Public Administration: Theory and Practice

357 Pages·2011·5.588 MB·English

by  Hoshiar Singh, Pardeep Sachdeva

Public Administra tion

Theory and Practice
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Public Administra tion

Theory and Practice
Hoshiar Singh
Pardeep Sachdeva
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Copyright © Hoshiar Singh, Pradeep Sachdeva, 2012
Licensees of Pearson Education in South Asia
No part of this eBook may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the
publisher’s prior written consent.
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ISBN 9788131761182
eISBN 9788131775936
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Contents
`

1 M eaning, Scop e and Importance of Public
Administration 1

2 Theories of Organisation 22

3 Principles of Organisation 41

4 Administrative Behaviour 61

5 Structure of Organisation 81

6 Personnel Administration 112

7 Financial Administration 192

8 Accountability and Control 228

9 Administrative Reforms 250

10 Administrative Law 268

11 Administrative Culture 291

12 New Public Management 302

13 Good Governance 310

14 C omparative and Development Administration:
Meaning, Nature, Scope and Importance 324
15 Public Policy 335

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1
Meaning, Scope and Importance
of Public Administration
Public administration consists of the activities undertaken by a government to look after its people, or to
manage its affairs. Before discussing the various interpretations of the concept of public administration, it
is pertinent to understand the meaning of the terms ‘public’ and ‘administration’ separately.
The word ‘public’ stands for the people of a definite territory or state. As the will of the people of a state
is represented by the government of the state, the word ‘public’ also has a specialised, governmental mean-
ing. Therefore, the acts of administration performed by the government are called ‘public administration’.
Those acts which are undertaken by individuals in their own capacity are termed ‘private administration’.
The English word ‘administer’ is derived from the Latin words ad and ministrare, which means ‘to serve’.
Thus, in simple words ‘administration’ means the ‘management of affairs’, or looking after the people. It is
a process of management which is practised by all kinds of organisations from the household to the most
complex system of the government. Whenever two or more people cooperate to accomplish common
goals, an administrative activity is assumed to have been involved. In the words of H. Simon, ‘Administra-
tion can be defined as the activities of groups cooperating to accomplish common goals.’1 According to J.
M. Pfiffner ‘Administration is the organisation and direction of human and material resources to achieve
desired ends.’2 J. S. Hodgson describes administration as ‘a kind of activity found in both public and busi-
ness affairs’. It means getting things done, a process which is concerned much more with relations between
persons than with manipulation of objects. Therefore, administration means appropriate organisation of
men and material in pursuit of desired ends.
T C P A
he oncept of ublic dministration
The concept of public administration has been given various interpretations by different thinkers. As the
term itself signifies, ‘public administration’ simply means the activities undertaken by the government to
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2
Public Administration: Theory and Practice
fulfil its desired ends. The difference, however, is only regarding the ‘activities’ which are to be considered
as administrative activities. Some thinkers take a broad view and consider all governmental activities aimed
at fulfilment of public policy as administrative activities, while others take a narrow view and include only
those activities that are concerned with the executive branch of the government.
The definitions given by prominent writers can be broadly classified into three different categories on
the basis of the importance they attach to different aspects of administrative functioning. There are some
who emphasise the function of implementation of public policy; for example, L. D. White observes,
‘Public administration consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfilment or enforce-
ment of public policy.’3 Similarly, according to J. S. Hodgson, ‘Public administration comprises all activi-
ties of persons or groups in governments or their agencies, whether these organisations are international,
regional or local in their scope, to fulfil the purpose of these governments or agencies’. Thinkers like J. M.
Pfiffner lay more emphasis on the coordinating role of the administration. In his opinion ‘Administration
consists of getting the work of government done by coordinating the efforts of the people so that they can
work together to accomplish their set tasks.’4 Then there are others who emphasise upon the administra-
tive function of implementing the law of the country. In the words of H. Walker, ‘The work which the
government does to give effect to a law is called administration.’5
However, the definition given by F. A. Nigro is more comprehensive and includes, besides the afore-
mentioned functions, the relationship between public administration and political process as well as its
association with the community as a whole. Nigro summarises the meaning of public administration in
these words:
Public Administration is cooperative 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 more important than, and also different in significant ways from private
administration; as a field of study and practice has been much influenced in recent years
by the human relations approach; is closely associated with numerous private groups
and individuals in providing services to the community.
