Public Administration

Articles from PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Minnowbrook Conference III What is the Minnowbrook conf erence at f irst place ?

A once-in-a-generation event held every twenty years, the Minnowbrook conference brings together the top scholars in public administration and public management to reflect on the state of the field and its future. Minnowbrook I (1968), II (1988), and III (2008) are watershed events in the intellectual development of public administration. Before moving to Minnowbrook Conference III letzz have a look at first two First MinnowBrook Conf erence 1. It was organised in t he backdrop of anger and unrest against t he Government . 2. It was organised in opposit ion t o Philadelphia Conf erence. 3. It had part icipant s f rom depart ment of Polit ical Science. Hence it s approach was narrow and limit ed. 4. It f ocus was Change, Relevance, Social Equit y and Value. 5. It gave rise t o t he concept of Public Administ rat ion. 6. New Public Administ rat ion f ailed in pract ise. 7. It s t heme, t enure, t one and t emperament was more radical and ant i Government . 8. It s proceeding were combined in a report by Frank Marini in 1971 named

"T oward a New Public Administ rat ion:T he Minnow Brook Perspect ive". 9. It was held under t he chairmanship of Dwight Waldo. Second Minnow Brook Conf erence 1. It was organised when t he economy of USA was upbeat and a sense of euphoria was present among t he masses. 2. It was organised f or t he support and expansion of US Public Administ rat ion. 3. It s part icipant s were f rom f ield of Public Administ rat ion, Polit ical Science, law, management , administ rat ion et c. Hence it was more broad-based and liberal. 4. It s f ocus was LPG - Liberalisat ion, Privat isat ion and Globalisat ion. 5. It gave rise t o t he concept of New Public Management . 6. New Public Management proved t o be successf ul. 7. It was highly encouraging and support ive. 8. All it s proceedings were published in t he essays in t he Minnow Brook t radit ion edit ed by Richard T . Mayor and published by T immy Bailey - "Public Management in t he Int er-Connect ed World:Essays in t he Minnow Brook T radit ion." (1990) 9. It was held under t he chairmanship of H George Fredrickson.

Minnowbrook Conf erence III T his conf erence t ook place during Sept ember, 2008. It was organised when American economy was downgrading and global t errorism had shown it s f irst ef f ect . It was chaired by Rosemary O’Leary. Global Concerns :- global t errorism, economy and ecological imbalances et c. Part icipat ion :- T his invit ed part icipant s f rom ot her count ries as well hence it was global in approach f ocussing upon global challenges and problems of Public Administ rat ion.

Main Focus : - It s f ocus was upon st ruct ural and f unct ional ref orms or second generat ion ref orms. Concept originat ed : - It gave rise t o t he concept of 3 E's - Economy, Ef f iciency and Ef f ect iveness. It was conduct ed in t wo phases. T he f irst phase was a pre-conf erence phase. In t his conf erence, t he young and emerging scholars of public administ rat ion were asked t o cont ribut e a f ive page crit ique of public administ rat ion. Almost 56 proposals were accept ed and considered. In t his conf erence, a single f ormal crit ique of public administ rat ion was not being able t o be developed rat her a dozen of areas of concern in public administ rat ion were ident if ied such as 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

T he Academic-Pract it ioner Relat ionship Democrat ic Perf ormance Management Perf ormance measurement Globalizat ion and Int ernat ional Perspect ive Administ rat ive et hics and values Inf ormat ion t echnology and management Met hodology and int er-disciplinary perspect ive T he second phase was conduct ed in a round t able f ormat . It was a get t oget her of senior scholars. T he scholars were divided int o various groups based on t heir areas of concern. Simult aneously, a number of issues relat ing t o public administ rat ion were discussed. Finally, t hree major areas of emphasis were ident if ied. T hey are

1.

It emphasized on Comparat ive St udies. In t his conf erence, it was acknowledged t hat because of impact of LPG and IT , no syst em could be meaningf ully st udied in isolat ion. T he syst ems across t he world are int erconnect ed.

2.

It emphasized on Act ion Research and Met hodological Pluralism. In t his conf erence, t here was an agreement t hat f or t he st udy of Public Administ rat ion t o be meaningf ul, it is required t hat t he t eachings in Public Administ rat ion should include t he t eachings on met hodologies and t ools and t echniques t o undert ake research. It was realized t hat a discipline will become more and more enriched when t here will be more R&D. If t he st udent s are more equipped wit h t he t ools and t echniques, t hey can independent ly carry out t heir own research. T his will provide a robust f oundat ion f or t he st udy of t he discipline. It also emphasized t hat t he f indings of t he research should be

subject ed t o Peer Review. It also recognized t he import ance of Mult iple Approach or Mult iple viewpoint s t owards t he st udy of public administ rat ion. 3. It came out wit h a redef init ion of public administ rat ion. According t o t his conf erence, public administ rat ion is considered as a socially embedded process of relat ionship, dialogue and act ion t o promot e human f lourishing f or all

Comparing it with Minnowbrook I & II Minnowbrook conf erence in 1968 and 1988 discussed t he need f or increasing RIGOUR and RELEVANCE in Pub Ad while preserving it s DIVERSIT Y and UNIQUE IDENT IT Y. T he f irst t wo conf erences can well be charact erised as a search f or ident it y and legit imacy as a separat e f ield of st udy. By t he T HIRD MINNOWBROOK CONFERENCE .....t he crisis of IDENT IT Y was no LONGER a cent ral FOCUS . T he discipline already had it zz own journals and t rained PROFESSIONALs nd SCHOLARs. Rat her much discussion f ocussed on DIVERSIT Y and inf act many new scholars part icipat ing f or t he f irst t ime pressed f or more diversit y in PERSPECT IVE and SUBJECT MAT T ER !! .