Philippine

Public
Administr
ation
Lesson 1:
Understanding
Public
Administration
Introduct
ion
• Traditionally, Public Administration was considered as a part of political
science.
• The modern political system is essentially ‘bureaucratic’ and
characterized by the rule of officials.
• The administrative branch, described as civil service or bureaucracy is
the most significant component of governmental machinery of the state.
Introduct
ion
• •Public Administration as independent Subject of a social science has
recent origin.
• •Traditionally Public Administration was considered as a part of political
science. But in Modern age the nature of state-under went change and it
became from police stale to social service state.
• •As a consequence, the Public Administration, irrespective of the nature
of the political system, has become the dominant factor of life.
Introduct
ion
• •The modern political system is essentially ‘bureaucratic’ and
characterized by the rule of officials. Hence modern democracy
has been described as ‘executive democracy’ or ‘bureaucratic
democracy’.
• •The administrative branch, described as civil service or
bureaucracy is the most significant component of governmental
machinery of the state.
Public Administration from different
Scholars
• It is part of executive branch of
government.
• It is related with the activities of the
state.

Import • It carries out the public policies.

• It realize the aspirations of the people as

ance of formulated and expressed in the laws.

• Waldo and other thinkers insist on the

PA commitment and dedication to the well

being of the people. Otherwise Public
Administration behaves in a mechanical,
impersonal and inhuman way.
• Public Administration is politically neutral.
Dichoto
my of
Political science focuses on the theory and practice of
government and politics at the local, state, national, and
international levels. We are dedicated to developing

Political
understandings of institutions, practices, and relations that
constitute public life and modes of inquiry that promote
citizenship.

science Its roots trace back to Aristotle, who saw politics as a way to help
societies achieve happiness and stability. Today, political science

and PA
studies how governments are formed, how power is distributed,
and how political decisions are made and received across local,

Politic
national, and international levels.

Modern political science is a broad field. It blends elements from

al
economics, sociology, history, and geography to better understand
political behavior and institutions. Sub-fields include international
relations, political theory, comparative politics, and constitutional law.
Intersection between Political Science and Public
Administration

Political science and public administration are deeply connected. One creates the
framework; the other puts it into action. Woodrow Wilson, often credited with
helping to define public administration, proposed that politics and administration
serve different functions. Political science informs decisions; public
administration implements them.
That said, the line between the two disciplines has become more flexible. Public
administrators increasingly draw on political theory to guide decisions, and political
scientists often explore how implementation affects outcomes. Together, these
fields help serve people and improve society through thoughtful governance and
policy execution.

Salford & Co.

Different Definitions
of PA across different
Perspectives
Political Legal Managerial
Political
definition
[Link] is what the Government Does - It is simply government doing
whatever government does—in whatever political and cultural
context it happens to exist. Public administration is the totality of the
working-day activities of all the world’s bureaucrats—whether those
activities are performed legally or illegally, competently or
incompetently, decently or despicably.
2. PA is both Direct and Indirect - It is direct when government
employees provide services to the public as varied as mortgage
insurance, mail delivery, and electricity. It is indirect when government
pays private contractors to provide goods or services to citizens.

3. PA is a phase in the public policy-making cycle - Governments

are in a constant flurry over whether to do or not to do. And whatever
they do or do not do is public policy. All such decisions (including
decisions not to make a decision) are made by those who control
political power and implemented by the administrative officers of the
bureaucracy. Thus public policy and public administration are two sides
Political
definition
4. PA is implementing the Public Interest - Public interest is the
universal label in which political actors wrap the policies and
programs that they advocate.
5. Public Administration Is Doing Collectively - public
administration is the mature manifestation of the community spirit.
Legal
definition
[Link] is Law in Action - Administration cannot exist without this legal foundation.
2. PA is Regulation - It is government telling citizens and businesses what they may
and may not do.
[Link] is the King Largesse - “The king’s largesse” is whatever goods, services, o
honors the ruling authority decides to bestow. This was the earliest meaning of
public administration.
[Link] is Theft - There are those who believe that a government should do little more
than provide police and military protection; other than that, it should not interfere—
either for good or ill—in the lives of its citizens.
Managerial
definition
1. Pa is the executive function in the government - In democratic states,
whether they are republics or constitutional monarchies, it is government agencies
putting into practice legislative acts that represent the will of the people.
[Link] is a management specialty - Management refers both to the people
responsible for running an organization, and to the running process itself—the use
of numerous resources (such as employees and machines) to accomplish an
organizational goal.
[Link] is Mickey Mouse - Mickey gradually gave his name to anything requiring
considerable effort for slight results. Mickey Mouse is often used to mean red tape ,
the symbol of excessive formality and attention to routine.
[Link] is art, not science, or vice versa - The administrative art comprises
judgment, panache, and common sense. But the artist is useless without tools—
without the technical skills (the science) that allow for the digestion and
transference of information. Nothing is more pointless than to argue whether the
Scope of
Public
Administrati
on
Following are the three important perspectives about the
scope of Public Administration.

