ADMINISTRATIVE

PROCESS
Administrators or Bureaucrats: The
REAL Government

Distinction between
Executives & Administrators
Functions

Selection &
Tenure

EXECUTIVES

ADMINISTRATORS

Political heads of
executive agencies who
are elected or appointed
for limited terms to
initiate policies and direct
the work administrators

Persons appointed to
executive agencies to
enforce laws and carry out
policies and whose tenure
and promotion depend on
professional merit rather
than political affiiliation

All public officials should Employees should be hired,

be replaced whenever a promoted, or fired, not
majority of the voters
because of their party
transfer their support
affiliations but rather
from one political party to because of their technical
another
merit
Merit praiseworthy qualifications for and/or performance of the tasks assigned to
their positions

Formal status of
Administrative Agencies
O Size
O The largest number of people employed

O Structure
O Most agencies are organized based on two

principles: the principle of hierarchy and

the principle of separating staff and line
functions

Structure of Agencies
O Principle of hierarchy
O Clear chain of command reaching from bottom to

top; line of responsibility from bottom to top.

O Principle of Separating Staff & Line Function
O Every agency performs two basic types of

functions:
O Staff or housekeeping function hiring & firing of

staff, promotions and budgeting

O Line Function mandates, programs

Formal status of
Administrative Agencies
O Formal administrative Functions
O Providing services
O Regulating
O economic competition
O safety, welfare, and morals
O licensing
O adjudicating disputes

Formal status of
Administrative Agencies
O Selection & Status Administrators
O Selection
O Spoils system awarding government jobs to supporters of

the party in power

O Merit system selection, retention, and promotion of
government employees on the basis of demonstrated
technical merit
O Political Activity
O Keep politics out of administration
O Restricting civil servants participation in partisan political

activities (US)
O policy-making civil servants from engaging in partisan
activities that might conflict their roles as impartial servants
of all parties. (GB)
O Civil servants allowed to engage freely in party & pressure
politics (Japan)

Formal status of
Administrative Agencies
O Selection & Status Administrators
O Union & Strikes
O Civil servants are permitted to form unions

but limit or deny altogether their right to strike

O Civil servants rights to organize in a union is
almost as well-protected as that of a worker
in private industry, but the civil servants right
to strike is much more restricted.

Politics, Administration, and

Policy Making
O Dichotomy Between Politics and

Administration
O Woodrow Wilson: All governments perform only

two basic functions politics, which is the

making of general policies and laws; and
administration, which is the application of
policies and laws to particular individuals and
situations.
O Frank Goodnow: All government activities are
either politics (operations necessary to the
expression of governments will) or
administration (operations necessary to the
execution of that will).

Politics, Administration, and

Policy Making
O Policy making by Administrators
O Administrators as experts more than legislators;

they can specialize particular subjects

O Administrators stays in office more that legislators
and executives
O Administrators are bound to administrative rules
rules drawn up by administrative agencies to
implement general guidelines laid down by
legislatures and executives
O Administrative also acquire a good deal of policymaking power from the discretion they must have
in the enforcement of their own rules as well as
the legislative acts, executive decrees, and court
orders of their legislative superiors.

Politics, Administration, and

Policy Making
O Whatever the formal status, administrative

agencies make a lot of public policies in

every modern democratic nation
O Modern democracies has succeeded in
getting politics out of the administration
(partisan politics); but administration has
gotten into politics (making policy)

PHILIPPINE
BUREAUCRACY
FEATURES

The following characteristics

of Philippine bureaucracy are
O Philippine officials have technical or

administrative expertise. They are appointed

and promoted according to merit.
O Recruitment of government is through the civil

service where one has to pass an

examination or given the corresponding civil
service eligibility
O There is administration by rule whereby

personnel is committed to impersonal rules

that limit their own authority

The following characteristics

of Philippine bureaucracy are
O Jurisdiction in the area of

competence/responsibility is more than a

formal chain of command, it is set of
coordinated parts, where departments are
responsible for particular activities that have a
continuity of their own.
O Bureaucratic authority is based on conformity

to rules, procedures
O Security of tenure in the government.

The following characteristics

of Philippine bureaucracy are
O Aside from regular, permanent employees, other

workers in the government are classified as follows:

O Casual rank-and-file positions of a six-month duration,

renewable thereafter depending on the need of the

position to be filled up. (do not have civil service
eligibilities)
O Temporary refers to positions requiring technical
expertise where personnel is hired on a temporary basis
with the proviso that the status could be changed to
permanent upon submission of civil service eligibility
O Contractual positions requiring highly technical or
specialized knowledge. Contract range from one to three
years or more depending on the necessity of the position &
exigency of the job.

ASSIGNMENT/TERM PAPER
O Main objective: Learn more about bureaucracy from the point of views of

a public/civil servant.
O Interview any of the following (1) local government official appointed or
elected, (2) civil servant or a government agency head or staff
O Ask the following:
O
O
O

Nature of work and length of service?

How does he/she perceived Philippine bureuacracy?
What are his/her perceived problems in the Philippine bureaucracy in general,
and in the office he/she belongs?
O How can these problems be addressed? What should be the measures?
O Submit in a letter-sized paper, Arial 11, 1 margin on all sides.
O Your report should include: name of the interviewee; length of service;

photo documentation of your interview; certificate of appearance.

O Deadline of submission: OCTOBER 2, 2014 (12 noon)

Outline
Introduction

I.

I.
II.
III.
IV.

The Interviewee

II.

I.
II.
III.
IV.

Basic profile
Nature of work/s
Length of service
Reasons for working in a government agency or LGU

Brief profile of the organization your interviewee is part of

III.
I.
II.

Mandated functions
Organizational structure

Problems in the bureaucracy:

IV.
I.
II.

V.
VI.

Objective of paper
Overview of the interview result
Methodology
Brief discussion about Philippine bureaucracy

Perceived problems in the Philippine bureaucracy in general

Perceived problems in the office your interviewee belongs

Measures to address problems in the bureaucracy

Summary & Conclusion

Exam
O Semi-Final Exam: SEPTEMBER 25
O Coverage:
O Political Parties & Personal Organizations
O Pressure Groups & Their Role in a Democratic Society
O Public Opinion and Propaganda
O Executive
O Legislature

O Final exam: OCTOBER 9

O Coverage:
O Judiciary, Administrative and Local Government

Processes
O Relations among Nation-States