Public Administration: Meaning, Nature, 2

Scope, And Significance

October 12, 2020 by Avijit Biswas

Public administration refers to an activity with which the government is

involved. So it can be said that the word public administration has got more
significance in the background of government functions.
This article will help you to understand the perfect meaning, nature, scope, and
significance of public administration. I have explained it in an easy way for a
better understanding of you.
Must Read- 5 Phases of The Evolution of Public Administration
Public Administration is the combination of two words that is Public and
Administration. Let’s begin with Administration first.

Table of Contents

 What is Administration?
 What is Private Administration?
 What is Public Administration?
 Definition of Public Administration
 Nature of Public Administration
 Scope of Public Administration
 Significance of Public Administration
 Conclusion
 References

What is Administration?
The administration is a very important part of our life. When you go to the
highway, educational institutes, hospitals, etc, you automatically enter the
administrative systems.

The word Administration is derived from two Latin words ‘ad’ and ‘ministiare’
which means ‘to serve’, in simple words administration means to look after
people or to manage affairs.
L.D White rightly said that administration is a “process, common to all group
efforts; public or private; civil or military, large scale or small scale. It is a process of
work in a departmental store, a bank, a school, a hotel or a city.”
We all know that man is a social animal. So all the activities of man should be
organized and managed. At first, men need organization for achieving their
needs and goals, then to manage that organization, it is needed for
administration.

So it can be said that Administration is the process of managing the proper

coordination of the relevant elements to achieve a specific goal.

Administration can be private or public. Now the questions are which

administration is private and which one is public?

What is Private Administration?

Private Administration is the administration which deals with the activities of a
household, club, corporation, and private companies. The purpose of private
administration may be carried out by an individual or a group. The ultimate goal
of a private administration is the maximization of profit.

What is Public Administration?

Public refers to the government so, public administration means governmental
administration. In simple language public administration is the management of
governmental affairs and activities.
 Must Read- 10 Key Differences Between Public And Private Administration
Definition of Public Administration
In Political Science Quarterly, 1887, the famous line given by Woodrow Wilson is
that public administration as “detailed and systematic execution of public law.
Every particular application of general law is an act of administration”.
According to L.D White, Public administration is the activity required for the
implementation of public policy.
Felix A. Nigro defines public administration as-
 Co-operative group efforts in a public setting,
 Covers all the three branches of the government that is executive,
 The legislative and judicial branch of the government,
 Public administration has an important role to make public policy and its
implementation,
 It also associated with various private groups and providing public services
to the people.
According to Luther Gullick “Public Administration is that part of the science of
administration which has to do with Government and thus concern itself primarily
with the executive branch where the work of the Government is done.”
In a simple way we can say that public administration is the administration in
which public policies are implemented. It is the action part of the government.

From the above definitions you can find that there are two views to define
public administration one is a broader view and the second is Narrow view.
Broader View

Public administration refers to activities of all three branches (is executive,

legislative and judicial) of the government. That means in broader sense public
administration deals with all the work process of the three branches of the
government.

The broader view has been taken by Woodrow Wilson, Pfiffner, Marshal Dimock,
L.D White etc.

Narrow View

In the narrow view, Public administration refers to only activities of executive

branches of the government. Gullick, Simon, Willoughby, Fayol, Ordway Tead
discusses public administration as only the activity of the executive branch of the
government.

With the predominance of the above views, it can be said that for the people, the
implementation of bureaucratic policy outside the party politics of the people’s
government is called public administration.

Public Administration also includes such questions such as-

 How are the laws implemented?

 Is Law justifiable or not?
 How are efficient our administrations dealing with those laws?
 To whom public administration is accountable?
 What are the Roles of people in the process of administration?
Nature of Public Administration
In terms of nature there are also two divergent views in public administration.
The first one is Integral view and the second one is Managerial view.
Integral View

From this perspective, Public administration refers to all activities from clerical to
managerial activity of the administration. That means integral view proposes that
administration is the sum totals all activities of manual, clerical or managerial.

In simple we can say, all the work process done by the government official from
peon to executive officers are the part of public administration.

 L.D White and Woodrow Wilson, Marshal E. Dimock are the main supporters of
this view.

Managerial View

In the managerial view, Public administration refers to only managerial activity of

the administration. That means in this view administration constitutes of the work
of only those person who are performing managerial functions.

Activities of clerical, manual and also technical departments are excluded from
the range of public administration. Luther Gulick, Henry Fayol, Herbert Simon are
the main supporters of the managerial view.

Scope of Public Administration

When we concern about the scope of public administration, basically we want
to know the major concerns and areas of public administration.
Traditional writers restrict the scope of public administration to only one branch
(executive) of the government. But modern administrative thinker extends the
scope of public administration to all branches (Executive, Legislature, and
Managerial) of the government.

