A case study of Pennsylvania state administrators' autonomy and involvement in policy communities in all stages of the policy cycle

This study explores the Senior Management Service (SMS) initiative in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The SMS approach is based on the belief that policy considerations cannot be excluded from administration. The SMS, which covers higher management positions, was designed to hire, promote and offer job security to outstanding civil servants and outside professionals. The existence of this service changes the politics/administration relationships and goes to the core of issues of public administration. This thesis explores this change and its implications for making Pennsylvania government more responsive.;Its objective is to determine whether the SMS initiative empowers administrators to be proactive by participating in all stages of the policy cycle. This study also seeks to determine if political or institutional constraints in Pennsylvania state government limit input from administrators on public policy. The single-case study research uses a voluntary questionnaire to solicit perceptions from executive appointees as well as members of the SMS to assess the responsiveness of the administrators under this initiative.;The politics/administration dichotomy posits policy neutrality on the part of senior management administrators and the establishment of hierarchical controls to ensure the responsiveness of senior management administrators to the policy directives of their political superiors. This study shows that administrators who have been granted a role in the development of policy interact with political operatives outside their department, though not at the same levels as executive appointees. The findings show that executive appointees have significantly higher levels of perceived autonomy to interact within the policy community, frequency of interaction with policy community members and involvement within the stages of the policy cycle than SMS members. The findings also yield insights regarding political responsiveness in Pennsylvania state government. Even though SMS members conduct policy-making activities, executive appointees are clearly the dominant policy players in all types of state agencies.