Phenomenology in Public Administration: Bridging the Theory–Practice Gap

• Published date: 01 November 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0095399720911467
• Date: 01 November 2020
• Author: María Verónica Elías
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399720911467

Administration & Society

2020, Vol. 52(10) 1516 –1537

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0095399720911467

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Article

Phenomenology in

Public Administration:

Bridging the Theory–

Practice Gap

María Verónica Elías1

Abstract

Phenomenology is the study of things as they “appear” (phenomena) to us

in their own terms, prior to formal conceptualization. This article traces

the development of phenomenology in public administration within the

larger realm of interpretive approaches. It describes applied phenomenology

as developed by Ralph Hummel and discusses its usefulness in the study

of public organizations and administrative practice. As a way of studying

process, phenomenology allows administrators to bridge the theory–

practice gap. Since understanding a situation depends on different kinds

of knowledge, phenomenological epistemology fosters a more democratic

public administration.

Keywords

applied phenomenology, experiential knowledge, situational thinking,

process, theory–practice gap, public administration epistemology

The work that I do, which follows along the lines of the work Ralph [Hummel]

did, requires that you go out and immerse yourself in an organization and study

that organization, much like a psychological anthropologist would. And that’s

timely, that’s costly, it’s emotionally challenging, it requires that you are rather

1The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA

Corresponding Author:

María Verónica Elías, The University of Texas at San Antonio, 501 W. César E. Chávez Blvd.,

Durango Bldg, Rm. 4.236, San Antonio, TX 78207, USA.

Email: Mariaveronica.elias@utsa.edu

911467AASXXX10.1177/0095399720911467Administration & SocietyElías

research-article2020

Elías 1517

reflective and introspective, that you understand the role of the self as an

instrument of research. Those are not concepts that mainstream scholars have a

language for or that they could entertain. (Informant 1)

Phenomenology questions reality (a specific phenomenon or event) as

understood by those who experience it, hence acknowledging that a situation

is seen differently by those who study it vis-à-vis those who “operate on it”

(Hummel, 1982b, p. 193). That policy models are useful surrogates of reality

that can help ameliorate social and political/governance concerns and pres-

ents several challenges. The most serious one is the incongruence between

the reality on the ground and its representation in numbers (Hummel, 2006).

This disparity guarantees the disconnection between citizens and their gov-

ernment (Hummel & Stivers, 1998). In an ever more fractured public space

and lacking the possibility for meaningful political debate, the citizenry finds

itself alienated from government in profound ways. As interests are repre-

sented numerically and never actually voiced, citizens believe more than ever

before that “government isn’t us” (Hummel & Stivers, 1998, p. 28).

Phenomenology, among other interpretive approaches, poses fundamental

questions to the field about meaning making and its connection to administra-

tive action, though it has yet to be acknowledged and valued by the field’s

mainstream, as Informant 1 hints above. Since being and knowing are one and

the same for phenomenologists (Heidegger, 1927/1962; Husserl, 1962), this

approach is simultaneously a way of thinking and a stance toward the world. As

a method, it enables the study of administrative processes that link causes and

effects, processes that cannot be captured numerically. In fact, there is current

literature that refers to such process as the “black box” (Cloutier et al., 2016;

Langley, 1999; Langley et al., 2013; Ramaswamy et al., 2018; Watkins-Hayes,

2011). That administrative process evades quantification does not mean it can-

not or should not be studied and understood, especially given the ever-present

agency reforms seeking greater effectiveness, accountability, and outcomes.

In what follows, I focus on phenomenology as a case example of an alterna-

tive paradigm particularly useful for public administration. More specifically,

phenomenology is a way of studying process in administrative situations. It

achieves what traditional approaches (such as quantitative empiricism) can-

not—it bridges the gap between theory and practice in public administration.

Phenomenology enables our understanding of the administrative situation by

drawing on prior experience, the particular context at hand, and our conceptual

knowledge (Hummel, 1983, 2007). Applied phenomenology studies specific

organizational contexts through a phenomenological philosophical lens, which

the late Ralph P. Hummel pioneered more than 40 years ago through the Institute

of Applied Phenomenology (http://appliedphenom.org/).