Agency Design and State Administrators: Political Insulation and Managers’ Views of Their Workplace

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the impact of agency design upon the perceived workplace conditions within state agencies. The research examines whether insulating features of agency structure such as independent commission status, removal of officers only for cause, and fixed terms for agency leaders are associated with perceptions by state agency managers that their work processes and environments are free of micromanagement and interference from political actors. Data are drawn from the National Administrative Studies Project III, with additional information collected from state agency web sites and statutes. We largely find that administrators working within agencies headed by officials with fixed terms of service believe that top management trusts employees much more than do employees in other agencies. They also have much more pride in the agencies in which they work. We also find that agencies having a commission structure have managers that are perceived to be willing to take risks.

KEYWORDS:

• Agency design
• political insulation
• state agencies