A theory of administrative conservatorship

Abstract

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 Administrative Conservators. 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.