Public Management and Administration - Owen E.hughes

11
Managing External
Constituencies
Introduction
One of the key differences between a managerial model of the public sector and
the traditional model of administration has been the extra attention paid to matters
affecting the organization which are outside its immediate control. As discussed
earlier, part of this renewed external focus has been to look at strategy,
at the threats and opportunities in the environment in which the organization
finds itself. The other part is the need to deal directly with outside individuals
and institutions and how to manage these relationships. A key function of any
manager is to attempt to control the organization’s environment, or, at least, to
influence as far as possible any factor that might impinge on its mission and
objectives. External constituencies are important influences and any manager
needs to take account of them in the management task.
The management of external constituencies is now being carried out quite
differently from how it was under the traditional model of administration.
There are two aspects to this. First, there is the real and perceived need inside
the bureaucracy to manage external relations, something that, by itself, is quite
different from the traditional model’s narrow focus inside the organization.
Secondly, interest groups – the most important of the external actors – are now
regarded as having a far greater and generally positive role in the policy and
administrative process. The relationship is now closer between bureaucracy
and groups, even symbiotic, but this is both a more realistic and positive development
in public sector management when compared to a system where groups
were regarded as essentially negative and to be kept at arm’s-length.
The need for an external focus
Any organization needs to pay some attention to the outside world, for that is
where context, opportunities and threats may be found. This is especially true
for public organizations as they are influenced by outside bodies to a greater
extent than those in the private sector. Public programmes are more visible;
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