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Organizations of the Future: Greater Hybridization Coming
Author(s) -
Wise Charles R.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2010.02263.x
Subject(s) - citation , library science , state (computer science) , administration (probate law) , sociology , computer science , political science , law , algorithm
The diff erences between public and private organizations have preoccupied the fi eld of public administration almost since its inception, partially because the distinction has had a signifi cant role in defi ning the fi eld (Bozeman 1987, 2007; Dahl and Lindblom 1953; Wamsley and Zald 1973). While public administration scholars have long been engaged in the process of specifying the defi ning characteristics of public organizations, public administration research has also noted and documented the blurring of the public and private sectors (Benn and Gaus 1983; Dahl and Lindblom 1953; Wamsley and Zald 1973). Th e “blurring” is not a function of some opaque atomistic force, but rather may be attributed to a variety of factors in the environment of public organizations. For example, while not actually initiating the involvement of private sector organizations in the production of public services (such activity has been in evidence since the American Revolution), the privatization movement of the 1980s and 1990s served to increase the degree of private organization involvement in the provision of public services in everything from corrections to social services.