Paper Example on Intergovernmental Public Administration

Intergovernmental relations are critical aspects of administration at any level. The relations involve interactions between different governments in a system of administration. An example is the relationship between the federal government and the local administration. Public administration often involves different principles that help in governing the modes of operations. They include federalism, separation of powers, rights of citizens, and accountability. Federalism is the allocation of powers to the government's central administrative unit. Separation of powers entails the division of authority between the three main arms of government: the executive, judiciary, and the national assembly. Citizen rights involve the sovereign decision-making ability of the citizens who should also be factored in during the most crucial decision-making process (Bryson et al., 2015). The last section of accountability entails being able to show responsibility and make decisions that reflect on the people's will. In all these aspects, excellent administration requires collaboration between the different levels of government.

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Intergovernmental Management

The ability to seek solutions to the existing technical, financial, and political challenges affecting a given country using the existing authorities is intergovernmental management. Federal systems are the administrations that mostly engage in this kind of practice. The top administrators often seek to incorporate the regional governance structures (provinces, local governments, districts, etc.) and externalization of the profit and nonprofit making organizations. The input of all these structures often assists in ensuring that interdisciplinary and collaborative efforts are all laid to ensure that the best results are achieved.

Intergovernmental Leadership and Management

Management and leadership are twin terms that help ensure the administration is done concerning the expected competence and expertise. People adopted the great man or the great trait theories of leadership in the past. With the improvement in terms of advancement and the criticisms of the past theoretical frameworks of leadership and management, more complex theories were founded. They have since then been adopted in the field of leadership to improve intergovernmental performance. Management involves using the available resources to enhance peak performance and satisfaction among the different levels of administration (Getha-Taylor & Morse, 2013). In public administration, the involvement of different structures and administrative levels in allocation, implementation, and evaluation of the development projects is called management. Leadership, on the other hand, involves coming up with new exceptional ideas and influencing others to follow pursue your course.

Intergovernmental Relations

Relations between the different administrative levels of governance influence how management and administration take place. That implies that the quality of outcome often depends on the type of relations that exist between different levels of governance. Cohesive intergovernmental relations involve carrying out joint programs through delegation of developmental responsibilities to different governance (Subianto et al., 2020). There are different ways in which relations can be established. They include enhancing localized independence, resource interdependence, and independence, cooperation, and coordination.

Localized Independence

Localized independence involves being able to carry out the lower levels of administration without depending on the federal governors. The relations should be useful in enhancing full dependence among the local administrators. That can be done by giving leadership training and hiring experts to help in the administrative functions. It can also be implemented by allocating adequate resources to facilitate administrative functions. Increasing local independence helps in improving service delivery among the residents of the administrative territory.

Resource Independence and Interdependence

Another essential element of intergovernmental relations is to help in the uniform spread of resources. In a given administrative region, the resource distribution pattern can never be uniform. Some areas lack certain resources, while others have them in abundance. It is essential to improve supply through good governance relations. In collaboration with the top leadership, the local leadership often devise measures of distributing relations uniformly without interfering with other regions (Getha-Taylor & Morse, 2013). The counties that supply major resources are often entitled to more financial revenue than those without sufficient resources. Such relations also help enhance independence, as other local governments interdepend on each other, becoming independent in managing their revenue capacities.

Coordination and Collaboration

The other need for relations is to maximize useful cooperation among the different levels of governance. With proper understanding among the different players in government, much understanding is often created. Coordination helps empower different administrations and improve their performance (Nalbandian et al., 2013). When the conflict between different forms of government arises, the higher administration levels assist in responding to the challenges affecting the lower ones. Such moves aim at ensuring that nothing is halted because of the crisis affecting different players among the different administrative levels. Just like other factors, coordination and collaboration improve the quality of leadership and outcomes among different governance levels.

Collaborative Public Administration

Collaborative public administration is the type of governance where other key players are involved in making major decisions. It is essential to have diverse considerations before making different choices. Collaboration involves uniting both the public corporations and the non-governmental organizations in making decisions (Lowatcharin et al., 2019). Collaborative public administration is effective because it helps in improving the quality of leadership and service delivery.

