BAPS-06 Block-01: Introduction to Public Administration PDF

The BAPS, Self Learning Materials follows the UGC prescribed State Model Syllabus under Choice Based Credit System (CBCS). This course material is designed and developed by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi and K.K Handiqui Open University. Bachelor of Arts POLITICAL SCIENCES (BAPS) BAPS-6 Introduction to Public Administration Block-1 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AS A DISCIPLINE UNIT-1 MEANING SCOPE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DISCIPLINE UNIT-2 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ADMINISTRATION UNIT-3 EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION UNIT-1 MEANING SCOPE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DISCIPLINE Structure 1.1 Objectives 1.2 Introduction 1.3 What Is Administration? 1.4 Administration, Organisation and Management 1.5 Defining Public Administration 1.6 Nature of Public Administration 1.7 Scope of Public Administration 1.8 Scope of Public Administration as a Discipline 1.9 Importance of Public Administration 1.10 Summary 1.11 Exercise 1.12 Reference 1.1 OBJECTIVES After going through this Unit, you should be able to understand:  What is administration  The definition of administration  Administration, Organisation and Management  Nature of public administration  Scope of public administration  Importance of public administration 1.2 INTRODUCTION Administration as an activity is as old as society itself. But as an area of study it originated, with the publication of Wilson‟s essay on study of Administration in 1887. As a process, administration occurs in both public and private organisations. It occurs in such diverse institution as settings as a business firm, labour unions, religious or charitable organisations, educational institutions, etc. Its nature is affected by the sphere with which it is concerned. Administration is commonly divided into two 1 types, Public and Private Administration. As an aspect of government activity it has existed since the emergence of political system(s). While public administration relates to the activities carried out by government, private administration refers to the management of private business enterprises. It is important to understand the functioning of administration for on this lies the understanding of the government. In this Unit an effort has been made to bring the concept of administration, public administration in particular, closer to you. This understanding will take you through the entire course of Public Administration. In what follows, we will examine the meaning, nature and scope of public administration. 1.3 WHAT IS ADMINISTRATION? The word „administer‟ is derived from the Latin word Administere, which means to care for or to look after people, to manage affairs. Administration may be defined as “group activity which involves cooperation and coordination for the purpose of achieving desired goals or objectives”. Broadly speaking, the term administration appears to bear at least four different meanings or different senses depending upon the context in which it is used: a. As a Discipline: The name of a branch of learning or intellectual discipline as taught and studied in colleges and universities. b. As a Vocation: Type of work/trade or profession/occupation, especially one that involves knowledge and training in a branch of advance learning. c. As a Process: The sum total of activities undertaken to implement Public Policy or policies to produce some services or goods. d. As a Synonym for 'word' Executive or Government: Such other body of persons in supreme charge of affairs, for example, Narendra Modi Administration, Donal Trump Administration, etc. Noted below are definitions by a few famous writers. E.N. Gladden “Administration is a long and slightly pompous word, but it has a humble meaning, for it means to care for or look after people, to manage affairs…. is determined action taken in pursuit of conscious purpose”. Brooks Adams “Administration is the capacity of coordinating many, and often conflicting, social energies in a single organism, so adroitly that they shall operate as a unity. 2 Felix A. Nigro “Administration is the organisation and use of men and materials to accomplish a purpose”. J.M. Pfiffner and R. Presthus “Administration is the organisation and direction of human and material resources to achieve desired ends”. L.D. White “The art of administration is the direction, co-ordination and control of many persons to achieve some purpose or objective”. Luther Gullick “Administration has to do with getting things done, with the accomplishment of defined objectives”. F.M. Marx “Administration is determined action taken in pursuit of a conscious purpose. It is the systematic ordering of affairs and the calculated use of resources, aimed at making those things happen which one wants to happen and foretelling everything to the country”. Herbert Simon, D.W. Smithburg and V.A. Thompson “In its broadest sense, the administration can be defined as the activities of group cooperating to accomplish common goals.” A brief analysis of the definitions listed above reveals that administration comprises two essentials, namely (1) cooperative effort, and (2) pursuit of common objectives. One does not find any administration if there is only a common purpose without a collective effort or vice-versa. Administration is also called a „technology of social relationships‟. Thus, administration is a process common to all group effort, public or private, civil or military, large scale or small scale. It is process at work in a department store, a bank, a university, a high school, a railroad, a hospital, a hotel or a local government. 1.4 ADMINISTRATION, ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT Before we discuss about the meaning, definition, nature, scope and importance of public administration we will try to know what is administration, organisation and management. As these terms are often used interchangeably and synonymously, it is pertinent to know the differences and distinctions between these three terms. 3 According to William Schulze Administration is the force, which lays down the object for which an organisation and its management are to strive and the broad policies under which they are to operate. An Organisation is a combination of the necessary human beings, materials, tools, equipment and working space, appurtenances brought together in systematic and effective co-relation to accomplish some desired object. Management is that which leads guides and directs an organisation for the accomplishment of pre-determined object. To put the above in simple terms, administration sets the goal, management strives to attain it and organisation is the machine of the management for the attainment of the ends determined by the administration. Some scholars have a different view about the administration and management. According to Peter Drucker management is associated with the business activity, which has to show economic performance, whereas administration is associated with the non business activities like activities of the Government. The other view is that administration is associated with performing routine things in known settings in accordance with certain procedures, rules, and regulations. The Management is associated with performing functions like risk taking, dynamic, creative and innovative functions. Some scholars of Public Administration are closely associated with the first view that is, administration is a determinative function. Management, on other hand is an executive function that is primarily concerned with carrying out the broad policies laid down by the administration. Organisation is the machinery through which coordination is established between administration and management. 1.5 DEFINING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION L.D. White observes that although public administration varies in form and objects, and although the administration of public and private affairs differs at many points, there is an underlying similarity, if not identity. As an integral aspect of such generic concept, public administration could be related to that type of administration, which operates within a specific ecological setting. It is a means to carry out the policy decisions made by political executive. To be seen along with it is the „Public‟ aspect of Public administration, which attributes a special character and focus to it. „Public‟ can be looked at formally to mean „government‟. So, public administration is government administration, government in action, or a socio-economic and politico-administrative confluence, 4 the focus being especially on public bureaucracy. Encyclopaedia Britannica defines public administration as „the application of a policy of a state through its government.‟ L.D. White observes that although public administration varies in form and objects, and although the administration of public and private affairs differs at many points, there is an underlying similarity, if not identity. As an integral aspect of such generic concept, public administration could be related to that type of administration, which operates within a specific ecological setting. It is a means to carry out the policy decisions made by political executive. To be seen along with it is the „Public‟ aspect of Public administration, which attributes a special character and focus to it. „Public‟ can be looked at formally to mean „government‟. So, public administration is government administration, government in action, or a socio-economic and politico-administrative confluence, the focus being especially on public bureaucracy. Encyclopaedia Britannica defines public administration as „the application of a policy of a state through its government.‟ Woodrow Wilson Public administration is the detailed and systematic application of law. Every particular application of law is an act of administration. L.D. White “Public administration consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of public policy”. As per White, this definition covers a multitude of particular operations in many fields the delivery of a letter, the sale of public land, the negotiation of a treaty, the award of compensation to an injured workman, the quarantine of a sick child, the removal of litter from a park, manufacturing uranium 235, and licensing the use of atomic energy. It includes military as well as civil affairs, much of the work of courts, and all the special fields of government activity-police, education, health, construction of public works, conservation, social security, and many others. The conduct of public affairs in advanced civilisations requires the employment of almost every profession and skill- engineering, law, medicine, and teaching; the crafts, the technical specialties, the office skils, and many others. Percy Mc Queen Public administration is related to the operations of government whether local or central. 