The history of public administration and management theory is one of changing understandings of the relationship between employees and managers, between the organization and the community, and between organizations. It is not a history in which theories are built incrementally, or additively, simply by adding new information to what has gone before. Instead, theories seem to be led by changes in political thought and cultural values, which influence the way in which relationships are conceptualized.
One current trend is toward a belief that decentralization is more efficient and effective than centralized administration. This is led by the political changes of the past election (although at a deeper level, it began with Ronald Reagan's election in the early 1980s), as well as changes in management theory typified by quality circles and quality management organizations. There is a distrust of bureaucracy and a sense that leadership from the center is too often out of touch with the peripheries, and too often insulated from everyday realities, whether in public or private organizations.
Therefore, the intent in this paper is to explore the issue of decentralization in public administration and in the private sector in order to understand its advantages and disadvantages.
Administrative and Management Theory
In such a short paper, it is nearly impossible to give any solid sense of the history of administrative, management, and leadership theories. All of these have seen many theorists and much discussion of issues such as motivation, organizational development, and productivity. To look briefly at some of the history might be helpful, however.
The study of public administration in the modern era is often dated back to an article by Woodrow Wilson, which was published in 1887 (Wilson, 1887). Interestingly enough, in this article Wilson concluded the opposite of what many opponents of centralization contend. Opponent...