If theory helps us to see and understand public administration phenomena,
should theory, therefore, help us to predict? Yes. Consider Herbert Kaufman’s
() theory of cyclical change from a professionally based and neutrally competent
public administration to a politically responsive and partisan public administration.
Kaufman’s theory contains strong predictive properties. Although
less specific to public administration, Albert Hirschman’s theory () of change
in the social and political world is similar and equally as useful.
The tendency is to expect too much of prediction in theory. Because public
administration is practical and applied, some seek a theory that, if followed, will
achieve a predictable result. Prediction should be interpreted largely to account
for patterns, probabilities, and likely outcomes, not specific results flowing inexorably
from the application of a particular theory. When prediction is loosely defined
to account for a range of situations over time, its capacity can be impressive.
An expectation of description, explanation, and prediction from theory in public
administration places this book rather firmly in the positivist tradition; however,
it is recognized and understood that not all events follow foreseeable patterns.
There are randomness and chaos, particularly at the microlevel or in one event or
a small group of events. But in a multitude of ways, we daily see, recognize, understand,
and bet on predictable patterns of collective human behavior. Broad,
macrolevel patterns of individual and collective behavior in public administration
can be seen, described with considerable reliability, and understood at a level that
allows for reliable prediction. Aaron Wildavsky’s work () on budgeting is illustrative.
Michael Cohen and James G. March’s () description of universities
as organizations is another example. Herbert Simon’s bounded rationality is powerfully
predictive (/).