5 Luther Gulick Public administration is that part of the science of administration, which has to do with the government; it concerns itself primarily with the executive branch where the work of the government is done; though there are obviously problems also in connection with the legislative and judicial branches. J.M Pfiffner “Administration consists of getting the work of government done by coordinating the efforts of people so that they can work together to accomplish their set tasks”. M. Ruthanaswami “When administration has to do with the affairs of a state or minor political institutions like the municipal or country council (district board), it is called public administration. All the acts of the officials of a government, from the peon in a remote office to the head of a state in the capital, constitute public administration.” H.A. Simon, D.W. Smithburg and V.A. Thompson “By Public Administration is meant, in common usage, the activities of the executive branches of national, state and local governments, government corporations and certain other agencies of a specialised character. Specifically excluded are judicial and legislative agencies within the government and non-governmental administration.” Corson and Harris “Public administration … is the action part of government, the means by which the purposes and goals of government are realised.” Dwight Waldo “Public administration is the art and science of management as applied to the affairs of State.” M.E. Dimock “Public 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 tasks? The „how‟ is the technique of management, the principles according to which co-operative programmes are carried through to success. Each is indispensable; together they form the synthesis called administration”. Nicholas Henry “Public Administration is a broad-ranging and amorphous combination of theory and practice; its purpose is to promote a superior understanding of government and its relationship with the society, it governs, as well as to encourage public policies more 6 responsive to social needs and to institute managerial practices attuned to effectiveness, efficiency and the deeper human requisites of the citizenry”. The traditional definitions of Public Administration, which are given above reflect the view that the Public Administration is only involved in carrying out the policies and programmes of the government. It reflect that it has no role in policy making and also locates the administration in the executive branch but today the term public administration is used in a broader sense that it is not only involved in carrying out the programmes of the government, but it also plays an important role in policy formulation and covers the three branches of the government. In this context, we may reflect on the definition offered by F.A. Nigro and L.G. Nigro. According to them Public Administration: In this context we can reflect the definition offered by F.A. Nigro and L.G. Nigro. According to them Public Administration: is co-operative group effort in a public setting; covers all three branches-executive, legislative, and judicial, and their inter-relationships; has an important role in the formulation of public policy and is thus a part of the political process; is different in significant ways from private administration; and is closely associated with numerous private groups and individuals in providing services to the community”. In sum, public administration: is the non-political public bureaucracy operating in a political system; deals with the ends of the State, the sovereign will, the public interests and laws; is the business side of government and as such concerned with policy execution, but it is also concerned with policy-making; covers all three branches of government, although it tends to be concentrated in the executive branch; provides regulatory and service functions to the people in order to attain good life; differs significantly from private administration, especially in its emphasis on the public; and is interdisciplinary in nature as it draws upon other Social sciences like political science, economics and sociology. 1.6 NATURE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION There are two views regarding the Nature of Public Administration, that is, Integral and Managerial. 7 According to the integral view, „administration‟ is the sum total of all the activities – manual, clerical, managerial, etc., which are undertaken to realise the objectives of the organisation. In this view all the acts of officials of the government from the Attendant to the Secretaries to the government and Head of the State constitute Public Administration. Henri Fayol and L.D. White are the supporters of this view. According to the managerial view of administration, the managerial activities of people who are involved in planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling constitute Public Administration. This view regards administration as getting things done and not doing things. Luther Gullick, Herbert Simon, Smithburg and Thompson are the supporters of this view. The managerial view excludes Public Administration from non-managerial activities such as manual, clerical and technical activities. The two views differ from each other in many ways. According to Prof. M.P. Sharma the difference between the two views is fundamental. The integral view includes the activities of all the persons engaged in administration whereas the managerial view restricts itself only to the activities of the few persons at the top. The integral view depicts all types of activities from manual to managerial, from non-technical to technical whereas the managerial view takes into account only the managerial activities in an organisation. Furthermore, administration, according to the integral view would differ from one sphere to another depending upon the subject matter, but whereas that will not be the case according to the managerial point of view because the managerial view is identified with the managerial techniques common to all the fields of administration. The difference between the two views relates to the difference between management and operation or we may say between getting things done and doing things. The correct meaning of the term administration would however, depend upon the context in which it is used. Dimock, Dimock and Koening sum up in the following words: “As a study public administration examines every aspect of government‟s efforts to discharge the laws and to give effect to public policy; as a process, it is all the steps taken between the time an enforcement agency assumes jurisdiction and the last break is placed (but includes also that agency‟s participation, if any, in the formulation of the programme in the first place); and as a vocation, it is organising and directing the activities of others in a public agency.” 1.7 SCOPE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION By the scope of Public Administration, we mean the major concerns of Public Administration as an activity and as a discipline. 8 Scope of Public Administration as an activity Broadly speaking, Public Administration embraces all the activities of the government. Hence as an activity the scope of public administration is no less than the scope of state activity. In the modern welfare state people expect many things a wide variety of services and protection from the government. In this context public administration provides a number of welfare and social security services to the people. Besides, it has to manage government owned industries and regulate private industries. Public administration covers every area and activity within the ambit public policy. Thus, the scope of public administration is very wide in modern state. 1.8 SCOPE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AS A DISCIPLINE The scope of public administration as a discipline, that is subject of studies, comprises of the following: The POSDCoRB view POSDCoRB is an acronym which social welfare administration has borrowed from management theory. The classical management thinker, Luther Gullick gave this acronym to describe the functions of a manager in an organisation. POSDCoRB stands P - Planning 0 - Organising S - Staffing D - Directing Co - Coordinating R - Reporting B – Budgeting This easy-to-remember acronym has become popular with management theorists. Social workers have also been using it to describe functions of social welfare administrators. It was later felt that an important component namely Evaluation (E) and Feedback (F) were left out and so they were added to the acronym and it became POSCoRB Let us now examine each of these functions in detail. Planning According to Terry and Franklin 'Planning is selecting information and making assumptions regarding the future to formulate activities necessary to achieve organisational objectives'. Every organisation does some form of planning, as they have to prepare for the future. In large organisations, planning is done by a separate division or department which generally reports to the Chief executive. Planning, here, is a highly specialized 9 area, as a number of factors have to be taken into consideration. The department includes experts from diverse fields such as economics, statistics, management, etc. When any organisation operates in more than one region or country, the complexity of the planning process increases. In smaller organisations, the task is entrusted to staff members, who handle other work but have the competence and knowledge to do the planning function; do planning. Either way planning is an important activity of the administrator. Organising Organising means establishing effective behavioural relationship among persons so that they may work together efficiently and gain personal satisfaction in doing selected tasks under given environmental condition for the purpose of achieving some goal or objective. The need for an organisation emerges when one individual cannot perform all the necessary tasks. As number of individuals increase, they are further divided into groups each of which are given a specific set of tasks to perform. How and on what basis these tasks are divided among individuals and group is the role of 'organising' in management. Staffing Staffing is the management function that deals with the recruitment, placement, training and development of organisation members. Any organisation is as good as its employee‟s performance shows. Staff of the organisation should be selected, retained and promoted based on the needs of the organisation and their performance. Staffing Process Human Resource Planning should take into consideration the following internal and external factors. The internal factors that need to be taken into consideration are the present and future skill needs, vacancies, areas of priorities of the organisation and its financial condition. External factors include the policies of government, donor agencies, collaborating organisations, the labour market etc. Recruitment: Recruitment is concerned with developing a large pool of job for candidates in line in view of the needs of the organisation. This can be achieved by giving wide publicity to the position available and attracting many as eligible candidates as possible for the positions. Selection: Selection involves evaluating and choosing among the job candidates. A number of means like interviews, group discussion, and skill tests are used to select the candidates. 