Understanding and Managing Public Organizations, 6th Edition

CHAPTER FIVETHE IMPACT OF POLITICAL POWER AND PUBLIC POLICY

For a research project, a college professor interviewed the secretary of the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) of a large state in the United States. The DCA manages programs for housing and community development, planning for growth, and ecological protection. The programs often include grants for local governments. This gives DCA great influence on the constituencies of many political officials and gets a lot of attention from those officials. During the interview, the DCA secretary's administrative assistant came in and handed her a note. The secretary told the interviewer that even though she had agreed to take no phone calls during the interview, she would have to interrupt the interview to return a phone call. She showed the interviewer the note. It was a message from one of the most powerful state senators. It said, “This is my SECOND phone call to you and you have not returned my call.” The administrative assistant explained that the senator had told her to write the note that way, to put “second” in all capitals and underline it. The director felt that she should return the call right away. Government executives often have to be very responsive to elected officials.

Chapter Two defined public organizations as those the government owns and funds and therefore has authority to direct and control. Chapter Four reviewed organization theorists' ideas about the crucial relationship between organizations and ...