Static law and dynamic administration: Marshall dimock's assault on the legal profession

This article examines Marshall Dimock's thought on the relation between public administration and law. The examination revolves around his book, Law and Dynamic Administration,but also incorporates insights from his many other works. Dimock treated the idea of rule of law as an important source of authority and guiding principles for both the public administrative and legal professions. He criticized the legal profession harshly for its tendency in this century to disparage and reject law as such a source. Its treatment of law has led to many abuses that affect the legitimacy and efficacy of all who govern in our society. Dimock hoped to reunify the fields with a common jurisprudence that is mindful of public, institutional needs. In the process, he pressed the point that public administrators should be legal artisans in their own right, contributing confidently to the content and processes of the law for public benefit.     

Dimock's naturalistic ethics

Between 1937 and 1958 Marshall Dimock developed a naturalistic account of the administrative function. This account emphasized an organic and instrumentalist account of ethics which was akin to American pragmatism in its ontological assumptions, vocabulary, and conceptualization. His theory was self-consciously aimed at identifying and responding to the problems of an administrative theory and practice plagued by dichotomies. Through an organizational leadership comprised of a moral elite, Dimock hoped to integrate the processes of administration and value creation.     

Dimock's philosophy of administration

Marshall E. Dimock was a self-confessed non-conformist who valued individualism and individual self-development above all other values. For him a philosophy of administration is more than a science or art and “must deal with institutional goals and objectives, with social values and individual growth, as well as with the paraphernalia of organizing and running things, which are only “incidental.^”(1) He warned that “over specialization of the individual makes him dull and lacking capacities for administrative growth^”(2)and decried the parochialism of behaviorists, logical positivists and other methodologists. At the core of his thinking about problems of administration, management and organization was what he regarded as the fundamental importance of “moral philosophy” although he recognized that “the political economist who epitomizes moral philosophy is regarded as a regrettably nonconformist and excessively individualistic relic of a past age.^”(3)     

A limited solution carried to excess

In writing of the Presidency, Marshall Dimock declared that the personal staff idea was a limited solution carried to excess. This paper undertakes to examine the Dimock assertion in the wider arena of the Executive Branch. It first considers the idea of staff, exploring its earlier applications. It relies on the work of Douglas McGregor in suggesting that the personal staff orientation, as exhibited in the White House, tends to perpetuate profoundly hierarchical assumptions in respect to organizing and managing. The increasing politicization of the top echelons of the Federal bureaucracy further accentuates tendencies toward a system that is characterized by loyalty to an individual rather than to a system. The emergence of the role of Chief of Staff throughout the bureaucracy in recent years has provided further structure and influence to the personal staff movement. A case study of the role of the Chief of Staff in the administration of Anne Burford in the Environmental Protection Agency, 1981-83, provides evidence of the role and its significance. It is concluded that Marshall Dimock identified a problem which deserves greater research interest and public attention.     

Remembering Nehemia: Personal Tributes

Four colleagues and friends of Nehemia Levtzion offer personal reminiscences. Roland Oliver remembers the young Arabist graduate student he met at SOAS and later encountered doing research in the field in the early 1960s. He remarks upon the important step Levtzion was taking in moving out of the comfortable Maghrebian field in which Arabists normally settled and venturing into sub-Saharan Ghana. William Miles reflects on Levtzion as a bridge between two major worlds of scholarship: African history and Jewish studies. In Israel, he promoted respectful learning of Muslim civilization by Jewish scholars and institutions of higher learning; globally, he promoted respectful learning of Jewish civilization. Naomi Chazan also remembers Levtzion as the shaper, guide and moving spirit behind African studies in Israel since its inception in the mid-1960s. Re-tracing his work and his leadership is a tribute to a scholar of vision and integrity and, at the same time, a history of the construction of an academic field in Israel. E. Ann McDougall’s memories of Levtzion are inextricably intertwined with formative moments in her personal and professional lives. Most important is the influence that he exerted on her thinking about the Sahara, Saharan-Sahelian relations and Islam through ongoing debate and challenge.     

Interview With a Terrorist by Vocation: A Day Among the Diehard Terrorists,Part II

The interview that follows was conducted somewhere in Italy with a militant of the Red Brigades recently freed after spending 32 years and 6 months in prison. Taking up the sociological perspective of Max Weber, the author draws a distinction between “professional terrorist” and “vocational terrorist”. The terrorist by vocation differs from the professional terrorist in his profound faith in the mission he feels he must accomplish. He does not try to improve his social status and is not interested in the selfish pursuit of personal well-being. He gives up love, family, children and friendship. When he decides to join a terrorist group, he voluntarily severs any contact with his former life. He is a high school or university graduate and might choose a secure life and a good job but prefers to kill, accepting the risk of dying. The vocational terrorist is the terrorist in his incandescent state.     

