Assignment On: Ecology of Administration

Course Title: Comparative Public Administration

Prepared for:

Mohammad Samiul Islam

Associate Professor

Department of Public Administration

Shahjalal University of Science & Technology, Sylhet.

Prepared by:

Md. A. Joheb Sharear

Reg no. 2018237065

Session: 2018-19

Date: 6 July 2021

Faculty of Social Science

Department of Public Administration

Shahjalal University of Science & Technology, Sylhet.

 Ecology of Administration
Introduction
Ecology means the inter-connectivity and inter-dependency of various elements of a specific
environment. The word ‘Ecology’ is related to the environment, and this environment includes
physical, social, and cultural aspects. In this article we are going to discuss about the relation
between administration and environment and how they influence each other.

Environment
In a word we can describe the environment as “the surrounding of a specific place”. But the
concept of environment is larger. Environment is the largest system, the others like political
system, administrative system, etc are all sub-systems who work under it. It influences it’s sub
systems and vice versa. They both have to adjust to each other. They also reform and change
each other from time to time to stay up to date where peoples wishes drive the policies and the
policies bring in development that uplifts the socio-economic status and level of the
environment for progress. So, we can say that they are independent and not mutually exclusive
of each other.

Administration
The word ‘Administration’ comes from two Latin words ‘ad’ which means ‘to’ and ‘ministiare
/ ministrate’ which means ‘serve’. So, the meaning of administration is ‘to serve or manage’.
Literally, the term ‘administration’ means management the affairs of a agency.

Through the Felix A. Nigro, “Administration is the organization and use of man and materials
to accomplish a purpose.”

According to Herbert A. Simon, “Administration can be defined as the activities of groups

cooperating to accomplish common goals.”

Administration is known as one of the most important aspect of any social arrangement as it
makes possible the achievement of governmental function fulfilment. It has been observed that
administration of any state happens to be an expression of various unique factors existing in
society and is inter-dependent over other arrangements in the society that provides the stability
of all structure in a society. Many scholars like George Orwell in their writings like 'Shooting
an Elephant' books have given case studies of how they have seen practically that the
administrative systems in different parts of the world perform differently in order to suit the
environment or ecology they are set in.
Origin and Meaning
Ecology means the inter-connectivity and inter-dependency of various element of a specific
environment. It is a branch of Biology. The term ecology was first mentioned in 1866 by
German biologist Ernst Haeckel. In biology, ecology deals with the relations between living
organism (plants and animals) and their environment. Though this term is borrowed from
Biology, but It is also applied to the field of Public Administration. Administrative ecology
deals with the interactions, interconnections and interdependencies between the administrative
system and the social system within which public administration is embedded. In this way, the
ecological approach examines the links and interdependencies between an administrative
system and its environment –social, economic, cultural, and political factors. In other words,
we can say that an administrative system is not only influenced by the various environmental
factors, but it also affects them. Ecological approach has been emphasized by several scholars
such as John M. Gaus, Robert Dahl, Roscoe Martin, and Fred W. Riggs. In this way, as a post-
World War II development, Ecological approach is given much importance in the study of
Comparative Public Administration today.

Views of John M. Gaus

The Ecological approach in Public Administration was first mentioned by John M. Gaus in his
reflections on Public Administration in 1947. Gaus had announced in 1947 that the study of
Public Administration must includes its ecology. In accordance with Gaus, there are 7
environmental factors which are useful in explaining the way in which an administrative system
functions: People, Place, Physical Technology, Social Technology, Wishes and Ideas,
Catastrophe, Personality. He also emphasizes the importance of ecology in explaining
administrative behaviour. Gaus urged that the future research should relate various non
administrative factors to formal administrative elements.

Views of Robert Dahl

Robert Dahl emphasized the need for cross cultural studies and referred to the environmental
effects on the administrative structure and behaviour in his article in 1947. He observed that
public administration could not escape the effects of national psychology and of the political,
social, and cultural environment in which it developed. Dahl would point out that cultural
factors could make public administration on one part of the globe quite different from public
administration on another.

Views of Max Weber

Max Weber gave the theory of Ideal Types of Bureaucracy where bureaucracy was shown as a
closed system unaffected by the environment. Weber thought that this system would be
applicable and successful in all countries irrespective of its socio-economic status, but in this
point he was wrong. Because we can see that the system of first world developed countries
(Such as, USA, UK & other European Countries) can’t be applied in an environment of a
developing countries (Such as, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan etc). Weber provides a very good
structure for the organization of bureaucracy but the part which he missed as cited above was
the starting ground for Riggs when he began his research on the relationship between ecology
and administration.

