Masters in Public Administration - MPA / There are often noted gaps and tensions arise between official government policies and what is implemented on the ground. The two theories that consistently argue antagonistically about the policy processes are the rational bureaucratic model also called the "top-down approach" as opposed to the incremental or bottom-up approach. This research was inspired by a bottom-up perspective and involves a detailed investigation of Lipsky's street level bureaucracy (SLB) theory. Over the years since Lipsky's research much international work has be done on the subject of discretion among policy implementers but in the South the focus has been more on top-down ideas such as increasing state capacity and monitoring workers and not on the Lipsky problematic. Hence, this study specifically focuses on studying the extent, intentions and uses of discretion. Intentions are look e at in a threefold manner: good, bad and conflicting, among nurses as SLBs in a public hospital in Cape Town, in view of the t wo conflicting approaches to policy implementation. I found that the discretion practices among nurses do 'more good than harm' as opposed to the view held by the top down approach. The study further revealed that discretion is also often conflicted or ambivalent. Moreover, it is often based on tacit collective understandings and practices among groups of nurses. This is one element that needs to be explored further in future studies in order to contribute to the body of knowledge. Notably, there appears to be a gap in South African literature on this vital subject area. 111

Since January 1, 2015, the police authority's largest organizational reform took place, and 21 county police authorities were merged into one unified police authority. The purpose of this was to increase the prerequisites for a stronger operating result with higher quality in the efforts. In connection with the reorganization, they sought to have a more distinct management where the operations would be employee driven. In this study, the official's space for action is studied, and to what extent the public works are considered regarding the expertise and knowledge of the employees at local police level. Through an interview study the officials of the local police level shared the experiences and how the reorganization's impact on the space of action has affected their ability on making decisions. The analysis of the study takes the biggest inspiration from Lisky's street-level bureaucracy theory but also shows elements of the authority's structure, i.e. top-down and bottom-up perspective. The study also takes into account the public officials’ tools of power and analyzes the exercise of power.

Latino immigrants are the fastest growing foreign group and appear to be suffering from disproportionate risks of involvement in the child welfare system. Yet, there is limited knowledge in regards to this population when involved in the child welfare system and the day-to-day complexity of issues, stressors, and barriers they face. This qualitative study aims to understand the day-to-day reality of being a Latino immigrant in this system as well as the organizations that work with this population. Street-level bureaucracy theory is used to explore how private non-profit child welfare agencies work to assist their Latino immigrant clients on a day-to-day basis. It also examines the perceptions and experiences of non-profit child welfare staff members in regards to accountability and discretion toward both the organization and their Latino immigrant clients. Qualitative methodology was used to gain in-depth knowledge of how these agencies are working with this population. Three private non-profit child welfare agencies located in Los Angeles County were selected. Each agency has a foster care and adoptions component as well as various other programs such as Project Fatherhood, Family Preservation, and Unaccompanied Child program. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 19 staff members. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings from this study found that the complex issues that exist with this population in the child welfare system are not discussed at a detailed or formal level. Also, there are gaps between policies and practices, in that the universal policies in place are not meeting all the needs of these families and creating barriers in servicing these families. At the organizational level, it was found that these agencies have more time and availability for their immigrant clients due to a lower caseload and agency flexibility. They were able to be more accountable to their clients and used their discretion to spend more time with these clients, advocate more for them, provide more quality work, and have more creativity in filling the gaps these families are experiencing in regards to access to services and service use.

Currently, the high level of burnout among military psychologists resulting from contemporary military service is gaining attention. However, there is insufficient knowledge of their lived experiences of burnout. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore burnout, based on the military occupational mental health, military job demand-resources models, and biopsychosocial models. Eleven active duty and prior service military psychologists were recruited for interviews using snowball sampling. The first phase of data analysis employed NVivo software. The second and third phase used the 7-step modified version of the Van Kamm method, resulting in 7 themes and 1 discrepant case. The key findings indicated that the unique nature of military bureaucracy provided the environment that fostered burnout into a taboo milestone. Furthermore, the challenging task associated with finding meaning and balance for the ambiguous role of being a military psychologist also compounded the experiential factors contributing to burnout. Several shared experiential indications foretelling of burnout were identified. However, the reality of how military psychologist experienced burnout differed from textbook knowledge, indicating there is a theory-practice gap in personally diagnosing burnout progression. Military psychologists also indicated the theory-practice gap between the available resources for burnout and their limiting utilization practicability. The results of this study can be used to make a positive social change by better informing the development of prevention strategies benefiting not only military psychologists but potentially all military members who routinely describe themselves as burned out.

