PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

KING ANNA RUBY SANORIA

RALLON, MARIA DIANNE
AUGUST 13, 2021
DR. ESMAEL CODILLA
MPA 605 PROFESSOR

INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

 People form organizations to accomplish goals which they cannot achieve individually.
One such organization is the Government.

 The people’s involvement with the Government becomes incapable since its
establishment. It has become an essential part of both their individual and group
efforts. Inevitably, it has assumed not only coordination but also the control function of
their society.

 With such developments, public administration has become the essential tool of
government in the performance of achieving its functions. It is there whenever the
government is needed. Thus, it has become inextricably interwoven not only into the
administrative structure of the government but also into the fabric of human life.

 Public administration is never static. It is a dynamic organ of government which keeps

on responding to the requirements of the times. It has progressed rapidly over the past
decades. Despite political setbacks, it has achieved an impressive record of growth.

 It is expected, therefore, that the continuity of government, if not the state itself, rests
upon its ability to discharge effectively its functions, notwithstanding the passage of
time and events, or even the frequent changes in the attitudes of people.

 Government achieves continuity by conforming with the customs, traditions and

temperament of the people. As such, it serves not only as the “government’s central
instrumental for dealing with the general social problems” but also as an effective
measure of strengthening society itself.

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WHAT IS PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION?

 Public administration is like any other administration which is carried out in public
interest. Before we dwell deeper into understanding public administration it would be
beneficial to try and see how different authors have tried to define what administration
is.

 A complete definition for public administration however is difficult to arrive at due to the
sheer number of tasks that fall under it. Some academicians argue that all the
government related work falls into this category while other choose to argue that only
the executive aspect of government functioning comprises of public administration.

 Marx defines administration as - Administration is determined action taken in pursuit of

a conscious purpose. It is the systematic ordering of affairs and the calculated use of
resources aimed at making those happen which one wants to happen.

 Frederic k Lane defines administration as organizing and maintaining human and fiscal
resources to attain a group’s goals.

 According to L D White, Public administration consists of all those operations having

for their purpose the fulfillment or enforcement of public policy.

 On the other hand, as per Woodrow Wilson public administration is a detailed and
systematic application of law. One can also say that public administration is nothing but
the policies, practices, rules and regulation etc., in action.

DISCUSSIONS ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

MEANING OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

 According to Dwight Waldo, the first President of Western Michigan University

(September 28, 1913 – October 27, 2000), an American political scientist and is
perhaps the defining figure in modern public administration. He viewed public
administration difficult to define in one sentence or one paragraph, thus he considered
such definition in this way:

“The immediate effect of all one-sentence or one-paragraph definition of public administration

is mental paralysis rather than enlightenment and stimulation. This is because a serious
definition of the term…inevitably contains several abstract words or phrases. In short,
compass these abstract words and phrases can be explained only by other abstract words
and phrases, and in the process the reality and importance of “it” becomes fogged and lost.

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Dwight Waldo,
1st President of Western Michigan University
(September 28, 1913 – October 27, 2000)

 Other Social Scientist share the view of Waldo. They presented in the form of summary
the constitution of definition in this manner:

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION:
1. Is a cooperative group effort in a public setting;
2. Covers all three branches – Legislative, Executive and Judicial – and their
interrelationships;
3. Has an important role in the formulation of public policy and is thus a part of the political
process;
4. Is different in significant ways from private administration.

Finally, public administration is a dynamic art which is gradually being developed as a

science.

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MEANING OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

 Management is the planning, deciding or exercising of control and supervision

on some functions of the organization.

Ralph Currier Davis and Allan C. Filley look at management at a different angle:

They say, “it is the function of executive leadership.”

Meanwhile Peter F. Ducker says in a different wider perspective:

He says, “Management which is the organ of society specifically charged with making
resources productive, that is, with the responsibility for organized economic advance.”

Harold Koontz and Cyril O’Donnell have suggested that “the field of management be defined
in the light of the able and discerning manager’s frame of reference, because theoretical
science unrelated to the practical art it is designed to serve is unlikely to be productive.”

They further say,” In the defining field of management, care must be taken to distinguish
between tools and content. Thus, mathematics, operations research, accounting,
economic theory, sociometry, and psychometrics, to mention a few, are tools to its
content.

This is not to say that these fields are unimportant to the study and practice of
management, as important contributions have been made from them. Nor, does it mean
that they may not further push back the frontiers of knowledge of management.

But, they should not be confused with the basic content of the management field.”

The term MANAGER refers to either a person or a position.

As a person, it refers to someone who occupies a position or someone who performs a job.

As a position, it refers to the manager’s organizational superiority in the hierarchy of authority.

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, AN ART OR SCIENCE?

Art as defined by Perfecto S. Sison, is “proficiency in the practical application of knowledge

acquired through study, experience or observation”. It is also the use of talent for creative
work.

Science, says Sison, is a systematic accumulation of facts, their analysis and interpretation,
and their use to arrive at a satisfactory solution.

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Several social scientists support the view that public administration is an art.

White says,

“The art of administration is the direction, coordination and control of many persons to
achieve some purpose or objective.

It is a dynamic art, taking the human and physical resources available in the system of
administration and blending them to the achievement of some required goal. It is the
essential overall goal.

It is an art that pervades all levels of organization, binding together the many
professions, crafts, and specialists whose contribution although equally necessary are
not those of management.”

Other social scientist consider public administration as a science.

Avery Leiserson and Fritz Morstien Marx say,

“A science of administration would be a body of formal statements describing invariant

relationships between measurable objects, units or elements.”

F. W. Willoughby in 1920’s and Herbert A. Simon and Donald W. Smithburg both in 1940’s
admitted that public administration is associated with science and considered it a science in
human that is susceptible to objective investigation and analysis without reference to value
judgement.

Presthus view public administration as; the art and science of designing and carrying out a
public policy.

However, majority of the social scientist view public administration not yet a science, but to
some extent, it is scientific.

In the process of making decisions, for instance, public administration uses scientific
techniques.

As Arsenio P. Talingdan says:

“Public administration will always be an artisan, making value judgement on the basis
of scientific truths, even though he may be required to be a scientist.”

While public administration possesses conformities analogous to the developed sciences, it is

more of an art until its principles were empirically tested and verified to be of universal
application.

It is more responsible for the attainment of organizational objectives through execution of

work done by the application of human resources.

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, indeed, the art of working with people.

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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PRIVATE ADMINISTRATION?

 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

• Broad field of administration

• Official actions are based on public trust carrying legal accountability
• Relatively routine decision making
• Maintenance of internal status quo
• Actuations subject to public criticisms
• Government corporations are restricted by requirements of fiscal
accountability foreign to corporate device.

 PRIVATE ADMINISTRATION

• Limited field of administration

• Not necessarily mean based on a public trust limited legal accountability.
• Unlimited in decision making process
• Dynamic entrepreneurship
• Not normally subject to public criticisms
• No such restrictions

CONCLUSION:
The official actions of public administrations are based on public trust carrying
legal accountability.
Section I of Article XI of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines
provides that:
Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must always be
accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity,
loyalty, and efficiency; act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest life.

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