NATIONAL COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ARTS

Commonwealth Ave., cor. Regalado St., Fairview, Quezon City

Center for Graduate Studies, Fairview Campus

Program : Master in Public Administration

Student : Carlo Miguel E. Vazquez
Professor : Dr. Paterno D. Gonzalo
Subject : Theory in Public Administration
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I. IDEOLOGY IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Ideology, a form of social or political philosophy in which practical elements are

as prominent as theoretical ones. It is a system of ideas that aspires both to explain
the world and to change it.
Particular categories of ideology are discussed in the
articles socialism, communism, anarchism, fascism, nationalism, liberalism,
and conservatism.

Theory is an idea or set of ideas that is intended to explain facts or events.

Scientific theory's function is to explain and does not teach based on a good or bad on
moral judgment. It is only driven by the facts. Scientific theory is similar to ideology
because it revolves around explanation, which is one of the functions that is tied to
ideology

II. CLASSICAL THEORY

In 1887, a young political scientist (Woodrow Wilson) wrote a paper The Study of
Administration provided the seminal foundation for the study/ discipline of PA.
But his paper (contribution) will remain unappreciated until the 1930s.
The alternative doctrine came in the 1930s, It was called “Classical and Scientific
Management Approach. The belief that science and scientific processes must be
applied to administrative processes.
Gulick believed that the study of administration could be made into science equal
to other scholarly disciplines because administration is governed by certain
principles of universal applicability.
Frederick Taylor, set a method that will secure maximum prosperity for both
employer and employee. Taylor felt that high wages would generally suffice to
elicit employees cooperation and compliance.
It is sadi that Fayol’s theory of organization is incomplete and narrow. He
analyses management from top-level perspective only. Furthermore, he gives
much attention to the functional aspect of organization and neglects the structural
aspect of organization,
III. NEO CLASSICAL THEORY

The Hawthorne studies and Elton Mayo’s philosophy have tremendous impact on
both management and academics. Despite their defects and limitations, the
Hawthorne experiments were significant in stimulating an interest in the human
factors. The Hawthorne conclusions led to a new emphasis on human beings as
key contributors to the organizational efficiency, productivity and the goal
attainment.

Maslow approaches the problem of motivating people from the stand point of
needs fulfilment. In his opinion, human needs account for roots of motivation. He
emphasizes a “positive theory” of healthy human motivation through his
hypothesis that individuals are progressively motivated towards the five levels of
human needs.

McGregor’s Theory “X” and Theory “Y”, serve as analytical tools of reference
through which managerial behavior can be analysed, studied, and still more
corrected in terms of changing social values and organizational goals. His
formulation of Theory “X” and “Y” has applied the neo-classical human relations
approach throughtout the whole organization and has been the vehicle of much
work on organizational development.

IV. BUREAUCRATIC THEORY

The term bureaucracy is derived from the French word bureau which means a
desk. In its etymological sense, bureaucracy means simply desk government or
rule by administrative offices. Karl Marx, Marx Weber and Robert Michels were
the three key contributors to the classical formulations of bureaucracy.

In its institutional sense, Bureaucracy refers to government by officials as oppose

to government by elected representatives. Although representative government
exists, the dominant role is held by the officials.

V. NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

For New Public Administration, 3Es accentuated the impersonal nature of public
organizations, for they attempted to be efficient and effective at the expense of
understanding the needs and demands of their target publics

The new public administration construct generated controversy. Michael Harmon

(a Minnowbrook participant) later repudiated it as merely being “symbolic” and
did not have much real effects on the direction of Public Administration. New
public administration seemed to have created more problems than it solved.
 VI. NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

New public management is “shorthand for a group of administrative doctrines” in

the reform agenda of several OECD countries starting in the 1970s. According to
the OECD (Kickert, 1997: 733), “a new paradigm for public management” had
emerged, with eight characteristic “trends”.

VII. NEW PUBLIC SERVICE

Janet and Robert Denhardt assign quite a bit of responsibility to the public
administrator, and at the same time stress the importance of public participation
and community decision-making. The exact allocation of responsibility and power
is unclear. Osborne and Gaebler are much more explicit on the relationship
between government administration and its citizens, because they use the
customer service model from business. The administrative role is further
streamlined by moving as many choices as possible out of the political arena by
converting those policy alternatives into market choices.

REFERENCES:
Public Administration by S. Polinaidu

Handbook of Public Administration (3rd Edition)

https://www.britannica.com/topic/ideology-society

https://www.managementstudyguide.com/new-public-management.htm

https://naun.org/main/UPress/saed/16-119.pdf

http://www.untag-smd.ac.id/files/Perpustakaan_Digital_2/PUBLIC%20ADMINISTRATION
%20The%20new%20public%20service%20serving,%20not%20steering.pdf