[Link] perspective or POSDCORB perspective.

[Link] perspective or subject matter view.
[Link] view
Narrow perspective or POSDCORD perspective -

• Luther Gullick is the main exponent of this perspective.

According to him the scope of public administration is
narrow or limited.
• It is also regarded as POSDCORD view.
• It insist that the Public Administration is concerned only
with those aspects of administration which are related with
the executive branch and its seven types of administrative
functions.
1.‘P’ stands for planning. Planning is the first step of
Public Administration. i.e. working out the broad outline
of the things that need to be done.
2.‘O’ stands for organization. It means establishment of
the formal structure of authority through which the work
is sub-divided, arranged and co-ordinated for the
defined objective.
3.‘S’ stands for staffing. It means the recruitment and
training of the staff and maintenance of favorable
conditions of work for the staff.
4. ‘D’ stands for Directing. It means the continuous task of
making decisions and embodying them in specific and
general orders and instructions, and thus guiding the
enterprise.
5. ‘Co.’ stands for Co-ordination. It means interrelating the
various parts of organization such as branches, divisions,
sections of the work and elimination of overlapping.
6. ‘R’ stands for Reporting. It means informing the
authority to
whom the executive is responsible as to what is going
on.
7. ‘B’ stands for Budgeting. It means accounting, fiscal
Broad perspective or subject - oriented
perspective -

•Prof. Woodrow Wilson, L D While are main exponent of

this perspective.
•They have taken a very broad approach about the
scope of Public Administration.
Broad perspective or subject - oriented
perspective

A. Public Administration covers all three branches of the

government.
B. Scope of Public Administration is like a cooperative
group
C. Public Administration is a part of the political process.
Prevailing view divides the scope of
Public Administration into two parts

[Link] Theory
[Link] Administration
Administrative Theory
[Link] Theory -The Structure, organization, functions
and methods of all types of public authority engaged in
administration, whether national, regional or local and executive.
[Link] - The functions of administrative authorities and the
various methods appropriate to different types of functions. The
various forms of control of administration.
[Link] Personal Administration - The problems concerning
personnel e.g. recruitment, training, promotion, retirement etc.
and the problems relating to planning, research, information and
public relation services.
Applied Administration

[Link] Function
[Link] function
[Link] functions
[Link]
[Link] function
[Link] welfare administration
Evolution of
Public
Administrati
on
The discipline of the field of public administration can be divided into two
major phases: the traditional / classical phase from the late 1800s to the
1950s to the modern phase, from the 1950s to the present. The Modern
phase can be further divided into the following sub-phases: development
administration (1950s to the 60s), new public administration (1960s to the
70s), new public management and reinventing governance (1980s into the
90s) and finally public administration as governance (1990s into the present).
The following is an indicative matrix that reflects the phases in the evolution
of public administration.
Traditional / Classical Public
Administration
1800s to 1950s - If the roots of Public Administration as a distinct field of study have to
be traced, the tendency is to draw on Woodrow Wilson’s 1887 classic essay, “The Study of
Public Administration,”. Wilson suggested the distinction between politics and
administration i.e. administration should be politics-free and that “the field of
administration is the field of business;” (Wilson 1953: 71) thus, establishing what became
known as the “politics-administration” dichotomy.

Max Weber (1946), a German sociologist who is known as the “Father of Modern
Sociology,” made a lucid descriptive analysis of bureaucratic organizations. He presented
some major variables or features of bureaucracy such as: hierarchy, division of labor,
formally written rules and procedures, impersonality and neutrality; hence, providing a
reference point in evaluating both the good and bad effects of bureaucratic structures.
Traditional / Classical Public
Administration
Leonard D. White in his book, Introduction to the Study of Public Administration,
assumes that PA is still an art, however, he also recognized the ideal of transforming it into
a science.
From Classical, Neo-Classical to
Integrative/Modern Organization Theories
Frederick Taylor - Father of Scientific Management, which the classical organization
theory evolved from. Luther Gulick’s POSDCORB manifested from this approach.

