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Abstract

Research on the people who deliver public services offers a useful alternative perspective in an applied field with an orientation toward organizational systems, performance, and accountability. It begins inside public organizations, treating public professionals as the subjects of research rather than objects to be controlled and manipulated. This essay reviews three new books that explore aspects of this alternative perspective, which we may call “the human element.” These books focus on the characteristics of bureaucrats, women in the public sector, and race and social equity in government. They offer insights on difficult and controversial topics and serve as important resources for scholars and practitioners in public administration.

Keywords

bureaucracy gender minorities practitioners race social equity women

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References

Alexander

Stivers

(2010). An ethic of race for public administration. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 32, 578-597.

Alkadry

M. G.

Tower

L. E.

(2014). Women and public service: Barriers, challenges, and opportunities. London, England: Routledge.

Box

R. C.

(2015). Public service values. London, England: Routledge.

Cooper

T. L.

(2012). The responsible administrator: An approach to ethics for the administrative role (6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Denhardt

R. B.

(1981). In the shadow of organization. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas.

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R. A.

(2010). Race and the relevance of citizen complaints against the police. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 32, 557-577.

Embrick

D. G.

Rice

M. F.

(2010). Diversity ideology in the United States: Historical, contemporary, and sociological perspectives. In Rice

M. F.

(Ed.), Diversity and public administration: Theory, issues, and perspectives (2nd ed., pp. 24-43). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

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K. E.

(1984). The feminist case against bureaucracy. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

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S. T.

(2014). Race and social equity: A nervous area of government. London, England: Routledge.

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C. T.

(2015). The new case for bureaucracy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

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Guy

M. E.

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M. A.

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S. H.

(2008). Emotional labor: Putting the service in public service. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

12.

Hummel

R. P.

(2008). The bureaucratic experience: The post-modern challenge (5th ed.). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

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Hutchinson

J. R.

(2001). Multigendering PA: Anti-administration, anti-blues. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 23, 589-604.

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Kanter

R. M.

(1977). Men and women of the corporation. New York, NY: Basic Books.

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King

C. S.

(2011). Government is us 2.0. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

16.

King

C. S.

Zanetti

L. A.

(2005). Transformational public service: Portraits of theory in practice. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

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Presthus

(1978). The organizational society (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: St. Martin’s.

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Stivers

(2000). Bureau men, settlement women: Constructing public administration in the Progressive Era. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.

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Stivers

(2002). Gender images in public administration: Legitimacy and the administrative state (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (Original work published 1993)

20.

Whyte

W. H.

(1956). The organization man. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

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Witt

M. T.

(2006). Notes from the margin: Race, relevance, and the making of public administration. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 28, 36-68.

The Human Element

Abstract

Keywords

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References