10 Induction and Orientation: After selection, the newcomer has to be helped to fit into the organisation. They are introduced to their colleagues, acquainted with responsibilities and informed about organisation policies and goals. Training and Development: The process of training and development aims at increasing the knowledge and skills of the employees along with attitudinal changes. The overall aim is to increase organisation's productivity and employee's level of job satisfaction. Performance Appraisal: Performance appraisal aims at judging the performance of the employee's and his/her contribution to the organisation. Performance appraisal has to be done on the basis of objective standards and not on the whims and fancies.of the superior officer. Further the employee should have a clear job profile and should know on what basis he or she is being judged. If performance is satisfactory, the employee may be rewarded and if it is not, corrective action is to be taken. People join organisations not merely for monetary gains. They also look for satisfaction of their social needs, self-esteem needs and emotional needs. In any case, after a person has achieved financial security, he or she will most probably seek other kinds of fulfilments namely pride in the job, a sense of achievement, satisfactory associations at work place, autonomy to function independently, etc. It is up to the organisation to provide employees with these opportunities; Directing Directing is the managerial function of guiding, supervising and leading people. it is concerned with directing the human efforts towards organisational goal achievement'. Sometimes directing and leading are seen as one function. Often it is the success or failure of this function that will determine whether the organisation will achieve its objectives. Leading also determines the levels of satisfaction the employees of the organisation experience. Some of the requirements for successful leadership in an organisation are: clear-cut objectives which should be known to all the managers and employees, meaningful supervision by the superiors of the subordinates, participatory managerial style, unity of direction, and purposive and effective follow-up. Leadership Leadership is defined as the relationship in which the one person influences others to work together willingly on related tasks to attain goals devised by the leader and the group. Leaders can be formal or informal. Formal leaders are found in formal institutions like bureaucratic organisations, political parties, and military. Here the organisational functioning is governed by written and formal rules. They determine how the leader is selected/elected and what his/ her powers are and how they are to be 11 exercised. On the other hand, informal leadership depends on the personal qualities of the leader such as the charm, intelligence, skills etc. French and Rawen mention five sources of power that a leader draws from (1) coercive, (2) reward, (3) legitimate, (4) expert, and (5) referent. The first three sources - coercive, reward and legitimate are primarily found in formal organisations while the latter are found in informal settings. Leadership Theories A brief overview of the various theories of leadership is presented below. Trait theories: Trait theories advocate that there are a set of traits that help an individual to become a leader. Some of the traits are listed as self-confidence, courage and integrity, will power, emotional stability, intelligence, enthusiasm, energy, charisma etc. Trait theory has been criticized on some counts. It focuses too much on the leader and not on the leadership process, the nature of followers and the situation in which the leadership is provided. It oversimplifies the leadership process and reduces it to traits of the leader. Whereas it is a known fact that different situations require different types of leadership qualities. Also it does not explain how leaders who were successful in the past fail and vice-versa. Behavioural theories: This perspective explains leadership by looking at leaders in terms of what they do. Many theories within the category see leadership as comprising of two important factors: ' Employees-centred dimension and production- centred dimension. Employee centred dimension stresses on creating a work environment in which employees can have satisfying work experience. Their main concerns are employees' welfare and happiness rather than attaining organisational objectives. Production centred dimension gives importance to attaining organisational objectives rather are concerned about employee welfare. In different situations these dimensions have to balance and a good leader is one who can balance these two requirements successfully. Situational theories: These theories emerged when management thinkers realized that the context in which leadership is exercised influences the leadership process. Earlier theories had failed to take into account this important aspect. Most situational theories support the view that there is a relationship between organisational situation and the leadership style. Some of the factors that influence the process is the nature of work of the organisation, the organisation's past experience, the value system of the leader and the followers, resources available and the overall political-economic situation. Leadership Styles Autocratic Leaders Autocratic leaders are those who assume all authority to themselves. Subordinates are discouraged to offer suggestions or participate in decision making process. Autocratic 12 leadership has some advantages and are useful in certain situations. In this style, firstly decision making is quick and in emergencies it can be advantageous. Secondly, decisions will reflect the leader's priorities and will not be diluted. Thirdly, if subordinates are inexperienced or are not qualified, then autocratic leadership is better. Autocratic leadership has many disadvantages also. As autocratic leaders do not take into account opinions of others, it may result in bad decisions. Secondly, the lack of consultation may adversely affect subordinate's motivation and alienate them. It will increase resentment towards the leader and the organisation as a whole. Participative or Democratic Decision-making In the democratic or participative decision making process the subordinates are consulted. Their opinions are actively sought and a consensus arrived at before decisions are taken. The decisions thus taken may or may not reflect the opinion of the leader. The major advantages of this type of decisions making are that maximum possible information is collected and different viewpoints are to be considered. Participation of many individuals means that decisions taken will have a better chance of being accepted by others. As a result, confidence and loyalty among the workers will increase. However, success of democrat‟s decision making depends on certain conditions. A pre-condition for democratic decision making is that individuals are motivated to contribute to the decision making process. Absence of this motivation will lower the quality of decisions made. There should also be trust between the leaders and the members. If there are vested interests or if the organisation has something to hide from the employees then the decision making process will be flawed. Further, there should also be a spirit of give and take as no one can get totally satisfactory decisions. Laissez-faire or Free-rein Leadership The leader gives the organisation maximum freedom to make decisions. The leader is in most cases a figure head and at other times a coordinator between ' the various members. It gives maximum autonomy to the members leading to creativity and freedom of expression. The major disadvantages are that in under-motivated organisations this type of leadership will result in chaos. Autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style and laissez-faire leadership style are models of leadership which may not be found in the real world. i Leadership characteristics of all these models are found in different leaders in difference situations and at different times. Another point to be noted is that in different organisations the nature of work and tradition makes the leader adopt one or other leadership styles. The leaders adopt the laissez-faire method in situation where encouraging creativity is the aim - for example, in universities or laboratories. On the other hand, in family run business 13 houses where control is considered as important, leadership ' styles adopted are closer to the autocratic leadership style. Coordinating Coordination is the process of integrating the objectives and activities of two or more units (departments or functional areas) of an organisation in order to achieve organisational goals efficiently. In the organising function, we have seen the need for division of work among the various units of the organisation. Efficiency increases with specialization of activity and grouping of related work. But the division of work brings about its own problems. Departments become so involved in their work that they forget the organisational objectives. Departmental interests are placed above organisational interests. Ways to Achieve Coordination Hierarchy is an important method to achieve coordination. People who are high in the hierarchy have more authority and responsibility. Hierarchy in fact channels and regulates the exercise of authority, work allocation and flow of communication. Problems between departments if and when they arise can be sorted out by the superior officer. Another important method of coordination is rules and regulations. Rules and regulations make organisational work predictable. Rules and regulations standardize routine work which saves the time of the managers. Everyone in the organisation will know what behaviour is expected from him/her and from others. Tasks will be performed accordingly. The identification of objectives and formulation of plans also improve coordination. This gives the organisation a unity of purpose and a unity of direction. They help the various units with different responsibilities to direct their efforts toward achieving their targets. Larger organisations often use committees to improve coordination. These committees consist of members of different departments of the organisations. Committee meetings help them exchange information, understand each other‟s viewpoints and problems and resolve conflicts. Vertical and horizontal communication system is used in all organisations to share information. Intra organisational official communications in the form of departmental notes, memos, official letters etc., help improve coordination between the various sections. Nowadays, with the rise of information technology, IT enabled Management Information Systems are used to transmit data up and down the levels of the organisation. This system enables quick reporting, processing, storing and retrieval of information as and when required. Till now we have discussed the formal means of improving coordination. But it is now realized that informal relationships between employees are as important as the formal means of coordination. Personal relationships between the various members 14 improve overall coordination within the organisation. In organisations where proper understanding and trust between employees exists, the need for formal means of coordination, which are time consuming and cumbersome, will be less? This will contribute to a better work environment and improve efficiency of the organisation. Reporting Reporting means keeping the superiors informed about the various aspects of work including progress of the various programmes, problems in implementation and problems related in staff. Reporting is done at every level. The Annual Report of the organisation is its statement of achievement and shortcomings to the general body of the organisation and to the society at large. Within the organisation, the Chief Executive Officer reports to the Board of Management or the governing body. Subordinates of the executive officer will report to him/her and so on down to the lowest level of the organisation. Need for Effective Reporting 1) Reporting keeps the management informed about the organisation's performance. 2) Reporting allows the management to take corrective actions when things go wrong. 