Public administration in Marshall Dimock's textbooks

This article examines the relationship between Marshall Dimock's positive, broad-based concept of public administration and his approach to writing undergraduate textbooks. Analysis shows that both Dimock's American government and public administration textbooks provide a different slant on public agencies than that available in most current introductory volumes. In particular, his American government textbook is more positive in tone about agencies than are its modern counterparts. The public administration textbook has comparative material that rarely appears in introductory-level textbooks.

This article analyzes how Marshall Dimock's conception of public administration as an important area of study with links to policy and leadership anchored his textbook writing. In the 1950s Dimock co-authored two popular textbooks for basic undergraduate courses, one in American government and the other in public administration.⁽¹⁾

Scholars still debate what textbooks in either field should teach students about public agencies. Cigler and Neiswender argue that current American government textbooks portray administration in a negative light. All authors see bureaucracy as a problem of some sort, few explain the role administrators play in shaping policy and none discuss reasons to enter the public service.⁽²⁾ Cigler and Neiswender suggest that American government textbooks must change to aid accurate perceptions of the administrative role. In particular, they believe the texts must add material on the public service as a profession and compare American agencies with those in other nations.

Since public administration textbooks are a key way that majors in the field learn material, debate ensues on what material they should contain. Recent articles explore how textbooks define key terms such as policy and how they integrate the work of various theorists.⁽³⁾

While all widely-used textbooks deal with both the political environment and internal agency functions (e.g., personnel, finance), no consensus exists on how to allocate space between political and managerial concerns nor on exactly which subtopics should be covered. No consensus exists on how much space should be devoted to policy making and policy analysis with some textbooks covering this topic and others skimming it lightly.

One often cited problem with contemporary texts is the lack of a comparative focus and a concomitant need to internationalize the curriculum.⁽⁴⁾ The thrust of current proposals is that students need a more broad-based education to prepare them for global leadership.

Interestingly, Dimock's approach to public administration led him to write textbooks that in some ways surpass what is available today. While the majority of the topics he presents (and their ordering) are similar to current efforts, he offers unique emphases that deal with the above mentioned criticisms. Far from being an exercise in academic nostalgia, examining Dimock's textbooks is a useful way of giving current writers new insights.

To appreciate Dimock's approach to textbook construction we first have to identify the core concepts behind his approach to public administration education. Afterwards, we can analyze the treatment of public agencies in American Government in Action, relating it to Cigler and Neiswender's critique of contemporary textbooks, and -examine how various editions of Public Administration conceptualize the field.     

Learning from the Mondragón cooperative experience

The Mondragón cooperative complex in the Basque country of Spain is recognized as the world’s most impressive case of industrial cooperative development. The complex links together industrial, service, and agricultural cooperatives with a bank and a series of educational cooperatives. The continued expansion of the complex defies the conventional wisdom that worker cooperatives can only survive briefly in special niches not of interest to multi-national businesses. Mondragón’s dynamic growth and development cannot be due to some special features of the Basque culture. Success is due in part to the extraordinary vision and leadership of the founder, father José María Arizmendiarrieta, to the social inventions he created, and to theorganizational culture that he and his followers built to guide the complex. William Foote Whyte is professor emeritus (1979) in Cornell University’s New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He continues to be active in the extension division of the School as research director of Programs for Employment and Workplace Systems. His best known book isStreet Corner Society. With Kathleen King Whyte, he publishedMaking Mondragón: The Growth and Dynamics of the Mondragón Cooperative Complex. His latest book is an autobiography,Participant Observer.     

Myron Echenberg and African Studies in Canada

Myron Echenberg's scholarship resides on the frontier of both African Studies in Canada and historical research in general. He has helped not only to establish African history as a valid field for historical study but also to transform the parameters of history as a discipline, both the opening up of the study of non-Western societies and the increasing focus on newer kinds of history. He made his mark with a prize-winning study of the social history of African soldiers in the French army; and he spent the latter part of his career doing original work on medical history. The profound influence of his work is celebrated in this special issue. Three of the contributions to this issue, all dealing with medical history, are by Echenberg's former graduate students; two contributions are by close colleagues. In both his teaching and his writing, Echenberg has contributed to an understanding of the social issues of our time; but perhaps more important, he has through his teaching and his mentoring very much enriched the educational experience and well-being of his students and his colleagues.     

