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Line and Staff Functions

• In reviewing organizational design, planners use
  two terms to denote functions
• Line functions are those that are directly
  involved in the production, distribution of goods
  or service delivery.
• Staff functions are support functions to line
  functions. E.g., HR, Legal, Planning
• The terms are derived from 18th C military
  innovations..