Despite discussion in the literature of “new governance,” the self-standing government agency continues to constitute the institutional center of American public administration. Drawing on his volume Mission Mystique, the author proposes that the book’s concept of mystique and its template of institution-strengthening characteristics be used to reaffirm this point, buttress agencies against defunding, and enable them better to oversee devolved activities.
BoardmanC.SundquistE. (2009). Toward understanding work motivation: Worker attitudes and the perception of effective public service. American Review of Public Administration, 39, 519-535.
2.
BolmanL. G.DealT. E. (1997). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
3.
CarpenterD. P. (2001). The forging of bureaucratic autonomy: Reputations, networks, and policy innovation in executive agencies, 1862-1928. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
4.
CatlawT. J.JordanG. M. (2009). Public administration and “the lives of others”: Toward an ethics of collaboration. Administration and Society, 41, 290-312.
5.
GoodsellC. T. (2004). The case for bureaucracy: A public administration polemic (4th ed.). Washington, DC: CQ Press.
6.
GoodsellC. T. (2011). Mission mystique: Belief systems in public agencies. Washington, DC: CQ Press.
7.
HecloH. (2008). On thinking institutionally. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.
8.
HoweL. E. (2006). Enchantment, weak ontologies and administrative ethics. Administration and Society, 38, 422-446.
9.
La PorteT. R.KellerA. (1996). Assuring institutional constancy: Requisite for managing long-lived hazards. Public Administration Review, 56, 535-544.
10.
LynnL. E.Jr. (2010). Has governance eclipsed government? In DurantR. F. (Ed.), Oxford handbook of American bureaucracy (pp. 669-690). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
11.
McGuireM.AgranoffR. (2010). Networking in the shadow of bureaucracy. In DurantR. F. (Ed.), Oxford handbook of American bureaucracy (pp. 372-395). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
12.
McKennaM. (2004). Beating back the devil: On the front lines with the disease detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service. New York, NY: Free Press.
13.
MeadM. (1966). Forward. In TextorR. B. (Ed.), Cultural frontiers of the peace corps (pp. ix-x). Cambridge, UK: MIT Press.
14.
MillerG. J.WhitfordA. B. (2010). Experimental methods, agency incentives, and the study of bureaucracy behavior. In DurantR. F. (Ed.), Oxford handbook of American bureaucracy (pp. 786-809). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
15.
MooreM. H. (1995). Creating public value: Strategic management in government. Cambridge, UK: Harvard University Press.
16.
MoynihanD. P.LanduytN. (2009). How do public organizations learn? Bridging cultural and structural perspectives. Public Administration Review, 69, 1097-1105.
17.
NielsenR. P. (1993). Woolman’s “I am We” triple-loop action-learning: Origin and application in organization ethics. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 42(1), 117-138.
18.
O’LearyR. (2006). The ethics of dissent: Managing guerrilla government. Washington, DC: CQ Press.
19.
PerryJ. L.HondeghemA. (Eds.). (2008). Motivation in public management: The call of public service. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
20.
PetersT. J.WatermanR. W.Jr. (1982). In search of excellence: Lessons from America’s best-run companies. New York, NY: Warner.
21.
RaineyH. G. (2010). Goal ambiguity and the study of American bureaucracy. In DurantR. F. (Ed.), Oxford handbook of American bureaucracy (pp. 231-251). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
22.
RaineyH. G.SteinbauerP. (1999). Galloping elephants: Development elements of a theory of effective government organization. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 9(1), 1-32.
23.
RommeA. G. L.van WitteloostuijnA. (1999). Circular organizing and triple-loop learning. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 12, 439-453.
24.
RuppeL. M. (1986). In a changing America. In ViorstM. (Ed.), Making a difference: The peace corps at twenty-five (pp. 193-200). New York, NY: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
25.
SelznickP. (1957). Leadership in administration: A sociological interpretation. Berkeley: University of California Press.
26.
TerryL. D. (2003). Leadership of public bureaucracies: The administrator as conservator (2nd ed.). New York, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
27.
WamsleyG. L.BacherR. N.GoodsellC. T.KronenbergP. S.RohrJ. A.StiversC. M.WhiteO. F.WolfJ. F. (1990). Refounding public administration. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
28.
WhiteS. K. (2000). Sustaining affirmation: The strengths of weak ontology in political thinking. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
29.
WhitnahD. R. (1965). A history of the United States Weather Bureau. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.