The 3Ps & 1E of Public Administration Success 

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Carroll G. Robinson
May 31, 2024

To succeed as a public administration professional, it is important to know and understand The Three Ps and 1E of public administration. As political scientists and foreign policy experts would say, this article is about the realpolitik of professional public administration practitioners. 

The First P is Politics. Scientific managers and civil servants are all impacted by the internal and external political realities and factors driving the political appointees and elected officials they report to. Whether that is good or bad is a hotly debated topic and it should be. (I intentionally did not say “work for” since technically—some would say theoretically—public administration professionals work for The People/the public, sometimes euphemistically referred to, in shorthand, as the taxpayers.) 

Politics, as an aside, also impacts the external and internal environments of labor negotiations and contracts for those public administrators represented by a labor union. Most importantly, politics shapes and drives the public policy agenda that will shape and guide the substantive work of public administrators. 

For good or bad, in our democratic Republic, the outcome of elections is the best representation of the will of the public. We now know that even broad-based polling has its flaws and most importantly, polls aren’t elections, in a representative democracy. 

Some will argue that elections are not inclusive and representative enough but that begs the questions: How high does the turnout have to be for acceptance as a legitimate expression of the public’s will? And, should voting be mandatory to ensure that voter turnout is high enough to truly be representative of the public’s will?  

There are serious questions to be considered about whether or not mandatory voting would be accepted or even work in our nation but there are a lot of ideas now being offered and discussed in that space. This short piece is not intended to resolve that debate. 

My point is simply this: Public administrators work for the public and elected officials are the people’s representatives under our system of government and politics is the determining force on how elected officials are selected, how they select political appointees and thus public administrators are impacted by the winds, the passions and the public policy forces of change driven by electoral politics. So, it is imperative for public administrators to understand the science, the art and the practical policy consequences of politics and elections.  

Public administrators don’t implement public policy in a vacuum or in isolation. Governance is a living, breathing organism. Good government is both an art and a science. Some would say it’s more psychology than anything else. 

The Second P is Public Policy. Public policy encompasses the laws passed by the legislative body and the executive as well as the rules and regulations implemented by public administrators pursuant to express legislative authorization. (See the recent United States Supreme Court decisions on the diminishing regulatory authority of government agencies.) 

There are also judicial opinions on state and federal constitutional, statutory and regulatory issues that also impact public policy and the policy process that are far too often overlooked or misunderstood by public administrators resulting in negative consequences. 

Public administrators also have to pay attention to the internal policies that govern the operation of their organizations and employment. To be a successful public administrator you also need to know and be fluent in these internal policies.  

Lastly, there is the practical understanding of the inherent differences between the official and unofficial organization chart. Who internally and externally really has expertise, influence and the actual ability to secure approval and funding for proposals and projects.  

Proposals without funding are just good PowerPoint or whiteboard ideas going to waste. 

You have to learn how to navigate the internal and external political and power dynamics landscape to avoid land mines because they do exist. 

For all the professionalization of the civil service system and public administration profession, we are still talking about human beings with all their strengths, weaknesses, insecurities, biases, blind spots, faults, follies and failures.  

There are no perfect people, no perfect data and no perfect public policy solutions. Remember, for every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.  

Policy solutions are a never ending balancing act and there will always be a need for tweaks and adjustments. Anyone who does not know this will not succeed. There can be no author’s pride in the public policy solution process. We have just recently witnessed what happens when there is too much personal pride with the ouster (of Kevin McCarthy) and delayed election of a new Speaker of the U.S. House. It may be happening, once again, when it comes to Speaker Johnson. 

The Third and final P is for Personalities. Yes, pettiness and favoritism are still real in government and anyone who tells you otherwise does not know what they are talking about.  

Yes, merit and competence matter but far too often they are not the deciding factors.  

Having a mentor and being mentored still matters. You have to learn the art of making someone your mentor because if you wait to be mentored you will too often be left behind even if there is an official mentoring program. 

Remember, you get some of the friends and allies of your mentor but also all of their enemies. Choose wisely based on an intersecting understanding of the official and unofficial organization power chart. 

The 1E in public administration is Ethics. 

Some argue that Ethics are an objective moral truth grounded, to some degree, in religious beliefs while others see Ethics as a somewhat subjective situational guideline based in fairness. 

In The Declaration of Independence, the Founders of our nation said that we were all created equal but that simple declarative self-evident truth was not the reality of our nation.  

Even the United States Supreme Court has said that the Declaration and its clear moral statement is not the law of our land.  

Ethics are supposed to be a higher standard beyond simply what is legally required. 

With all that is going on across America in our state legislatures and on our nation’s college and university campuses (and even in our public schools) to dismantle and obliterate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, to ban books and eliminate or dumb down the teaching of Black History and the role of all people of color and women in the story of America, should Ethics truly be regarded as a synonym for equity and equality in the future development of our nation and especially in the field of public administration from the academy into the practice? 

Conclusion 

I know some people in the public administration profession and academia are going to say that this piece is a little cynical, but all any truly objective reader has to do is look at the politics of academia and the reality of both the hiring and promotional systems in government to see the validity of my observations.

The truth hurts sometimes but I want my students fully prepared to serve and succeed by understanding all the crosscuts and undercurrents they will need to navigate to survive and advance the common good and their career. 

Coda   

I would encourage the readers of this piece, especially public administration and public policy students, whether you agree or disagree with me, to read the following books as a starting point to truly understand and appreciate the realpolitik of the practical practice of public administration.  

Recommended Reading 

• Terry H. Anderson, The Pursuit of Fairness, A History of Affirmative Action 
• Stephen E. Ambrose, Nothing Like It In The World 
• Derrick Bell, And We Are Not Saved 
• Derrick Bell, Faces At The Bottom of The Well 
• Willie Brown, Basic Brown 
• Robert Caro, Master of the Senate 
• Robert Caro, The Power Broker 
• Pauline Maier, Ratification, The People Debate The Constitution, 1787-1788 
• Steven R. Weisman, The Great Tax War 

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Author: Carroll G. Robinson is an Associate Professor of Public Administration and Political Science at Texas Southern University’s Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs in Houston Texas. Robinson is a former elected official who has taught at two law schools. 

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