Chapter 1:

Introduction to Public
Administration
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
1.1 Defining Public Administration
Action part of government, executing laws

Process of marshaling resources and using
them to cope with the problems of a political
community (Starling, 2008)

Using management, political, and legal
processes to provide services and to regulate
(Rosenbloom,2009)
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Why the terms Public Administration
has a wide variety of definitions?
A single definition of the term Public Administration will
not suffice because:

i. The field encompasses a complex set of interrelated
concepts.

ii. It also draws from many different academic
disciplines.

iii. It includes a variety of different agencies.

iv. It involves several different professions.
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
One Field Several Definitions
Public
Administration
Political
Definition
Legal
Definition
Managerial
Definition
Occupational
Definition
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Sources: Shafritz et. al, 2011
Political Definition
Public Administration:

Is what government does

It is about implementing the public interest

It exists within a political environment

It is about doing collectively , what cannot be
done individually


KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Legal Definition
Public Administration:

Is bound by instruments of law

It is law in action in the form of statutes,
regulations ordinances, codes, etc.

KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Managerial Definition
Public Administration:

Is the executive function of government

Public administrators translate public policies
into action

KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Occupational Definition
Public Administration:

Includes many occupational fields--Economics, politics,
management, law social welfare, engineering, ethics, etc.

It is within the context of these occupational fields that the
political, legal, and managerial aspects of public
administration are transformed by public administrators into
the work of government.


KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Most definitions tend to preoccupied with:
The executive branch of government
The formulation and implementation of public
policies
The involvement of a considerable range of
problems concerning human behavior and
cooperative endeavors
A field that can be differentiate in important ways
from private administration
Rooted in law as well as the functions necessary
to carry out laws
Multidisciplinary in character
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Public Administration is a Cross-
Government Field














KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Federal
Local State
The federal government does what other governments cannot do such as providing for national defense. State
& Local governments provide for highway safety, maintenance for infrastructure, and the like
Public Administration is the Cycles of
Policy Reform
Public administration is continuously redefining and
reinventing itself depending on the prevailing political
climate and the theories from academic disciplines that
bear upon it.

The political and academic understandings of society
also lead to changes in public policye.g., in statutory
law, court rulings, regulations and other.

Most recently the reform movement has focused on
ethics and values, tax reform and health care reform.

KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
1.2 Public VS Private Administration
What does government do?

Government serves the public interest
Provide some level of personal freedoms
Protect public health and general welfare
Define and protect rights to property
Provide equality, equity, stability, security
Adjudicate disputes
Takes in revenues, but doesnt make a profit

What does the private sector do?

Private sector serves individual interests
Most importantly, its own, i.e. interest of owners, shareholders, etc.
That interest is: to make money
Achieves this by providing goods and services to individual consumers (customers) in the
private economy through efficient use of resources

KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration

KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

1. SERVICE DELIVERY
2. POLITICAL PROCESS
3. LEGALISTIC APPROACH
4. BURE AUCRACY
5. INEFFICIENT
6. NO COMPETITION
7. SOCIAL WELFARE GOALS
PRIVATE ADMINISTRATION

1. PROFIT MOTIVATION
2. BUSINESS ACTIVITIES
3. PROFIT APPROACH
4. FIRMLIKE
5. EFFICIENT
6. FREE COMPETITION
7. INDIVIDUL WELFARE
TARGETS
1.3 Importance of Public Administration
Society needs government to:

1. Intervene when the private sector, through the market, is
unable to efficiently allocate resources

2. Create a more desirable distribution of goods, services, and
rewards throughout society

Government develops public policy to accomplish these objectives

Public managers are involved in the administration of the various
aspects of these policy
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
One Field Several Definitions
Public
Administration
Political
Definition
Legal
Definition
Managerial
Definition
Occupational
Definition
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Sources: Shafritz et. al, 2011
Characteristics of Administration
The characteristics of administration are best
subsumed under the two terms:

(i) ORGANIZATION, AND
(ii) MANAGEMENT

ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT ARE THE
TWO FACES OF THE SAME COIN. (WALDO, 1955)

KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Organization is the ANATOMY, management
is the PHYSIOLOGY, of administration.

