Public management has undergone a revolution. Rather
than focusing on controlling bureaucracies and delivering
services, public administrators are responding to admon-
ishments to “steer rather than row,” and to be the entrepre-
neurs of a new, leaner, and increasingly privatized govern-
ment. As a result, a number of highly positive changes have
been implemented in the public sector (Osborne and Gaebler
1992; Osborne and Plastrik 1997; Kettl 1993; Kettl and
DiIulio 1995; Kettl and Milward 1996; Lynn 1996). But as
the field of public administration has increasingly abandoned
the idea of rowing and has accepted responsibility for steer-
ing, has it simply traded one “adminicentric” view for an-
other? Osborne and Gaebler write, “those who steer the boat
have far more power over its destination than those who
row it” (1992, 32). If that is the case, the shift from rowing
to steering not only may have left administrators in charge
of the boat—choosing its goals and directions and charting
a path to achieve them—it may have given them more power
to do so.
In our rush to steer, are we forgetting who owns the
boat? In their recent book, Government Is Us (1998), King
and Stivers remind us of the obvious answer: The govern-
ment belongs to its citizens (see also Box 1998; Cooper
1991; King, Feltey, and O’Neill 1998; Stivers 1994a,b;
Thomas 1995). Accordingly, public administrators should
focus on their responsibility to serve and empower citi-
zens as they manage public organizations and implement
public policy. In other words, with citizens at the forefront,
the emphasis should not be placed on either steering or
rowing the governmental boat, but rather on building pub-
lic institutions marked by integrity and responsiveness.