Synthesis Paper on Public Administration

Woodrow Wilson's Politics-Administration Dichotomy

Politics and public administration have been used interchangeably, and it is impossible to mention politics without public administration in mind. Woodrow Wilson tried to explain the contrast of political administration through the theories of public administration. Woodrow argued that politics and administration are two different things and ought to be approached differently (Patrick,2012). Woodrow saw administration as a business related field that is not related to politics. Politics assigns bodies roles in legislation and implementation of laws for public administration. Woodrow's concept emphasized the idea that politics should not be used to manipulate administrative offices. Therefore, there is a need for dichotomization of politics. The administration should listen to the citizen's demand for excellent public administrators, thus catering to the marginalized groups and administrators eventually portraying good governance.

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Collaboration between politics and public administration is evident in all public administrative functions. Politics inspires collaboration with administrators through innovative networks, shared value initiatives, and collaborative governance structures. The collaborations aid in solving social issues such as unemployment, high poverty rates, and systemic educational deficiencies. The collaborations hinder the economic advancement of America. The factors collaborate in handling questions such as workforce development programs, which are likely to solve unemployment and make a difference in the local economies.

Weber's Bureaucratic Management Approaches

The hierarchy of organizations is the essential feature of bureaucracy. Weber's bureaucratic management theory stated that bureaucracy is maintained by structuring an organization hierarchically and governing members by legal decisions. Bureaucracy ensures there is order, maximum efficiency, and non-favouritism. (Richard 2005). From the case study, the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership observed Weber's idea of bureaucratic structures, their structure comprised five distinct areas namely; the Workforce Investment Board, the Executive Leadership, the Administration and Operations, Programs, and the Fiscal. Additionally, the partnership was headed by the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emmanuel, and the Cook County Board President, Toni Preckwinkle. The departments aimed at fashioning a cohesive regional workforce development system that brings together diverse actors across sectors to address the complex, boundary spanning problems associated with joblessness.

The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership chose a traditional hierarchical organizational structure to implement workforce development services. However, it seemed to work well and benefit the partnership. Each of their five distinct areas worked towards achieving the goals of the partnership. The Partnership's executive comprised of leaders such as Karin Norrington-Reaves, Chief Executive Officer; Illona Sheffey-Rawlings, among others, who were responsible for department policy, strategy, and oversight. The administrative and operations unit within The Partnership includes accountability, IT, human relations staff, contract specialists and the equal opportunity officers. Staff in the administrative and operations department are responsible for a range of functions such as program eligibility determination, contract oversight and maintenance of the IT infrastructure. The program department runs a variety of programs to ensure that The Partnership is responsible for fostering and maintaining relationships with local government agencies and private companies in the region. The finance department is responsible for all financial infrastructure of The Partnership, ensuring that the partnership is in alignment with contract specification. This hierarchical structure was effective, and no other suitable model could have been used.

Gaus' Belief about the Ecology of Public Administration

John Gaus attempted to show the relationship between ecology and public administration. Gaus essay stated that the ecology of public administration shows that there is a variety of interactions between the environment of a society and its administrative system. (Stillman,2010). According to Gaus, Dimock, and White (1968), the administrative system of a particular society is inseparable from the larger society. Therefore, to understand the environment of a particular area, before introducing some administrative procedures (James, 2016).

The U.S. poverty rate has risen to record highs, and chronic long-term unemployment threatens further deterioration of the situation. From the case study, 11.3 million Americans remain unemployed as per 2013 with Chicago taking 9.2%, nearly two full percentage points higher than the national average of 7.4%. Due to the high unemployment rate, over 40% of neighbourhood residents in Chicago are living in poverty. Therefore, there was an acute need to develop the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership program to solve the crisis. Despite the social issues, the city also underwent a major political transition in 2011 when Rahm Emanuel became Mayor. Rahm understood the economic and residential disparities of Chicago and was committed to change the city's politics to solve the issues. After getting in office, Chicago was facing an estimated 700 million dollar gap between expenses and revenues. To solve the crisis, Rahm released a comprehensive transition plan for the city which implored that workforce development had to expand twofold. The plan addressed the relationship between workforce development and the need to strengthen the city's public education system to ensure it was preparing youths for the jobs of the future. Rahm's administration decided to prepare residents for high demand jobs that would aid in the city's overall growth and its ability to build a globally competitive workforce.