3) Reporting inculcates a sense of responsibility among employees as they have to report the programme activities to the higher authorities. Reporting Process 1) Establish means by which reporting is done. 2) Keep a time period within which the report is done. 3) It should be decided as to whom the report should go and in what form. 4) Reporting also includes action to be taken on the report. Budgeting The word 'budget' originally meant a bag, pouch or pocket attached to a person. But in the modern sense, a budget is a complete statement regarding the organisation's 'income and expenditure of the past financial year and provides an estimate of the same for the coming financial year. The organisation's budget is usually approved by the highest controlling body, the Board of Management or the Governing Council. Once the budget is approved, the allocation of funds to various sections1 departments of the organisation takes place. The concerned heads of departments have to-function within the funds allocated to them. Sometimes due to changes in environment or inside the organisation, a revised budget is formulated after a period of time which may „increase or decrease the funds allocated to a particular department: Budgeting is a specialized activity and persons involved should possess considerable knowledge in accounts, economics, costing etc. to prepare a proper budget. 15 Any organisation which is developing a budget for the first time does a lot of guess estimates as available information may not be enough to prepare a budget. Subsequent budgets can be made on the information collected from the previous experiences. A budget is very much like a plan in the sense that it is forward looking and aims at making things happen. A budget contains the expenditure, income and outcome planned for a specific period of time. Usually budgets are made for a year, that is, annually. Through the budget, the manager controls the activities of the organisation. Therefore budgeting refers to the controlling of the organisation based on a budget. Need for Budgeting 1. Finance is the fuel on which the organisation runs. One of the most effective ways of directing and controlling the organisation is by controlling the financial part of the organisation. 2. Budgeting helps to control the excessive expenditure. Sometimes managers tend to over spend with justifications and sometimes without justifications. Well prepared budget with clear allocations to various heads prevents this, costly practice. 3. Budgeting also helps in preventing administrative and financial malpractices. At times, unscrupulous employees try a variety of means to earn money at the cost of the organisation. But budgetary allocation prevents this practice to a great extent. At the end of the year audit is done in which budgetary allocations are compared with actual expenditure incurred. Discrepancies if any have to be explained. This ensures that there is a check and balance. 4. Budgeting improves the coordination in the organisation. Proper appropriation to different overheads within the organisation helps prevent conflict and overlapping. 5. Budgeting also helps in measuring the performance of the organisation. The actual performance of the organisation can be seen in relation to objectives set forth in the budget. 6. Budgets are also a source of information. Budgetary allocations to various activities of the organisation reveal the priorities of the organisation. This is useful to people outside the organisation as well as its employees and supporters. 7. Lastly, the very process of budget preparation is an educative exercise. Managers review the existing situation, discuss the needs of the organisation in the coming year, and keeping in view the priorities of the organisation, prepare the budget. Thus the budgeting process makes the managers aware of the objectives of the organisation, its resource base and anticipate1 forecast trends and changes in the external environment. 16 The Subject Matter View We all know that public administration deals not only with the processes but also with the substantive matters of administration, such as Defence, Law and Order, Education, Public Health, Agriculture, Public Works, Social Security, Justice, Welfare, etc. These services require not only POSDCoRB techniques but also have important specialised techniques of their own which are not covered by POSDCoRB techniques. For example, if you take Police Administration it has its own techniques in crime detection, maintenance of Law and Order, etc., which are much and more vital to efficient police work, than the formal principles of organisation, personnel management, coordination or finance and it is the same with other services too. Therefore, the study of public administration should deal with both the processes (that is POSDCoRB techniques and the substantive concerns). We conclude the scope of public administration with the statement of Lewis Meriam: “Public administration is an instrument with two blades like a pair of scissors. One blade may be knowledge of the field covered by POSDCoRB, the other blade is knowledge of the subject matter in which these techniques are applied. Both blades must be good to make an effective tool”. We may conclude the discussion with the observation of Herbert Simon who says that Public administration has two important aspects, namely deciding and doing things. The first provides the basis for the second. One cannot conceive of any discipline without thinking or deciding. Thus Public administration is a broad-ranging and an amorphous combination of theory and practice. 1.9 IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION We will be discussing the importance of public administration as a specialised subject of study and later the role and importance of public administration in the modern society. Importance of Public Administration as Specialised Subject of Study The study of administration assumed significance, according to Woodrow Wilson, as a consequence to the increasing complexities of society, growing functions of state and growth of governments on democratic lines. This exhaustive list of functions made to think as to „how‟ and in what „directions‟ these functions should be effectively performed. To this Wilson suggested that there was a need to reform the government in the administrative field. As per Wilson, the object of administrative study is to discover what government can properly and successfully does and how it can do these things with utmost efficiency and the least possible cost either of money or of energy. The importance of public administration as a specialised subject can be attributed to the following reasons: 17  One of the important reasons is the practical concern that the government today has to work towards the public interest. The first and foremost objective of public administration is to efficiently deliver public services. In this context, Wilsonian definition of the subject as efficiency promoting and pragmatic field was the first explicitly articulated statement on the importance of a separate discipline of public administration. During the first half of the preceding century, a numbers of countries have appointed committees to look into the problems of administration and recommended suitable administrative machinery to respond to diverse public needs. The Haldane Committee Report (1919) in Britain; the President‟s Committee on Administrative Management (1937) in the United States; A.D. Gorwala Committee‟s and Paul H. Appleby‟s Reports in India are some of the examples of the efforts by various countries to make changes in public administration. During the last four decades also, a number of reports, produced by committees/commissions appointed by governments in various countries or multilateral agencies, and books published by scholars have enriched the discipline and provided new perspectives to public administration to tune it to the changing needs of the times. They include: Report of the Committee on the Civil Services (Fulton Committee Report, U.K., 1968); various reports of the Administrative Reforms Commission (India, 1967-72); Reinventing Government (U.S.A., look by David Orborne and Ted Gabler, 1992), Governance and sustainable Development (UNDP, 1997) and World Development Report: Building Institutions for Markets (The World Bank, 2002).  Administration is looked at, in the social science perspective, as a cooperative and social activity. Hence the concern of academic inquiry would be to understand the impact of government policies and operations on society. What kind of society do the policies envisage? To what extent administrative action is non-discriminatory?; How is public administration functioning and what are the immediate and long term effects of governmental action on the social structure, the economy and polity?; etc. are questions requiring careful analysis. From the social science perspective, public administration, as a discipline, has to draw on a variety of sister disciplines such as History, Sociology, Economics, Geography, Philosophy, Psychology, etc., with the objective to explain and not just to prescribe.  Public administration has a special status in the developing countries. Many of these countries, after independence from the colonial rule have stressed upon speedy socio – economic development. Obviously, these countries have to relay on government for speedy development. The latter requires a public administration to be organised and effectively operated for increasing productivity quickly. Likewise, social welfare activities have to be effectively executed. These aspects have given birth to the new sub-discipline of development administration. The emergence of development administration is indicative of a felt need for a body of knowledge about how to study the third 18 world administration and at the same time to bring about speedy socio- economic development with government‟s intervention. Development administration has therefore, emerged as a sub-discipline to serve the cause of development.  Public administration, as witnessed holds a place of significance in the lives of people. It touches them at every step. For most of their needs, the citizens depend upon public administration. In view of the important role of public administration in the lives of people, the citizens of a country cannot ignore. Therefore, its teaching should become a part of the curriculum of educational institutions. People must get to know about the structure of government, the activities it undertakes and the manner in which these are actually performed. The study of public administration will contribute to the realisation of the values of citizenship. Importance of Public Administration as an Activity The contemporary age, which has witnessed the emergence of „Administrative State‟, public administration has become an essential part of society and a dominant factor. The functions it is called upon to perform, have expanded in scope and nature, and what is more, are continually increasing. Many of them are more positive in nature because they care for the essential requirements of human life, be it health, education, recreation, sanitation, social security or others. It is, therefore, a creative factor, with its motto being „human welfare‟. These functions are over and above its regulatory functions. The view points of eminent scholars, as referred to below, amply reflect the significance of public administration. Woodrow Wilson: “Administration is the most obvious part of government; it is government in action, it is the executive, the operative and the most visible side of the government. Brooke Adams: “Administration is an important human faculty because its chief function is to facilitate social change and to cushion the stock of social revolution”. W.B. Donham, „If our civilization fails, it will be mainly because of breakdown of administration‟. Paul H. Appleby: „Administration is the basis of government. No government can exist without administration. Without administration government would be a discussion club, if indeed, it could exist at all‟. The role of public administration in various facets is noted below:  Basis of the Government: A Government can exist without a legislature or an independent judiciary. But no Government can exist without administration.  