Although the subject itself is a relatively new one as compared to other disciplines, the study on how

Public Administration and other forms of authorities function has always been a topic of interest in
academic fields. Its origin emerged during the 19 th century.

The functioning of the administration has its branches in fields like politics, ethics and law in
different societies and remained so for a considerable long time. For example, Ancient Hindu epics
like Ramayana and Mahabharata deal with administrative ideas along with political. This
phenomenon of studying the functions of administrations is not exclusive to that of ancient india,
Confucius the great Chinese philosopher too spoke of administrative principles, plato the Greek
Philosopher regarded as the father of political science also discussed some aspects of
administration.

However public admin as a separate and distinct subject of study did not begin till 1887
when Woodrow Wilson, also known as the father of the discipline of Public Admin, published an
article on the need for making the study of public administration a separate and distinct field of
study. Many scholars had different perspectives on the various aspects of public administration and
how it functioned leading to the formulation of various theories.

Theories are formulated in order to explain, predict, and understand phenomena and challenge and
extend existing knowledge within the limits of critical bounding assumptions. One of the reasons for
the lack of recognition of public administration as a distinct branch was because of the lack of
primarily due to the fact that it lacked a systematic body of theory.
This is not to say that it lacked theories, in fact there are a number of theories that have
assumed an important position in the study of public administration, however, all the theories that
have been put forth have often contradicted one another and so a general theory of public
administration had yet to be formed.

However despite this, the study of public administration has advanced through the years
with more advanced theories which led to its recognition as an independent branch of study. The
main task of categorising this subject into an independent branch was so that it could efficiently
discover and apply certain prcinciples of administration so as to increase efficiency and economy of
public administration leading to important theories like the classical theory of public administration

CLASSICAL THEORY

The classical theory or structural theory is one of the main exponents of the study of public
administration and was includes significant contributions from eminent theorists such as Henry
Fayol, Luther Gullick. L.F Urwick, J. D Mooney, a c reiley, mp follet and r Shelton.

The theory assumes that administration is a universal structural construct in which there are
certain principles that are universally applicable to every kind of administration or organisation and
in the application of such principles leads to efficiency of such organisation or administration.

Owing to the their view that administrations are universal and hence suffer from the same
problems, these classical theorists believe that if such principles are indeed followed this will lead to
maximum efficiency and economy.
 This theory primarily deals with formal organisational structures. This theory was formulated
at a time when western society was at its highest point of the industrial revolution therefore
efficiency and economy were at the forefront of goals to work towards. The proponents of this
theory were chiefly concerned with finding ways in which work can be divided and devising proper
methods so as to bring effective organisational coordination.

The classical theory of organisation has the following basic premises:

(i) Efficiency and economy are the universal goals of all organisations
(ii) To achieve efficiency and economy, there is a need to design and re-design
organisational structures in such a manner that the various structural parts of an
organisation function with coordination and harmony
(iii) With a view to developing greater rational structures, an organisation should follow
certain principles of formal designing and re-designing various organisational parts, so
that the goal of maximizing efficiency and economy are achieved with lest effort and
resources.

The principles of the classical organisation are as follows:

(i) This school of thought assumes that administration is a universal structural
construct, which is amenable to certain common principles of organisation;
(ii) The proponents of this approach have shown their keen interest in discovering
the true basis on which division of labour in an organisation should be carried
out;
(iii) The proponents of this approach, however, are not totally in oblivion of the
danger of the excessive de-centring of organisational task. Hence they put alot
of emphasis on proper coordination in an organisation.
(iv) This school of thought equally favours an element of restrain in the use of
authority in an administrative manner
(v) The advocates of this school are highly in favour of unity of command and
direction.
(vi) This school also favours centralisation of authority
(vii) Another important feature of this school of thought is the managerial
perspective. Most scholars belonging to this traditional approach administration
from a typically managerial perspective and thereby prescribe a host of
techniques or principles to make organisation successful.

Henry fayol

Henry Fayol as a theorist was contemporary to talyor, but taylors ideas got recognised much earlier
to fayol. This is mostly due to the fact that being French fayols writings were written in French
thereby making it inaccessible to the outside world. Fayol was a mutli-faceted personality who was a
geologist, a mining engineer and went on to win a nobel prize. He was an extremely successful
administrator and administrative philosopher. He penned down his ideas out of his successful
experience as being a functionary in a private industrial organisation. unlike taylor, fayol did not
have the experience of the whole of the organisation, fayol started his career as a manager and went
on to occupy the highest position in the organisation. This difference in experience contributed
towards difference in orientation towards organisational management.

Fayols approach to management was broader and more systematic than the other theorists.
According to fayol, management was an undertaking common to all human activities. He focuses on
five key elements of administration, namely, planning, organising, command, coordination and
control. His theory of administration is often considered to be the first complete theory of public
administration.

In his book ‘ general and industrial administration’, he listed fourteen principles of

organisation:

