Chapter 2:

Issues in Public Administration:

Theory and Practice
KLB 2213: Introduction to Public Administration
Introduction
The Issues in Public Administration:

(i) Politics and Administration
(ii) Accountability
(iii) Bureaucracy and Democracy
(iv) Efficiency versus Responsibility
Public Administration as a Developing Discipline
Development administration refer to the process
of guiding an organization towards the
achievement of progressive political, economic
and social objective (Edward Weider).

It involve the establishment of machinery for
planning economic growth and mobilizing and
allocating resources to expand national income.
To sum up, development administration is
concerned with:

(i) The formulation and implementation of
plans, policies, programmes and projects for
national development, and

(ii) Development of administration machinery
and process adequately suited to the task
of national development.
action-oriented and
goal-oriented administrative system.
The Evolution of Public Administration as a Developing
Discipline consist of:

Paradigm 1: Politics and Administration Dichotomy

Paradigm 2: The Principles of Administration

Paradigm 3: Public Administration as Political Science

Paradigm 4: Public Administration as Management

Paradigm 5: Public Administration as Public Administration

Paradigm 6: From Government to Governance.
The Beginning
The concerns of Public Administration move
begin when WILSON (1887) sought to
investigate the organization and methods of
government offices toward:
i. What government can properly and successfully do,
ii. How it can do these proper things with utmost
efficiency and at least possible cost either money or
energy.
Paradigm 1:
Politics and Administration Dichotomy
A sharp distinction between politics and
administration had been drew by Wilson (1887)
politics and administration dichotomy.

He wrote that administration lies outside the
proper sphere of politics and administrative
questions are not political questions, rather
they are managerial questions a field of
business.


The reasons:
It is getting harder to run a Constitution than frame
one.
Much of political science is focused on politics which
is developing constitution
- concerned with policy making
More work needs to be done on learning how to
administer these law
- concerned with policy implementation

The basis for understanding the public
administration is management, not law.
A new science of administration was establish to
make the operation of government more business
like.

Paradigm 2:
The Principles of Administration
After the World War 1, the administrative
problems grew as government become
increasingly complex.
changing nation from a rural agricultural society to an
urban industrial nation.

Led to the discovering the principles of public
administration that emphasis on economy and
efficiency as the sole goal of administrative
activity.

PERIOD of ORTHODOXY
(public administration development pattern between the world wars)
Democracy and efficiency are identical, and that
the work of government could be neatly divided
into (i) decision making and (ii) execution.

The understanding of administration was concern
with ORGANIZATION and CONTROL.
Control need to be built into organizational structure and
design as to assure accountability and efficiency.
Control can be done thru proper administration with
discoverable principles.
THE PRINCPLES OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT
by Frederick Taylor

Improve organizations efficiency and productivity

One best way found through measurement

Convert workers rule of thumb knowledge to scientific principles

Connect pay to production, not attendance

Workers placed in optimal roles

Managers design work flow, need worker cooperation to
implement scientific principles

THE BUREAUCRATIC THEORY
by Max Weber
Formal, fixed rules, laws, regulations govern the work

Rules are stable, can be learned

Hierarchical structure, lower offices supervised by higher ones

Extensive recordkeeping, office

Expert trained staff

Official work is done regardless of time

Office is a vocation, training, profession, career

Appointed position/career tenure position, move through hierarchy

Compensation
Webers Ideal Type of Bureaucracy characteristics:

Bureaucracy is based upon RULES WHICH ARE ACCEPTED by the
members of the organization.

Bureaucracy is relatively COUNTINUOUS in its operation.

The area of bureaucratic administration COMPETENCE are
SPECIFIED.

Bureaucracy is based upon the idea of HIERARCHY.

The official are TRAINED so that the structures can function in
the ways intended.

The successful and continuing operations of bureaucracy
depends to a large extent upon the WRITTEN RECORD.


Some Problems with Bureaucratic Organization
Expertise
Changing conditions
Trained incapacity

Rules as ends, not means
Goals of organization?
Inability to adjust

Careerism
Vested interests
Risk averse
Defend turf, withhold information

Impersonalization
Bureaucrat-client relationship, case
If lacking = favoritism

ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT
(Principle of Administrative)
by Gulwick and Urwick
Seven principles of administration to help the
administrators function more efficiently - the
anagram of POSDCORB:

i. Planning
Working out in broad outline the things that need to
be done and the methods to accomplish the goals

ii. Organizing-
Establishing the formal structure of authority

iii. Staffing-
The personnel functions including recruiting, training &
maintaining the favorable conditions of works.
vi. Directing
Task of making decision and embodying them in general
and specific orders and instructions and serving as the
leader of the organization
v. COordinating
Manage all the important duty and interrelating the
various parts of the work.
vii. Reporting
Supplying information through recordkeeping, research
and inspection.
viii. Budgeting
All aspect of budgeting including fiscal planning,
accounting, and control.

Gulwick and Urwick thought on how administrators can
function more efficiently;

i. Span of Control:
It should be kept narrow and limited between 6 and
10 subordinates

ii. One Master:
Each subordinates should have only one master/
superior

iii. Technical Efficiency through the Principle of
Homogeneity:
Task should be grouped by their degree of similarity
The differences between Bureaucratic Theory
and Administrative Management



Bureaucratic Theory
Learn how
bureaucracies
functioned.
The reason they
functioned as they
did.
Administrative
Management
Understood how
bureaucracies
functioned.
Help administration
function efficiently -
POSDCORB.
ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITY
Early formative of Public Administration
focused on Internal Issues
management practice & problems, organizational
behavior & structure and personnel

The Issue:
How can we ensure that governmental administration will act
legally and responsibly in pursuing the role of being responsive
to the interest groups?
Administrative responsibility best assured
internally through professional standards or code.
Internal check and balances necessary increasing
complexities of modern policies
Consequently, little review made by an outsider political or
legislative body

Administrative could only be assured externally
through legislative or political control
External checks and balance, the way to ensure the
accountability of bureaucrats
Internal power of control would ultimately lead to
corruption.
ADMINISTRATIVE BEHAVIOR
by Herbert Simons
Counter the principle approach to Public
Administration
POSDCORB is inconsistent, conflicting and in applicable to
many administrative situation.

