Public Policy and Administration

Module 1: introduction

Meaning, Definition and nature

1. Definitions:
1.1. Wider sense
1.1.1. L.D. White : public administration consists of all those
operations having for their purpose the fulfilment or
enforcement of public policy
1.1.2. Woodrow wilson: public administration is the detailed and
systematic application of law
1.2. Narrow sense
1.2.1. Luther gulick: public administration is that part of the science
of administration which has to do with the government and thus
concerns itself primarily with the executive branch where the
work of the government is done though there are obviously
administrative problems also in connection with the legislative
and judiciary branches
2. Meaning :
2.1. Administration is a co-operating human effort towards achieving
some common goals
2.2. The word Administration is a noun from the English verb administer
which has been derived from the Latin words 'Administrare' = ad' +
'ministrare' which means 'to serve'
2.3. Piffner and Presthus define Administration as "the organisation and
direction of human and material resources to achieve desired ends”
 2.4. Public Administration is a segment of the wider field of
'administration'
2.4.1. According to some, the use of the word Public before
Administration restricts its coverage to the administrative
activities of the government
2.5. Public Administration is defined as the organisation and management
of human and material resources to fulfil the government

3. Nature of public administration:

3.1. There are broadly two views when we discuss the nature of public
administration
3.1.1. Integral view (L.D White)
3.1.1.1. Administration is the Sum total of all the
activities-manual, clerical, managerial, technical, etc.,
undertaken in pursuit of an objective in view.
3.1.1.2. the activities of the errand boy, the foreman, the
gatekeeper, the sweeper as well as the secretaries to
government and the managers in an enterprise constitute
administration
3.1.1.3. counts the work of all persons, ranging from the lowest to
the highest, working in an enterprise as part of
administration
3.1.2. Managerial view (Simon, Smithburg and Thompson)
3.1.2.1. regards the work of only those persons engaged in
performing managerial functions in an enterprise as
constituting administration.
3.1.2.2. The activities concerning management unite, control and
coordinate all those operations undertaken in the
enterprise, thereby making the whole complex of
activities look like an integrated effort
3.1.3. These two views manifest differences. Acceptance of the
integral view makes us count the entire personnel of an
undertaking as engaged in administration. Furthermore,
administration would differ from one sphere (e.g., education) to
 another sphere (e.g., public works), depending upon the subject
matter

Scope :
1.1. POSDCORB ( coined by Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick )
1.1.1. P= Planning, 0 = Organising, S - Staffing, D = Directing, Co =
Co ordinating, R = Reporting and B = Budgeting
1.1.2. Henri Fayol, L. Urwick, Fercey M. Queen and Luther Gulick
1.1.3. corresponds with the managerial view.
1.1.4. This is a narrow view of public administration and takes into
account only the executive branch of the government.
1.1.5. POSDCORB activities are common to all organisations. They
are common problems of management which are found in the
different agencies regardless of the peculiar nature of the work
they do
1.1.6. ignores the study of the 'subject-matter' with which an agency is
concerned
1.1.7. Gulick's approach is technique-oriented rather than
subject-oriented.
1.2. Subject- matter
1.2.1. Lewis Meriam says, Public Administration is an “instrument
with two blades like a pair of scissors. One blade is knowledge
of the subject-matter in which these techniques are applied.
Both blades must be good to make an effective tool."
1.2.2. reaction to the POSDCORB view
1.2.3. This view comprises line functions or services meant for the
people.
1.2.3.1. law and order, defence, social security, public health, etc
1.2.4. services have specialised techniques of their own which are not
covered by the POSDCORB activities.
1.2.5. techniques of management are modified by the subject-matter
of the services in which they have to operate
1.3. Pfiffner
1.3.1. divided the scope of Public Administration into two heads
 1.3.2. Principles of Public Administration
1.3.2.1. Public Administration covers the organisation,
management of personnel; method and procedure;
material and supply; public finance and administrative
responsibility
1.3.3. Sphere of Public Administration.
1.3.3.1. Public Administration includes the central and state
government, its regional and local authorities and also
public corporations
1.3.4. “Public Administration, in sum, includes the totality of
government activity, encompassing expertise of endless variety
and the techniques of organisation and management whereby
order and social purpose are given to the efforts of vast
numbers”
1.4. Walker
1.4.1. administrative theory
1.4.1.1. includes the study of structure, organisation, functions,
and methods of all types of public authority engaged in
carrying out the administration of all levels, ie., national,
regional, local, etc.
1.4.1.2. also studies all the problems connected with external
control of parliament and the cabinet over administration,
internal and judicial control over administration, etc.
1.4.2. applied administration.
1.4.2.1. It is difficult to give a comprehensive statement as to
what the Applied Administration should include because
of the new and fast growing field of public
administration.
1.4.2.2. He has made an attempt to classify the main form of
applied administration on the basis of ten principal
functions, namely, political, legislative, financial,
defensive, educational, social, economic, foreign,
imperial, and local.
 1.5. the scope of Public Administration varies with people's expectations
of what they should get from government (Prof. White Supports this
view)
1.6. A century ago they expected that the government should only
maintain law and order.
1.7. Now people expect the government to promote positive welfare,
guarantee social security, from birth to death, guarantee a good
peaceful living etc.

Evolution of public administration

1. Public administration stands for two implications; the first is the activity of
administering the affairs of the government. The second implication is the
field of study
2. As a discipline it developed in 1887 when Woodrow Wilson first published
his paper titled the study of administration in political science quarterly
3. As an activity it is as old as civilization
3.1. Sumerians and Egyptians depicted administrative skills in the
construction of the pyramids
3.2. 4th century B.C book by Kautilya 'Arthashastra’ is the oldest text on
public administration
3.3. Both the Mahabharat and Ramayan contain observations on the
management and workings of government systems
3.4. Aristotle’s politics and Machiaveli’s the prince both contain
significant observations about the management and working of the
government system
4. The systematic study of public administration began in the 18th century and
official academic status came only by the first world war
5. Modern political course was first taught in Prussia as a part of the training
for officials on probation
6.