On the other hand, in 1945, Appleby, led a postwar attack on the concept of politics-
administration dichotomy by drafting a convincing case that “public administration was
not something apart from politics” but rather at the “center of political life.”
Modern Public Administration
Development Administration (1950s -
1969s)
New Public Administration (late 1960s-
1070s)
New Public Management and Reinventing Government (1980s
to 1990s)
PA as Governance (1990s into the
2000)
Developme
Development administration is the process of executing
developmental programs and projects in the direction of nation-
building and socio-economic progress through public

nt administration. There are two main issues identified as

development administration goals –

Administrat [Link]-building and

[Link]-economic development.

ion (1950s - Development Administration (DA) as a field of study emerged in

1969s) 1950s and 1960s with the third world countries as the focal
point. (Chilcote 1984) Nef and Dwivedi (1981) on the other
hand, attributed the concept of DA to Goswami in 1955 and
later popularized by Riggs and Weidner. They coined the term
“development administration” to refer to developing countries
which are largely found in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

DA maybe considered as “management of innovation”

because it was aimed at helping countries that are undergoing
reconstruction and social transformation.
Frederickson in his essay, “Towards a New Public Administration,” adds

New Public
social equity to the classic definition of public administration.
Conventional or classic public administration sought to only answer

Administrat
inquiries on efficiency and effectiveness like: how can the government
offer better services with available resources (efficiency) or how can we
maintain our level of services while spending less money (economy)? In

ion introducing the principles of New PA, he adds the question: “Does this
service enhance social equity?” (Frederickson 1971)

The value-free and neutral stance of traditional PA has alienated the

less privileged and deprived groups in the society. New PA’s
proponents, likewise, advocated that public administrators
should not be neutral; they should be committed to both
good management and social equity as values to be
achieved.

New PA then called for client-oriented administration, non-

bureaucratic structures, participatory decision-making, decentralized
administration and advocate-administrators.
New Public The best example of the NPM practice can be seen in New Zealand’s

Manageme functions, redeveloped their personnel system in order to be more

administrative reforms. Their government privatized substantial public

nt and performance-oriented, instituted new processes of productivity measures,

and reengineered departmental systems to reflect government’s
Reinventing commitment.
Governmen
Moreover, NPM according to Pollitt is a shift into a “managerialist” movement. He then identified five
t core beliefs of managerialism:
[Link] main route to social progress lies in the achievement of continuing increases in economically
defined productivity;
2. such productivity increase will mainly come from the application of ever more sophisticated
technologies;
[Link] application of these technologies can only be achieved with a labor force disciplined in
accordance with the productivity ideal;
[Link] is a separate and distinct organizational function and one that plays the crucial role
in planning, implementing and measuring the necessary improvements in productivity; and
[Link] perform this crucial role, managers must be granted reasonable “room to maneuver” (i.e. right
to manage”).
Among the criticisms of this model, however, was its emphasis on people as
"customers" or “clients” rather than "citizens" and that customers were placed
as “end-product” users of government rather than as “means” of the policy
making process.

Denhardt and Denhardt (2003) - reinvented government. they divided their

argument into seven principles, namely,
(1) serve citizens, not customers
(2) seek the public interest,
(3) value citizenship over entrepreneurship,
(4) think strategically, act democratically ,
(5) recognize that accountability is not simple,
(6) serve rather than steer, and
(7) value people, not just productivity.
PA as
Governanc
• The “governance” paradigm was introduced and advocated by the United Nations (UN), World

e Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other international institutions.
• “governance” really goes beyond government. It involves the institutionalization of a system
through which citizens, institutions, organizations, and groups in a society articulate their
interests, exercise their rights, and mediate their differences in pursuit of the collective good.
(ADB 1995 as cited in ADB 2005: 1)

• UNDP describes it as “the exercise of political, economic and administrative

authority to manage a nation’s affairs.
• From “governance”, the concept of “good governance” has emerged and became prominent in
international aid circles around 1989 or 1990. When there is good governance, there is
sustainable development.
• Key elements of good governance - accountability, participation, predictability, and
transparency.