Chapter One
Chapter One
Chapter One
CHAPTER ONE
0 The Nature and Scope of Public Administration
0 Meaning of Public Administration
Public administration is the management of governmental affairs or issues at all levels or tiers:
national, regional (state), and local. It is the branch of the wider field of administration. There are slight
differences between "administration" and "public administration".
Different writers defined the term "administration" in various ways:
0 For Marx (1964), "Administration is a determined action taken in pursuit of a conscious
purpose. It is a systematic ordering of affairs and the calculated use of resources aimed at
making those things happen which one wants to happen".
1 Pfiffner (1960) also defined administration as "the organization and direction of human and
material resources to achieve desired ends…getting the work of government done by
coordinating the efforts of the people so that they can work together to accomplish their set
(pre-determined) tasks".
2 L. D. White (1955) explained, "Administration is a process common to all group effort, public
or private, civil or military, large-scale or small scale..."
The important elements of administration, according to these definitions, are cooperative effort,
systematic application, and purposefulness.
Public Administration on the other hand can be understood as any kind of administration in the public
interest. This simply means governmental administration. Therefore, the difference between
"administration" and "public administration" are essentially revealed in their scope, the former being
much broader than the later.
There are also differing views regarding the scope and range of activities to be included in public
administration. Some thinkers view it broadly to include all governmental activities, while others see it
narrowly to consider only those activities concerned with the executive branch of the government. The
definitions given by different thinkers show the emphasis they lay on different aspects of public
administration. Some of the definitions include:
0 "Public administration consists of all those operations with the purpose of the fulfillment or
enforcement of policy", L.D White (1955).
1 "Public administration is detailed and systematic application of law", Wilson.
2 "Public administration is the fulfillment or enforcement of policy as declared by the competent
authorities…it is law in action, it is the executive side of the government", Dimock (1937).
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Course: Introduction to Public Administration, 2021 By Z.A
Nigro (1965) defined public administration in a more comprehensive way to include, besides the
above-mentioned aspects, the relationship between public administration and the political and social
systems as well. For him public administration:
0 It is cooperative effort in a public setting.
1 Covers all the three branches of the government; i.e. executive, legislative, and judiciary and
their interrelationships.
2 Has an important role in the formulation of public policy and is thus part of the political process
3 Is more important than, and also differs significantly from private administration
4 Has been much influenced in recent years by the "human relations approach" both as a field of
study and practice.
5 Is closely associated with numerous private groups and individuals in providing services to the
community.
A system of public administration is the composite of all the laws, regulations, practices, relationships,
codes and customs that prevail at any time in any jurisdiction for the fulfillment or execution of public
policy. Functionally speaking also, the art of administration is the direction, coordination, and control
of many persons and other resources to achieve some purpose or objective. It is a dynamic art, taking
the human and physical resources to the achievement of some required goals.
Generally, public administration is the non-political bureaucratic machinery of the government, but
operating within the political context, for implementing its laws and policies in action such as the
collection of revenues, maintenance of law and order, maintaining an army, providing social and
economic services. Public administration is a means by which the policy decisions made by the
political decision-makers are carried out.
The following is an all-encompassing definition that consists all of functions of public administration
including:
"Public administration is decision-making, planning the work to be done, formulating objectives
and goals, working with the legislative and citizen organizations to gain public support for
government programs, establishing and revisiting organizations, directing and supervising
employees, providing leadership, providing and receiving communications, determining work
methods and procedures, appraising performance, exercising controls and other functions
performed by government executives and supervisors. It is the action part of the government, the
means by which the purposes and goals of government are realized”.
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This comprehensive definition and all points raised under this sub-topic could enable us to
understand not only the meaning of public administration, but also its major concerns, aspects,
purposes and scope. It is to mean that public administration is concerned with action in particular
or concrete situation, but in accordance with long-range objectives.
The immediate objective of the art of public administration is the most efficient and effective
utilization of resources at the disposal of officials and employees. The aspects of public administration
are innumerable and its scope is generally wide. The scope of public administration has been
broadening from time to time with the growing expectations of people.
In other words, what ‘public administration’ is supposed to do variety with people's expectations of
what they should get from the government, public administration is, therefore, the means by which
these policy adjustments are made effective. In broad context, the ends of public administration are the
ultimate objectives of the state itself-the attainment of the good life.
There have been many people writing or arguing public administration as possessing an element of
science since the 1880s. Woodrow Wilson, who was known as the pioneer of public administration as a
subject of study, he called it the "science of public administration" as early as 1887.
The essential characteristics of science are absence of normative (or ethical) values, predictability of
behavior, and universal application. Hence, public administration can obviously be rated as a science
if it proves that it has developed a set of principles and acquires all the above three features. The
question again is that does public administration have a set of such principles and features?