An instrument for providing services: Public administration is mainly concerned with the performance of various activities performed by 19 government in the public interest. Felix A. Nigro aptly remarks, “The real core of administration is the basic service which is performed for the public”.  An instrument for implementing policies: Modern governments go a long way in formulating and adopting sound policies laws and regulations. It should not be forgotten that such policies, laws, etc. are not merely printed papers. Such paper declarations of intent are translated into reality by public administration thus converting words into action and form into substance.  A stabilising force in society: Public administration is a major force for bringing stability in society. It has been observed that though government often changes, but violent change is seldom experienced by administration. An element of continuity between the old and the new orders is provided by public administration. It does not hold true only of constitutional changes of government in democratic countries, but is also reflected when there are revolutionary changes in the form and character of government.  An instrument of social change and economic development: Public administration‟s role as a change agent is particularly crucial in developing nations. It is expected of the state at present to work for accelerating socio- economic change and not to be a passive agency to maintain the status quo.  Technical Character: The present day government is expected to provide various services to its population. The increase in the number of functions undertaken by the government requires highly specialised, professional and technical, services. Modern public administration usually represents a galaxy of all of a nation‟s occupations. According Gerald Caiden public administration has assumed the following crucial roles in contemporary modern society:  Preservation of polity;  Maintenance of stability and order;  Institutionalisation of Socio-Economic changes;  Management of large scale commercial services;  Ensuring growth and economic development;  Protection of the weaker sections of society;  Formation of public opinion; and  Influencing Public policies. The points mentioned below summarise the reasons for the growing importance of public administration:  Emergence of Welfare and Democratic state Emergence of welfare and democratic state has led to an increase in the activities of public administration compared to that of the laissez-faire state. The state has to now serve all sections of people in the society. This amount to enhanced responsibilities of 20 public administration. Public administration is also to regulate and control private economic enterprises to meet the objectives of the state.  Industrial Revolution The industrial revolution gave rise to socio-economic problems making the government to assume new roles and responsibilities such as protection and promotion of the rights of workers in industrial establishments, etc. Consequently, the state has enacted a number of Industrial and Labour laws and it is imperative for public administration to implement such laws in order to meet the requirements of labour welfare.  Scientific and Technological Development Scientific and technological developments have brought about welcome additions in infrastructure such as power, transport and communication system. The invention of telephone, telegraph and other mechanical devices such as typewriter, tele-printer, and calculators, photocopying machines, computers, fax and the electronic mail has brought revolutionary changes in office administration. All these have made possible „big government‟ and „large scale administration‟. Besides changing the ethos and character of public administration, the revolution in information and communication technologies have contributed to improved delivery of services to people.  Economic Planning Centralised economic planning has been pursued in many developing countries as a method for socio-economic development. It requires a large number of experts and elaborates administrative machinery for plan formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Apart from the reasons cited the rapid growth of population, modern warfare, increase in natural and manmade disasters, decline in social harmony, increase in violence due to conflicts, communal riots, ethnic wars, terrorism, etc. have increased the importance of public administration. It goes without saying that public administration is not only the operative but also the most obvious part of the government. It is government in action and occupies a significant place not merely as an instrument of governance but also as an important mechanism for preserving and promoting the welfare of community. It has substantive impact upon the life of the people. It is a vital process charged with implementation of pre-determined, welfare oriented, and developmental objectives. 1.10 SUMMARY In the preceding text, the importance of Public Administration as a discipline and as an activity has been discussed. Subsequent developments in the discipline in response 21 to both practical problems and academic questions have further enhanced its importance as a vibrant and meaningful field. In the contemporary world, the burden of public duties on government has been steadily increasing. It seems that public administration is indispensable because contemporary civilisation cannot progress without a sound administrative system. According to Gerald, E. Caiden “The positivistic-interventionist role of government would automatically find reactions in academic inquiry. And as history has shown, the importance of Public Administration as a discipline has been closely associated with the increasing activist role of government everywhere. In the context of the newer and the wider duties and responsibilities thrown on the state, the role of public administration is more vital and important than of almost any other branch of government. As a growing field of knowledge and practice, Public Administration has attempted to meet this challenge”. 1.11 EXERCISE 1. What is Administration? 2. Define Public Administration. 3. Explain the Nature of Public Administration. 4. What are the scopes of public administration? 5. Discuss the Importance Of Public Administration. 6. Explain the reason reasons for the growing importance of public administration. 1.12 REFERENCE  Baker, R.J.S., 1972, Administrative Theory and Public Administration, Hutchinson University Library, London.  Bhattacharya, Mohit, 1998, New Horizons of Public Administration, Jawahar Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi.  Bertram, M. Gross, 1964, The Managing of Organisations, The Administrative Struggle, The Free Press of Glencoe, Collier-Macmillan., London.  Denhardt, Robert B. and Joseph W. Grubbs, 2003, Public Administration: An action Orientation, Fourth Edition, Thomson (Wadsworth), Canada.  Prasad, D. Ravindra, V.S. Prasad and P. Satyanarayan, 2004, Administrative Thinkers (Ed), Sterling Publishers, New Delhi.  Pugh, D.S., 1985, Organisation Theory: Selected Readings (Ed), Penguin Books, Middlesex, England.  Sharma, M.P. and B.L. Sardana, 1988, Public Administration in Theory and Practice, Kitab Mahal, New Delhi.  Srivastava, Om Prie, 1991, Public Administration and Management, The Broadening Horizons, Volume 1, Himalaya Publishing House, Delhi. 22 UNIT-2 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ADMINISTRATION Structure 2.1 Objective 2.2 Introduction 2.3 Meaning of Public Administration 2.4 Meaning of Private Administration 2.5 Distinction between Public and Private Administration 2.6 Similarities between Public and Private Administration 2.7 Summary 2.8 Exercise 2.9 Reference 2.1 OBJECTIVE After going through this Unit, you should be able to understand: The meaning of public administration Meaning of Private Administration Distinction between Public and Private Administration Similarities between Public and Private Administration 2.2 INTRODUCTION The major concern of administration is to properly organise men and material for achieving desired ends. As a co-operative group activity, administration is truly universal and operates in all types of public and private organisations. In other words, administration occurs in both public and private institutional settings. Its nature depends upon the nature of the setting and goals with which it is concerned. On the basis of the nature of the institutional setting, public administration can be roughly distinguished from private administration. Public administration is governmental administration concerned with achieving state purposes, determined by the state. Private administration, on the other hand is, concerned with administration of private business organisation and is distinct from public administration. Let us elaborate this. 2.3 MEANING OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Public administration is the implementation of government policy and also an academic discipline that studies this implementation and prepares civil servants for working in the public service. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" whose 23 fundamental goal is to "advance management and policies so that government can function". Some of the various definitions which have been offered for the term are: "the management of public programs"; the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day"; and "the study of government decision making, the analysis of the policies themselves, the various inputs that have produced them, and the inputs necessary to produce alternative policies." Public administration is "centrally concerned with the organization of government policies and programs as well as the behavior of officials (usually non-elected) formally responsible for their conduct". Many non-elected public servants can be considered to be public administrators, including heads of city, county, regional, state and federal departments such as municipal budget directors, human resources (HR) administrators, city managers, census managers, state mental health directors, and cabinet secretaries. Public administrators are public servants working in public departments and agencies, at all levels of government. In the United States, civil servants and academics such as Woodrow Wilson promoted civil service reform in the 1880s, moving public administration into academia. However, "until the mid-20th century and the dissemination of the German sociologist Max Weber's theory of bureaucracy" there was not "much interest in a theory of public administration". The field is multidisciplinary in character; one of the various proposals for public administration's sub-fields sets out six pillars, including human resources, organizational theory, policy analysis, statistics, budgeting, and ethics. 2.4 MEANING OF PRIVATE ADMINISTRATION Private Administration is the management and organization of private business enterprises. This is an administrative purpose carried out by the private individuals, a team or a group, to make a profit. It is a business activity which is non-political in a landscape. It includes a collection of doings like planning, organizing, coordinating, implementation and controlling of programs and policies, performed by the management of the organization. It works for the economic benefit of the organization, enchanting into account the concentration of employees and clients or partners as well of the concerned organization. 2.5 DISTINCTION BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ADMINISTRATION John Gaus, Ludivig Von Mises, Paul H. Appleby, Sir Josia Stamp, Herbert A. Simon, Peter Drucker, etc., in their writings, have made distinction between public and private administration. 