Decision-making in public welfare bureaucracies.
Item
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Title
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Decision-making in public welfare bureaucracies.
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Identifier
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AAI8820890
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identifier
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8820890
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Creator
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Quint, Janet C.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Gerald Handel
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Date
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1988
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, Public and Social Welfare
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Abstract
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This dissertation examines decision-making in "street-level buraucracies"--organizations that deal with poor and disenfranchised clienteles and whose functions include both the provision of service and the exercise of social control. The dissertation is based on case studies of two programs aimed at increasing employability, job-seeking, and work effort among AFDC welfare recipients in Baltimore and Chicago. These programs served similar clienteles and engaged enrollees in similar activities, but they differed markedly in other key respects. While the thesis discusses the policy origins and guidelines of the two programs, its major focus is on forces molding and constraining the behavior of line staff members who interacted directly with clients.;The dissertation tests the proposition, advanced by Michael Lipsky, that street-level bureaucracies are inevitably characterized by a high degree of discretionary decision-making on the part of lower-level staff. Evidence from the case studies both confirms and contradicts this hypothesis, suggesting that discretion is an inevitable feature of such organizations but that it is not necessarily an important one. Rather, decisions taken by upper-level staff can effectively preempt the large-scale exercise of discretion at the lower echelons. In particular, the reward structure can serve as an important technique for securing staff compliance with and realizing organizational objectives.;More critical in defining the operations of organizations dealing with the poor are two factors: the principal goals they pursue and the resources they command. Goals and resources are both established through the political process and are subject to modification through it; in addition, goals reflect the personal and political ideologies of program planners and high-level administrators. These two factors are the primary determinants of other aspects of organizational life, such as whether service or social control elements are more pronounced and what means are pursued to achieve desired ends.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