Introduced the concept of "BOUNDED
RATIONALITY
People are rational decision makers within limit.
Understood that administrative decision makers wanted to
make rational choice the single best choice
But, there were a lot of variables constraint the way of
locating the most rational decision.

It was not possible to take the value-free process of
business and apply them to government.

From the analysis by Robert A. Dahl, the main
concerns of Public Administration discipline should:
Recognizes the complexities of human behavior
Deals with the problems of normative values in administrative
situations, and
Take into account the relationship between administration and its
social setting.

The pattern of Public Administration had returned to
the fold of political science and managerial practice
the politics and administration lost its viability.

Paradigm 3:
Public Administration as Political Science
After the Second World War 2, the public
administration in most countries had transform into
a modern bureaucratic state - the principles of public
administration is inadequate.

The Issues:
The nature and effect of bureaucratic organizations and the
political dimensions of the new administrative state.
It was not possible to take the value-free processes of business
and apply them to government
Political Perspectives on Public Administration.
Government different from private organizations
and businesses.

Power to make decision, representation is
important in government organization.

Bureaucracy:
Representative, pluralism
Interests, groups, lobbying
Decentralization- close to the people, but coordination
problems and susceptible to pork spending
Connection between bureaucracy and legislative committees

Paradigm 4:
Public Administration as Management
Management was a viable alternative for a
significant development in administration.

The Issue:
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT is the primary concern.
Achieves the goal of public policies by executing related
programs in an efficient and effective manner.
Management is the effective utilization of human resources
and material to reach the known goal.
Through it scientific management and principles gave way to
better organization in government.
ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY

Values the democratization of bureaucracies and self-
actualization of individual members of organizations.

Improve organization by focusing on human interaction
critical to success

More trust, support, and cooperation among members
leads to better problem solving.
Consultation
Group Activities, team building
- Trust, openness
- Conflict resolution
- Promote enthusiasm and creativity
Organizational Psychology
Paradigm 5:
Public Administration as Public Administration
Focus was shifted to the NEW PUBLIC ADMINSTRATION
call for independence from both political science &
management that always been emphatically practical
rather than normative in approach.

New Public Administration dealt with:
Values, ethics
Development of individual member in organization
The relation of client with the bureaucrats
The broad problems of urbanization, technology and
violence.


Most government institutions perform
increasingly complex tasks, in competitive, rapidly
changing environments, with customers who
want quality and choice - the concept of
entrepreunial government

The return of public administration as an
independent field giving a new meaning,
direction and purpose in study and practical
application of public administration such as:

(i) REINVENTING GOVERNMENT
Most government institutions perform increasingly
complex tasks, in competitive, rapidly changing
environments, with customers who want quality and
choice.

Reinventing Government = The Concept of Entrepreunial
Government

David Osborne and Ted Gabler (1992) describe the
ENTREPREUNIAL GOVERNMENT as:



ENTREPREUNIAL GOVERNMENT
ENTREPREUNIAL GOVERNMENT DESCRIPTION
CATALYTIC GOVERNMENT steering rather than rowing
COMMUNITY OWNED GOVERNMENT empowering rather than serving
COMPETITIVE GOVERNMENT injecting competition into service delivery
MISSION DRIVEN GOVERNMENT transforming rule-driven organizations
RESULTS-ORIENTED GOVERNMENT funding outcomes, no inputs
CUSTOMER-DRIVEN GOVERNMENT meeting the needs of the customer, not the
bureaucracy
ENTERPRISING GOVERNMENT earning rather than spending
ANTICIPATORY GOVERNMENT prevention rather than cure
DECENTRELAIZED GOVERNMENT from hierarchy to participation and teamwork
MARKET-ORIENTED GOVERNMENT leveraging change through the market
(ii) NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (NPM)
NPM is reform-oriented that seek to improve
the public sector performance.

Traditional bureaucratically organized public
administration is "BROKE" and "BROKEN,
Consequently the public has lost faith in
government.



Today, NPM becoming the dominant and the
standard language and practice of public
administration that focus on:
Result oriented
Customers focused
Employee empowerment
Entrepreneurship and
Outsourcing

The public administrative culture is changing to
be more flexible, innovative, problem solving,
entrepreneurial and enterprising - opposed to
inputs focused.

Paradigm 6:
From Government to Governance
Governance entails a move away from
traditional hierarchical forms of organization
and the adoption of network forms
(partnership).

It also entails a revision of the relationship
between state and civil society in a more
participatory direction.



Governance refer to the institutional capacity
to provide goods and services demanded by
their citizens in an effective, transparent, fair,
and accountable manner that subject to
resource constraints (World Bank, 2000).

The totality of interactions between the
government, the public as well as the private
actors participate with an aimed in solving societal
problems or creating societal opportunities.

Focus on the role of networks, in pursuit of
common goals with ethical conduct.

Conclusion
Current debate on Public Administration
emphasis on What Matters not What We
Do
The ends do not justify the means = result oriented.

Thank You