Skills Needed by Public Administrators to Manage Collaboration

While public administration refers to the processes around planning, organizing, overseeing, and monitoring government policies, collaboration, on the other hand, unites the government, the community, and the private sector. To achieve the desired harmony, various parties in terms of the workforce are involved. The muscle behind this workforce is their skill sets (Gupta et al., 2018). All rounded individuals are deemed proficient on a result-based approach. This paper places emphasis on three categories of skills vital in achieving desirable progress in this field.

Technical skills

Technical skills are what separates merit from opportunism. These are acquired from professional training and practice. A competent administrator is one who is well equipped with professional knowledge around the technicalities of public administration. Various data around governance are acquired and interpreted in several ways, by the use of various tools. A competent administrator should, thus, be in a position to read, analyze, and present information effortlessly (Nalbandian et al., 2013). They must have a deep understanding of the methods, processes, procedures, and techniques of public administration. Their analytical prowess and efficiency in working with various objects around administration and collaboration must stand beyond reproach.

Human skills

A collaboration of the various elements of public administration is imperative in achieving the desired goal. The administration is designed to manage certain groups of people (Tummers & Knies, 2013). It is thus a people's business, and any administrator intending to guide people must understand how to work collaboratively with people. It is highly likely that one will face approval, ridicule, objection, and disappointment when dealing with fellow humans. Therefore, it requires peculiar human skills to navigate and serve a purpose (Fowler, 2018). Here are some examples;

Integrity

As a public administrator, one serves as a link between government, the private sector, and the public. They carry and convey the expectations of the three key players within themselves. Such must be people with unquestionable chastity (Fowler, 2018). This makes them highly dependable and earns them a voice within their areas of influence and practice. Integrity makes administrators trustworthy individuals by the various parties’ hence easy collaboration.

Critical thinking

Collaboration in public administration involves problem-solving. A competent administrator makes the most of the resources around him in offering solutions to recurrent issues surrounding this process (Asencio & Mujkic, 2016). Critical thinkers will quickly wade through bones of contention and offer lasting solutions. They can bring divergent ideas together and establish fair approaches. That makes them reliable and equally dependable.

Conceptual skills

Any activity around public administration is based on the long-term outcome. Effective administration aims at conceiving and disseminating roles and functions on a futuristic approach. Collaboration is built on interrelationships that shape the future of all stakeholders (Agranoff, 2014). The ability to draw and camp around the bigger picture is thus an essential attribute in administrators. The end goal is what fuels determinism, patience, and forbearance.

Statesmanship in Organization and Crucial Communication in a Collaborative Way

Public administration statesmanship is a skill whose relevance cannot be gainsaid. It is the skill in the formulation, implementation of government policies for the betterment of public lives. It is a major determinant of the standard of living of the citizens in a nation. As such, citizens should have people who are very competent to carry out the work; otherwise, citizens would not see the fruits of the government in place. Communication is an integral part of our life, without which there would chaos all over. It is thus essential to have proper channels in place to allow effective communication to take place. In organizations, it is what defines the morale, relationship, and output of employees and employers. Crucial organizational communication is the means and channels of communication within a corporation, organizations. The effectiveness of the above areas discussed below;

Effectiveness of Public Administration Statesmanship

Public administration statesmanship aims at bettering the lives of citizens and, as such, should be well utilized for maximum benefits. Its effectiveness can be assessed based on several indicators, which are discussed below.

Improved Financial Management

Public administration is about the management of resources, and finances are part of these managed; therefore, the effectiveness of state service can be assessed by how improved the management of financial. That is possible by looking at how much was allocated to a particular sector and how the expenditure was in the various sub-sectors. The accounting officer does so by providing a breakdown of the finances to give a very clear picture of how the spending was done.

Improved Standard of Living

When the resources of a state are properly managed by the public officers entrusted with the resources, citizens' lives are bound to improve. That is since resources will be directed towards programs aimed towards improving the lives of citizens (Agranoff, 2014).