The research problem of this thesis is an examination of inter-bureau power relations. A modification of Max Weber’s classical ideal type bureaucracy is the conceptual model to which sociological analysis is made. An empirical examination of the variance between the conceptual model and data collected in the field is analyzed in order to illustrate inter-bureau power relations. The analysis of the conceptual model is based upon three assertions. They are: (1) inter-bureau power relations are based upon coercion and not cooperation; (2) normative standards that are established by the administrators of the bureaucracy are differentially enforced; and (3) goals that are established by the administrators of the bureaucracy are subject to distortion. Participant-observation and casual interviewing techniques were the methods employed to collect data pertaining to the nature of inter-bureau power relations over a nine month period. The research problem lent itself to a qualitative approach in that the data were largely subjective and required recording over a period of time. The data collected were primarily a result of participant-observation conducted while an employee of the bureaucracy studies. Additional information was collected and analyzed from documents related to the functioning of the bureaucracy. Permission was sought and received, from the bureaucracy and related organizations studies, to use the data collected. This study found that the Weberian styled conceptual model, representing the authority hierarchy of the bureaucracy studied, was theoretically based upon cooperation, rationality, logic and equalitarian principles. Maintaining the Weberian styled authority hierarch had become ideology to the administrators of the bureaucracy. The existence and operation of this particular hierarchy was made to matter of public record, thus satisfying the political aspects of public accountability. However, it was found that there were other organizational hierarchies that the administrators of the bureaucracy utilized in performing the operation functions of the bureaucracy. For the purposes of this thesis the “other” authority hierarchies were known as working models. The authority hierarchies of the working models seems to be operationally based upon the concepts of coercion, differential enforcement of normative standards, and distortion of administrators’ goals. A unique characteristic of the working models was that they were quasi-secret, and virtually no public records were kept of their existence of operation.

Performance management is prevalent in public organizations and public services, but the push for performance may harm genuine accountability. One critical reason for this is that little knowledge has developed about the scope and effect of actual accountability requirements in the public management field. This dissertation furthers our understanding of accountability and performance by distinguishing them as different dimensions of public management. Building on this distinction, the effect of accountability (A) on performance (P) and accountability management’s (M) mediating role in the relationship between accountability and performance were investigated empirically in child welfare services in Virginia. The study had two stages: interviews and a survey. The qualitative content analysis of the interviews provides several noteworthy findings. Accountability can be understood more with the terms: explanation, expectation, people/society, action/decision, and values. Conversely, performance can be considered more in line with the terms: productivity/outcome, timely work, team playing, learning, and strategy. The incompatible characteristics found between accountability and performance highlight problems behind performance-driven accountability. The survey portion of the study, built upon the interview data, also presents notable findings. (1) Accountability affects performance both directly and indirectly, and (2) accountability management matters in the relationship between accountability and performance. While the empirical literature on the A → P link focuses on the effects of competing accountability requirements, my study examines dimensions of the accountability requirements’ impact. Formal (e.g., legal) as well as informal (e.g., ethical) accountability requirements are critical for ensuring higher performance. Compliance strategies implicitly connect informal accountability requirements with work performance. The findings support the study’s argument that accountability should be stressed for better performance and highlight the need for the careful design of accountability mechanisms in social services. Ultimately, this study may serve as a foundation for future efforts to establish more appropriate accountability and performance arrangements. / Ph. D.

This project starts starts out in wanting to somehow investigate the public space. Beginning in the questions of: What kind of interventions can we achieve in the public space? What is allowed, what is encouraged - what is not? How easy or how difficult is it to achieve building something within the folds of the public space of our city?  On the scale of the intervention itself, we were interested in what things could be investigated through design and materiality: How can we, through this design, encapsulate and measure softer, hard-to-grasp elements such as time, changes and interactions? How can we design a structure that will be responsive to the traces and manifestations of these things? What materials and organization of these can embody them?

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Because academic libraries are primarily staffed by women and are relatively autonomous entities in colleges and universities, they offer a unique model of workplace gendering and feminism. This qualitative, ethnographic study examined 3 small college libraries in 3 regions of the United States and explored issues of bureaucracy and gendering in these libraries. Feminist challenges to bureaucracy emerged in the areas of hierarchy, division of labor, competition and collaboration, decision-making, and communication. Feminine practice in the libraries reflected private sphere attitudes toward work (values of community, emotionality, and caring) and an affirmation of feminine roles in the workplace. The organizational cultures of these libraries affirmed flexible scheduling, emotions and friendship at work, and parenting talk and behaviors. The library workers also engaged in an ethic of care for library users and colleagues. Individuals in the organizations expressed motivations for work not based in monetary or status gain and endorsed women's power in leadership roles. The gendering of libraries also placed strong masculinity outside of the norm, creating expectations for men to engage in androgynous or feminine behavior. Overall, the study gives voice to feminine and feminist practice in the workplace.