Overview
This paper examines the role of civil servants in the formulation and implementation of public administration through policymaking. It is often seen that public funds may not be properly channelized into productive areas aimed at ameliorating the plight of people for whom such disbursements are meant. As the supreme head of the country, the President of the United States is vested with powers to administer public administration around constitutionally accepted lines. However, it is seen in a bureaucratic setup, highly placed officials cannot function properly until and unless the lowly placed public servants co-operate and support the common cause of social justice. Therefore, it is suggested that rather than adopting populist policies, public administration needs to keep uppermost, the best interests of society, in all their public upliftment plans and programs for the common good of the American people.
The term ‘public administration’ means learning, executing, and improving governmental policy. The administration of governmental policy is looked after by the civil servants. Their main responsibility is to analyze the problems of society and find appropriate solutions for the problems.
This chapter entitled “Public Accountability and Ethical Conduct” mainly discusses the people’s response against the irresponsibility of the government towards society. In this chapter, the author discusses the misbehavior of the American constitution. It can be seen that the democratic role of the American government is very weak and they are misusing their power. The mismanagement of government employees results in the private sector earning more financial gains. Apart from negligence, the top officials are indulging in bribery, smuggling, etc, and other unethical activities. They collect a lot of money from the public for the helpline fund instead of helping the poor, like victims of Hurricane Katrina. They misuse that fund by using it for their own personal benefit. The public reacted against the irresponsibility of the government. People have many tools to prevent and correct government misbehavior and irresponsibility. As the people are electing their representative, he should work without fear and favor and should not misuse his power. The administrator should work efficiently and effectively without any laziness.
The author says that the administrators have to fulfill the needs of the citizen very punctually and civilly by analyzing their needs and demands. “Administrators are accountable for making laws work as intended with a minimum of waste and delay, for exercising lawful and sensible discretion, for recommending new policies and changes in current ones as needed, and for enhancing citizen confidence in government administration.” (Chapter fourteen: Public accountability and ethical conduct, n.d., p.353). The administrators should be well qualified and intelligent to foresee the consequences while taking any action; otherwise, they have to face a lot of consequences for their action. To succeed in keeping sincerity towards his job position the administrator should try to follow the President’s orders rather than any private agencies.
This chapter involves the investigation on bureaucratic accountability of the framework of Gilbert which distinguishes the formal and informal means. The internal sources are at the top level while the external sources are at the subordinate level. Cooperation between the internal and external sources is essential for proper and effective accountability. The legal power given to the civil servants is used as the tool for directing and managing the subordinates under them. But in some cases like big and composite societies, this legal power is given to the subordinates under the top officers as they cannot control the large agencies without the help of staff members. The government policy should be fair and should give equal consideration to all, based on the individual’s rights rather than what became popular. In order to make the policy better and relevant, the information received from the analysis should be clear and prompt and it should be apt to the community too. These policies become effectual and successful only if they focus on the actions which are needed for the future benefit of society. There should also be a good relationship between a bureaucrat and their staff members. By following all these steps, the government can execute the policies in an efficient manner.
Reference List
Chapter fourteen: Public accountability and ethical conduct: Summary. (n.d.). 353.