A theory of administrative conservatorship

The rapidly changing nature of our society has led many astute observers of administration to issue a call for the development and maturation of a new brand of leadership characterized as transformational. Transformational leaders are deemed extremely important because they are capable of revitalizing institutions through the radical transformation of their technical, political and cultural systems. The position taken herein is that the transformational view poses a serious threat to our valuable institutions and the proven leadership practices that have sustained them. This is certainly true when we speak of governmental institutions. Instead of radically transforming governmental institutions, we must increase our knowledge of how to conserve them. lt is argued that governmental institutions must be preserved because they are a repository of values embodied in the Constitution of the United States. The efforts of public administrators to preserve governmental institutions affords them the honorable distinction of being called <i>Administrative Conservators</i>. The theory of Administrative Conservatorship outlined in this essay provides an alternative framework which enables us to better appraise and prescribe for leadership in the administrative state. Our theory provides a different perspective for public administrators to view their role in the governance process and for citizens to assess public administrators.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Public Administration and Public Affairs

Department dc:contributor.department

Public Administration and Public Affairs

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1988

Author dc:creator

• Terry, Larry D.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Goodsell, Charles T.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Wamsley, Gary L.
• Roselle, David P.
• White, Orion F. Jr.
• Kronenberg, Philip S.
• Bussey, Lawrence

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/54796

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/54796