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Professor profile: What bureaucracies do right

Bureaucracy is a dirty word to some people. Leisha DeHart-Davis, associate professor of public administration, thinks that’s unfortunate.

“Bureaucracy is something of a pejorative term in our culture, which is too bad, because bureaucracies do a lot of things right, including serving important societal values like accountability and equity and efficiency” she said. “So my research agenda seeks to understand not only the factors that influence effective bureaucracy, but also the benefits that effective bureaucracy can incur for public sector organizations.”

In a new KU YouTube video, DeHart-Davis discusses not only the positives of bureaucracies but also “green tape,” the opposite of red tape; gender differences in the workplace; and the benefits of KU’s top-rated master’s program in public administration.

Red tape is a term often thrown about when talking about bureaucracies. DeHart-Davis has coined a new term for regulations that help improve efficiency and have the opposite effect of the more frequently referenced red tape.

“Green tape is the term that I use in my research for effective rules,” she said. “I chose this term to contrast with red tape, obviously. Red tape being ineffective rules that are burdensome, nobody likes to comply with them, and yet we have to comply with them. I’m hoping that green tape will be a word that comes to convey the benefits that effective rules can have for public sector organizations.”

DeHart-Davis teaches a class that examines gender and public administration and has found through her research that women tend to follow workplace rules more closely than their male counterparts.

Expectations for women and men are different throughout society, but especially in the workplace, be it the manner in which people conduct themselves or perceptions what a public leader should look like.

In her research, DeHart-Davis has also found that men and women view bureaucracies differently, with women taking a more favorable view. They also have indicated in surveys that they follow rules more closely. It is not completely clear why this is, but one possible explanation is that written rules can help level the playing field for women, especially in organizations that have long been dominated by men.

Students in the public administration department go on to careers in local, state and federal governments, as well as nonprofit organizations. KU’s public administration department’s national reputation — two of the department’s master’s programs have earned No. 1 and No. 7 rankings by U.S. News and World Report — has helped inspire faculty to prepare students for service, as well as brought great minds to campus.

“These rankings do a number of things for us,” she said. “First and foremost they bring wonderful students into our classroom, and a wide range of students, from seasoned veterans of public service to students right out of their undergraduate degrees who want careers in public service. While these students can be very different, they have one thing in common, which is they want to dedicate their careers to something bigger than themselves, to broader social purposes. And that makes them a joy to teach.”