24 According to Simon, the distinction between public and private administration relates mainly to three points:  Public administration is bureaucratic whereas private administration is business like;  Public administration is political where as private administration is non- political; and  Public administration is characterised by red-tape where as private administration is free from it. Felix A. Nigro has pointed out that government is also different from private organisation, as no private company can equal to it in size and diversity of activities. According to Sir Josiah Stamp, the four principles, which differentiate public from private administration, are: Principle of Uniformity: Common and uniform laws and regulations mostly regulate public Administration.  Principle of External Financial Control: the representatives of the people through a legislative body control Government revenues and heads of expenditure.  Principle of Ministerial Responsibility: Public administration is accountable to its political masters and through them to the people.  Principle of marginal Return: The main objective of a business venture is profit, however small it may be. However, most of the objectives of public administration can neither be measured in money terms nor checked by accountancy methods. According to Paul H. Appleby public administration is different from private administration. He remark, “In broad terms the governmental function and attitude have at least three complementary aspects that go to differentiate government from all other institutions and activities: breadth of scope, impact and consideration; public accountability; political character. No non-governmental institution has the breadth of government. Appleby notes that the political character of Public Administration differentiates it from private administration. Public Administration is subject to political direction and control. This is the primary distinction between the two. He further argues, “Administration is politics since it must be responsive to the public interest. It is necessary to emphasise the fact that popular political processes, which are the essence of democracy, can only work through governmental organisation, and that all governmental organisations are not merely administrative entities, they are and must be political organisms.” 25 Administration in the context of public accountability “Government administration differs from all other administrative work to a degree not even faintly realised outside, by virtue of its public nature, the way in which it is subject to public scrutiny and outcry. This interest often runs to details of administrative action that in private business would never be of concern other then inside the organisation. According to Appleby private administration cannot claim the breadth of scope, impact and consideration of the public administration. He observes, “The organised government impinges upon and is affected by practically everything that exists or moves in our society. It involves policies and actions of immense complexity. Its fullest possible understanding requires the wisdom of many specialists as well as the key participants in public and private life. The more important distinguishing features of Public administration may be described under the following sub-heads: Political Direction: Public administration is political, while private administration is non-political, public administration takes place in a political context. Absence of profit motive: The absence of profit motive from the Public administration is another feature, which distinguishes it from the private administration. The primary purpose of governmental organisation is to provide services to the people and promote social good. Prestige: Public administrators who serve in the Government enjoy high status and prestige in comparison to their counterparts in private enterprises especially developing countries. Public Gaze: All the actions of public administration are exposed to wide public gaze because the public closely watches it. This does not happen in private administration. Service and Cost: Most governments spend more money than their income or revenues. That is the reason for finding generally a deficit budget that is, expenditure exceeding income. Conversely, private administration income often exceeds expenditure without which they cannot survive. Legal framework: Public administration operates within a legal framework. It is rule oriented. The responsibilities of public administrators are fixed by a set of constitutional practices, laws and regulations. Government officials are obliged to act within their legal powers and not outside the law. Consistency of treatment: A government official is required by law to maintain a high degree of consistency in his dealings with the public. He has to observe the 26 principle of equality of treatment in serving the people. It is a legal obligation to not to discriminate against any person. Public accountability: Public accountability is the hallmark of Public administration in a democracy. Public administration is responsible to the public, though not directly but indirectly through political executive, legislature, judiciary, etc. Large-scale administration: Public administration is large-scale administration. It is said that almost anything under the sun is directly or indirectly under the domain of public administration. It is by all means larger than any big private concern in terms of size., complexity and diversity of activities. Monopolistic and Essential Services: In the field of public administration, there is generally a monopoly of the government and it does not generally allow private parties to compete with it. For example, no person or bodies of persons are allowed to establish or perform functions related to public services like national security, foreign relations, law and order, mint and currency, as these are the exclusive fields of the government and thoroughly important for the community and polity to prosper. Officials remain Anonymous: In public administration, even the most senior officials remain anonymous and their identity is not disclosed. This is so because whatever they do, they do in the name of the government and not in their own name. Financial meticulousness: Public administration has to be very careful in financial matters because it is working as custodian of people‟s money. Lower level of Efficiency: Efficiency is said to be the cornerstone of any organisation. However, due to varied responsibilities, lack of effective control, less accountability, involvement of a large number of levels and job security of employees, efficiency has not been there in public organisations to the effect desired. When compared to private administration, one finds that the degree of efficiency in public organisations is at a lower level. With profit as the major motive coupled with excessive control and flexibility in personnel administration the level of efficiency in private organisations is much higher. 2.6 SIMILARITIES BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ADMINISTRATION Scholars like Henry Fayol, Mary P. Follet and L. Urwick do not make a distinction between public and private administration. The classical writers held the view that public and private administrations are the undifferentiated members of the genus administration. Henri Foyal, for example, says that there is only one administrative science, which can be applied equally well to public and private sectors. In his address in the Second International Congress of Administrative Science, Fayol 27 remarked, “The meaning which I have given to the word administration and which has been generally adopted, broadens considerably the field of administrative sciences. It embraces not only the public service but also enterprises of every size and description, of every form and every purpose. All undertakings require planning, organisation, command, co-ordination and control and in order to function properly, all must observe the same general principles. We are no longer confronted with several administrative sciences but with one which can be applied equally well to public and to private affairs”. The following similarities between the two types of administration may be noted:  Both public and business administration rely on common skills, techniques and procedures.  In modern times the principle of profit motive is not peculiar to private administration, because it is now accepted as a laudable objective for public sector enterprises also.  In personnel management, the private organisations have been influenced greatly by the practices of public organisations.  The private concerns are also subjected to many legal constraints. Government is exercising much control over business firms through regulatory legislation such as taxation, monetary and licensing policies, etc. Consequently, they are not as free as they once used to be.  There is a similar type of hierarchy and management systems, both in public and private sectors. Both have same kind of organisation structure, superior – subordinate relationships, etc.  Both Pubic and private administration carries on continuous efforts to improve their internal working and also for efficient delivery of services to people or customers.  Public and private administration serves the people, whether being called clients or customers. Both have to maintain close contact with people to inform about their services and also to get feedback about services and product. In both the cases, public relations help them to inform and improve their services to the people. The preceding discussion shows that the distinction between public and private administration is not absolute. In fact, they are becoming more and more alike in many respects. However, it does not mean that there are no significant differences between these two types of administration. Waldo observes that Public administration is distinct because it reflects the peculiar characteristics of government activity and the public setting in which it functions. Given the wide acceptance of the ideas of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, both public and private administrations have to compete in the same area to provide services to people. Here both are dealing with customers, who pay for 28 their services, in such a situation it narrows down the differences between the public and private administration. New Public Management, which has come into prominence, recently, puts emphasis on managerial techniques, which are to be adopted by public administration for the efficient delivery of public services. But in providing public services in the field of social and welfare areas their exists a difference between public and private administration. With this brief characterisation, it could be stated that both public and private administration are placed in different environments. But this difference is more apparent than real. According to Waldo, The generalisation which distinguish public administration from private administration by special care for equality of treatment, legal authorisation of, and responsibility of action, public justification of decisions, financial probity and meticulousness, etc. are of very limited applicability,” In fact public and private administrations are the “two species of the same genus, but they have special values and techniques of their own which give to each its distinctive character. 2.7 SUMMARY Public administration runs in a governmental setting, and that is why it is also known as government administration. On the contrary, the private administration is a business process, hence considered as business administration. Both of them play a crucial role in contributing towards the development of the society in different ways. Moreover, the measurement of performance, progress and results thereof, can be done using different methods. 