There are also two views in the scope of public administration. These are the

 POSDCORB view and

 Subject Matter view.
POSDCORB View
The POSDCORB view in the scope of public administration is given by the
prominent administrative scholar Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick.
According to them every administration has should seven elements. These seven
elements are acronym as POSDCORB. Each letter of this acronym implies one
element of administration.
They explain these seven elements of administration in the following way-

P- Planning– It is the task of managers of every administration to plan

everything that needs to be done and the methods for doing them to accomplish
the purpose set for the enterprise.
O- Organizing- Every organization needs to be well organized. Managers should
allocate the task to their employee and others subordinates by the proper
techniques.
S- Staffing- Staffing refers to the whole personnel function of bringing in and
training the staff and maintaining favorable condition for work.
D- Directing- It refers to the continuous task of making decisions and
embodying them in specific and general order and instructions and also serving
as a leader to the enterprise.
CO- Coordinating- It is the important duty of the manager to coordinate
between coworkers and executives.
R-Reporting- It is referred to inform every report of the work to the executives.
B- Budgeting- All that goes with budgeting in the form of fiscal planning,
accounting and control.
Subject Matter View

Subject matter view in scope of public administration simply refers to the subject
matter of public administration.

M.E Dimock said that “administration is concerned with ‘What’ and ‘How’ of the

government. The ‘What’ is the subject matter, the technical knowledge of a field,
which enables the administrator to perform his task. The ‘how’ is the technique of
management, the principles according to which the co-operative programs are
carried to success. Each is indispensable; together they form the synthesis called
administration.”   
Public Administration as a discipline consists of several branches or subject
matters such as-
  Organizational, Administrative Theories and Behavior
 Public Personnel Administration
 New Public Administration
 Comparative Public Administration
 Development Administration
 Public Policy
 Governance
 Good Governance
 E-Governance
 Corporate Governance
 Social Welfare Administration
 New Public Management
Significance of Public Administration
after the knowing meaning nature and scope of public administration, its time for
the significance of public administration. we are influenced by public
administration from birth to death.

Public administration plays its role in many ways which makes the public
administration more significant to us. It plays an important role-

1. As an Instrument for Providing Service

2. As an Instrument for Implementing the Laws and Policies of the
Government
3. As an Instrument for Development and socio-economic change
4. As an Instrument for the Sustainable Development
5. As an Instrument for National Integration
6. As an Instrument for Community Development
7. As an Instrument for Public Safety
8. As a Separate Academic Discipline 
1. As an Instrument for Providing Service

It provides several services to citizens such as education, health, housing, social

security, and a lot more. All these services affect every moment of human life.
Without public administration, the services provided by the government can
never reach to the people.
2. As an Instrument for Implementing the Laws and Policies of the
Government

It plays a crucial role in the implementation of laws, public policies, and programs
made by the government. The government make laws and policies for the
interest of the people. Public administration puts them into reality. 

3. As an Instrument for Development and socio-economic Change

It is also responsible for the nation’s development and it’s socio-economic

change. After the second world war, there was a lot of nations emerged. After
independence, public administration played a crucial role for their socio-
economic development.

For example in India, it played a very important role by implementing the poverty
alleviation programs, employment assurance schemes, community development
programs, electrification of remote villages, road construction, etc. which has
been more conducive to the overall improvement of India.

4. As an Instrument for the Sustainable Development 

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs is called sustainable
development.

That means economic development without harming the environment.

Administrators are playing a significant role for the protection of environment. All
the environmental issues are solved through public administration.  

5. As an Instrument for National Integration

During the time of crisis, it helps to maintain the national integration. For
example, after the partition in India, there was a crisis of national integration, and
pubic administration played a very important role to overcome this situation. It
helped in rehabilitation process of the refugees and integrate the princely states
with Indian territory. 
6. As an Instrument for Community Development

Different races and religions live in every country. Therefore, a common policy for
all does not apply effectively. Public administration gathers neutral information
about each community in the society and based on that information the
government makes policies and the public administration applies those policies
to that particular community. So public administration also has a leading role in
community development.

7. As an Instrument for Public Safety

Above all, it has to admit that it provides us with social security. We can never be
safe without public administration. It provides a lot of services that make citizens
secure such as fire, police and medical services, and more.

8. As a Separate Academic Discipline 

As time goes by, the importance of public administration to the people is

increasing. Now it has become essential to study the administrative system of the
government. Therefore for better understanding and its development, public
administration as an academic discipline has emerged. Nowadays a lot of
universities have been prioritized this subject.

Conclusion
In light of the discussion of the meaning nature and scope of public
administration, it can be concluded that today, public administration is a very
important part of our life. It provides us all the essential services that we need.
The goal of public administration is to protect the public interest and to move
forward with it in mind. So public administration is a kind of people-oriented
administration and its nature is democratic.

Let me share your experience with what you have learned in “Meaning Nature
and Scope of Public Administration”.
Share this with the needful students as much as you can.

References
1. Wilson, Woodrow. The Study of Administration. Academy of Political
Science (U.S.), 1987.
2. Chakrabarty, Bidyut, and Bhattacharya, Mohit. Public Administration: a
Reader. Oxford University Press, 2007.
3. Nigro, Felix A. Modern Public Administration. Cambridge: Harper Collins
Publ, 1989.
4. Chakrabarty, Bidyut. Prakash Chand. Public Administration In A Globalizing
World: Theories and Practices. SAGE INDIA, 2012.