The aforementioned definitions take a broader view of public administration. There are thinkers who
take a narrower view, and as students of public administration we are more concerned with this ideology.
In this category comes D. Waldo who defines public administration as ‘the art and science of management
as applied to the affairs of state’.6 According to M. E. Dimock, ‘Public administration is the fulfilment
or enforcement of public policy as declared by the competent authorities. It deals with the problems and
powers, the organisation and techniques of management involved in carrying out the laws and policies
formulated by the policy-making agencies of government’. He further adds, ‘Public administration is law
in action. It is the executive side of government’.7
All these definitions make it clear that public administration is really government in action. In com-
mon usage, public administration is concerned with the executive—the operative and the most obvious
part of government. In other words, it is mainly concerned with the executing and implementing parts of
governmental activity, and with administering of the law of the land with equity, speed and smoothness.
An ignorant Indian villager may not know anything of the Constitution of the country but a daroga or a
patwari is a living reality to him or her. Therefore, public administration comprises the systematic execu-
tion of the will of the people, which has been discovered, formulated and expressed in the form of laws
by the legislature. For instance, the assessment and rating of taxes, provision of criminal justice, postal
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Meaning, Scope and Importance of Public Administration
services, recruitment of armed forces personnel etc., are all acts of public administration. To summarise, it
may be said that public administration is the non-political machinery of the government carrying on its
work for the welfare of the people according to the laws formulated by the state. It is the permanent execu-
tive as distinguished from the political one. We must, at this stage, also be clear that public administration
is concerned with people and not things. However, there is a school of thought which holds that in the
future the tendency will be to shift from the administration of persons to the administration of things. But
this appears to be only a narrow view. Things may be arranged, but ultimately it is the participation of the
human element that matters. Things, no doubt, are of great importance to the administrator who arranges
them but they cannot be administered. Administration has to do with human beings for whom it is meant.
It is essentially a matter of social relationships. It must not also be forgotten that the administrator is
neither a philosopher nor a politician but the non-political side of the executive.
T s p a
he cope of ublic dministration
There are different opinions about the scope of public administration, i.e., whether it is to be understood
as the managerial part of the governmental work (the entire complex of activities of only the executive
branch of government) or of all the branches of the government, i.e., legislative, executive and judicial.
There are thus two divergent views regarding the scope of the study of public administration: integral view
and managerial view.
According to the integral view, public administration is a sum-total of all the activities undertaken in
pursuit of and in fulfilment of public policy. These would include not only managerial and technical, but
also manual and clerical activities. Thus, the activities of all persons working in an organisation from top to
bottom constitute administration. In other words, public administration is conceived in a comprehensive
sense to include all activities of the government whether they are performed in the executive, legislative or
judicial branches of the government. L. D. White adopts this view of public administration. According
to him, public administration ‘consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfilment or
enforcement of public policy’.
According to the managerial view, the work of only those persons who are engaged in the performance
of managerial functions in an organisation constitutes administration. It is these persons who shoulder the
responsibility of keeping the enterprise on even keels and to run it most efficiently. Their job is to plan,
programme and organise all the activities in an organisation so as to achieve the desired ends.
L. Gulick subscribes to the managerial view. He defines the managerial techniques by the word POS-
DCORB, each letter of which stands for a different management technique i.e., Planning, Organising,
Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting and Budgeting.
Planning means working out in broad outline the things that need to be done, and the method to be
adopted to accomplish the purpose set for the enterprise. Organising means building up the structure of
authority through which the entire work to be done is properly arranged and defined in order to achieve
the desired goals. Staffing means appointing suitable persons to the various posts under the organisation.
It comprises the whole of personnel management. Directing involves making decisions, issuing orders and
instructions, and embodying them for the guidance of the staff. Coordinating means interrelating the vari-
ous parts of organisational work and, thus, eliminating overlaps and conflict in different activities of an
organisation. Reporting means keeping both the supervisors and subordinates informed of what is going on
and arranging for the collection of such information through inspection, research and records. Budgeting
means fiscal planning, accounting and control, i.e., all activities relating to financial management.
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