2.8 EXERCISE 1. Define the meaning of public administration. 2. Define the meaning of Meaning of Private Administration. 3. Explain The Distinction between Public and Private Administration. 4. What is the role of bureaucracy in public administration? 5. What are the Similarities between Public and Private Administration? 2.9 REFERENCE  Baker, R.J.S., 1972, Administrative Theory and Public Administration, Hutchinson University Library, London.  Bhattacharya, Mohit, 1998, New Horizons of Public Administration, Jawahar Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi.  Bertram, M. Gross, 1964, the Managing of Organisations, The Administrative Struggle, The Free Press of Glencoe, Collier-Macmillan., London. 29  Denhardt, Robert B. and Joseph W. Grubbs, 2003, Public Administration: An action Orientation, Fourth Edition, Thomson (Wadsworth), Canada.  Prasad, D. Ravindra, V.S. Prasad and P. Satyanarayan, 2004, Administrative Thinkers (Ed), Sterling Publishers, New Delhi.  Pugh, D.S., 1985, Organisation Theory: Selected Readings (Ed), Penguin Books, Middlesex, England.  Sharma, M.P. and B.L. Sardana, 1988, Public Administration in Theory and Practice, Kitab Mahal, New Delhi.  Srivastava, Om Prie, 1991, Public Administration and Management, The Broadening Horizons, Volume 1, Himalaya Publishing House, Delhi. 30 UNIT-3 EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Structure 3.1 Objective 3.2 Introduction 3.3 Why Study Evolution of the Subject? 3.4 Absolutist Traditions 3.5 Liberal Democratic Traditions 3.6 Politics-Administration Dichotomy Approach 3.7 Structural Approach 3.8 Human Relations Approach 3.9 Behavioural Approach 3.10 Development Approach 3.11 Public Policy Approach 3.12 Political Economy Approach 3.13 A Chart Indicating the Differences, Between Various Approaches 3.14 Marxian Traditions 3.15 Summary 3.16 Key Words 3.17 Exercise 3.18 Reference 3.1 OBJECTIVE This unit aims at explaining the evolution of Public Administration as a significant area of inquiry. After studying this unit you should be able to:  appreciate and summarise the importance of the study of the evolution of Public Administration  to distinguish between different traditions of academic inquiry in Public Administration; and  Identify and explain the different phases in the growth of the study of Public Administration. 31 3.2 INTRODUCTION In this Unit we shall trace the historical evolution of Public Administration as a field of inquiry and also explain different traditions in the development of Public Administration. Broadly, we have identified three traditions, viz. Absolutist, Liberal Democratic and Marxian, in the evolution of Public Administration. The classification is done for educative purposes rather than for the purpose of explaining their empirical implications. The analytical frame, we hope, will enable you to have a broad perspective on the developments in Public Administration considered in terms of the impulses Ideological or otherwise behind them. This unit introduces you to diverse traditions in the practice and theory of Public Administration. Such a diversity his arisen mainly because of differences in not only the history, culture and levels of development at various societies but also the impulses shaping them at different times. Before discussing them in detail, let us briefly consider the importance of the study of the evolution of Public Administration. 3.3 WHY STUDY EVOLUTION OF THE SUBJECT? There have been few studies in the evolution of public Administration, although its importance has been widely recognised. A possible reason is the erroneous impression that the past developments are of little consequence to the present ones with which we are most Administration actively concerned. But the question is whether the past can be separated from the present without rendering our understanding of the present incomplete and inadequate. Evolution refers to a gradual unfolding of development of things in the course of time. When the past, present and future are considered in terms-of a continuum, the study of the past or of history becomes all the more significant; The past not only foreshadows the present but also serves as its matrix. History, in the words of E.H. Carr is an unending dialogue between the past and the present. In this sense, the study of history has a contemporary relevance. Indeed, it is necessary for the understanding of the contemporary status of the subject and the critical issues therein, the genesis of which may be found „in the past. There is much truth in the saying that 'a phenomenon can be understood only in a historical context' Again, the study of different phases and traditions in the evolution of Public Administration may also help in applying the 'lessons' or the indicators of the past to the consideration of the development of the subject in the present. Broadly, the study of Evolution fulfils both theoretical and pragmatic purposes. From the theoretical point of view, it helps to locate the subject in a broader frame of reference and from the practical point of view it facilitates the use of the knowledge of the past-to further-the development of the subject in the present. 32 3.4 ABSOLUTIST TRADITIONS In this section we shall discuss the absolutist tradition which antedates the other two- Liberal Democratic and Marxian. Absolutist tradition refers to administrative traditions of absolute monarchical regimes, where all powers are concentrated in the monarchy. The earliest work concerning it is Kautilya's Arthasastra, the most important, work on Public Administration in ancient India. We confine our discussion to the Indian tradition mainly for two reasons. Firstly, sufficient information is not available on the absolutist administrative traditions of other Asian societies. Secondly, the students of administration should be acquainted with their own traditions in the field of Public Administration. According to tradition, Kautilya, also known as Chanakya and Vishnugupta, was the Prime Minister of Chandragupta Maurya,(322-298 B.C.); who founded the Maurya Dynasty of Magadha (Bihar). Kautilya's treatise known as Arthasastra may be regarded as an ancient Indian text-book of practical politics. It, according to some, ranks in importance with, Manusmriti and Kamasastra and forms a triad with them in dealing with the three „, imperatives of the social philosophy of that time-Dharma, Kama, Artha. It deals mainly with the Science Polity, which, according to Kautilya, is a combination of Science of Wealth and Science of Government. [Vittasastra (Economics) and Dandanjthi (Statecraft)]. To Kautilya, finances provide the sinews of government and financial considerations are paramount in the government's activities. Thus, his treatise adopts the political economy approach to the understanding of the problems of governance. H.V.R Iyengar described Arthasastra "as an exceptionally able dissertation both on the aims of the State as well as on practical means by which these aims can be achieved". Arthasastra is both an analytical and a perspective document revealing amazing perception and mastery of detail. Kautilya's Arthasastra mainly discusses three aspects of the science of Public Administration, viz. The principle of Public Administration the machinery of Government and the management of personnel. The principles of administration are not explicitly dealt with in Arthasastra. They are implied by the functions of the monarch, ministers, etc. as detailed in it. The machinery of Government as described in the Airthasastrla is mainly related to the monarch his relations with ministers, etc. The problems of higher level personnel receive greater Attention than the lower level functionaries in Arthasastra. Kautilya spelt out the importance of the science of Public Administration. According to Kautilya, an administrator can adopt the art of Public Administration only if he is conversant with the science of Public Administration. So it is necessary for the King, the Crown Prince, the-High Priest and the ministers to be conversant with the science of Administration. He emphasised the principles of authority, obedience and 33 discipline as being central to the administration of the state. He considered principles like division of work, hierarchy and. coordination important to the mechanism of internal organisation. Further, Kautilya is, perhaps, the earliest known thinker to recognise the importance of statistics in administration. Kautilya made a systematic study of the society and did not blindly accept the current views based on faith and tradition. Ancient Hindus held that the Vedas constitute the sole source of law. But Kautilya laid down four distinct sources of law; namely, sacred scriptures, the rules laid down in Arthasastra, customs and edicts of kings. Each of these he considers more authoritative than the one preceding it. He explicitly states that when the sacred law is in conflict with the corporal law the latter should prevail. Arthasastra is secular in its tenor and puts politics in command over religion. According to Kautilya, pligious considerations should not outweigh political considerations. The King according to him should strive and maintain the stability of the State and increase his power and material resources by policy or subterfuge. To this end he even proposed an elaborate system of recruiting spies and training them. Some of these propositions of Kautilya are termed Machiavellian. Here it is interesting to note the observations of H.V.R. Iyengar, who said that "Kautilya was honest and stated frankly what today is hidden under duteous veil of secrecy‟! Kautilya's 'Ideal State' was something like a modem Welfare State under an all powerful ruler. He clearly required the State to provide for the maintenance of children, women, the old, the infirm and the disabled. The State was to run agricultural farms, help the artisans, and exploit the forest wealth and mineral resources for the benefit of the people at large. Indeed, the basics of 'Welfare' can be traced in Kautilya's Arthasastra. Kautilya advocated a strong centralised authority vested in the monarchy. As pointed out by N.R Inamdar, "the principles governing the democratic Public Administration are in many respects different from the principles underlying.a monarchical Public Administration described in Arthasastra, as the sources and the configurations of authority in the two systems are different". The administrative system as discussed in Arthasastra centres on the king. His orders are unquestionable. His interests are supreme. He is the source of authority for all institutions. The fading away of the monarchical form led to other 'traditions to explain and understand the administrative systems in democratic societies. However, it should be noted that the traditions of Public Administration as established by Arthasastra are significant for its emphasis on the Science of Public administration and systematic analysis of the art of governance. 3.5 LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC TRADITIONS Traditionally, the origins of Public Administration as a separate area of inquiry are traced to Woodrow Wilson's essay, The Study of Administration published in 1887. 