Organization is the STRUCTURE;
management is the FUNCTIONING of
administration.

(WALDO, 1955)

KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Organization
The structure of authoritative and habitual
personal interrelations in and administrative
system. (Waldo, 1995)

Organizations may have cultures that
partially define how their members
conceptualize organizational activity and the
environment.


KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration

MINISTER

ASSISTANT
MINISTER
INSPECTOR
GENERAL
INSPECTOR
SECRETARY
GENERAL
BUREAU
DIRECTOR
GENERAL
DIRECTOR
GENERAL
DIRECTOR DIRECTOR
STAFF ORGANIZATION
19
Management
Getting things done through the efforts of
other people
(TAYLOR, 1912)

Action intended to achieve rational
cooperation in an administrative system.
(WALDO, 1955)


Management refers to the process of running
an organization and the use of resources to
accomplish its goals.
(LEMAY, 2002)

KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Management functions:
PLANNING
ORGANIZING
STAFFING
DIRECTING
COORDINATING
REPORTING
BUDGETING

(LUTHER GULICK AND LYNDALL URWICK, 1932)

KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration

MATERIALS


MEN


ORGANIZATION


MANAGEMENT

GOAL GOAL GOAL
GOALS
ULTIMATE INTERMEDIATE
22
NATIONAL
RESOURCES
ORGANIZE
II
MANAGE

PUBLIC

GOODS
SERVICES
GOAL
GOAL
GOAL
ULTIMATE
GOALS
NATURAL
RESOURCES
HUMAN
RESOURCES
RELIGION,
ETHICS
CULTURE,
HERITAGE,
TRADITION
EMPLOYMENT
POVERTY
EDUCATION
HEALTH
JUSTICE
DEMOCRACY
ENVIRONMENT
SECURITY
SOCIAL
JUSTICE
INDIVIDUAL
RIGHTS
FREEDOM
23
Approaches to Public Administration
Approaches to
Public
Administration
Managerial
Approach
Political Approach
Legal Approach
New Public
Management
(NPM) Approach
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Sources: Rosenbloom, 2009
Managerial Approach
Based on sound business principles

Scientific management efficiency

Appointment, advancement based on merit,
politics are separate

Bureaucratic organization . . . Why?

Rational Decision Making- costs and benefits

KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration

ADMINISTRATION





PRIVATE
PUBLIC
PLANNING
ORGANIZING
IMPLEMENTING
CONTROLLING
PLANING PROCESS
BUDGETING
STRUCTURES
PROCEDURES
HUMAN RESOURCES
STANDARD OPERATING
PROCEDURES
MONITORING
EVALUATION
FEED BACK
GOALS
Political Approach
Based on representation, responsiveness, and accountability

To public through elected officials

Administrators involved in policy process, not separate

Efficiency not emphasized, instead pluralistic interests

Bureaucratic organization . . . Why?
With pluralism, overlap, competition

Budgets are not accounting statements, but prioritizations
made incrementally

Decisions are muddled . . . Why?
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Legal Approach
Based on enforcing law, protecting rights

For both individuals and government

Rule of law and equity through due process

Adherence to administrative law, judicialization (evidence-
based), constitutionality

Efficiency, cost-effectiveness of securing rights are not concerns

Decisions made through precedent
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
New Public Management Approach
to Public Administration
Based on performance, public sector reform

Achieving results, not political or administrative process

Customer-driven, entrepreneurial . . . What is this?

Decisions decentralized, employees empowered

Competition, outsourcing, contracting

NPM is the new trend in public administration, reinventing government

See Page 39 in Rosenbloom for summary of four approaches
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration


Thank You
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration