Philosophical Approach in Administration

Approaches to Public Administration

• The normative approach focuses on what ought to be in public administration.

Legal Approach

• The advocate of the Legal Approach in the USA was Goodnow.
• The Legal Approach emphasizes the relationship between law and administration.
• Woodrow Wilson highlighted the relationship between law and administration in his essay 'The Study of Administration'.

Constitutional-Legal Approach

• This approach studies public administration as part of law and emphasizes the constitutional/legal structure.

Criticism of Historical Approach

• The main criticism of the historical approach is that it lacks relevance to the present.

Historical Approach

• The historical approach came into existence in the 19th century.
• L.D. White described American federal administration through his historical studies from 1800-1829.
• Lord Bryce criticized 'historical parallels' for being misleading.
• The historical approach organizes and interprets historical facts and events in public administration.
• The main focus of the historical approach is on understanding the development of public administration over time.
• Kautilya's Arthashastra provides glimpses of ancient Indian administration.
• History provides material for comparison regarding institutions, policies, and administrative systems.
• L.D. White described Jeffersonian and Republican eras in his historical studies.
• Lord Bryce said that 'historical parallels' are misleading.

Systems Approach

• According to G.A. Almond, a 'system' is characterized by wholeness, boundedness, and interdependence.
• A closed system is one that does not interact with its external environment.
• The main difference between physical/mechanical systems and biological/human systems is that the latter is more complex and dynamic.
• The central concept of 'system' is interdependence.
• Administrative organizations primarily exhibit characteristics of open systems.
• The systems approach facilitates integration and coordination between parts of the system.

Structural-Functional Approach

• The main focus of the structural-functional approach is on understanding how organizations function to achieve their goals.
• The structural-functional approach was first suggested by Herbert Simon.
• One of the shortcomings of the structural-functional analysis is that it oversimplifies complex administrative systems.
• Fred Riggs adopted the structural-functional approach in his model of 'prismatic society'.

Behavioural Approach

• The term 'behaviouralism' refers to the study of human behaviour in organizations.
• The term 'behaviouralism' was coined by Herbert Simon.
• One criticism of the behavioural approach is that it focuses too much on individual behaviour and neglects the broader organizational context.