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Discretion in Public Administration

For most of us in the field of public administration, the question of whether we have too little or too much discretion is difficult to answer. Some would argue that administrative discretion is dangerous, because it allows government to be run by unelected officials. But for most of us, the question of too little or too much discretion requires some understanding, including who is exercising the discretion, what kind of discretion is being exercised, and the potential dangers for abuse. For the purposes of our discussion, the discretion of public administrators refers to the freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation. Discretion encompasses all levels of public organizations. It starts with our street-level bureaucrats and frontline service providers who deal directly with the citizenry. It includes supervisors who have the responsibility for translating vague and competing policy directives into clear operating procedures. And it ends with the senior administrators who establish policy directions in partnership with elected public officials. The ubiquity of administrative discretion throughout all levels of government does not mean that all discretion can be treated equally. In fact, as we have already seen, the discretion exercised by street-level administrators is different from the discretion exercised by middle and senior managers.