Administration as ritual: comforting or confounding?

Article Abstract:

Charles T. Goodsell argues that administration can be conceptualized as ritualism, providing an avenue for referring to administrative habits as rituals that foster social continuity. Unfortunately, he does not offer sufficient explanation as to how and why rituals are crucial to the understanding of administration. Failing to give an explicit purpose for relating administration to rituals, Goodsell only fortifies the notion that bureaucracies are nothing but insignificant tasks that undermine efficiency in government.

author: Keehley, Patricia
Bureaucracy, Ritualism

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Whose duty is it to say the king is naked?

Article Abstract:

Curtis Ventriss asserts that the field of public administration does not sufficiently address contemporary realities and is short on moral analysis. He enjoins public administrators and academics to create a broader-based theory that considers the interdependencies in society and educates the public and the studentry on the consequences of this interrelatedness. However, his discussion has four flaws. Recommendations on how to deal with these shortcomings are discussed.

author: Porter, David O.
Democracy

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The subjectivist approach to leadership: the need for more than description

Article Abstract:

Prof. Dorothy Olshfski correctly argues that leadership reality is based in the meaning of human action as the executive person interprets it. Her recommendation for a critical-incident approach to leadership research is also justifiable. However, reporting of qualitative data demands a disciplined approach in the revelation of executives' covert knowledge. Unfortunately, her initiative at generalization of research findings into conceptual categories is flawed.

author: Sun, Jong S.
Cabinet officers, Cabinet officials, Leadership

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subjects list: Analysis, Public administration
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