discussion response

Directions:

Respond to two other students' posts with your opinion of their evidence and/or position statements. Responses such as, “I agree” or “good idea” are not acceptable and will receive no credit. The response must add to the scholarly dialogue presenting the reasons for your opinion and supporting documentation cited.

(The exchange of ideas between students regarding a colleague’s opinion is a key aspect of on-line learning. Since late postings do not add to dialogue between students, they will not be accepted as participation. Responses to fellow student’s articles and discussions are to be in depth).

Z response

Public administration is a vague concept that is difficult to define. As the textbook states, it is only easy to define if one is content with being simplistic (Shafritz, Russell & Borick, 2016). The authors of the textbook admit that even they lack the intelligence to convey a completed definition of public administration. This is due to public administration encompassing many positions and duties in society. It would be easy to say public administration is just another way of saying governing, but governing can take place in many forms, both directly and indirectly. The government can promote the public interest directly, such as by mail delivery, and indirectly by paying private contractors to promote public interest in some way. In public administration, serving in public trust means allowing the government to carry out good will through the public administrator, whoever that may be. This could mean that a police officer following the same law that he or she enforces, or perhaps a successful charity abstaining from keeping any of the proceeds for personal use. All a public administrator has to do to serve in the public trust is do his or her job as it was meant to be performed. Executing the charge that they have been given means wielding the authority necessary to carry out their duty. Examples of this include a teacher giving a student suspension for misbehavior, a firefighter chief telling his men where to be, and senators enacting a law that will make society better. Serving in public trust and executing charge is just part of the job in the field of public administration.

References

Shafritz, J., Russell, E., & Borick, C. (2013). Introducing Public Administration (8th ed.). Pearson.

A- response

What does it mean to serve in the public trust and execute the "charge" with which you have been given when there is so much about the public administration that is vague, intentionally or unintentionally?

In public administration, your job is to use your discretion to best interpret and enforce the laws even in their ambiguity. Serving in the public trust means the people have trust and faith in elected officials to appoint and hire competent individuals to public administration offices. Those individuals put the best interest of the public ahead of their own personal political opinions and their own agenda. (This is why the director of the FBI is appointed by the president and approved by the senate; to make sure they are responsible and qualified.) Public administrators are also supposed to be a-political, and not donate to any political parties/ campaigns/ PAC's to ensure that their main objective is carrying out the law the best way possible. Their "charge" is to execute the law in the most accurate and effective way possible. Some laws that are passed can tent to be vague. Most of the time Congress that passes the laws are usually very vague, so any agency in charge of enforcing the law or set of laws has to actually determine the specifics of what the means. These people serve in the interest of the public; not the interest of politics or themselves or of a small group of people.

(So an example would be a law says "it is now illegal to discriminate against any person because of their race". Now the law does not define what discrimination is. So when enforcing these laws, they often have to define the terms of the laws.)