Many writers agree in that counter arguments in public administration to deserve a science position are
feeble and insufficient. Rather, the last hundred years have seen remarkable development of the science
of public administration. Evidences of which are:
0 The transformation of the laissez-faire (liberal) state into the modern welfare state.
1 The works of the scientific methods with emphasis on experimentation, observation, collection of
data, classification and analysis, and the formulation of laws and principles.
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1 Social costs: public administration decision-making varies from that of private business in that
where private business is primarily concerned with questions of financial cost and benefit, public
administration is intimately concerned with the concepts of social costs and benefits in addition to
those of a mere financial nature.
2 Public interest: Public administration is often evaluated by the ability to operate in a manner so
as to maximize and integrate the public interest, whereas private business is evaluated on the
basis of profit maximization. In other words, although efficiency is maxim number one in the
value scale of both public and private administration, in private business it has to do with the
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Course: Introduction to Public Administration, 2021 By Z.A
minimization of cost and maximization of profits, while in the context of public administrative
system the aims are more complex to include other concepts like public service, public
accountability, and social responsibility. Therefore, the differing aims require efficiency to be
redefined in connection to public administration. In practice, it is much more difficult quantify in
financial terms the substantial investment of resources undertaken by the public sector.
4 Allocation of responsibilities: the method of allocation of functions in the public sector is often
based more on political considerations than pure test of efficiency, as it would be done in the
private sector.
5 Functions: Public administration is faced with a much wider variety of functions than those
operating in private business, and also deals with matters, which are the exclusive jurisdictions of
central administration such as defense, and law and order.
Besides to the above-mentioned differences, public and private administrations could also vary in many
respects. For example, as the nature of the basic administrative problems in public and private sectors
varies substantially, decision-making inevitably varies accordingly. Whilst the business (private) sector
is strongly oriented to market innovation, public administration can be said to be concerned more with
market compression.
The extent and magnitude of the vise versa influences of the two administrative systems are quite
different. Private administration is highly affected by the decisions, laws, and procedures of public
administration. From the outset, private sector is supposed to fulfill certain requirements imposed by
the government (public sector) before it starts to operate, and to respect and adhere to public laws. On
the contrary, public administration is less likely to be affected by private administration.
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Course: Introduction to Public Administration, 2021 By Z.A
These seven types of functions which show the scope of Public Administration are as follows:
0 ‘P’ stands for planning: Planning is the first step of Public Administration i.e. working out the
broad outline of the things that need to be done.
1 ‘O’ stands for organization: It means establishment of the formal structure of authority through
which the work is sub-divided, arranged and coordinated for the defined objective.
2 ‘S’ stands for staffing: It means the recruitment and training of the staff and maintenance of
favorable conditions of work for the staff.
3 ‘D’ stands for Directing: It means the continuous task of making decisions and embodying them in
specific and general orders and instructions, and thus guiding the enterprise.
4 ‘Co.’ stands for Co-ordination: It is the interrelated the various parts of organization such as
branches, divisions, sections of the work and elimination of overlapping.
5 ‘R’ stands for Reporting: It means informing the authority to whom the executive is responsible as
to what is going on.
6 ‘B’ stands for Budgeting: It means accounting, fiscal planning and control.
In general, POSDCORB Perspective about the Scope of Public Administration is limited and narrow,
stressed on the tools of Public Administration. It does not show the substance of administration and it is
a technique oriented perspective, not a subject oriented.
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1 Scope of Public Administration is like a cooperative group. It consists of all from lower class officer to
highest class employees.
2 Public Administration is a part of the political process. It has an important role in the formulation of
public policy at all levels, from national to grassroots. It is closely associated with numerous private
groups and individuals in providing services to the community. It has been influenced in recent years by
the human relations approach.
2 Prevailing/Existing Perspective
Prevailing view divides the scope of Public Administration into two parts: administrative theory and
applied administration.
0 Administrative theory: It includes the following aspects.
0 Organizational Theory: The study of Structure, organization, functions and methods of all types of
public authority engaged in administration, whether national, regional or local and executive.
1 Behavior: The study of functions of administrative authorities and the various methods appropriate to
different types of functions. The various forms of control of administration.
2 Public Personal Administration: The problems concerning personnel e.g. recruitment, training,
promotion, retirement etc. and the problems relating to planning, research, information and public
relation services.
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6) It is tool of national integration in the developing countries which are facing class wars
The success of government is dependent on the ability of public administration. The future of civilized
government rests upon the ability, to develop a service and philosophy and a practice of Administration
competent to discharge the Public functions of civilized society.
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2 Micro studies
It relates to an analysis of a part of an administrative system e.g. the recruitment or training in two or
more administrative organizations. Thus the question of modernization and developmental diversity in
different systems are of great importance to the students of comparative public administration.
4) Academic Utility/Contributions
Scientific and systematic study of public administration is possible with the approach of comparative
study. Appropriate administrative reforms and changes can be brought about in different nations.
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