The Public Administration Theory Primer

Th e Diff erence Between Politics and Administration 21

activity and describes illustrative tasks for political offi cials and bureaucrats in each
category. To this he again sketches the curved line, which best represents the most
commonly found pattern of relationship between politics and administration.

Manager’s Sphere

Using the four-part model, he then arrays the fi ndings of his fi eld research in
four separate representations of the four-part model, shown here as Figure 2.5.
In the four boxes in Figure 2.5, the dotted line represents the solid line shown in
Figure 2.4. Some cities are best described as having a strong manager, shown in
box 2.5a. Th e most notable fi nding here is that the manager’s space for action is
greater in all four functions of government. Th is could be described as the cor-
porate, or board of directors, model, in which policy is heavily defi ned by the
manager and the council merely approves or makes legitimate that policy. Th e
council grants the manager and the bureaucracy broad and essentially complete
discretion in the daily aff airs of city government. Th e opposite of this is found
in the council-dominant model set out in box 2.5b, which illustrates a wide
space of council involvement at all four levels. Th is could also be called a coun-
cil control-of-bureaucracy model. Th e important point in the strong-manager
and council-dominant models is the across-the-board character of power and

Illustrative Tasks Council’s Sphere Illustrative Tasks

for Council for Administrators

Determine purpose,

scope of services, tax level,

constitutional issues.

Advise (what city “can”

do may influence what it

“should” do), analyze

conditions and trends.

Pass ordinances, approve

new projects and pro-

grams, ratify budget.

Make recommendations on

all decisions, formulate

budget, determine service

distribution formulae.

Make implementation

decisions such as site selection,

handling complaints, and

overseeing administration.

Establish practices and

procedures and make

decisions for implement-

ing policy.

Suggest management

changes to manager, review

organizational performance

in manager’s appraisal.

Control the human,

material, and informational

resources of organization

to support policy and

administrative functions.

Mission

Policy

Administration

Management

FIGURE 2.4 Parsing the dichotomy: dimensions of governmental processes