34 His essay marks the beginning of systematic investigation into the field of Public Administration. Since then the study of the subject passed through various phases, each phase characterised by a particular paradogmatic approach. Broadly, seven phases are identified for understanding the evolution of the subject in the broad paradigm of liberal democracy. Let us briefly discuss each one of them. 3.6 POLITICS-ADMINISTRATION DICHOTOMY APPROACH Woodrow Wilson, the father of modem Public Administration, considered politics and administration as separate processes and attempted to conceptually distinguish between the two areas of study. A similar attempt was made by Frank Godnow another exponent of the dichotomy approach who observed that "politics has to do with policies or expressions of state while administration has to do with the execution of these policies". This distinction is made between policy making and policy execution. Policy making is regarded as the realm of politics and execution as the realm of Public, Administration. Further, politics and Public Administration and differentiated on the basis of their institutional locations. The location of politics is identified with the legislature and the higher echelons of government where major policy-decision would be made and the larger questions of allocation of values decided upon, the location of administration on the other hand is identified with the executive am of government- the bureaucracy. The processes of administration, it was argued, have a certain regularity and concreteness about them, which can be successfully investigated. Thus it is possible to develop a science of Administration. 3.7 STRUCTURAL APPROACH This approach is marked by the tendency to reinforce the idea of politics- Administration dichotomy and to evolve a value-free 'Science of Management". The 'Public' aspects of Public Administration were virtually dropped at this stage and the focus was almost wholly on economy and efficiency. The questions of 'value' were not considered important to the new science of Administration. Politics as practised by the politicians was considered irrelevant. Scientific Management for the efficient handling of the 'business' of administration became the focus of interest. Principles of management were worked out as readymade aids to practitioners. The administrative practitioners and the business schools joined hands to emphasise the mechanistic aspect of management unaffected by the predilections of politicians and the failings of human beings. The approach emphasised the structure of the organisation. Structure is a device through which human beings working in an organisation are assigned tasks and 35 related to one another. It is believed that the effective functioning of the organisation depends upon the stricture that a group of human beings build and operate. The structural approach was criticised for the ambiguity of its principles, absence of scientific validity and its mechanistic approach to human problems. 3.8 HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH The Hawthorne experiments pioneered a movement which came to be known as the Human Relations Approach to management. Its impact on Public Administration was felt much more widely in the post-war period than before, This approach to organisational analysis drew attention to the formation and effect of work groups in the organisation, the force of informal organisation in the formal setup, the phenomena of leadership and conflicts and cooperation among groups in the organisational Betting. In short, the human relations approach brought up the limitations of the machine concept of organisation in 'Scientific Management' thought. By drawing attention to the social and psychological factors of work situation, it underlined the importance of the "human side of the enterprise". The social psychologist has extended the concern of human relationists by bringing in additional knowledge about the sensitivity to human components. It is aimed at bringing about: (1) greater organisational productivity or effectiveness, and (2) greater human happiness and increased self-realisation. Prominent writers advocating this approach include Abraham Maslow, Douglas Mc Gregor, Rensis Likert.gnd Chris Argyris. The human relations approach has been criticised for its manipulative orientation. It is alleged that the aim of the movement is to manipulate the man in organisation to achieve higher productivity. It is also criticised for ignoring the institutional and social system variable in understanding the organisation. 3.9 BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH Herbert Simon's administrative Behaviour is a critique of the older Public Administration. More importantly, it sets forth the rigorous requirements of scientific analysis in Public Administration. Simon's conclusion about some of the classical „Principles‟ was that they were unscientifically derived and were "no more than proverbs". He rejected the politics-administration dichotomy and at the same time brought in the perspective of logical positivism for the study of policy-making and the relation of means and ends. Reflecting the perspectives and methodology of behaviouralism in psychology and social psychology, Administrative Behaviour pleaded for the enforcement of scientific rigour in Public Administration. The substantive focus was on "decision-making", and as Simon insisted, "If any "theory' is involved it is that decision-making is the heart of administration, and that the vocabulary of administrative theory must be derived from the logic and psychology of human choice". 36 Simon's approach provided an alternative definition of Public Administration, and widened the scope of the subject by relating it to Psychology, Sociology, Economics and Political Science. In the development of the 'discipline' he identified two mutually supportive streams of thought. One was engaged in the development of a pure science of administration which called for a good grounding in social psychology; and the other in the development of a broad range of values and in working out prescriptions for public policy. 'The second approach was, in Simon's view, analytically far- ranging. It would imply the assimilation of the whole of Political Science and Economics and Sociology as well as Public Administration, Thus Public Administration, he feared, might lose its identity in the second approach. But he favoured the co-existence of both the streams of thought for the growth and development of the discipline. As lie said, "there does not appear to be any reason why these two developments in the field of Public, Administration should not go side by side, for they in no way conflict or contradict. But the workers in this field must keep clearly in mind in which area, at any given time, they propose to work". 3.10 DEVELOPMENT APPROACH The ecological approach to the study of administration originated in the wake of the emergence of the Third World and increasing realisation of irrelevance of most of the western organisation theories to the study of administration. To quote Robert Dahl, "The study of Public Administration inevitably must become a much more broadly based discipline, resting not on a narrowly defined knowledge of techniques and processes, but rather extending „to the varying historical, sociological, economic and other conditioning factors,,,.": 'his suggestion has been taken up as a challenge and efforts have been made in the study of Public Administration in the developing countries in a bid to "establishing propositions about administrative behaviour which transcend national boundaries. Such efforts have given rise to Comparative Public Administration and Development Administration. 3.11 PUBLIC POLICY APPROACH The Social -Sciences' general concern for social engineering has resulted in the laying of emphasis on public policy. The study of Public Administration has also been influenced by the public policy perspective. The abandonment of politics- administration dichotomy made the public policy approach agreeable to administrative analysis. Evidence from the practical world of administration has brought out the criteria of a close nexus between politics and administration. As governments seek to formulate and implement more and more welfare programmes, the promotion of policy studies in public ' Administration gathers momentum. At this stage, the study of Public 37 Administration has been gaining in social relevance no doubt; but its boundaries as a descriptive study are not as clearly distinguishable now as they used to be in the olden days of politics administration dichotomy. The discipline, too many Public Administration analysts has gained in vigour and rigour, but it has suffered a crisis of identity with diversification and strength. 3.12 POLITICAL ECONOMY APPROACH Another development in the study of Public Administration is brought about by the adoption of the political economy approach to the analysis of administrative problems. This is associated with the moving of Political Science closer to Economics in the interest of greater theoretical coherence and better policy guidance. Economists like Anthony Downs and Gordon Tullock have gone over the boundary by experimenting with the application of economic methods and models to Political problems. Thus Public Administration as a branch of Political Science and on its own has moved towards a liaison with Economics. The liberal democratic tradition in the evolution of Public Administration as described above shows that, starting, with an assertion of independent identity it has moved towards the assimilation of ideas, methods and techniques of different Social Science disciplines. Thus the scope of the discipline seems to be broadening while the question of its identity remains unanswered. 3.13 A CHART INDICATING THE DIFFERENCES, BETWEEN VARIOUS APPROACHES Sl.no Politics- Structural Human Relations Behavioural Administration Approach Approach Approach Dichotomy Approach Politics and A value free Emphasis on the Deals with the administration are science of human side of the inside human 1 distinct management enterprise beings with a focus on his values and rationality Politics is concerned The focus is Brings out the Decision making is with policy making of economy limitation of the considered to be 2 administration with and machine concept of the heart of the execution of policy efficiency. organisation administration The location of politics Public aspect Emphasis on the Widens the scope is legislature and the of public social and of the subject by cabinet the location of administration psychological factors relating it to 3 administration the was dropped. of work situations psychology executive of the sociology etc. government A value free science of Emphasis on Deals with the management the structure relationship among 4 the people working in organisation 38 Sl.No Development Public Policy Political Economy Approach Approach Approach Emphasis on the study Emphasis on public Emphasis on the of the developmental policy application of economic 1 aspect of the methods and models of administration political problems Emphasis on historical With the formulation Emphasis on the public social economic and implementation administration closer inter political factors which of welfare relationship and interaction 2 condition development. programmes policy with politico economic study assumes policies greater significance 3.14 MARXIAN TRADITIONS The October Revolution of l917 generated debate among the Marxists on the role of bureaucracy in Russia. But the Marxist interest in the bureaucracy. Organisation and management became pronounced only in the decade following the Second World War and developed in a number of directions. We have to go back to Marx, to understand the classical Marxist view of bureaucracy. Although Marx has not paid much attention to the concept of bureaucracy, his views on bureaucracy and its relation to the power structure of the society found in his major works provide an important clue to the understanding of the later developments in the Marxist thought on bureaucracy. His ideas on bureaucracy figure mainly in his wok the 18th Brurnaire of Louis Bonaparte

BAPS-06 Block-01: Introduction to Public Administration PDF

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