Rule following and discretion at government's frontlines : continuity and change during organization socialization
By: OBERFIELD, Zachary W
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ArticlePublisher: Cary : Oxford University Press, oct. 2010Subject(s): Burocracia | Teoria AdministrativaJournal of Public Administration Research and Theory 20, 4, p. 735-755Abstract: As important players in the policy process, many studies have investigated the determinants of bureaucratic behavior. One intriguing set of findings suggests that behavior is linked to bureaucrats' views of themselves as governments officials and their views of the people who they serve. Despite the importance of workers' perceptions, we have little understanding, about how bureaucrats develop psychologically. From a theoretical perspective, workers' views may be associated with extraorganization influences (like their personalities and preorganization experiences) or organization influences (like training, peers, and culture). However, few studies have examined how workers develop during organization socialization, so it is difficult to disentangle the impact of these various influences. This article improves our understanding of buraucratic psychology by studying how police officers and welfare caseworkers develop their default rule-following identities: the typical rule-following identities, and some organization influences were associated with the identities that workers developed, hey remained tethered to their entering rule-following expactations. The article concludes by discussing the theoretical implications of these findings for our understanding of buraucrats as well as the practical implications for how public organizations recruit and manage their workforces
As important players in the policy process, many studies have investigated the determinants of bureaucratic behavior. One intriguing set of findings suggests that behavior is linked to bureaucrats' views of themselves as governments officials and their views of the people who they serve. Despite the importance of workers' perceptions, we have little understanding, about how bureaucrats develop psychologically. From a theoretical perspective, workers' views may be associated with extraorganization influences (like their personalities and preorganization experiences) or organization influences (like training, peers, and culture). However, few studies have examined how workers develop during organization socialization, so it is difficult to disentangle the impact of these various influences. This article improves our understanding of buraucratic psychology by studying how police officers and welfare caseworkers develop their default rule-following identities: the typical rule-following identities, and some organization influences were associated with the identities that workers developed, hey remained tethered to their entering rule-following expactations. The article concludes by discussing the theoretical implications of these findings for our understanding of buraucrats as well as the practical implications for how public organizations recruit and manage their workforces
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