Public Administration Role in Implementation of Bureaucratic Reform in Indonesia
Bureaucratic reform is one of the government's efforts to achieve good governance. The experiences of many countries show that bureaucratic reform is the first step to achieve the advancement of a country. Bureaucratic reform is not only about the effectiveness and efficiency of the reform process in the bureaucracy, but also become the backbone in the life of the nation. Bureaucratic reform applied in ministries and government agencies in accordance with the demand of current conditions and situations. Nowadays, bureaucracy required to be able to serve the public in a timely, accurate and professional manner.
Bureaucracy is an important factor in achieving national development goals. Therefore, the bureaucratic reform goals are the government provides professional attainment, has legal certainty, transparent, participatory, credible, and also develops a bureaucratic culture and behavior based on ethics, public service, and accountability as well as integrity in carrying out the mission in the realization of national goals and objectives.
In fact, bureaucratic reform is an effort to renew and change the fundamental governmental system, especially regarding to institutional or organizational aspects, business process, and human resources reform.
Bureaucratic reform in Indonesia puts the importance of bureaucracy rationalization which creates efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity. It can be measured by the ratio between the volumes of tasks with the amount of resources accompanied by formalistic work and strict supervision.
Good government organization setup is based on the vision, mission, and objectives, lies on the agenda, policies, programs, ...
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...ces regarding something formal complied with procedures and there is no favoritism or sentiment, no prejudice, and no strings attached. Partnership or relationship is presented in an easy way and in accordance to the regulation or law.
The characteristics of bureaucracy are:
obey the rules correctly;
officials are working with focus and full capability;
the existence of discipline;
the existence of regulatory requirements to appoint and dismiss officials;
firm separation between private and office affairs;
The execution of bureaucracy tasks are based on two principles:
the principle of legality that means policy made based on legal basis or applicable statutory provisions;
the principle of discretion that means if there are no regulations, officials still have to take a decision based on opinion as long as it does not violate the principle of legality;
Often, when the discussion of American bureaucracy is broached in conversation, those holding these conversations often think of the many men and women who operate behind the scenes within the government. This same cross section of Americans is looked upon as the real power within the federal government and unlike the other branches of government, has little to no oversight. A search of EBSCO resulted in the following definition, an organization “structure with a rigid hierarchy of personnel, regulated by set rules and procedures” (Bureaucracy, 2007). Max Weber believed that a bureaucracy was technically the most efficient form of organization, one structured around official functions that are bound by rules, each function having its own specified competence (2007). This wide ranging group of Americans has operated within the gaps, behind the scenes, all under the three core branches of government: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The division of government into three branches and separate powers gives each branch both exclusive powers and some additional power...
as, good or bad, wrong or right. The policy claim, argues about what should or should
Max Weber’s theory of bureaucracy lends itself to the notion of the managerialism. He claims that as society becomes more integrated and complex, organizational elites come to be more dependent on specialists and experts, or bureaucracies to advise and influence them on decisions. Bureaucracies are groups of individuals doing specialized tasks which blend into a cohesive and efficient unit. Power becomes increasingly centralized within bureaucracies and the elites who control them because as they grow, becoming more powerful, they use that power to gain more control over the masses. Weber saw the historical development of societies as a movement toward rational forms of organization, that is, groups organized not on the basis of the authority of personalities and traditions but on the basis of specific functions to perform or objectives to meet (Marger p. 72). Weber often used the notion of a machine to illustrate what he meant by modern organizations, referring to people as “cogs'; that serve the machine, losing their identity and creativity in the process. Although Weber admitted that both mechanization and bureaucracy together created an extremely efficient and productive economic system, they also worked to bui...
The main aim of public service is to deliver services that are of need to its people. How fast a public manager can address its people’s problem and concerns indicates its effectiveness. Responsiveness of the manager develops trust between him, the government, and the people. According to (Rainey, p106) bureaucratic responsiveness implies two things; responsiveness to the people’s wishes or responsiveness to the interest of the government.
