1) Public administration is a complex field that can be defined from political, legal, managerial, and occupational perspectives. It involves implementing public policy and law.
2) It draws from various academic disciplines like political science, law, and management. Public administration also includes many occupational fields that are part of government work.
3) While the practice of administration is old, public administration emerged as a scholarly discipline in the late 19th century, notably with Woodrow Wilson's 1887 article on the study of administration. It continues to reform in response to political and academic influences.
1. Dr. FLORENCIO N. EMBALSADO, JR.Dr. FLORENCIO N. EMBALSADO, JR.
ProfessorProfessor
FOUNDATIONS OF
PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
2. Public Administration DefinedPublic Administration Defined
L D White observes, “Public
Administration consist of all those
operations having for their purpose
the fulfilment or enforcement of
public policy”.
4. Public Administration DefinedPublic Administration Defined
Pliffner defines It would seem that “Public
Administration consists of getting
the work of government done by co-
ordinating the efforts of the people
so that they can work together to
accomplish their set tasks”.
5. Public Administration DefinedPublic Administration Defined
Prof: Woodrow Wilson defined Public
Administration as detailed and
systematic execution of public law;
every particular application of
general law is an act of
administration.
6. Public Administration DefinedPublic Administration Defined
Luther Gullick ‘Public Administration is
that part of the science of
administration which has to do with
Government and thus concerns itself
primarily with the executive branch
where the work of the government is
done.
7. Public Administration DefinedPublic Administration Defined
Dwight Waldo, defines Public
Administration as ‘the art and
science of management as
applied to the affairs of state’.
8. Public Administration DefinedPublic Administration Defined
Administrator as implementer:
◦ PA may be defined as all processes,
organizations and individuals associated
with carrying out laws and other rules
adopted or issued by legislatures,
executives and courts.
9. Public Administration DefinedPublic Administration Defined
Administrator as regulator/ service
provider:
◦ Public administration is the use of
managerial, public, and legal theories and
processes to fulfill legislative, executive,
and judicial mandates for the provision of
governmental regulatory and service
functions.
10. Key ApproachesKey Approaches
Managerial Approach (neutral bureaucrat;
apolitical)
Traditional Managerial Approach: Civil Bureaucracy
(“scientific approach”)
New Public Management: Competitive, business-like
Political approach: Public administrator as a
reflection of the body politic
Legal approach: Public administrator as
adjudicator
11. Key ApproachesKey Approaches
Traditional
approach
NPM Political Legal
Value Efficiency;
effectiveness
Customer
response
Representation,
accountability
Procedural
validity
Org.
structure
Typical
bureaucracy
Competitive Pluralism Adversary
Individual Impersonal;
rational
Customer Group member Particularistic
individual
Decision
making
Rational Decentralized Muddling
through
Precedence
Function Executive Executive Legislative Judicial
Budget Rational (cost
benefit)
Performance
based
Incremental Rights based
12. Nature of PANature of PA
Integral View.
According to this view, Public administration is a sum
total of all the activities undertaken in pursuit of and in
fulfillment of public policy.
These activities include not only managerial and
technical but also manual and clerical.
13. Nature of PANature of PA
Thus the activities of all persons
from top to bottom constitute
administration although they are
of varying significance to the
running of administrative
machinery.
14. Nature of PANature of PA
Prof: L D White adopts this view of Public
administration. According to him, Public
Administration ‘consists of all those operations having
for their purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of
public policy’. This definition covers a multitude of
particular operations, many in fields.
15. Nature of PANature of PA
Another scholar Marshal E Dimock also
shares the same view. He holds that
administration is concerned with the
‘what’ and ‘how’ of government.
The ‘what’ is the subject matter, the
technical knowledge of a field which
enables the administrator to perform his
tasks.
16. Nature of PANature of PA
The ‘how’ is the technique of
management, the principles
according to which cooperative
programmes are carried to
succeed.
17. Nature of PANature of PA
Managerial view.
According to this view, the works of
only those persons who are engaged in
the performance of managerial functions
in an organisation constitute
administration.
18. Nature of PANature of PA
In this managerial view the administration
has the functions of planning, programming
and organise all the activities in an
organisation so as to achieve the desired
ends.
Gullick says ‘Administration has to do with
getting things done; with the accomplishment
of defined objectives’.
19. Nature of PANature of PA
Public Administration and People.
Public Administration is an organizational
effort it needed a close relation to people.
In every Administrative system they have
good relation between people and
administrative agencies. It influenced the
day to day life of the common people.
20. Nature of PANature of PA
Public Administration and Democracy
In a Democratic political system scope of
public administration is related in many ways.
It have close link to people and at the same
time they are the watch -dog of the political
system. The Modern democratic state gave
more importance to the welfarism, In a
welfare democracy the effective
administration is essential.
21. Nature of PANature of PA
There are many other reasons also
contribute the scope of Public
Administration.
Development of Communication and
Technology.
The Development of Neo-Liberal State
The concept of Participatory Development
22. Nature of PANature of PA
There are many other reasons also contribute
the scope of Public Administration.
Good Governance.
E-Governance
Environmental concerns
Human rights approach
New Social Movements and State
23. Public and Private AdministrationPublic and Private Administration
The most apparent difference between the
two sectors is their organizing principles or
goal. While private administration has a
definite mission, which is the pursuit of profit
or stability or growth of revenues, public
administration, on the other hand, has
ambiguous purposes.
24. Public and Private AdministrationPublic and Private Administration
Furthermore, the dilemma in
ambiguity of purposes is exacerbated
by too many unnecessary and
inoperable agencies, with purposes
that overlap and bloated
bureaucracies.
25. Public and Private AdministrationPublic and Private Administration
Another factor that makes the public sector
different from the private is decision making.