FOSTERING AFFECTIVE ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN PUBLIC SECTOR AGENCIES: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MULTIFACETED LEADERSHIP ROLES

This study examines whether the various leadership roles undertaken by public sector managers have an important association with subordinates' levels of affective commitment to the organization. Our empirical findings suggest that not all leadership practices matter. It appears that only relations‐oriented and change‐oriented leadership, and to a far lesser extent integrity‐oriented leadership, have a substantive association with affective organizational commitment. Task‐oriented leadership and, to a large degree, integrity‐oriented leadership, are found not to matter much for employees with lower levels of affective commitment, but they look to strengthen fondness of the organization among those with already high levels of affective commitment. Results also suggest that the diversity‐oriented leadership role has no association with affective commitment to the organization.     

Leadership Styles as Perceived by Career Senior Service Executives

Abstract

This study identifies the prevailing leadership styles of career Senior Executive Service (SES) members of the Federal Government. This study also determines if an association exits between SES member's self‐perceived leadership style and personal characteristics, such as gender, years in the Federal Service, and highest academic degree earned. The study population consists of 6395 career SES members. A random sample of 364 career SES members was selected. The selected group was asked to respond to a demographic data questionnaire and the Styles of Leadership Survey (SLS). Over 34% of the sample completed the instrument and data questionnaire. This study reveals that Strategic Leadership Style (5/5) is the dominant self‐perceived leadership style of career SES members. The personal characteristics of gender, years employed in the Federal Government, and educational attainment were identified as being significant factors influencing leadership styles of Federal Government executives.     

The curious career of an African modernizer: South Africa's Thabo Mbeki

Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's second democratically elected president, was born into left-wing politics. In exile, he became the face of the African National Congress (ANC) and developed a reputation as a modernizer. He returned to the country and built relations, not with the ANC's internal allies, but with the country's business community. In 1996, as Mandela's deputy, Mbeki implemented a neo-liberal economic package, called GEAR, which alienated many. In office, he both failed to acknowledge the threat of HIV/AIDS to the country and refused to pressure the failing regime in Zimbabwe; but it was his bypassing of parliament that ultimately led to his failure as president.     

Village politics: Heterogeneity,leadership and collective action

When comparing stratified Fulani village societies, little direct relationship between the degree of heterogeneity and the success in collective action was found, except when heterogeneity among leadership and elite groups was compared. Small size and homogeneous groups do not seem to be general preconditions for stronger ability to perform collectively. First, it was found that homogeneity among elite groups enhanced capacity for collective action. Second, it was when heterogeneity in economic interests between elite groups intensified and coincided with other dimensions of heterogeneity that collective action became difficult to achieve, such as heterogeneity in economic wealth, access to land and common‐pool resources, and agreement over authority of the leadership. Third, collective action was enhanced by political elites and leaders being a bit better endowed and a bit wealthier than the average community members, but not when their assets were mobilised against the economic interests and sense of fairness of other social groups. Fourth, the coordination power of the leadership related to the management of common‐pool resources was undermined when leadership had extensive recourse to state officials external to the village community, underscoring the importance of autonomy.     

Memories of Nehemia

This article is both a biographical sketch of the career of Nehemia Levtzion and a reminiscence. Levtzion grew up in Israel during the period of its founding. He early chose to study Islamization in Africa and became the leading interpreter of the history of Islam in West Africa. Though often called on to assume administrative responsibilities in the Israeli educational system, he maintained a commitment to scholarship. The small conferences he held in Jerusalem over the years often involved a re-thinking of basic problems in the history of Islam in Africa and in the larger Muslim world. He was particularly interested in processes of conversion and the dynamics of change. Though he described many varieties of Islam and different levels of Islamization, he never accepted the notion of a distinctively Africa Islam. He saw instead processes that were similar throughout the Muslim world.     

