Reconciling competing values in public administration - Understanding the administrative role concept

This article reports research on the administrative role concept. The autho rs use the inductive research technique e-methodology to probe the belief s ystems of 69 public administrators about their administrative roles and res ponsibilities. Results show that these administrators perceive five distinc t roles. The authors labeled these roles stewards of the public interest, a dapted realists, businesslike utilitarians, resigned custodians, and practi cal idealists. There is slight evidence of a neutral competence role as sug gested by the Pendleton Act of 1883, Woodrow Wilson, and others (resigned c ustodian) but more support of a proactive administrative role (steward of t he public interest) that overlaps with the role described by recent scholar s such as the Blacksburg group. Another important finding is that three of the role conceptions appear to reject being responsive to the desires of el ected officials. The five roles are examined in more detail, and the implic ations for future research are discussed.