Long's Discussion on Political and Administrative Power

The twin use of administration and power within political functions influences the implementation of policies. According to Forrest (2017), power is the most significant element in administration. The sufficient concentration of power leads to an effective and efficient administration. According to Long (1949), the America political system has failed to separate administration from politics, especially since political power can only be exercised through the people or political functions. Long argues that power has to be distributed equally among various organs of administration. Imperatively, contrary to the global system, the American system does not state explicitly the power bestowed to administrative organs. Separation of power has exposed leaders to political manipulation and political interest. From the case study, power needs to be distributed equally to solve the complex policy problems.

The secretive and problematic funding of complex policies is inconsistent and hidden to the public. The case study indicates combined annual costs for both the City of Chicago and Cook County totaled more than $11 billion in 2011. In 2012 the projected budget gap for the two governments combined was nearly $1 billion. As such, both the City and County sought innovative ways to reduce costs and save resources. Understanding that both governments serve the same residents, and often duplicate services, the leadership saw collaboration as a mechanism to change the basic structure, costs, and quality of services offered to residents.

The City of Chicago and Cook County made collaborations with different agencies to solve the funding crisis. The collaborative plan was expected to improve services and save between $66 and 140 million dollars. The city of Chicago and Cook County collaborated and partnered with public, private and nonprofit agencies. The agencies include; 2016 Fund for Chicago Neighborhoods, The Boeing Company, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Bank of America, McCormick Foundation, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, The Searle Funds at the Chicago Community Trust, Sundra Foundation, Taproot Foundation, U.S. Department of Labor, and Michael Reese Health Trust. Contributions made by the agencies aided in developing new initiatives and savings

Potential Intergovernmental Successes and Pitfalls that Emerged from the Multi-Sector Effort to Address the Policy Problems

The intergovernmental relations have influenced better relations between the public and the private sector. The private sector is known to have greater abilities regarding financing and advancing business opportunities. On the other hand, the public sector makes reforms in the market and put more emphasis on public participation in addressing the issues. From the case study, the collaboration between the public and private sector brought about external workforce service providers that helped improve and maintain relationships with community-based organizations and local businesses operating in the workforce.

The multi-sector collaboration has settled the fiscal crisis. The case study states that the Chicago-Cook Workforce Partnership has attracted 6.9 million dollars in additional grant funding and has reduced annual administrative costs by $2 million. With this financial security, the partnership has been able to improve services to residents seeking jobs by offering additional resources, such as research on labour market trends and highly sought after industry qualifications. Job seekers use the research to make informed decisions about the career options available throughout the region.

Additionally, the residents of Chicago can attest to the benefits of the Chicago-Cook Workforce Partnership Program. The partnership had reduced costs and supported job creation leading to economic development across the Cook County workforce system. The Partnership has also created and supported innovative programs that allow for the region-wide implementation of best practices and coordinated engagement with the region's business community to meet the workforce needs of employers and job seekers

Moreover, potential pitfalls that arise from the type of multi-sector effort to solve complex policy issues are an unfair distribution of resources and marginalization of specific sectors. People in power are likely to waste public resources or use the resources to suit personal interests. Unequal distribution of resources can be a leading factor for the high poverty rates in Chicago. From the case study, it is not clear how the resources from the City of Chicago will be distributed to Cook County.

Furthermore, the loss of local control is another pitfall that arose from the multi-sector effort to solve policy issues. Given The Partnership's nascent stage, it is unclear whether or not the decisions made by the City of Chicago and Cook County to shift public service provision from the bureaucracy to a local community nonprofit was appropriate. The case study shows an example of the local government calling upon nonprofit organizations to address some of the most complexes and pressing social problems facing society today

Ultimately, autonomy and democratic accountability is an unintended consequence that arose from the partnership. Democratic accountability gives a citizen to participate in political issues and allows leaders to act in favour of the citizens through the implementation of public policies. The goal of democratic accountability is to come up with strong initiatives for governments and service providers. Democratic accountability is portrayed as necessary for the partnership to succeed as it involves stakeholders such as the Labor market information (LMI), that help individuals, providers and local businesses make informed decisions about workforce development programs, lab...