Visionaries and Caretakers: The Public Administrator's Role

This article discusses the role of public administrators in decision making, resource management, and policy implementation. It also highlights their responsibilities in social development, economic growth, public relations, and the maintenance of legal frameworks. The article emphasizes the importance of public participation in the legislative process and the allocation of resources for the implementation of public policies.

Running head: VISIONARIES AND CARETAKERS: THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR'S ROLE
Visionaries and Caretakers: The Public Administrator's Role
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VISIONARIES AND CARETAKERS: THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR'S ROLE 2
Elected leaders have the primary responsibilities of making decisions and harmonizing
resources for development. Thus, some of their duties are done by public administrators who
implement the decisions made by the elected leaders. The public administrators are the managers
of offices as well as overseers of daily operations of any department. An administrative unit may
be significant for one person to move round to implement of monitor the development process.
Thus, the administrators are the messengers and agents of the elected leaders. Some of the other
areas where they play a crucial role include social development, economic growth, public
relations, and the maintenance of legal frameworks. Also, they are responsible for facilitating the
public, private partnerships as well as organizing functions within the administrative unit. The
government makes policies and other development plans. Much of the government functions are
carried out by the administrators. Also, they are responsible for coming up with budgets and
work plans for significant decision implementations (Finer, 2018). Public administration is
meant to collect all the relevant information from the people to the governing authority. Also, the
administrators give recommendations on some of the necessary changes for improvement. These
people also conduct research and advice the elected officials on the policy needs of the
community.
Public administrators play a significant role in the legislative process. First, they collect
information from the public on some of the critical legislative agendas. Also, they are close to
the people and thus, they have a basic understanding of the cultural and social values within a
community. Also, they provide legal advice to ensure the legislative process by the law.
Administrators are experts in different fields with knowledge on the industry regulations and
other matters that affect policy formulation. The legal process is complete with active public
participation. The administrators are the ones who facilitate the public participation process to

VISIONARIES AND CARETAKERS: THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR'S ROLE 3
get views from the general public (Urwin and Jordan, 2008). Also, the legislative process
involves research from various sources to come up with up to date and applicable laws. This
professional ensures extensive research is conducted and all the necessary material for the
lawmaking process are provided. Similarly, the administrators provide an enabling environment
for the implementation of laws and regulations made by different government agencies. The
legislative process is continuous, and it requires resources for it to be complete. Thus, the
administrators allocate all the funds for the process implementation.
Any public policy objective is dependent on the allocation of resources. Public policies
are development agendas by a governing agency to fulfill some set goals. Thus, with the
allocated of enough funds, the implementation takes place quickly. The scarcity of resources has
been a significant challenge in the implementation of public policy (Johnsen, 2005). Budgets are
statements which indicate resource requirements, sources as well as usage in the application of a
policy objective. Any development agenda needs sufficient budgets for it to succeed. When
resources are limited, the implementation takes longer or comes to a halt. The elected leaders
look for funds and, the administrators do the budgeting to ensure all policies are well
implemented. Lack of a budget will lead to misuse or misappropriation of resources.

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References
Finer, H. (2018). Administrative responsibility in democratic government. In Classics of
organizational ethics (pp. 5-26). Routledge.
Johnsen, Å. (2005). What do 25 years of experience tell us about the state of performance
measurement in public policy and management?. Public Money and Management, 25(1),
9-17.
Urwin, K., & Jordan, A. (2008). Does public policy support or undermine climate change
adaptation? Exploring policy interplay across different scales of governance. Global
environmental change, 18(1), 180-191.