Introduction
Donald Kettl argues that public administration is experiencing a paradox. American Political Society has been largely transformed by comparative, international law and political theory fields. In the recent past however, most scholars have been on the move to replace public administration with fields like, implementation, public management, and public management theory. Regardless of the balanced budget, and reforms in administration the citizens’ confidence has fallen tremendously. Research institutions reveals that citizens are more frustrated and angry demanding for good leadership from the elected leadership and performance from government agencies. Most people are mistreated when they visit government agencies for service. The people elected to serve the interests of the people have not put the right measures to ensure that people’s rights are protected (Giuliani, 2002 p. 24).
The modern day government is one that is supposed to focus its efforts on ensuring that there is devolution, privatization, deregulation and that it receives public acceptance. It is surprising to note that these expectations have not yet been met by the government. There is no such governance that is public oriented. The government should embrace servant leadership instead of master kind of leadership where only those who are known to be friends with government officials and have connections with them are the ones who get the services. All private individuals or organizations seeking services from the government must be treated equally and given a fair hearing.
Our organization at onetime needed acquire land for expansion. The organization sought to look for advice from the government’s office, the land commission that is responsible for allocating lands and title deeds. The main agenda was to find the best price possible for the acreage that was required and to avoid unscrupulous business people who are out to gain from other organization’s ignorance of the status of the land. In the area that the organization had expressed interest in buying there had been rising cases of double selling of lands because those people would design fake title deeds in order to sell the land more than ones. Since there was no available advice we had to consult people living and working in the exact location that we had marked (Kettl, 2004 P. 113). Since the land had been advertised in the newspaper it was easy to locate the owner of the land the consultations was just meant to confirm if indeed he was the legitimate owner.
The processing of land transfer documents did not experience any problem because the organization identified a man identified as the loyal land agents in the area. The organization did not see any challenge until when it received its title. The moment came for developing the property, the organization received a notice that it should not continue developing the property given that the land was under a dispute. Taking the issues to court revealed that the owner had fraudently sold the same land to more than four people by producing different titles. Further investigations revealed that other individuals who had bought the same land had filed their petition to court but there was no clear notice in the area making it distinct from other lands. The issue was traced until the man was arrested but he could not recover the money and the only justice the court could was to imprison him and give the first buyer the original title deed. The organization therefore lost so much money because of the failure of a government body to perform its own responsibility of giving advice. There are also other organizations which have gone through such and other dark experiences (Kettl, 2004 P. 272)).
When presidents looked for strategies of improving management of United States, they all focused on public administration. Nixon and Reagent focused on private sector managers while others turned to government officials but not single one of them sought academic solutions. Donald Kettl emphasised on the role of public administration in bringing revolution in leadership. He insists that that it consists of deep understanding of the tensions integrating policy making and administration. It helps in providing a proper organizational structure as well as administrative process matter. It seeks to train those who choose a career in public management to acquire the necessary knowledge to serve the public interest.
Most of the public who have led in the past have demonstrated failure in performing their duties to the citizens. The moment leaders are elected into office; they lose contact with the people and begin their own lifestyles different from that of the common citizens. Most of the governmental corporations are totally paralysed and do not generate profits as the private business (Giuliani, 2002 p. 234) Many are moments when public tries to access services from the public institution but are denied and yet it is their right. The only time when government seems to bond with the public is during campaigns when the leaders are seeking votes. There is need for mindset shift and to focus on the academic solutions to the perennial problem of poor governance and administration, where people are trained to respect and serve public interests when elected to office.
Works cited
Giuliani, Rudolph W, and Ken Kurson. Leadership. New York: Hyperion, 2002.
Kettl, Donald F. System Under Stress: Homeland Security and American Politics. Washington, D.C: CQ Press, 2004.