In public administration, the decision must be
and should be pluralistic. The founding fathers
intentionally created a democratic republic
where all key decisions are made in politicized
environment.
26. Public and Private AdministrationPublic and Private Administration
This allows for maximum participation: open
debate, multiple veto points - a decision
making hierarchy where consensus must be
achieved at each level, ideally, an informed
decision.
While private administration's decision-
making is much simpler- it's monopolistic or
close to monopolistic.
27. Public and Private AdministrationPublic and Private Administration
This type of decision-making would avoid any
conflicts in interest; hence, the goal is clearly
defined.
Public Administration is not characterized
solely by profit motive; In fact in Private
administration mainly functioned on the basis
of profit motive.
28. Public and Private AdministrationPublic and Private Administration
Public Administration is strictly in accordance
with certain legal safeguards in a manner to
sustain the confidence and trust of the general
public.
In Private Administration no legality, it only
considered about the owner.
29. Public and Private AdministrationPublic and Private Administration
Public Administration is not concerned about
the time factor but private administration
strictly follow time factor.
Private Administration focussed to the
efficiency, transparency, accountability and
credibility but in public administration these
functions are only in nominal level.
31. Therefore:Therefore:
It draws from many different
academic disciplines, includes
a variety of agencies, and is
linked closely to several
distinct professions.
32. Four ClusterFour Cluster
These are clustered into four
main categories:
1) political,
2) legal,
3) managerial, and
4) occupational.
33. Analyzing the Definitions of PublicAnalyzing the Definitions of Public
AdministrationAdministration
Political—Public administration
is what government does.
It exists within a political
environment, and it is this
political context that makes it
“public.”
34. Analyzing the Definitions of PublicAnalyzing the Definitions of Public
AdministrationAdministration
Political: Public administration
is about implementation of the
public interest.
It is also about doing collectively
what cannot be done as well
individually.
35. Analyzing the Definitions of PublicAnalyzing the Definitions of Public
AdministrationAdministration
Legal—The foundations of public
administration are legal ones and are
bound by instruments of law.
Public administration is law in action in
the form of statutes, regulations,
ordinances, codes, etc.
36. Analyzing the Definitions of PublicAnalyzing the Definitions of Public
AdministrationAdministration
Managerial—The executive nature
of public administration enables the
public will to be translated into
action by the people responsible for
running the public bureaucracy.
37. Analyzing the Definitions of PublicAnalyzing the Definitions of Public
AdministrationAdministration
Occupational—Public
administration includes many
occupational fields—medicine,
engineering, social welfare,
economics, etc.
38. Analyzing the Definitions of PublicAnalyzing the Definitions of Public
AdministrationAdministration
Occupational—It is within the
framework of each of these fields
that the political, legal, and
managerial aspects of public
administration are transformed by
public administrators into the work
of government.
39. Public Administration is anPublic Administration is an
Academic FieldAcademic Field
Public administration within an
academic interdisciplinary context
draws primarily from political science,
law, and management.
40. Public Administration is anPublic Administration is an
Academic FieldAcademic Field
It also incorporates other fields in the
social, behavioral, and natural
sciences, including economics,
sociology, anthropology, criminology,
psychology, engineering, medicine, and
social work.
41. Public Administration is anPublic Administration is an
Academic FieldAcademic Field
At the heart of public
administration lies its core
content: administrative theory,
bureaucratic behavior, public
finance and budgeting, policy
analysis, program evaluation, and
administrative ethics.
42. Public Administration is anPublic Administration is an
Academic FieldAcademic Field
Public administration is also a
cross-governmental field: it
deals with what the state, and local
governments do, such as the
government providing national
defense and local governments
maintaining city and county roads.
43. Public Administration is Both anPublic Administration is Both an
Old and a Young DisciplineOld and a Young Discipline
The practice of public administration has
been with us from the earliest
civilizations.
The Egyptians, Babylonians, Chinese,
Greeks, and Romans provided guidance
on the art and science of management.
44. Public Administration is Both anPublic Administration is Both an
Old and a Young DisciplineOld and a Young Discipline
Our focus is on the
occupational specialty and
academic discipline of public
administration in recent times.
45. Public Administration is Both anPublic Administration is Both an
Old and a Young DisciplineOld and a Young Discipline
As a scholarly discipline, public
administration is relatively young.
We chart its beginning with the
seminal article “The Study of
Administration” by Woodrow Wilson
in 1887.
46. Public Administration is Both anPublic Administration is Both an
Old and a Young DisciplineOld and a Young Discipline
His famous politics-administration
dichotomy which lay at the core of
this study was misunderstood.
It was taken to mean that politics and
administration should be separated.
47. Public Administration is Both anPublic Administration is Both an
Old and a Young DisciplineOld and a Young Discipline
However, in reality, Wilson meant
“partisan” politics must be kept
separate from public administration.
This is not easy, for public
administration is closely tied to its
political environment.
48. Public Administration and thePublic Administration and the
Cycles of ReformCycles of Reform
Public administration is continuously
reforming itself depending on the
prevailing political climate and
theories within the academic
disciplines that bear upon it.
49. Public Administration and thePublic Administration and the
Cycles of ReformCycles of Reform
Some presidents have seen government
as the problem in society and not as the
solution to public problems.
In the 1990s, and specifically linked under
the Clinton administration, reform of
government has come to be known as
the “reinventing government”
movement.
50. Public Administration and thePublic Administration and the
Cycles of ReformCycles of Reform
In recent times the public and the media
have become increasingly focused on a
broad form of governmental reform—the
issue of ethics in government.
Its proponents believe this will go far in
helping to restore the diminished public
faith in public administration.
