College of Education

School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017

UGBS 105

Introduction to Public

Administration

Session 2 – Institutions and Public Administration

Lecturer: Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

Contact Information: dappiah@ug.edu.gh

Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

Session 2

Institutions and Public Administration

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Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, you should understand:

1.Understand the concept of institutions

2.Identify the components of an institution

3.Understand the nature of public institutions

4.Understand the types of institutions of organization

5.Analyze why public sector institutional reforms fail

6.Propose solutions for building strong public institutions of administration

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Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

Public Administration

is a System of Public Institutions

•Because we are going to learn about a special system of

institutions of organization called Public Administration, it is

appropriate that we begin this course by understanding the

definition of institutions

•We shall come to understand that not all public agencies of

administration operate with the same type of rules or

institutions. Understanding the different types of institutions of

Public Administration is therefore very important

•Once we understand when is meant by institutions, it will help

us to know how to design effective and efficient rules of Public

Administration to promote development

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Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

How Should Individuals With Different Values

Resolve Their Differences to Achieve Common

Goals?

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Nations Fail Because of Ineffective

State Institutions to Promote

Development!

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What are Institutions?

Many scholars use the analogy of a game with players and rules

to define institutions as “The Rules of the Game” (Douglas North,

1991; Geoffrey Hodgson, 2006; Adrian Leftwich, 2007).

The definition of institutions as the rules of the game is useful in

helping us to understand the origin, content, and functions of

institutions in society. These issues have been expanded in

following working definition of institutions that I will use

Working Definition: Institutions are the humanly devised rules

of social, economic and political organization embedded with

normative values of appropriateness that provide incentives for

rational behavior of actors within and outside the organization 7

Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

Institutions and Organizations:

Are They the Same or Different?

The concepts of institution and organization are sometimes used

interchangeably by scholars; but some scholars have emphasized that

the two concepts refer to different things and should be distinguished

(North, 1990; North, et. al., 2009)

It is important to note that institutions are created to organize human

relationships in society. Thus, institutions are rules of human

organizations in society and human organizations are institutions.

Perhaps institutions are best captured by Meyer and Rowan (1977) as

“institutionalized-organizations”

I will use the term agential-organization to refer to organized system

of human actors who have been recruited to function as a collective

unit within a hierarchical structure, and usually given resources, to

achieve common organizational goals

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Types of Institutions of

Organization Typology of institutions: Four types of rules of human organizations have

been identified based on the following two criteria: (i) the formal (i.e.

written) or informal (unwritten) nature of the rules of organization, and (ii)

the legal or non-legal status of the rules of organization. The four types of

rules of organizations are:

1.Formal legal rules of organization: These are written and legally binding

rules of organization

2.Formal non-legal rules of organization: These are written but not legally

binding rules of organization

3.Informal legal rules of organization: These are unwritten but legally

binding rules of organization

4.Informal non-legal rules of organization: These are unwritten and not

legally binding rules of organization

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Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

Types of Institutions of Organization

.

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Types of rules of

organization

Legal status

Legal Non-legal

Nature of

form

Formal Formal legal rules Formal non-legal rules

Informal Informal legal rules Informal non-legal rules

Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

Do Differences in Institutions

Matter for Public Administration?

Understanding the nature of the various types of institutions

is very important for the following reasons:

It will help policymakers to know what type of policy rules

are more likely to be implemented effectively by public

administrators, the judicial system, and other stakeholders

It will help public administrators to know what type of rules

are more likely to enhance transparency and accountability in

public administration

It will help policymakers and public administrators to design

and establish stable organizations of Public Administration 11

Countries with Ineffective Public Institutions of

Administration Fail to Promote Economic

Development!

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Public Institutions Matter: The Competitiveness of Public Sector

Bureaucracies in 14 out of 190 Countries (World Bank, 2014)

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Rank Country

(Economy)

Getting

Credit

Starting a

business

Construction

Permits Getting

Electricity

Registering

Property Enforcing

Contracts

1 Singapore 3 3 3 6 28 12

2 Hong Kong 3 5 1 5 89 9

3 New Zealand 3 1 12 45 2 18

4 United States 3 20 34 13 25 11

5 Denmark 28 40 8 18 7 32

6 Malaysia 1 16 43 21 35 30

7 Korea, Rep. 13 34 18 2 75 2

8 Georgia 3 8 2 54 1 33

20 Mauritius 42 19 123 48 65 54

32 Rwanda 13 9 85 53 8 40

41 South Africa 28 64 26 150 99 80

51 Tunisia 109 70 122 55 72 78

56 Botswana 73 96 69 107 41 86

67 Ghana 28 128 159 85 49 43

Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

Do Comparative Analysis of Public Institutional

Effectiveness Across Countries Matter?

Yes, comparative analysis of the effectiveness of institutions of public

administration matters for the following reasons:

�Businessmen are more likely to refrain from investing in countries notorious

for their institutional inefficiency

�Skilled expatriates are usually unwilling to work in countries with institutions

that cannot effectively protect investors, enforce contracts, and resolve

disputes

�International development donors are reluctant to give aid to countries

known for their waste and corruption

�Countries become more aware of their comparative strengths and weaknesses

and can be challenged to reform

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Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

Institutional Change for Development: How Can We

Change Dysfunctional iInstitutions of Public Administration?

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Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

Changing Dysfunctional Institutions

Institutions are hard, but not impossible, to change after they have been established because of the benefits that they provide to some powerful stakeholders

Changing dysfunctional institutions of Public Administration require the following:

Ideas matter: A clear idea of what exactly needs to be changed and why it needs to be changed

Political power matter: A coalition of powerful supportive political actors in the Executive, Legislature, and society who have the authority to change the institutions.

Sustained action: Changing form-legal institutions involves a long process that requires sustained interest and action

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Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

Conclusion: What Type of Institutions

Promote Effective and Efficient Public

Administration?

Formal-legal rules have

been touted as more

effective in promoting

effective and efficient

public administration

But formal-legal rules may constrain innovation and make public administrators rigid and bureaucratic

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