epartment from sources as diverse as responsible social activists to tabloid television exposes. The citizenry of the State of Florida are demanding greater accountability from the states human services personnel.
The demand for greater accountability represents a change in the way in which public administrators are held accountable for their actions. In the past, public administrators have often been able to circumvent the intent of elected officials through the ways in which they implemented programs (Grizzle, 1985, pp. 125 140). There are now indications that public administrators may begin to be held accountable for program outcomes (Grizzle, 1985, p. 126). This position would represent a fundamental change in the approach to accountability in the public sector.
The indications are that oversight staffs continue to view accountability in the context of implementation, as opposed to the quantity of outcomes (Elling, 1983, p. 84). Elected officials, however, are beginning to increase their reliance on outcomes as a means of holding accountable members of the public administration (Grizzle, 1985, p. 130). No where is this position more evident than it is in the Youth and Family Services Division.
Holding public administrators accountable for program outcomes, as well as for program implementations, is consistent with the movement within American public administration toward improved program evaluation and policy analysis (Mazmanian and Sabatier, 1992, p. 9). Policy analysis refers to an analysis of the "determinants, characteristics, and implications of public policies and programs (Positer, 1992, p. 25). The emphasis in policy analysis in on the relationship between (1) the content of policies, and (2) the expected outcomes of the policies (Langbein, 1990, p. 43). In this context, policy analysis generally occurs prior to the implementation of a policy.
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