Though the bureaucracy began simply, with George Washington’s creation of the Department of Foreign Affairs, over the last 226 years, its size and power have increased exponentially. From homeland security to the delivery of mail, this “fourth branch of government” possesses a wide scope of responsibilities. However, the necessity for such a structure often comes into question. According to Max Weber, who believed that “the bureaucracy was likely to acquire an ‘overpowering’ power position, the bureaucracy is an “inevitable consequence” of modern day life (“The Rise of the Bureaucratic State”, Wilson). A specialized bureaucracy provides valuable expertise, an asset which the Founders did not take for granted, as they had suffered a committee
Principles, when constructed properly and followed, help to ensure equal treatment. It answers questions such as: procedural fairness, legality, due process, and value. However, one must consider where the principles come from to carry out these things. Some of these principles come from external laws and rules that govern how we conduct professional business and carry out our responsibilities. Having a strong set of individual principles matters; they make it easier for people to follow and uphold the laws and rules we are bound by in our professional lives.
1.The strict supremacy of statute over judicial decisions and a tradition of literalism in statutory interpretation, 2. Where no legislation exists, the courts are bound by the doctrine of precedent in accordance with a strict hierarchy of judicial authority, 3. In the absence of a relevant precedent, the judges will be guided by legal principle and reasoning by analogy, and 4. There is clear way of distinguishing the ratio of a case…
Organizational structure within an organization is a critical component of the day to day operations of a business. An organization benefits from organizational structure as a result of all it encompasses. It is used to define how tasks are divided, grouped and coordinated. Six elements should be addressed during the design of the organization’s structure: work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, spans of control, centralization and decentralization. These components are a direct reflection of the organization’s culture, power and politics.
Public Administration involves the development, implementation and management of policies for the attainment of set goals and objectives that will be to the benefit of the general public. Since Public Administration involves taking decisions that affect the use of public resources there is often the question of how to utilize public resources for maximum public good. The National Association of Public Administration has identified four pillars of public administration: economy, efficiency, effectiveness and social equity. These pillars are equally important in the practice of public administration and to its success. This paper seeks to explain the role of each of the pillars in the practice of public administration.
According to Sapru R.K. (2008) p370-371 the traditional ideal of public administration which inclined to be firm and bureaucratic was based on processes instead of outcomes and on setting procedures to follow instead of focusing on results. This paradigm can be regarded as an administration under formal control of the political control, constructed on a firmly ranked model of bureaucracy, run by permanent and neutral public servants, driven only by public concern. In emerging nations the administration was true bureaucracy meaning government by officers. In this perspective Smith (1996) p235-6 perceived that“the bureaucracy controls and manages the means of production through the government. It increases chances for bureaucratic careers by the creation of public figures,demanding public managers, marketing boards.
Although there are some differences among bureaucratic and scientific management theories, in actuality, they both share a deliberate and detailed approach towards improving an organization’s efficiency and effectiveness. Dissimilarities seen in these approaches may be due primarily to their points of reference. Where the scientific approach focuses primarily on maximizing the efficiency of work, the bureaucratic approach’s concentration is directed on the structuring of the personnel within the organization. Although there are weaknesses in both management theories time has shown each to be successful models. These two classical approaches to management complement each other and lend well to large organizations. Both theories have been universally adopted and adaptations of each are in practice today.
Traditional public administration is traced back to the works of scholars like Max Weber, Woodrow Wilson and Fredrick Taylor. This form of administration was mostly influenced by Max Weber with his bureaucratic model and theory. Max Weber was a well-known sociologist born in Germany in the year 1864. He came up with his bureaucratic model as a way to try to improve management in organizations. ‘Weber emphasized on top-down control in the form of monocratic hierarchy that is a system of control in which policy is set at the top and carried out through a series of offices, whereby every manager and employee are to report to one person in top management and held accountable by that manager’ (Pfiffner, 2004, p. 1).
reflects the fourth principle of politic realism which is described and played out in the argument
Despite these criticisms, the reforms in public administration have had a widespread impact across this country and around the world. The principles underlying these reforms have enhanced government performance and accountability, public administration has employed various strategies to streamline management and enhance pubic service. It is important to keep in mind that while there may be significant improvement in productivity as a result of technological advances or reform, the most meaningful long-term gains will come about as a result of attention to the humans side of the organization. Successful public administration demands a successful balance between the concerns of the technical side of the agency and paying attention to people.
c) Substantive policies- the part of the law that creates, defines, and regulates rights, what the government going to do. For example preventing the retail of sale of liquor, constructing highways, the law of contracts, torts, wills, and real property; the essential substance of rights under law.