Views of Fred W Riggs

The ecological approach of Public Administration was first spread popularly by Fred W Riggs.
He studied administrative system of different countries (especially the developing countries
and why there was a vast amount of disconnect among them while applying the Americanised
theories of Public Administration and how they coped up. He saw that the main reason for this
uniqueness of administrative systems in the world is the environment that they are set in. Every
country had a different environment which played a significant influential rule for the shaping
of the administrative system. Because, without the help or approval of a countries citizen an
administrative system can’t survive. In this way, the administrative system act according to its
environment. On the other hand, it also influences the society with its work and procedures.

Ecology of Administration
Administration is Culture Bound
Public Administration is culture bound. The administrative system of a specific place always
influenced by its surrounding, environment or culture. It develops its own separate
characteristics in different cultural area or environment. Though the formal organizational
structure or system is mostly similar in the various nations of present world, but their informal
and behavioural patterns and practises are diversified because of the different social culture of
every nation. Based on those diversities Fred W. Riggs classified social structure into three
types, such as, Fused, Prismatic and Diffracted. He outlined the diversified characteristics of
administration in each of these categories.

Examples of administration being culture bound:

▪ In Africa, we can see kinship organization in different culture. Here political relations
are organized around membership in corporately organized dwellings. Partiality is
normal in the recruitment into services to the local people in northern Nigeria. A
significant number of southern Nigerians are dismissed-particularly Ibos-from the
northern service. The reason for this is both political and cultural.
▪ Even though in India, the civil service was developed by the British on certain
principles (general competence, integrity and impartiality, and political neutrality), the
nature & role of Indian bureaucracy cannot be understood in terms of these ideal norms
but must be studied in terms their social and cultural traditions and orientations.
 ▪ Even in the Western economically developed countries which are often grouped into
one category, public administration has not developed & functioned in a uniform
pattern. Such as, the variation in the British and German patterns of administration.
Britain is the example of entrepreneurial society in which management tended to remain
personal taking decisions through personal bargaining and negotiation rather than
through a bureaucratic imposition of authority. Germany has the institutionalized
bureaucratic style of administration. Bureaucracy is the dominant form of social
organization.

Interaction between Culture and Public Administration

Cultural values of a society are not changeable. Culture is subject to change and there is a
constant interaction of culture and administration that redefines the role of government and
public administration.

For example, the latitude of action allowed at present to govts & public administration in the
western countries would have been unthinkable before the two world wars, one major
economic depression and a cold war which fundamentally altered popular perceptions of the
role of government.

The interaction between culture and public administration is not unidirectional. They always
influence each other. Public Administration is playing a significant rule in the modernization
of many countries of Asia and Africa. Just as culture itself is not unchanging administrative
culture too, keeps on changing. Administrative culture must be suitable with its environment.
It is, therefore, unrealistic to endorse and perpetuate the administrative culture operative during
the period of the British Rule in Independent India.

Since public administration is culture bond it follows that structure of public administration of
one environmental setting cannot translated into a different cultural milieu. American effort to
export scientific public administration have met with negative responses not only in such
widely dispersed places as Pakistan, Vietnam, Turkey, Brazil, but in Western European
countries like Italy as well. The experience of Prof Riggs in Thailand and the Philippines is
that the attempts to import Western concepts into the non-Western World have often resulted
in the adoption of formal aspects of bureaucracy but the older institutional base of a traditional
base of a traditional society lingers on. He mentioned it as a dualistic situation. He develops a
model of such a dualistic administration called Sala model of administration in prismatic
society.

Administration and Political Environment

Public Administration and Political Environment are strongly related to each other. The
political situation of a country always influences the administration of the country. The roots
of public administration can be traced to the politics of the country; and while politics is
concerned with government, the practical implementation of government policy assumes the
form of public administration. So, it is natural that the change in political environment leads to
changes in administrative institutions.

Loyalty to the National Community:

Loyalties to family, language, religion caste or ethnic group diminish individual commitment
to the national political system and produce the potential for political unrest and instability.

Consequences for Public Administration from a low level of national commitment:

• Such a society will suffer from social dissensions and in such situations political
decision-making becomes very difficult.
▪ That tends to direct power upward towards bureaucracy. The decision-making by
bureaucracy adversely affects its impartiality.
▪ France in the Fourth Republic, Modern Italy and several developing countries fall in
this category.

Ecology / Environment affects the administrative system both

internally as well as externally
▪ The administrator is a person who lived in a society. So, when he is taking an
administrative decision, he will be influenced by his values, societal and cultural
attitude, etc to quite an extent and that needs to be considered. In this way, the ecology
/ environment internally affects the administrative system.
▪ Externally also the ecology/environment affects the administrative organisation by
means of social values and rules, culture of the society, dependence on other
important subsystems prevalent in the society, etc where the administration and
politics must be in context of the people's wishes and demands and if they go against
it will face a possibility of overthrow and revolt anytime.

Conclusion
Administration of a sate is not out of the social, cultural, political environment of a place. So,
it makes balance with the social, cultural, political, and economic situation of a region. The
ecology between the social and cultural factors of a place and administration makes the
administration of a sate different from other state’s administration.