Ambiguous goals partly arise from competing community demands on street-level agencies.
Evidence
First, to the extent that public expectations affect street-level bureaucrats there is often considerable disagreement about what street-level bureaucracies should primarily do. Street-level bureaucrats within limits may define the ways in which they will pursue their objectives. But often community opinion is diffusely apprehended, creating role conflict. In different cities and within the same city some communities may expect police to enforce the law vigorously and impartially and to have a strong legalistic orientation, while others are content to have the police primarily focus on maintaining order. Some parents want schools oriented toward achievement in basic skills, while others want schools oriented toward developing community values and vocational training. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 366
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Street-level agencies pursue inherently conflicting, ambiguous goals — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 332; Vague agency goals reflect society’s own contradictions, not administrative sloppiness — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 1194; Ambiguous societal goals make street-level performance measurement nearly arbitrary — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 388 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Vague agency goals reflect society’s own contradictions, not administrative sloppiness
#expands(0.95) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 1194 - Ambiguous societal goals make street-level performance measurement nearly arbitrary
#expands(0.85) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 388 - Incremental, localized citizen demands can cumulatively shift bureaucratic practice.
#corroborates(0.80) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 1520