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Essay about Three Main Approaches to Public Administration

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The three approaches to public administration are political, managerial, and legal. In the political approach, political authority is divided between a central government and the provincial or state governments. This means that some provinces or states are accorded a substantial measure of constitutional or legal sovereignty, although they still remain subordinates of the central government in certain constitutional or legal respects. The political approach promotes the political values of military strength, economic development, union, and representation. In addition, it is characterized by three central features: state sovereignty, bicameralism, and multiple layers of representation. State sovereignty means that the states would …show more content…

One of the advantages of the managerial approach is that it enables the government to adapt to regional or local conditions, especially given that the various regions in a large nation such as the United States would likely have different physical characteristics in terms of their hydrology, topography, and climate. In addition, a managerial or decentralized approach enables the government to keep its span of control manageable, that is, the number of subordinates that report to an administrative official is reduced. In turn, this enables an administrative official to more effectively supervise their subordinates. Even with a decentralized approach, it may still be possible to implement national guidelines to local conditions. In sum, the managerial approach promotes the managerial values of economy, efficiency, responsiveness to clients and customers, and administrative effectiveness.
Finally, the legal approach ensures that the entire nation is integrated or kept together by the constitutional law despite the decentralization of administrative authority, which enables different states and administrative units to impose different laws. In particular, it is possible for the autonomy of the various administrative units to impede national economic development and to lead to the violation of individual rights and standards of decency. In this regard, the

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