ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a comparative perspective on the balancing of basic societal and democratic values so important to public administration at large with the professional values emphasized in a managerial perspective. It explains how important both the legalist-administrative and the managerial perspectives have been in the thinking about government throughout the twentieth century. The chapter discusses the managerial principles at a generalist level. Leadership is the only management function that concerns intellectual capacity, rather than organizational structure, particular procedures, roles, and behaviors in professional positions. The focus of efficiency was to improve organizational structures, to develop standardized procedures, and to prevent corruption or biased personal influence of public officeholders. Concrete reform efforts in the United States and Western Europe from 1880 to 1920 included the professionalization of the civil service, the formalization of the distinction between political and political executive offices.