“I Teach Them Correct Principles and They Govern Themselves”: The Leadership Genius of the Mormon Prophet Abstract

Abstract

In an age characterized by “strong-man” or “leader-centered” leadership styles, Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, set himself apart by leadership behaviors that centered in the conviction that the world of human interaction is governed by interpersonal and moral laws in just the same sense that the physical world is governed by the laws of nature. If one could identify these correct or “fixed principles,” and live in harmony with them, one would thereby gain leadership power and influence. From this belief grew his leadership dictum, “I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves.” Specifically, we note Smith's emphasis on integrity as a foundation for leadership interaction, both in truth-telling and in living in harmony with the correct principles one knows. In addition, Smith underscored the importance of unleashing the creative talent of followers by trusting them with sizeable responsibilities (empowerment, in today's terms), in demonstrating love for followers, and in having the courage to think and act independently of mainstream thought and practice. His chief concerns in selecting a leadership team included his focus on character, building an organizational structure which would institutionalize over time the principles he taught, and then motivating followers in pursuit of challenging goals.     

The Impact of Political Leadership on Organisational Performance: Evidence from English Urban Government

Many commentators view the political management reforms of English local government with some scepticism, raising concerns about the desirability of stronger leadership and the efficacy of institutional reform in encouraging stronger leadership. Using data from a five-year evaluation of the impact of the Local Government Act 2000, this paper reports evidence suggesting that institutional variation does influence the way that organisations operate and can have a positive impact on their performance, though the results are mixed with the internal decision-making elements showing most difference, whilst there is less evidence of effects in relation to partnership working and engagement with the public. In hung and balanced authorities an internal focus on managing coalitions and party competitors is judged to impede the role of leaders in partnership working. In the concluding section, the paper develops the concept of facilitative leadership, which will continue to influence reform of local government and the practice of political leadership in local government. Policy-makers, by giving leaders the right mix of resources and incentives, can improve the effectiveness of urban political leadership and encourage the trend towards facilitative leadership.     

The Shadow Our Future Throws

Because of his groundbreaking critique of mass industrial society in such books as Energy and Equity, Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health, Toward a History of Needs and Deschooling Society Ivan Illich was considered a founding thinker of the alternative and ecological movements, the prophet of an "era of limits."
This conversation took place at Illich's rustic retreat in Ocotopec, Mexico, in the spring of 1989. (The title of the second chapter of Al Gore's 1992 book, The Earth in Balance is taken from this interview—"The Shadow Our Future Throws.")
Illich was no armchair witness but lived what he preached. In the early 1990s he developed a large tumor that protruded from his right temple. Claiming the right not to be a patient but to "die without diagnosis" as part of "hygienic autonomy," he was never treated, smoking opium to ease the pain over his last years. He died—without diagnosis—in 2002 in Bremen, Germany.     

Policy entrepreneurship in the development of public sector strategy: the case of London health reform

The development of health policy is recognized as complex; however, there has been little development of the role of agency in this process. Kingdon developed the concept of policy entrepreneur (PE) within his ‘windows’ model. He argued inter-related ‘policy streams' must coincide for important issues to become addressed. The conjoining of these streams may be aided by a policy entrepreneur. We contribute by clarifying the role of the policy entrepreneur and highlighting the translational processes of key actors in creating and aligning policy windows. We analyse the work in London of Professor Sir Ara Darzi as a policy entrepreneur. An important aspect of Darzi's approach was to align a number of important institutional networks to conjoin related problems. Our findings highlight how a policy entrepreneur not only opens policy windows but also yokes together a network to make policy agendas happen. Our contribution reveals the role of clinical leadership in health reform.     

Collaborative Crisis Management and Leadership in the Public Sector

The goal of this article is to discover how leadership competencies affect the perceived effectiveness of crisis management. The study, based on a self-reported survey of executive public leaders in Turkey, found that the core leadership competencies have a positive relationship with the effectiveness of crisis management. Among task–oriented, people–oriented, and organization-oriented categories of leadership behaviors, task-oriented leadership behaviors were found with the highest level of impact on the effectiveness of crisis management. The study demonstrated the importance of the core leadership competencies in the effectiveness of crisis leadership. The hypothesis testing with the covariance structure model supported the positive impact of the core leadership competencies on the effectiveness of crisis management. This study contributes to the literature on leadership during crisis situations, and also provides proposals for public managers and practitioners to increase their effectiveness in leading their organizations during crises.     

Can Changes in Transformational-Oriented and Transactional-Oriented Leadership Impact Turnover over Time?

This article empirically examines the impact that leadership styles have on turnover. The results reveal that transformational-oriented leadership was found to lower voluntary turnover—that is, the aggregate of quits and transfers. Transactional-oriented leadership, on the other hand, was found to increase quits in agencies. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in the article.