(i) division of work, according to fayol, must be divided among individuals and groups to
ensure effort and attention are focused on special portions of the task
(ii) authority: fayol believed that authority and responsibility went hand in hand, and that a
person who has authority over the workings of the organisation has the responsibility to
make sure it works efficiently.
(iii) Discipline: in order for an organisation to be successful, discipline must be maintained
within the organisation.
(iv) unity of command: in order to ensure efficiency, workers in an organisation must
receive orders from only one manager
(v) unity of direction: the entire organisation must move towards a common goal or
objective in order to ensure smooth functioning.
(vi) subordination of individual interest to general interest: the interest of one individual
must not trump over the general interest of the entire organisation.
(vii) remuneration of personnel: while determining a worker’s rate of pay, the organisation
must take into consideration variables like coast of living, supply of qualified personnel,
general business conditions and success of the business.
(viii) Centralisation: fayol was of the view that centralisation lowered the importance of the
subordinate role while decentralisation increased the importance of the subordinate
role. The degree to which the organisation adopts either depends on the specific
organisation in which the manager is working.
(ix) scalar chain: managers form hierarchies in an organisation. Each manager, from the first
line supervisor to the president have a role to play. This is necessary if an organisation is
to funvtion efficienctly.
(x) Order: without order in an organisation, there can be no efficiency.
(xi) Equity: all employees in an organisation must be treated equally
(xii) stability of tenure of personnel: in order to create an incentive for efficiency, hard work
must be encouraged and rewarded with so as to ensure productivity and efficiency.
(xiii) Initiative: in order to continuously work towards efficiency, managers must take the
responsibility of creating incentives to promote an increase in production
(xiv) esprit de corps :a spirit of harmonious feeling must be instilled in the employees of an
organisation.
Although being a significant theory in public administration it is not without its faults. It has been
criticised for being too vague, for example the principle of division of labour does not specify how
the tssk should be divided. Fayols theory has also been criticised for the fact that his principles are
based on personal experience and limited observations resulting in his theory containing too many
generalisations and lack of empirical evidence. His theory also fails to pay attention to workers.
Workers are treated as biological machines or inert instruments in the work process.

Luther gullick and Lyndall urwick

Luther gullivk was a social scientist and an expert in public administration and he along with lyndall
urwick a british management consultant and business thinker, formulated their own viewpoints on
how administrations work and function. Both of these imminent thinkers introduced the concept of
POSDCORB. Each letter of the word stands for different techniques involved in administration such
as planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting. According to
them, POSBCORB reflected the way in which organisations approach projects

Gullick known for his theory of departmentalisation and principle of organisation which addresses
the problem of assignment of duties in an organisation. It is generally viewed that the departments
are often locked horns on the issue of assignment of duties. Gullick has brought about this theory so
as to get rid of this crisis. Gullick enumerates ten principles of administration:

(i) Division of work or specialisation

(ii) Base of departmental organisations
(iii) Coordination through hierarchy
(iv) Deliberate coordination
(v) Decentralisation
(vi) Unity of command
(vii) Staff and line
(viii) Delegation
(ix) Span of control.

Gullick believed that division of work and integration are the bootstraps by which mankind
lifts itself in the process of civilisation.

Urwick also identified eight principles of organisation:

(i) The ‘principle of objectives’- the organisation should be an expression of a purpose

(ii) The ‘principle of correspondence’- authority and responsibility of superiors for work of
subordinates is absolute
(iii) The principle of specialisation – there is one group that specialises in perfromance of a
specific function.
(iv) The principle of coordination: this principle is most important for ensuring coordination
in organisation.
(v) Principle of authority: in every organisation, various groups have to follow authority and
command of the organisation.
 (vi) Principle of responsibility: since superior claims authority and command of the
organisation, he becomes responsible for the acts of his subordinates.
(vii) The principle of definition: in an organisation, it is imperative that the nature of jobs and
duties attach to that specific job that needs to be specified or defined.
(viii) The span of control: the manager should be responsible for only a few subordinates
working in an organisation.
(ix) The principle of balance: balance is an important principle to ensure equality in the work
processes.
(x) The principle of continuity: within the structure of organisation, continuation of activities
is imperative condition.

MARY PARKER FOLLET

Mary parker follet, often considered the mother of modern management , was a contemporary
management theorist whose works have contributed substantially to the study of public
administration. Her theory was different than that of her contemporaries of that period. She
considered organisation a social system and management a social process. What differentiated her
from other classical thinkers was her emphasis on getting things done through the people.
Psychological and sociological aspects of management were given prominence in her writings.

According to her conflict in organisations is inevitable and by conflict she meant difference in
opinions and of interests. She advised managers to use conflict in a constructive manner and
stressed on the importance of “ powering with” rather than “powering over” and integrating with
employees to solve conflicts.

Follet practised the following principles of coordination that helped her develop her theory
of management:

(i) Direct contact: direct contact between employees and managers help organisations to
avoid conflict and misunderstandings. Holding regular meetings or discussing
assignments in person is a simple way to practise this principle.
(ii) Focus on coordination: coordination should be learned and mastered right away. No
employee should feel less important than the next, each has a significant role that
compliments the roles of others.
(iii) Reciprocal relationship: every worker regardless of their level of hierarchy, is responsible
for pulling their weight and integrating with the rest of the organisation. Team effort
was highly emphasised.
(iv) Continuous process: coordination must be maintained. A continual practise of
coordination thought will bring about smooth running of the organisation.

Mary follets theory has often been criticised for its idealist approach to management of
organisations.

Criticisms
Despite its huge contributions to the legitimisation of public administration as a distinct
and recognised branch of study, it is not without its criticisms and faults. They are as
follow:
(i) An important feature of the classical theorists is their attempt to find general
principles of public administration. However the classical theorists have been
criticised on the grounds that each of the principles have been proved neither
empirically valid in organisational functioning in a sense that they have not been
practically proved to be applicable nor have they been proven to be universally
applicable.
(ii) The classical thinkers have also been criticised for their lack of emphasis on the
human element in an organisation. Except for mary follet, the other classical
thinkers writings consider humans as insignificant in the administrative process.
They treat human beings as being passive instruments incapable of personal
contributions to the organisational success based on individual merit. It was
because of this neglect that the human relations theory was propounded.
(iii) The classical theory has also been criticised for its extreme emphasis on a formal
structure rather than the informal aspects of organisations. The classical theory
treats organisations as closed systems, completely unconnected or uninfluenced
by the external environment around it. Its obsession with the normative aspect
of the functioning of organisations that it neglects the study of actual and
informal behavioural patterns in the formal organisational structure.