Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Structure
5.0 Objectives
, 5 I 1ntrod;uction
5.2 What to Compare?
5.3 Levels of Analysis
5.4 The Range of Comparative Studies
5.4.1 Inter-institutional Analysis
54.2 Intra-national Analysis
5.4.3 Cross-national Analysis
5.4.4 Cross-cultural Analysis
5.4.5 Cross-temporal Analysis
5.5 Nature of Comparative Administrative Studies
5.5.1 Nonnat~veto E~npirical
5.5.2 Ideographic to Nomothetic
5.5.3 Non-ecological to Ecological
5.6 Scope of Comparative Public Administration
5.7 Significance of Comparative Public Administration
'5.8 Conceptual Approaches in Comparative Public Administration
5.8.11 Bureaucratic Approach
5.8.2 Behavioural Approach
5.8.3 General Systems Approach
5.8.4 Ecological Approach
5.8.5 Structural Functional Approach
. 5.8.6 Development Approach
5.9 Let Us Sum Up
5.10 Key Words
5.1 1. Some Useful Books
! 5-19 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
5.0 OBJECTIVES
After you have read this unit you should be able to:
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explain the significanceof Comparative Public Administration
* explain the nature and range of comparative studies: and
describe the conceptual approaches in Comparative Public Administration.
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521 INTRODUCTION
Dear student, comparisons of administfative'systems has had a long traditibn. But a focus
on this aspect of administrative studies is about forty years old. Only ttfter the Second
World War and with the emergence of new nations in Asia and Africa, a vigorous interest
in compar*ve studies of Public Administration has evolved. Comparative Public
Administration, in simple terms, refers to a comparative study of government
administrative systems functioning in differentcountries oE the world. The nature of
Comparative Administration has vast ramifications and ranges from the narrowest of studies
to the broadest of analysis. To understand the meaning of Comparative Public
Administration, it would be desirable to look at the types of comparative public .
administration studies undertaken by scholars in the field. In this unit we shall examine the '
meaning, scope, and nature of Comparative Public Administration. We shall also discuss its
conceptual approaches.
The Nature of Public
Administration 5.2 WHAT TO COMPARE?
In comparative (public) administrative studies, the unit of analysis is an administrative
system. Therefore, the focus is either on the .whole of an adtllinistrative system or on its
various parts. Briefly, the subject matter of comparison would be one or dl of the
following phenomena:
i) Environment of the administrative system.
ii) The whole administrative system.
iii) The formal structure of the administrative system with a focus on the pattern of
hierarchy, division of wgrk, specialisation, authority-responsibility network,
decentralisation, delegation, control mechanisms, procedures, etc.
iv) The informal organisational patterns existing in an administrative set-up, including
the nature of human groups, the relationships among individuals, motivational
system, the status of morale, patterns of infomial communicatiori and the nature of
leadership.
V) The roles of the individuals.
vi) The interaction between the persoinality of individuals and the organisational system.
vii) The policy and decisional systems of the organisation that link its various parts.
viii) The communicational system, which also involves the feedback mechariism.
ix) The performance of an administrative system.
You would notice from the foregoing discussion that an administrative system is noj-a -
simple entity. There are intricacies of its functioning which will be highlighted in any
comparative analysis.
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Such a comparison involves diff2rent time-frames for analysis. For instance, a cornparisoa
between the administrative system prevailing during Ashoka's reign and during Akbar's
regime would be a cross-temporal analysis. Likewise, comparisons,between the
administrative systems of ancient Rome and modem Italy, or between the administrative
practices prevailing during thd period of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi would fall
under the rubric of cross-temporal analysis. ,
A cross-temporal analysis may be inter-institutional, intra-national, cross-nationai or cross-
cultural. For instance, a comparison of the administrative control mechanisms prevailing
during the times of Julius Caesar, Alexander, Harsha, Attaturk and Nasser will be cross-
national as well as cross-cultural. Exactness in cross-temporal studies is not possible
because of differences in the nature of historical sources available for various periods. But
some broad conclusions on the basis of existing sources can be reached throu h sucll
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studies. Nimrod Raphaeli has defined Comparative Public Administration a stu y of
Public Administration on a comparative basis. The Comparative Administration Group
referred to Comparative Public Administration as the theory of Public Administration which
belongs to diverse cultures in the'na!ional settings and the body of factual data by which it
can be expanded and tested. Robert Jockson has defined it as the phase of study which is
-coneemcd.with making rigorous'cross-cultural cornparhons of the structures and processes
involved in the activity of aPministering public affairs.
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d e c k Your Progress I\
NO& : i) Use the space below for your answgrs.
ii)'~heckyours answers with those given at the end of the unit.
1) What are the units of analysis in Comparhtive Public Administration'?
'IIre Nature (IT f'ubi~c
Adri~itristrrtion
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2) What is.cross cultural analysis'?
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3) Explain cross temporal analysis.
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Some scholars believe that conlparison is an inherent part of any social analysis and I
whenever we examine any social problem or issue, we cannot do so without employing the I
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5.8.6 ~ e v e l o ~ m e Approach
nt
A very well-known conceptual approach in Comparative Public Administration is of
'Development Administration' which has been elaborately dealt with in a separate unit.
This approach focuses on certain characteristics of a dynam~cadm~nrstrativesystem, e.g.
goal-orientation, change-orientation, progressiveness, innovativeness, participation and
responsiveness.
Besides, the abovei there are a number of other lessiknown approaches to comparative
administrative analysis. These include "information-energy' model of John Dorsey and
decision-making model of 'Martin Landau. Nevertheless, other models have not been able
to match the comprehensiveness and acceptability of Weber's bureaucragic model, Rigg's
prismatic model and of course, the construct of Development Administration.
It gppears that the experimentation phase in model-building in Comparative Public
Administration is not vlgorous anymore. However, the enthusiasm for understanding the
varieties of administrative patterns is alive in the scholarship of Public Administration.
That is why, one can hope formewer dimensions of Comparative Public Administration
emerging on the scene'in the'times to come
ii) Cheok your answer with those given at the end of the unit,' 47
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\ The Nature of Puhlk , 1 ) Explain the bureaucratic.approach.
AdmlnMraUon I
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5.9 LET US SUM UP: 1
comparative appr&ch has became an integral part of the Social ~ c i & inquiry. No
i exercise of systematic Social Science researchcah be complete without a comparative
focus. In this unit, we have examined the meaning and nature of Comparative Public
Administragon and its scope and significance. We have also examined the different
approaches to the study of Comparative Public Administration.
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