Draft For Reporting
Draft For Reporting
Draft For Reporting
The classical theory projects public administration as a science. Both these authors argued that
like the stream of engineering became science through methods of empirical observation,
systematic finding and recordings over a period of time similarly, public administrators can
create the science of administration.
Max Weber
Max Weber was a German political economist, social scientist, and renowned Philosopher is an
important father to the theory of Public Administration and the bureaucratic side of it. He did
extensive research studying ancient and modern states to gather a better perspective of
bureaucracies in multiple eras for his Magnum Opus Economy and Society published in 1922.
That piece of work has contributed countless insight into the Public Administration Theory. Max
Weber considered bureaucracy to be the most rational form of administration yet devised by
man. In his writings he asserts that domination is exerted through administration and that for
legal domination to take place bureaucracy is required.
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson defined public administration as a detailed and systematic execution of public
law, he divided government institutions into two separate sectors, administration and politics.
According to him politics is dealt with policy formulation and questions regarding such, whereas
administration is equipped with carrying said policies out. In his own words in his early essay,
"The Study of Administration" he said "it is getting to be harder to run a constitution than to
frame one." Wilson very much so tried to establish a distinction between politics and
administration; he saw administration as a field of business which lies outside politics. He
thought the theory of public administration existed simply because of technicalities and was
around for the behind the scenes business aspect of politics.
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Frederick Taylor was an engineer by profession who saw much of life from a scientific aspect.
He is a popular less conservative contributor to the Theory of Public Administration in that he
produced his own, very popular, theory of traditional public administration, The Scientific
Management Theory. He was concerned with finding the best and most efficient way to
complete a task for a particular job, reducing the overall labor a worker had to exert with the
least amount of movements. Frederick Taylors work approached motivation with a very
authoritative, cold, scientific motivator which weighed heavy over any sort of humane aspect to
scientific management. Overall many intricacies in Public Administration such as management,
control and accounting are subject to scientific principles and Taylor draws on these to find his
own, efficient theory approach to Public Administration Theory.
1 Specialization of labor This improves the efficiency of labor through specialization, reducing labor
time and increasing skill development.
2 Authority This is the right to give orders which always carry responsibility
commensurate with its privileges.
3 Discipline It relies on respect for the rules, policies, and agreements that govern an
organization. Fayol ordains that discipline requires good superiors at all
levels.
4 Unity of command This means that subordinates should receive orders from one superior
only, thus avoiding confusion and conflict.
5 Unity of direction This means that there should be unity in the directions given by a boss to
his subordinates. There should not be any conflict in the directions given
by a boss.
6 Subordination of According to this principle, the needs of individuals and groups within an
individual interest to organization should not take precedence over the needs of the
common good organization as a whole.
8 Centralization Levels at which decisions are to be made should depend on the specific
situation, no level of centralization or decentralization is ideal for all
situations.
9 Scale of chain The relationship among all levels in the organizational hierarchy and exact
lines of authority should be unmistakably clear and usually followed at all
times, excepting special circumstances when some departure might be
necessary.
1 Order There should be a place for everything, and everything should be in its
0 place. This is essentially a principle of organization in the arrangement of
things and people.
1 Personal tenure Views unnecessary turnover to be both the cause and the effect of bad
2 management; Fayol points out its danger and costs.
1 Esprit de corps Team work, a sense of unity and togetherness, should be fostered and
4 maintained.
We can find in the theories that public administration is expressed as a science at the
start and the end of the theory it is expressed as art, there can be principles that are not
applicable universally but their application depends on the personality of the in-charge
These theories promote the use of administration deficient departments like reporting,
accounting, and budgeting
These theories can play an important role in the industrial organisation because it gives
an overview of how we can make an organisation by assembling different departments
Conclusion
Classical theory can be considered as the theory for establishing any organisation in
public administration. This theory explains how we can design an organisation and run it
to complete a predefined aim. Theories given by Luther Gulick and lundall Urvick are the
basic theories whose combination is called a classic theory.