Theories of Public Organization

Rating:
Summary: Concise and Powerful
Review: Denhardt's "Theories of Public Organizations" is a concise overview of public administration theories that have had contributed to the substantive mosaic of the field of public administration. Along a continuum ranging from the early contributors to the contemporary accounts in public administration, including scholars of different epistemological persuasions, Denhardt introduces the readers with mouthwatering fecundity of public administration theory/theories.

Denhardt organizes the book around eight major chapters. In the first chapter, the author persuades the reader of the close connection between theory and practice and argues that theory is derived from practice, therefore, how we acquire knowledge in practice and make sense of what is happening around us is important in theory building in that the way we learn helps us to come up with theories that explain what happened and why happened. In the second chapter, Denhardt discusses the intellectual heritage of Marx, Weber, and, Freud, all of whom concluded that complex organizations have important influences on the development of human faculties, for this reason, Denhardt argues that public administration scholars need focus on human issues when spending intellectual energy on public organizations. In chapter 3, the beginning of public administration theory is discussed with special emphasis to "efficiency" as the primary criterion of success (I strongly recommend Deborah Stone's Policy Paradox!). Chapter 4 discusses the rational model of organization. Chapter 5 is about organizational humanism and New Public Administration. In the sixth chapter, Denhardt talks about the New Public Management movement. In Chapter 7, New Public Service is recounted. The eighth chapter is a summary that emphasizes the intimate connection between theory and practice.

Beginning with targeted quotations from Marx, Freud, and Weber, Denhardt argues that large-scale organizations have significant influence on the lives of human beings, because of which one needs to go beyond a simple-minded view that organization theory is about how to increase productivity, a question that addresses only instrumentally-rational managerial techniques, without any palpable regard to personal learning and growth of individuals that populate complex organizations. Drawing from a broad range of public administration literature and epistemological movements that include interpretive/action theory, critical theory, and postmodernism, Denhardt comes up with a viewpoint that public administration scholars should contribute to a theory of public organization that makes a significant emphasis on personal learning, human values and action, and change in public organizations in pursuit of publicly defined societal goals.

Although the book is a generic one that gives a copious account of contributions to public administration theory, Denhardt accomplishes getting the core of his message across: there is (and should be) an intimate connection between theory building and learning, a point of view that leads Denhardt to conclude that students of public administration should endeavor to understand how individuals acquire knowledge in organizations and make sense of what is happening around them-different ways of acquiring knowledge lead to different learning processes and outputs. This proposition implies that researchers, too, should look back in order to interpret actions (intentions and behavior) of individuals and groups in organizations. As much audacious as it is, this proposition runs in manifest contrast to the positivist myth that scientific research should stay away from such post factum interpretations that adulterate the theoretical precision of scientific knowledge.

There are many interesting propositions in the book, which are difficult to be summarized here. There are a few shortcomings. The chapter on New Public Service could have been a bit more comprehensive. Critical and interpretive theories could have been linked more to public administration (for those interested in these theories, I recommend Richard Bernstein's The Restructuring of Social and Political Theory).

Overall, I highly recommend this book to students of public administration.

Rating:
Summary: Linking Theory and Practice?
Review: Theories of Public Organization takes on the noble (and difficult) task of merging organizational theory with the realities of modern public administration. Denhardt begins by tracing the intellectual and political heritage of administrative thought. The book then shifts its focus to the modern challenges faced by organizations and attempts to bind theory and practice together in keeping with the overall theme of the book: theory and practice do not and can not exist independent of each other.

While Denhart makes a valiant attempt to bring the world of theory down from its lofty heights and give it "meaning" and "purpose" for "real world administrators," his book will probably not find a slew of readers in the "real world." Theories of Public Organization is as dense as Hegal in the original German. Don't be fooled by the slim 214 pages, this is the Ulysses of public administration theory. Again, a noble attempt on Denhart's part, but if you are interested in taking on this book, be sure to first rent a room in the ivory tower.